James Steven McFarland passed from this life 13 years ago. He started a remarkable career as a Yeoman, rising to Flag rank over the course of his distinguished career in the Navy and the Intelligence Community I first met RADM Jim McFarland in Hawaii, preparing for my first gig in my secondary (maybe it was […]

Airbus A310 from Reagan National (DCA) to Chicago O’Hare (ORD). Decent bulkhead window seat, 6F. Nice view on a lovely sunny day without turbluence. Slight unease, since I don’t trust Airbus designers or their philosophy of flight control. Nice touch: the bulkhead does not go to the floor, and I could slide my pack- I […]

I had to wrestle with the story this morning. My Shenandoah Pal wrote me a remarkable recollection of an incident- an unpleasant one- that happened years ago, and wanted to share. It was a powerful read- my It was dark, and intensely personal, so I cannot share it with you. But I was intensely moved, […]

Editor’s Note: Kimo chimed in from Switzerland to remind me that our pal RADM Mac Showers would have been 97 years old today. I still miss him, and am way behind on putting the manuscript of his life into order and getting it out to you. In the meantime, this is a reprise of some […]

(L-R: President Harry Truman, his rental home and Feller the Presidential Cocker Spaniel). If the lease did not specifically prohibit it, I would be looking for a dog. That is what President Truman said about DC, right? “If you want a friend in Washington, get a dog.” It would be a good time for it. […]

I had forgotten how much fun it is to visit thee laboratory and have blood drawn. The lady was nice, her office impossibly small with only the two of us there. There was not long wait- apparently the guy ahead of me was having problems producing enough fluid for the urine sample, another of those […]

Our pal Jim Mueller is having a great August. His reporting this morning of attending a program in which noted car collector and sometime late-night host talked about what was hot and what was not in the world of cars, some wild parties with classic cars as the backdrops, and the famed Concours D’Lemon meet […]

The New York Times is reporting the passing of former CJCS John Vessey. While not a Naval Intelligence figure, many of our members (including me) served under his time as the senior military officer in uniform and the Reagan expansion of the DoD budget. The following obituary was written by Robert D. McFadden, and appears […]

Many novice sailors, confusing the words ‘binnacle’ and ‘barnacle,’ have wondered what their illnesses had to do with crusty marine life growing on the hull of their ship. Their confusion is understandable. In nautical terminology, a ‘Binnacle’ is defined as the stand or housing for the ship’s compass, normally located on the navigational bridge. The […]

The departure of the high-pressure front last night gave us a spectacular set of booming thunderstorms and lightning strikes that I was confident were going to knock us off the grid. I stayed home to watch it, since I am working with a knee strain and a prolonged bout of vertigo. I started out the […]