I don’t recall much about local coverage of the Carter Administration. I joined the Navy in March of 1977, and spent a year in an assortment of entry-level training. The most memorable figure in that interlude was Drill lnstructor hSSGT Ronald C. Mace, USMC, who remains one of the most memorable characters in any of the decades I have been on the planet.

But the absence of context to the current administration leaves me a bit at a loss. Mr. Carter’s tenure spanned the strange Jerry Ford period after Nixon left, accompanied by a wild enthusiasm for the Peanut Farmer from Georgia. He appeared to be a normal guy who was going to make everything normal again. Part of that included giving away the Panama Canal, a minor detail at this temporal distance, but it signified something then that some people felt uncomfortable about.

Those things come with change, of course. I am not hung up on that particular matter, but it was a big deal at the time, and provoked a couple trips down to Panama for me to get a feel for what was and what was suddenly not.

That is a parallel feeling a lot of us have now with the astonishingly bad planning- if any- that went along with our ouster from Afghanistan, now that it is in the hands of the Taliban. We are sending thousands of troops to try to correct the slight problem of an unknown but significant number of American citizens who remain. Their number is unknown, but significant. The most common numbers reported on the media is something over 10,000 citizens. We will either know more or less as the day wanders on.

Here in the Piedmont, it is gray and raining. A softer version of it from the moments when the front passed over, but insistent and penetrating. Like the news itself. This is a curious time for those interested in what is going on. You can imagine that the circle around the Loading Dock have a lot to say, some resentful at the inversion of what they think might be the truth. As a general rule, we have tried to stay away from ad hominem attacks on the national leadership, and will keep to that standard this morning as things play out. There is supposed to be an address on the various crises in progress later today, and we wish the President well on that.

At least it will be about one crisis that is immediate and now, as opposed to the crisis that was addressed at mid-week, the dread Pandemic. There was discussion about that. Rocket used to live in Japan, and they seemed to be rational about masking, leaving it up to the individuals to make a decision about wearing surgical protection when traveling on mass transit or dealing with other citizens. One of us is masked, by their own choice, and there is no conflict about that. Others have had COVID, or what they think was COVID, and still others took the jab because they feared the government might mandate compliance for purposes of travel across state lines.

There was continued discussion about that, though some of it was muffled by a bandana slung across a nose and mouth. Generally speaking, we support the right of any citizen to wear a mask if they feel a need to do so. As usual, though, the issue has been turned around to accuse people who have been vaccinated, or say they have, and want to live as normally as possible. Which led swiftly to a discussion of the nature of “normal.”

As best we know, only the N-95 mask actually has much efficacy against the virus said to be spreading wildly, but there is no specification on whether an ineffective covering actually complies with a public health need or a simple demonstration of compliance to an edict, whether it is effective or not. That is a matter that began a vigorous discussion during breakfast and threatened to continue through the editorial meeting.

The discussion naturally veered through the crises, since it is difficult to determine what is intended to attract or distract from the most important matter at hand. DeMille was logical about it, as usual. He said the situation in Afghanistan was about the same as removing the entire population of Culpeper County, 18,500 citizens as of the last census, distributing them randomly through the mountains of Afghanistan, and sending them an email directing them to report to the nearest operating airfield for evacuation. The last lines of the informative note expressed regret that the Government would be unable to provide secure transportation to do so. Nor did it specify whether masks were required for opposed travel, regardless of what type.

In the end, discussion from those who had served there in earlier times came to a sort of agreement on the matter, which generally indicated we were not willing to go back if we couldn’t come home. There was general laughter about constructing some sort of wall around the place, and more about a military operation that involved abandoning a relatively secure air base with a McDonald’s restaurant, multiple runways and secure defensive perimeter, evacuating well-armed troops without notice, and then having to send them back to rescue people who had not been informed of the departure.

We agreed that something so colossally unworkable might not be credibly marketed as a “plan.” Instead, we agreed that addressing a different problem of uncertain nature would suffice to remove attention, sort of like dispatching the Vice President to Hanoi. We did an internal poll which supports the donning of some sort of masks to show our support.

And muffle any complaints. But only if we actually left the property.

Copyright 2021 Vic Socotra
www.vicsoctra.com