Author: Vic Socotra

On Eternal Patrol Memorial Reef

Friends, Colleagues and Shipmates: Former Director of Naval Intelligence Tom Brooks passed this along due to the special relationship between the Submarine Force and Naval Intelligence. Bill Manthorpe, former Deputy DNI added this: “I’m involved in this organization in Sarasota via Larry Stults (Debbie’s nephew) and Craig Harvey (Don’s son) basically I served as the […]

Intermission

I can only watch so much of today’s news before I start to go catatonic. Accordingly, there has been a lot of Turner Classic Movie Channel occupying the flat screen. There are some great films- glittering, sprawling productions that featured actors from the Golden Age of Hollywood. We were watching “Around the World in 80 […]

Arrias: HMS Pinafore and the Navy Staff

In Gilbert & Sullivan’s HMS Pinafore Sir Joseph Porter sings that he’s done many things in his career that led to being named First Lord of the Admiralty, but none of them took place at sea, or, for that matter, had anything to do with ships. The Chorus tells us: “Stick close to your desks […]

Swamp Postcard: Political Swamp Sniping?

The circus in Swampland continues. The Barr Tab is likely to hunt with investigations into the shenanigans that surrounded the opening of the probe into the Trump campaign by the national security establishment in 2016- or earlier. It is grand fun, and some former senior officials are apparently running for the exits. I am not […]

Arrias: To Secretary Shanahan

I wish Secretary of Defense Shanahan all the best; by all accounts it’s a thankless job. That said, I offer these thoughts from the cheap seats, things he might want to “take a second look at.” War Plans – there are multiple OPLANS and CONPLANS (Operations Plans and Contingency Plans); someone needs to start working […]

Life & Island Times: Ten Years After

While driving southwestward in South Carolina towards a Georgia sunset over the Savannah River this past Monday, an old blues tune popped into my head. Nearly fifty years ago, on a up state temporary stage in New York, the British blues rock group Ten Years After played to a cold, sodden, barely awake, night time […]

Spring 2019 Red Tie Luncheon Highlights

“Good to see our colleagues. A great event!” – CAPT Chris Bott, USN-Ret. The 2019 Red Tie luncheon was held Friday, 03 May at the elegant new clubhouse at the Army-Navy Country Club in Arlington. (View to the 18th green from the clubhouse). Here are Capt Bott and Dr Boyd enjoying Vince Fragomen’s ’s “back […]

Swamp Postcard: Chaos on the Potomac

So what else is new? I sometimes suspect that someone has slipped some sort of hallucinogen into the big river upstream from the Emerald City. The House of Representatives may hold the Attorney General, Mr. Barr, in contempt last today for refusing to be grilled under oath by staff lawyers who work for Judiciary Committee […]

Blue Book

So, I was talking to my son and catching up on the dramatic developments in the life of his family and the grandkids. Really about the most amazing interchange you can have, spanning generations and framing a prospective future. We normally talk on his commute home, so there is plenty of time to talk about […]

Arrias: A Free People

George Washington once (perhaps apocryphally) noted that: “Government is not reason, it is not eloquence — it is force. Like fire it is a dangerous servant and a fearful master.” Which is important to remember in light of a recent poll by a major US university that indicated that a majority of Americans believe we […]