Dateline: Portsmouth RI, 27 November 2004

As you might remember, I was given a couple of command coins from the Air War College and the Air Command Staff College when I visited Maxwell Air Force Base down in AL at the beginning of November, only to have them stolen with my wallet on the return trip home.

Maj. Tim Bergmann down there was nice enough to buy the two coins from the local base store and mail them to me. I requested he inform me of their price that I might repay him for his kindness, but he deferred, saying "No compensation necessary, just keep up the good work expanding our horizons!"

Yet another example of why I feel proud to have spent my entire adult career in this business working directly for the military. As someone who's spent a good twenty years thinking hard about war and peace, I've come to greatly appreciate the sacrifices of our military personnel, although I will confess I have learned more simply by living in military communities all these years than by performing the analysis per se.

America is a very lucky country, but that luck is the result of millions and millions of choices made each and every day by individuals to serve the higher cause that is America.