Category: DailySocotra

Eternity on Georgia Ave

Eternity is an easy concept if you ignore it. It is harder when you have to come to grips with it. The Post Office apparently noticed that it is inconvenient when they increase the cost of sending a first class letter by a few cents, since we all have to rush out and purchase those […]

The Cubi Special

The Cubi Special ADM Arthur Radford, Chief of Naval Operations had a dream He was going to cut a mountain in half, and create a modern operating base on the island of Luzon, on the Bataan Peninsula. The airfield would serve a deep-water anchorage for deep-draft naval ships. It would be constructed on land permanently […]

The Dashing Young Man

The Dashing Young Man I walked back into a civil war over the weekend, quite intentionally, though I was researching something else, and this morning I have no time for other times. I have other projects that are due, and consequently have no time for this. I was going to leave St. Patrick’s Day behind, […]

Four Years

Four Years Four years after we entered the last major conflict in Europe, we were concerned with the prosecution of the leaders of the defeated regime, and the costs of reconstruction. Four years ago today the war began with a spectacular high-tech light show, and we have convicted the leaders of the defeated regime, but […]

Building 18

Last week Major John Kallerson had enough. He is mad as hell, and despite his spirit of Christian charity and service, he isn’t going to take it any more. As the Senior Chaplain Clinician at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, he wrote a passionate e-mail defending his hospital, his leadership, and the troops they care […]

Work of the Cursing Class

I have driven out the snakes, and there is no snow for me to shovel on the driveway. That is the purview of the crack maintenance crew at Big Pink, and makes it a sort of half-way house on the way from the joys of home-ownership to assisted living. A century ago the grounds crew […]

Nod and a Wink

They say that cats and women will do what they want, and men and dogs should just get used to it. I think that is an outrageous oversimplification, which reinforce outmoded stereotypes. Both felines and females are simply operating in accordance with the principles of the natural world, but on frequencies that are higher up […]

Wee People

It is the day they slew Great Caesar on the Rostrum in the Forum, the Ides of March he was told to beware. I try to remember the moment when the Republic was sold down the river, and the Empire embraced. It is useful to recall that nothing is new under the sun, and all […]

Charlie Wilsons Other War

It is a comfort that the biggest problem I have to confront this morning is the tinkering with time. It is after six here and the sky is still black as coal. In the natural course of things, we should be awash in pale salmon light, but the Government has changed time, moving us west […]

General Order Number One

GENERAL ORDER NUMBER ONE: Purpose: to identify conduct that is prejudicial to good order and discipline while deployed to the Iraqi theater of operations. This general order is applicable to all military members and civilians serving with, employed by or accompanying the division� Prohibited Activities: the possession, sale, transfer, manufacture or consumption of any alcoholic […]