Editor’s Note: we have a peripatetic correspondent named Jim whose jottings reflect a life of service. This is a gem, and he has allowed me to forward to both the professional website and the Socotra distribution. For those who have not done a tour at sea, it may be a revelation. For those that have, […]

(President Chon Tu Hwan of the Republic of Korea) As you well know, there is more talk about nuclear weapons than in a long time. DC is not in range, according to what they are reporting, but apparently the little fat guy thinks he can hit Guam, which makes this all personal. So, I was […]

As you are doubtless aware by now, I am privileged to be a mostly passive participant in a bunch of email strings with other retired Navy spooks (I generate too much of my own blather), and generally respect (and protect) their privacy and stories. I have saved several of the strings about places like Cambodia […]

Yeah- I know. How did it get to be Wednesday so quickly? The news cycle, even in the dog-days of August is so fast and furious that it is exhausting just to drink the morning coffee and see what will have changed by happy hour. I have been more sporadic than usual in publication of […]

Goodness, Gentle Readers, what a strange week! I drove up to Greenfield, Mass, last Thursday afternoon to attend my brother’s wedding. It was a joyful trip, meeting the new family with fabulous weather. My lovely cousins made it up to the event from Florida after perilous adventures in Air Transport, including de-planing a couple times […]

Well, you can’t say this is the doldrums here in the soggy bottom of the nation’s Swamp. The President has decided to upgrade us to a “cesspool,” or a “sewer,” whichever is more appealing at the moment. The GOP is at war with itself, and the Dems, bless their hearts, have come up with a […]

Whether the living is easy is a matter up for debate. I have to say, in my half century in looking at how our country is doing, I have never been so unsettled. I am one of those who grew up with the certainty of Ike Eisenhower and never thought we could go so far […]

Swamp Postcard Yep- it is Wednesday again, and time to update the postcard from The Swamp, where the Deep State appears to have successfully prevented anyone from doing anything to lower the water level. If anything, it seems to be getting deeper…and I don’t mean that as a metaphor. If anyone had set out to […]

I have been a little slow off the mark the last couple weeks- I know many have noted it and I feel bad. I have been doing this morning blogging thing now for nearly twenty years, and the fodder of of chaos, national and international, in the government and out of it, has been entertaining […]

So, this is what retirement looks like? I looked at myself in the mirror this morning and came away a bit mad at the tousled gray hair. Not mad at myself, or not completely, but at what has become a new reality. Then retreated to the comfort of the comforter and read the morning incoming […]