(The United States Embassy Paris, near the Place de la Concorde.) The US Embassy is an impressive pile of stone located near the bustling Place de la Concord. We were waved through the gate and the Captain slid the black Ford sedan into a parking place near the front entrance. We were waved in by […]

Part One Memorandum for the Director of Naval Intelligence The Pentagon, Washington, D.C. “May I take this opportunity of commending Mr. Duval for his efforts in this matter; without the knowledge of the French language, he was able to make contact with one of the cleverest band of Corsican counterfeit passers operating in the Mediterranean […]

(Main Gate to Fleet Activities Yokosuka, circa 1952.) I had to pass along the sad news about the passing of Tom “Big Smoke” Duval yesterday, and since there is no good obituary is available, I thought I would let him tell you something about his life and times. With the controversy over the water-boarding scenes […]

04 February 2013. LCDR Thomas J. “Big Smoke” Duval, USN-Ret., at a nursing facility in Berkeley Springs, West Virginia. Born in 1927, Tom made his home in the DC suburb of Arlington after retiring from active duty and joining the staff of the Office of Naval Intelligence and a second career in the shadowy Task […]

(The new green awnings are in. The motorized one will go to the right of the back door and should be in this week. These are intended to protect the door frames, which had to be replaced due to untimely rot. With the new storm doors, kitchen upgrade new pavers, flagpole, ship’s bell stanchion, garage […]

My telephone Lieutenant laid out the ground rules in the back seat of the private car he hired to get us down to Marvin. It was fairly specific, and I considered his points in the darkness of late February in the District. “Don’t hit on the Junior Officers.” “Aw c’mon. What if they hit on […]

I have been waxing hysterical about the impact of the dreaded Sequestration that will happen next week. I am quite right about that, but the more I look at the matter, it is taking on the aspect of Chicken Little’s admonition to the other residents of the farm yard. Yes, if the sky fell, it […]

I am screwed. I have a 1000 meeting at Joint Base Anacostia-Bolling, have not thought of anything witty or clever to say in a story this morning. There is no time to do so as a consequence of the disbelief at the dysfunction of this great nation I read about in the morning traffic. Most […]

I was talking to the Old Hippy at the building yesterday as he puffed a cigarette. He is one of those guys with the hair thinning on top but the long stuff on the sides still gathered up in a pony tail. Nice guy. Unreconstructed. We got to talking about the gun thing. Turns out […]

(Old Jim from file footage. Photo Socotra) My day was disrupted badly. It was strange enough a it was. It was a holiday, of sorts, with the Government taking the day off to honor the memory of Presidents Past, lovely brilliant sunshine, though cold. I was at the office dealing with some cyber issues. With […]