By now, most reliable readers of the Daily Socotra have become acquainted with the writings of some other authors who write about things that matter. My small effort to ensure they are seen beyond their normal circles was prompted by a digital crisis experienced by Marlow a few years ago.

He was attacked in cyber space, and the repository of his intensely vibrant personal stories- including the epic account of a motorcycle ride from Key West around the Four Corners of the good ‘ole USA- was feared lost.

I vowed then that I was going to do something to avoid the stabbing pain of losing the fruits of hours at the keyboard. Over time, I think I solved that personal problem, but realized there were other voices that needed to be hosted away from their vulnerable home IT systems.

That was part of why the Socotra site exists- to host data in servers in other states where there is a reliable back up. Down through the years since, The Cloud and multiple external hard drives have bolstered the number of back-ups required to defend from disk failure or invasion of malware.

I think we are good, at least until the NORKS do their Electromagnetic Pulse attack and we lose it all.

One of my pals prints everything he writes and saves the paper, just in case. One does what can in these strange times.

I am blessed to have some smart and talented friends. Marlow was the first to be added to the daily distribution and the web-site, since I have always loved his view of the world. Adding to the Socotra Stable of reliable voices, Arrias may be our most disciplined critical thinker, Jesuit-trained and resolute in telling the truth as he sees it in the lines allowed by his local weekly paper.

And then there is the latest addition, Japan-Gazer. He is the man who relieved me in World Famous Heavy Pursuit Squadron One Hundred and Fifty One, embarked in the legendary Midway Maru in Yokosuka, Japan. Our face-to-face acquaintence was brief. After a short turn-over in which I informed him that air intelligence for the squadron was a collateral duty, and for his real job he was expected to produce a daily and savagely accurate column about life in the Overseas Family Residency Program (OFRP) for the ship’s newsletter, the Midway Multiplex. He may have been puzzled at my passdown, but did not blink. Then, I walked down the brow of the carrier headed for the bus and further transportation across the Pacific out of Yokota Air Base and our paths diverged.

He stayed in Japan, and developed his superb analytic, lingual and cultural skills. I went on to follow the life-path of a shallow military careerist.

There are rewards to both career paths, but only the kind he pursued led to his becoming a national treasure. His career reminds me of Joe Rochefort and the other active Navy officers who were sent to learn the ways of our only Pacific peer competitor in the days before the great war in the Pacific. Japan-Gazer’s career was that, but on steroids.

He is still there, four decades on, and valued by the American and Japanese governments for constructively bridging the the chasm between cultures.

Accordingly, I am most pleased to announce this morning that his contributions to a great alliance, forged in the most desperate of circumstances, have been recognized by the Emperor.

I wish I could call Mac Showers and ask to think what he thought about this remarkable development. The news of it crackled across the internet this morning. Japan-Gazer himself remarked:

“I think I may be the first non-Flag Officer/General Officer (FOGO), working-class Navy Civilian to get one of these … I go to see the Emperor on 10 NOV (along with a cast of thousands) … Hope I fit into my black suit (sigh).”

= = = = = = = = = =

The announcement came in the way that things do in Japan. According to page 38 of the Japan Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Japan-Gazer has been approved for the award of a GOJ award/medal as follows…
= Decoration: The Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Rays with Rosette

= Reason: Contributed to strengthening relations and promoting mutual

understanding in the field of the national security between

Japan and the United States. Former Political Adviser and

Interpreter; Japan Liaison Office Commander, U.S. Naval

Forces, Japan

= Name: Japan-Gazer

= Age: 62

= Location: Yokosuka, Kanagawa, Japan

= Citizenship: U.S.A

God bless you, Japan Gazer. And thanks for what you have done to keep the alliance

strong, and WESTPAC safe!

Copyright 2017 Japan-Gazer and Vic Socotra

www.vicsocotra.com