I stayed in last night. I have been feeling unsettled- some vague nausea that kept me away from happy hour like usual. I was watching TV up here, since the satellite connection down at the farm is on the fritz, and I was down a quart on whatever the latest scandal of the century. I […]

(The bar in the back of the Copper Fish. We had the three stools to the right). So, Jake sent me a note on Sunday, asking if I was in Culpeper to have lunch yesterday with him and his lovely wife. I suggested the Copper Fish at noon on Monday, since the flagship restaurant on […]

New York Second: The shortest possible measurement of time. Vis: Standardised as the time between the traffic light turning green and the taxi behind you beeping his horn. i.e.: He only lasted a new york second in bed. – Urban Dictionary Relax. I am going to attempt to stumble through this morning without any cheap […]

There is a work trip to Industry Day in Tampa for the CENTCOM JIOC Support contract- not the 600 Full-time Equivalent (FTE) job that it was when the command was running two full-up wars, but at 250 is still nothing for the Parkway Patriot crowd to sneeze at. There are partnerships to pursue and options […]

(A photograph, taken in 1901, of Fort Hill Cemetery in County Galway. The cemetery contains Saint Augustin’s Hill and is the resting place of a number of Spanish sailors of the Spanish Armada of 1588. Image courtesy of the Galway Library). “The Spaniards cast ashore at Galway were doomed to perish; and the Augustinian friars, […]

(Cimmarron-class fleet oiler Neosho (AO-23) during her fitting out in New Jersey in 1939. Photo USN). Yesterday I celebrated the extraordinary career of ADM Noel Gayler, Naval Aviator extraordinaire and hero of the Battle of the Coral Sea, a tactical draw between the navies that saved Australia from the predations of the Empire of the […]

(ADM Noel Gayler in his office at Camp Smith, HI, 1976. An authentic hero and warrior, he was proud of being the first no-nucs officer to head the Pacific Command. Photo New York Times.) It is appropriate to look back to the battle before the battle that changed everything in the Pacific. I hope you […]

​(A placid farm on the way down to the Shenandoah. Image Steven Christie). It is unusual to be down at the farm during the week, but there was a ceremony marking the 5th Anniversary of the company’s presence out in Page County at ten this morning, and I took the opportunity to beat rush hour […]

Editors Note: With the public spotlight in the US on the upcoming Midway commemoration, the memory of the vital pre-momentum shift represented by the Battle of Coral Sea has been muted here. That event solidified the commitment of the U.S. to the independence of Australia, and the unique bond between our nations. RADM Paul Becker, […]