(This evocative Wyoming sunrise provides a look at what will be coming to DC by this weekend. It also reflects a sense of the conflict far to the east. Hank Ruland got this picture looking from his porch over the Wind River Range and it was published in our morning paper, the Cowboy State Daily). […]

We were sitting in the conference room watching the periscope video of the fast-attack submarine torpedoing an Iranian warship in the Indian Ocean where some of us sailed 47 years ago. It evokes a visceral sense dread at what it must have been like on the receiving end. The news about how effective MK-48 torpedoes […]

(CREATIVE SECTION LEADER MILES GESTURES TO THE NEW SUPPLY OF LUCAS DRONES). Miles was beside himself this morning. Literally. He was waving around the new munitions he was stockpiling down on the P3 parking level at the Building. “They only will take up one of the three parking places we have. Plus, the Tomahawks the […]

There is a tidal current of messages in progress this morning. It is an epic time and still unfoldingg in crimson billows of fire and black smoke overseas. General Razin Caine this morning briefed us that “Shock and Awe” was a component of the plan. We felt it. The crowd at Socotra House in various […]

Sundays carry a little chaos at Socotra House. That is expected. We have to get a product out between Holy Services and what the Chairman calls “Brunch.” The Daily Grind — the only sanctioned early-afternoon indulgence — was already making the rounds. Miles stood, attempting to herd the Boomers as Eggs Benedict were assembled somewhere […]

In the Morning… Miles looked down the table with a frown. “Too soon to tell how this is going to play out. No BDA yet. We expect something before lunch, and we may learn if the leadership was taken out, or if there was chem/bio payloads in the missile response by Iran. We won’t know […]

The first round of assessments is beginning to come in. As always, first things first. Preliminary reporting indicates that the opening strikes focused on Iranian integrated air defense systems. Russian-made radar arrays and surface-to-air missile sites were targeted with Tomahawk land-attack missiles, followed by air-delivered munitions against known relocation and command nodes. Early ISR suggests […]

The version suitable for polite circulation. This is how Miles would like you to view the Socotra House Daily meeting: studied, dressed, composed. Ready to deliver informed commentary to help navigate the tumult of the day with calm sophistication. As you know, that is largely a charade designed to conceal what the 4th Floor Conference […]

We won’t even try to start the morning meeting this close to lunch. There’s a growing sentiment to simply move Happy Hour forward — something more accommodating to deal with the increasing number of interesting, or threatening, meme-streams flowing around. Splash and Rocket thought “ceyo” might mean an inlet or bay, and started their pitch […]

There were some sleepy, baffled-looking people filtering into the conference room this morning. A few of the Boomers admitted they’d slept in their recliners trying to make it to the end of the President’s State of the Union. It was long. It was disciplined. It was predictable. The whiteboard got fuzzy as we tried to […]