Author: Vic Socotra

Slivovitz

Editor’s Note: I had lunch with Annie, the den-mother of our fractious group of brash officers who inhabited the back room at the Navy Office of Legislative Affairs in the Pentagon. There were some stories to be had in that office, let me tell you. They were about the trips we arranged for Congressional members […]

War Stories

I looked at Liz-S across the bar. “Hey, is this the last day you are the bar manager?” She smiled broadly, tossing her chestnut ponytail. “I will stay, part time, but as of Monday I am an official grown up.” “Awesome. It is about time. You are on your way.” Friday’s at Willow are transitional […]

Man in Full

Mac had some back problems last week, but he came roaring back and was ready to hit the bar at Willow on Monday. The weather was loosening up just like his sacroiliac- unseasonably warm in Arlington, and the rising temperature featured the best of both worlds- the ladies shed their coats to revealing advantage but […]

Marlow’s Coastal Empire: Christmas Tidbits from Savannah

From the time James Oglethorpe and the original colonists arrived in 1733, the new colony of Georgia had plans of freedom for all, unless you were Catholic.  Or a lawyer.  Or if you drank. The first of these bans to be lifted was that of “spirituous liquors” in 1742. Shortly thereafter, relations between England and […]

Arrias: Let’s End Civilian Control in the Pentagon

Okay, not really. But, there’s been lots of talk about “military” vs. civilian control, with 3 retired officers (3 civilians) selected for senior positions in the Trump administration. Hmmm… First: they’re retired. They were in the military. We’ve had retired military serve in government before; it’s never been a problem. In fact, 60 years ago […]

Marlow’s Coastal Empire: The Great In-Between

I had been smoking a lot and worrying, and no doubt the attendant coughing and hacking was taking its toll, but whatever the cause, the figure in the bathroom mirror before me was no longer young. Neither was he old, and I understood suddenly – though surely Marlow had known it before? – that there […]

The High Line

Editor’s Note: Alert readers will note that this is the conclusion of Mac’s mission to meet with Marshall Tito at the White Palace in Belgrade. Unknown to me at the time, our Legislative Affairs Den Mother Annie was a girl, living there with her family. Her Dad was one of the military attaches in the […]

Freedom of speech

(Mac at Willow on the first Summer Suit Day of Spring. Photo Socotra.) It was a busy year, Mac’s last one on the planet. This particular encounter was a great day for weather and a mixed day for my personal interaction with the First Amendment. We had temperatures in the low eighties and sun in […]

Witch Hunts

(Senator Joe McCarthy is advised by attorney Roy Cohn during Senate hearings). There is a lot of talk about Russian interference in the US election recently- the cyber hacks that CIA insists were a Russian job and the FBI which has a more cautious view on the ability to attribute the thefts to Moscow. It […]

What Nedzi Knew

(Rep. Lucien N. Nedzi, 1969, from Congressional Pictorial Directory.) Mac was just back from the beach on the annual Shower’s family reunion, and I was just returned from the First Congressional District of Michigan, and it was clearly time to get together at Willow and talk about what happened to the Intelligence Community in the […]