A Quick Note of Gratitude This Thanksgiving—And a Small Ask

Turkey down, I repeat, turkey down

If you’re reading this on Thanksgiving, congratulations! You’ve successfully escaped at least one relative’s attempt to explain the economy using cranberry sauce as a metaphor.

I wanted to take a moment today, between my turkey-induced naps and tactical retreats from political debates at the dinner table, to say thank you.

This little operation, Eyes Only, has grown far beyond what I expected when I started writing about drones, geopolitics, and the strange military hardware Russia keeps pulling out of Stalin’s storage room.

We’re now a Substack community of more than 4,000 readers, thinkers, veterans, analysts, and curious folks who simply want to understand this messy world better. With another 50,000 on Medium and 116,000 on YouTube, we’ve built a small army together.

And I’m grateful for every single one of you. 🙏

Now for the part I always avoid: the sales pitch.

You’ve probably noticed I don’t promote myself much.

Between writing multiple articles a week for Substack and Medium, producing four YouTube videos every seven days, and answering reader emails that are longer than some UN resolutions, I haven’t exactly had time to run a slick marketing campaign.

Other than studying for the February bar exam, this work has become my full-time mission. It has to pay the mortgage.

So here’s my Thanksgiving ask: if you’ve been thinking about upgrading from free to paid, today’s a pretty great day to do it.

With a paid subscription, you get:

• Two additional exclusive, deeply researched articles every week—Wednesday and Sunday. These are the bigger ones. The kind where I pull apart Russian glide-bomb logistics, analyze French drone walls, or explain why Putin’s armored hedgehogs look like they’ve escaped a Mad Max reboot.

• Two free posts every week, so you’re still getting plenty of content even if you stay on the free tier.

• Full access to my entire archive—more than 500 global security and tech articles from the past ten years. Every briefing, every deep dive, every analysis. PLUS, a PDF copy of the 300-page public speaking book I wrote called “Own the Crowd.” (If you’re interested in that subject)

• Direct access. Paid subscribers get priority on comments and questions, and I try to answer in detail. Sometimes too much detail. I’ve been known to write comment replies longer than some news articles.

• Some more cool shit I’m working on in the background just for you.

And because it’s Thanksgiving in the US, and because I’ve finally accepted the reality that I need to actually promote myself once in a while, I’m offering 15% off the annual plan, for the next seven days, through this article.

If you’re able to support the work, it helps me keep doing these deep dives, investigations, and battlefield breakdowns without relying on sponsors or outside pressure. I frequently turn down sponsor offers on my YouTube channel because I’m very protective of my audience (and you guys see enough ads as it is).

It keeps my operation independent and it lets me tell the truth the way it needs to be told, without worrying about who might get annoyed.

Most of all, it keeps this community growing.

So thank you, truly, for being here. Free or paid, you’re part of this. But if you’ve been finding value in what I do, if these weekly briefings help you make sense of a world that feels like it’s balancing on a knife edge, I hope you’ll consider upgrading today.

Happy Thanksgiving if you’re in the states, stay safe, stay frosty, and may your turkey be more structurally sound than the average Russian armored vehicle.

—Wes