LandWarNet 2010

USCYBERCOM Commander, Gen. Keith Alexander speaking

Spent last week traveling to and from Tampa, Florida and attending the LandWarNet 2010 conference at the Tampa Convention Center. As conferences go, I thought this was an exceptional one.  Big crowd (9000) this year, terrific speakers, and very informative track sessions.  Now the task is to assimilate all the information gained during three days of presentations.

A colleague and I covered down on seventeen sessions in two and a half days.  Of the seven plenary sessions, we attended five.  We heard the USCYBERCOM commander, Gen. Keith Alexander speak about the challenges to our country posed from within cyberspace domain and what USCYBERCOM is doing about them.  We listened as the Army Vice Chief of Staff, Gen. Pete Chiarelli addressed us via video teleconference about overcoming the challenges the Army imposes upon itself through its antiquated acquisition system.  Lieutenant General Jeff Sorenson touched on the same subject, updated us on the Army's global network enterprise construct strategy, and acted as the master of ceremonies.  We sat in on a Joint/Coalition panel but skipped the joint/industry panel, which focuses almost exclusively on acquisition issues, and the final plenary session addressed by Air Force Lt. Gen. William Lord.

A special treat was to hear Dr. Louis Gerstner, the former CEO of IBM Corporation, speak to us about institutional transformation.  It was, in my opinion, probably the most relevant of all the plenary sessions to what the Army is facing as an institution at the present time (operations in the CENTCOM AOR excepted).  Two consequences for me, stemming from Dr. Gerstner's talk, will be, first, that I will have to read his book, "Who Says Elephants Can't Dance," which treats of his tenure at head of IBM and how he undertook to transform that company.  The second consequence will be that, after reading the book, and reviewing my notes, I will probably want to rewrite the appendix I drafted for FM 6-02 Signal Operations (which we hope to have staffed out by the end of summer).

The real work of the conference was, for me, attending the Joint/Combined track, which consisted of six special briefings moderated by the CENTCOM J-6, Brig. Gen. Brian Donahue.  Those sessions, each one literally crammed with information, covered such topics as the the operational context in Afghanistan, Task Force 236, the Afghan Mission Network, the "revamped network operations framework, and challenges ahead.  All of which will make for me quite a bit of research when I get back to the office tomorrow.  It was a privilege for me to get to meet Brig. Gen. Donahue personally.

Columbia Restaurant interior

One of the highlights of the week--not related to the conference--was dining out Thursday night at the Columbia Restaurant in Ybor City.  The picture to the right shows the interior of the restaurant where my party sat.  The food was great, the service terrific, and the ambiance all you could ask for.  We even got to see the Flamenco Dancers perform.  Felt like being in a John Wayne move, sort of.

Already, we're making plans to attend next years conference, to stay in or near Ybor city, go back to that restaurant and, most of all, to take Connie with me!

What Recruiting Taught Me

I was an Army recruiter for three years.  It was a sort of school of hard knocks.  I sure learned a lot.  The thing that has stuck with many longer than anything else is that the United States of America is being overrun by Category IVs.

Kids!

Grandson, age three, sees my profile picture on Facebook.  It's a photo of my wife and me on our 25th anniversary.

"Is that you and Gramma?" he asks.

"Yes."

"Are you was getting married?" he follows up, employing the peculiar syntax of a three-year-old.

"No, we've been married for a long time."

"What?  Aren't you getting married?"  he still wonders.  Understandably, he's a little confused about how marriage works.  I mean, he's only three.

"Yes," I say, thinking this would end the line of questioning.

But he comes back with that time tested retort of all kids under the age of six, "Why?"

"Because," I say, thinking that now I've got him, he'll have to move on to a different subject, "she's my girl friend."

"Nuh-uh," he says, "she's mine."

Kids!

Apollo 11 and a Ten Year Old Boy

Mission Insignia for Apollo 11

Today is the 41st anniversary of Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin's landing on the moon.  I remember watching it on television.  It was after 10:30 p.m. when the astronauts exited the lunar module, the Eagle.  It wasn't a school night, because we were then on summer vacation.  Still, we weren't accustomed to staying up that late.  So, for me, that made the historic event even more special.  I remember Armstrong's words, when his left foot touched the moon's surface, "That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind."  I was ten years old then.  I was in the fifth grade at Nations Ford Elementary School.  We lived in an apartment on Old Pineville Road in Charlotte, NC.

