A Cappella on Glee

As a fan of a cappella, I like this Glee-souped-up a cappella rendition of Train's pop-catchy "Hey Soul Sister" by the all-male Dalton Academy Warblers.



Eric

Quick word: With DADT repealed, return of ROTC to Columbia is next

Yesterday, the Senate passed DADT repeal. Good.

The follow-up issue is Ivy ROTC. Immediately after DADT repeal, mainstream journalists contacted the presidents of the prestigious universities that lost ROTC during the Vietnam War about ROTC returning to their campuses. Their responses, including by President Bollinger, were promising.

Soapboxing ROTC rhetoric during the DADT era was easy. With the DADT block gone, now it gets real. The hard part for ROTC advocates is just beginning. The devil is in the details: buy-in from the needed university and military decsion-makers, course credits, faculty status, campus space and facilities, recruitment, operating costs, etc., etc., etc.. A viable business model for Columbia ROTC will be key. General David Petraeus on institutional change:

Now, as anyone who has been involved in transformation knows, change can be hard. It can be challenging. And it can be frustrating. Inevitably, all institutions resist change to some degree--even when all recognize that change is needed.

Eric

Columbia 5 drug bust

In yesterday's titillating scandalous news from Alma Mater, 5 Columbia students were arrested on campus for selling MDMA (AKA ecstasy), marijuana, Adderall, LSD, cocaine, and other drugs, like DMT and amphetamines. More up-the-minute reporting at bwog.com. MDMA, marijuana, and Adderall seem like drugs commonly used by college students. LSD and DMT are less common and a step up in risk, but still not surprising. Cocaine is the heavy hitter. