Checking in with the grunt, heading to the boss man's office

Dateline: SWA flight from Philly to Tampa, 11 October 2005

Second day of strategizing with Enterra seniors, capped off with the preview of a new PowerPoint pitch that was recently spruced up considerably by Enterra's newest employee and the man I had the pleasure of stealing away from the Naval War College, my old (and older) alter ego Bradd Hayes.

Okay, so we'll let him continue to consult with the college because it's the smart thing to do and it works all around. Bradd is just that talented.

But man, what Bradd did with this brief was supercool. His animation techniques have simply gone far beyond my own, and not that many years ago I was the master and he the apprentice. Watching this brief I felt like Obi Wan staring at Darth at the end of Episode IV. Ouch!

Then I suddenly remembered: Bradd put together almost 200 slides on BFA for me to choose from and bend to my will and I thought, "Strike me down and I will become more powerful than you can possibly imagine!"

It was almost enough for me to pull out my RF clicker and press the laser button . . .

Waiting for SWA flight tonight in Philly, had long phonecon with godson Jon, now a 2nd Lt. in WI National Guard unit finishing up his training in MS before heading over soon enough. It was a great talk that lasted about an hour. I could hear the chopper blades in the background and how his chuckle is nearly identical to my older brother's, his dad.

Jon will do well as a platoon leader. His younger brother Mike is over there now, pulling a more hazardous duty than Jon is likely to encounter, and we keep both very much in our family's prayers.

Jon was the first baby I ever held in my arms. You don't forget that.

Nice email from Mark Warren today, saying the China piece looks great and it hits newsstands any minute. I look forward to meeting up with Mark and his wife during my upcoming book tour stop in NYC.

I am flying down to Central Command's headquarters in Tampa tonight (MacDill Air Force Base). Tomorrow I give two briefs: one to the reps of the coalition militaries (something I had promised to do about a year ago when I was down in CENTCOM's J-5 divison (plans and policy) to wrap up an informal advising role I had undertaken on their long-range plans (a story I recount in BFA), and that promise finally came due.

Second brief will be a closed-circuit affair to forward-deployed senior officers. Last time I did a brief like that was also in Tampa, when I briefed special ops commands around the world for then Special Operations Command commander Gen. Schoomaker, now Army Chief of Staff (and someone I interviewed for the Rumsfeld piece). That one was on Y2K.

Frankly, I had low expectation of my promise ever being fulfilled. These guys are so busy in the here and now, what do they need with the visionary? Then I remember David Ignatius' piece on CENTCOM last December in the Washington Post, so you realize that sometimes it does matter, even to the busiest warriors, this vision thing.

Anyway, they called, I answered, and the concept of compensation was never raised. I expect these guys to do their best to take care of my nephews.

Yet another night away from home seems like a small price for me to pay, and yet I am growing more worried about my kids.

Here's the daily catch:

■ Gamers take the dismal prize

■ Farms subsidies again on the table?

■ For all the tea in China!

■ Northcom makes the inevitable proposal: standing domestic-capable SysAdmin force

■ March of the new polar rule sets

■ Islamist and female sits the new Afghan parliament

■ Bush recognizes a System Perturbation in Pakistan when he sees one--now

■ The Hillary swell begins--virtually on TV!

■ Bush's Africa policy underrated?