We were doing the usual December holiday ramp-up meeting, closing the first week to clear off the Turkey stuff and transition through the military commemorations and get back to the transition activities that are picking up steam. There was talk about the precedence of the Bronze Star medal, and if awarded with the little “V” device means actual physical danger suffered for the nation rather than just the emotional kind we should all get.

Which for the Salty Section of the Boomers in the Creative Section at Socotra House, must include a tip-of-the-topper reference to the Pearl Harbor attack. So, with the scuffling about the DoD nominations in progress people are engaged in what might be starting to happen in town next. Naturally, the Hegseth nomination has our attention since it has the nearest direct approach to the social circles we actually know or people who might want to buy neighborhood real estate.

But we will get back to that tomorrow after we dignify the memory of that December 7th long ago.

Vapor was a younger person when he was on the 3rd Fleet Staff in the Air Ops section of the N-3 shop. So, he gets to lead the little ceremony we have out on the porch to commemorate the event. DeMille has asked us to keep things a little more organized in the morning, so there will only be a symbolic toast offered with the last of the Queen of the Tetons whiskey that came earlier in the week and we will get on with the important analysis of the historic events in progress. The ones now.

Whatever those might be, but you can see why we were talking about Hawaii and how that place came to center the day. The Revolutionary Meds Delivery guy who services the Boomers stopped by with his woven fabric bag containing the monthly delivery prescriptions for Splash and Rocket. They come in individual large scrolls of plastic pouches, strung together in the general order in which they are supposed to be administered. He is a welcome balance to the conference table, since the Girls, Rocky and Emerald, started out as Vietnamese girls before they were moved here.

So, when the delivery guy announced he was going to be in Nanakuli over the weekend to visit family, that got us started on the roads and the skies and seas across the Pacific.

We had all passed through the Islands, of course. Vic’s kids (and one of the grand kids, he claims) were procreated on Oahu or Kauai, and we honor the vigor and spirit. Which led to the discussion about what is happening out there this morning.

There was a current messaging of the events in Korea. It apparently involves a brief declaration of martial law by an embattled President, and that is what brought back animated discussion of the last one of those in the Republic of Korea in 1980. Vic was there for that one, which included the riots that might have killed a thousand mostly student citizens down in Kwang-Ju as he still calls the university town of Gwangju.

Apparently that was a busy year, the one before living at Pearl Harbor where the Ford Island Ferry used to take him over to the Headquarters building from the Mainside base. Next to the hangar that got leveled and where the sea-planes were blown up. And past that battleship with the rusty turret ring that still lies where she sank that morning around the same time the ferry would pass by, the light soft and glowing as it merged the blue and green of sea and island behind it.

Yesterday’s situation in Seoul was described as a “self-coup by President Yoon Suk Yeol” and a “spectacular failure.” We can only claim to understand the last one a little better than this one, except that things seem to be OK and there are no North Korean movements, which as you might imagine gets things moving in the Conference Room- either to the galley for more coffee or juice- or to set fire to something out on the Patio.

That was as constructive as things seemed likely to get under cold still skies with the light rising. There is a lot of emotion about the Hegseth nomination, which is the one that has clearest impact on the circles around it and the most interest in who used to drink more than this morning or who likes women. And apparently vice versa.

That would preclude participation by anyone at the moment, and we naturally appreciate Melissa’s reminder to not directly criticize anyone still empowered with Article 88 authority, so she thinks just telling you that all that stuff is going on and it will probably be fine once someone figures out who is running the United States Government things will get a little easier to report.

That is like why the image of Congresswoman Beth Van Duyne is in the title graphic. Kristina wanted to use that one because it was Beth’s Chief of Staff who got robbed outside the Union Station on his way to her office by those two or three guys who were working the crowd of legislators on their way to The Hill which is sort of the opposite of the way the commuters work us.

She like the metaphor. We aren’t sure exactly what it is, but polling on site suggests we are onboard, you know. At least generally.

Copyright 2024 Vic Socotra

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