But has PACOM read my China piece in Esquire?

As my old boss Hank Gaffney likes to muse, "Mebbe, mebbe not."

I snipped a bit in Pacific Command's direction in the China piece, but frankly I really like seeing Fox Fallon in that post. Having the Navy guy talk about mil-mil cooperation with China is serious "Nixon goes to China" stuff, so the man has a chance to make some real history here, and who doesn't want to do that?

Anyway, despite recently ratcheting up my speaking fees to cut down on the frequency (did same thing when PNM came out), the invites don't slow down. In fact, it only gets better/worse, depending on whether you're my accountant or my kids.

Not all offers come with offers, so to speak, and you get the private sector mostly to pay for the public one. But in certain situations the public side can make offers too (they have their ways), and so I get an invite from PACOM recently with modest fee attached.

Long way to go when you can make same or more much closer to home, but truth be told, PACOM is awfully hard to turn down no matter what, given what good and/or bad it could do in coming years with China.

Real issue here isn't money but time. Going to Hawaii is a lot of time, no mattter how you do it. Invite to CENTCOM or SOCOM in Tampa is a snap, because it's just 24 hours. But Hawaii is a commitment.

But here's how it works out so cool!

We had planned a family vacation in Hawaii the very same week of the invite! So we work something out that's fair to all sides: I get a great talk in, they get a great talk out of me, my family still gets me on vacation, and so on.

Life is rarely this fair to all involved, and I already look forward to this trip. Hawaii is a stunning place. Some of the coolest hiking you'll ever do.