Author: Vic Socotra

Arizona and Road trip

Editor’s Note: Mules is a shipmate who has contributed accounts of travels and curiosities around this somewhat threadbare globe. His particular insights in aviation, military and commercial, are remarkable. He happens to live in Carmel, CA, and takes in the Pebble Beach Concours d’elegance and auctions each year. With his bride, Mules provides commentary and […]

Point Loma: The Heartland

After fighting the first good Gulf War, I warbled my way into getting orders to the Naval War College in Newport. That involved a ten-minute sat-phone call with my then detailer John, who was a little taken back at the cost – $10 a minute. I made it easy for him, by trading the cost […]

Arrian: Thank you

Thanksgiving is upon us and most of us are taking some time to think about things we have for which we are grateful. The list is long. I start by thanking God for his mercy, thanking my parents (and three brothers) for bringing me up properly, and thanking my friends for keeping me out of […]

Author’s Note

I just sent one of the essays that our columnist and classically-trained commentator produces each week. This one conveys the sense that a lot of us have these days- “Can we just do something else for a while here in the Swamp?” Be careful what you wish for. The Next Big Thing turned out to […]

Sigh

Editor’s Note: It was a toss-up this morning between the cookbook and the story of the decline-and-fall of my folks. I could not make up my mind- but I will keep looking for both to inflict upon you. The dramatis personae include Raven, Big Mama, my sister, Anook of the North, and brother Spike. This […]

Swamp Postcard: Impeachment Boils

I don’t want to bring it up- and will lance the boils on the body politic that seem to proliferate before our very eyes. A boil, just by way of reference, is a painful, vile fluid-filled bump that forms under the dermal layer when bacteria infect and inflame one or more of your hair follicles. […]

Arrian: A Silver Lining

In George Washington’s “Rules of Civility,” we are advised to “Show not yourself glad at the misfortune of another, though he were your enemy.” That advice isn’t really heeded in Washington, nor has it been for the last 45 years or so, but it remains good advice. And in that light I’ve been looking for […]

Point Loma: Wagyu

Editor’s Note: Now that the Mac Showers book is out, I have been turning my attention to my Attache cookbook, a compilation of never-fail recipes that have served military/diplomatic remerging culinary needs when the spouse announces the Poles or the Ukrainians are stopping by for cocktails. Point Loma hits on something important here about an […]

Point Loma: GIANT REACH

The SR-71 Blackbird – Still the Baddest Fucking Jet, Ever I’m going to take a step back from my mounting dismay at current events, and re-visit a happier time. Flipping through some old YouTube videos last night, I ran into a couple of good ones made by Major Brian Shul, USAF (Ret.) about his incredible […]

Book Launch: Cocktails With the Admiral

I am feeling my inadequacies this month. I am not only not running for President, but everyone else in town is flacking a book- something so ubiquitous that it is quite amazing. I assume there is another angle to it- there is with everything here in The Swamp, after all. But darn it, I have […]