Naturally, someone brought up the big cavalry charge when we heard the Vice President was coming to Arlington on the 3rd of March to raise money for the GOP Mid Term elections. We can feel the temperatures rising to start the melt of the snow-crete that has imprisoned us for more than two weeks..

In 1683, some 18,000 Polish Winged Hussars rode out of the woods above Vienna and smashed into the Ottoman siege lines. Two months of encirclement ended in an afternoon. The city was saved. Western Civilization, depending on your preferred narrative, survived another day.

Vienna had long been a prize for the Ottoman Empire. Like Washington, DC, it has a majestic river, the Danube. It evokes the placid power of the Potomac. The relief force led by King Jan Sobieski arrived on the Danube just in time. Feathers, lances, thunder, and then silence.

Which brings us, inevitably, to modern Vienna, Virginia.

There is quiet talk about abandoning it as the beating heart of the Socotra enterprise. The old Key Bridge Marriott—prime riverfront perch overlooking the Capitol dome—sat vacant and decaying for years. It was once the hotel of choice for people visiting the government. Or in some cases, visiting the Pentagon.

Now the site is poised for resurrection.

Quadrangle Development Corporation has released glossy renderings: six multi-use towers, park-like promenades, riverfront dining, a re-imagined Rosslyn skyline. The drawings are elegant. Glass, trees, sunlight. The sort of place where serious people conduct calm, dispassionate discussions about power while walking small dogs.
The petition is before the Arlington County planners. Approval would transform a vacant eyesore into mixed-use muscle in the center of everything along the Big Muddy.

Meanwhile, the mid-term season hums in the background. Money flows. Events are scheduled. Speeches are written. The Acela hums north. The campaign circuit loops back to NoVA, always within fifteen minutes of somewhere important.

Which is the point.

If the Winged Hussars rode today from Socotra HQ near Vienna, VA, the eleven miles straight to Rosslyn would take more than twenty minutes in traffic. From the old Big Pink spare-bunk location, perhaps seven at full gallop. From the former Key Bridge Marriott site? Five minutes to the Pentagon. A short glide across the Potomac to the Hill.

No need for twenty-foot lances. They are awkward in the truck.

Rocket, Splash, and Vic wore more modest armor for their expedition to the podiatrist. No Turkish infantry reported in the waiting room. The visit was declared a success. Rocket and Splash are still attempting to understand their iPhone 17s.

History moves in centuries. Arlington moves in quarter-hours.

It is all happening inside the Fifteen Minutes it takes to get from Fairfax to Rosslyn, from Vienna to the river, from memory to redevelopment.

The feathers are optional.

Copyright 2026 Vic Socotra
www.vicsocotra.com