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Hi, Im the owner of Project Leaflet
- chris Naganuma
- Nov 4, 2024
- 3 min read
Updated: 5 days ago
My name is Chris Naganuma, also known as "Nug", a former Army infantryman who dedicated five years of service from 2003 to 2008, including a deployment to Mosul, Iraq during the height of the Global War on Terrorism. My military career was predominantly within the Stryker Brigades, and I have since transitioned into the defense sector, accumulating over a decade of experience. Today my work spans two fronts: the proving grounds here at home, and the front lines overseas.
Stateside, I serve with Reveal Technology, a defense technology company building software for the tactical edge. Our tools are designed for the small, agile units I came up in: Farsight, which turns drone imagery into 2D and 3D terrain models in minutes, right on the devices soldiers already carry, and Identifi, which brings biometric identification to the field without needing a network connection. My role lives at the intersection of the technology and the people it serves: content creation, field events, and industry engagement, making sure the engineers building these capabilities never lose sight of the warfighters who will carry them into harm's way.
That mission comes to life at events like BattleLab. This past June I was in the mountains outside Bozeman, Montana for BattleLab 26.2, a warfighting exercise with the 101st Airborne Division's Rakkasans. BattleLab is where new capability meets real soldiers in real terrain, and my job is to document that collision: how a squad takes a tool it has never seen before, wrings it out, and makes it its own. There is no substitute for watching an infantryman plan off a 3D map that a drone built minutes earlier. You can learn more about that here - https://www.veterantv.com/battlelab/
Overseas, I work as an on ground advisor & independent combat journalist, specializing in one-on-one interviews with warfighters in conflict zones such as Ukraine. Embedding with frontline units, I sit with the men and women fighting the most consequential war of our time and let them tell their own stories, unfiltered. That work comes to life in the show "Embed Actual", where I delve deep into war-torn regions alongside Ethan Nagel, who skillfully captures the intense and poignant moments that define this reporting. You can find our collective work at https://www.veterantv.tv/embed-actual.
These two worlds are not separate. They feed each other. Ukraine is a live window into how warfare is changing: drones overhead at all hours, small teams moving fast, technology deciding outcomes in minutes. What I learn sitting across from a Ukrainian soldier shapes the questions I ask of the technology we field back home, and what I see at exercises like BattleLab tells me what is coming for the units who will fight next. When a warfighter in Ukraine describes a problem, and weeks later I watch American soldiers in Montana field the tool that solves it, the circle closes. That is the story Project Leaflet exists to tell.
Project Leaflet was born out of a personal passion to share the untold stories of the brave individuals on the front lines while also providing essential gear to those in need. Each design you see in our project reflects my personal values and the spirit of the teams I collaborate with, often focusing on the smaller, more agile units within the military. Through various platforms, including social media and face-to-face interactions, we have successfully captured numerous narratives and documented the courageous actions of warfighters.
Every purchase or subscription made contributes to my ability to embed with frontline units, continue documenting the stories of warfighters, and amplify their voices to a wider audience.
Thank you for your invaluable support towards this meaningful project, Chris
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