Those were heady days.  Nixon had just replaced Johnson as president.  Seemed like there was an Apollo flight every few days.  At some point during all those flights, but very near to the Apollo 11 flight, I experienced my first solar eclipse.  Space was about the most interesting thing there was.  (That, the North Carolina Tar Heels, the Green Bay Packers, and Arnold Palmer).  I recall telling my fifth grade teacher that I wanted to be an astronaut when I grew up.  She replied that I'd have to be very good in math.  Hence, I think that was also the end of my aspirations for space. 

But I was always interested.  In second or third grade, I remember us watching the landing of one of the Mercury mission flights (maybe we watched more than one).  It was just what was done back in those days.  We stopped our work, the teacher wheeled the old Zenith black and white (perched atop a five-foot tall stand with rollers) to the front of the class, and we watched.  Gus Grissom, John Glenn, Alan Shepard, Armstrong, and Aldrin were names as familiar to me as Bart Starr and Johnny Unitas.

I vividly remember when Apollo 8 was orbiting the moon.  It was Christmas Eve, 1968.  I got a telescope for Christmas that year.  We were at Grandma Huffman's and I remember going out in the yard with my Uncle Ernest and trying to spot the spaceship.  I was able to view the moon through the lens, but I think I merely imagined seeing the spacecraft, if memory serves.  Besides, it was cold out.  Telescopes were cool, but watching the spaceflight inside, on TV, seemed to make more sense.

But, you know, I've never watched a Shuttle mission.  And I can't explain what happened to my interest in space.

Why?

Harvard University

Patrick Buchanan, whom I sometimes like and sometimes don't, writing for World Net Daily, laments the fact that the nation's elite colleges and universities discriminate against white conservative and Christians (the media's term for Catholics).  "Bias And Bigotry In Academia" blares the headline.  And, of course, all the latest research and studies are cited to substantiate these assertions as factual.

I don't disagree with Mr. Buchanan's facts; I simply ask why?  Why would conservatives, if they really are conservatives, and Christians, if they really are such, want to subject themselves and their money to four years in one of these, so called, elite institutions?  What's so conservative about that?  What's Christian about it?

Are these conservatives and Christians, so called, envious of a (name the institution) eduation?  Do they covet acceptance by the ruling class?  (I invite you to Angelo M. Codevilla's excellent piece on that subject, published in the July 2010 issues of The American Spectator).    If so, by what rights do they lay claim to the appellations of Christian and conservative?

The Little Man's Visit, Part I

Reading a Search and Find Book with Gramma

As an unplanned consequence of the birth of his little sister, Haydin is spending part of the summer with his Papa. Here's a recap of the first day of his visit.

The Little Man arrived in our dominions at about four AM, Wednesday and Gramma chose not to wake me. Instead, they went straight to bed and I didn't see the Little Man until supper time next day.  When I got home from work, I learned that he had sprayed gramma with the hose when they were at Minerva's watering her flowers. That was late afternoon. When I arrived, the two of them were in the kitchen, at the table, and it took me a minute to realize that something was wrong with Gramma's appearance. Her hair was all unkempt and sort of matted down, very much unlike her. It looked like she'd been in the shower with her clothes on. She told me to ask the Little Man what happened. But when I did, he just looked down and said, "I don't know." But, gradually, he owned up to what he'd done. Evidently, the two of them sprayed each other. They actually had a blast! Haydin thought it was way cool. And I would pay the price for this, later.

Do You Have a Weed Eater?

H/t to the editors.

Two Texas farmers, Jim and Bob, are sitting at their favorite bar, drinking beer. Jim turns to Bob and says, "You know, I'm tired of going through life without an education Tomorrow I think I'll go to the community college and sign up for some classes." Bob thinks it's a good idea, and the two leave.

The next day, Jim goes down to the college and meets the Dean of Admissions, who signs him up for the four basic classes: math, English, history, and Logic.

"Logic?" Jim says. "What's that?"

The dean says, "I'll give you an example. Do you own a weed eater?"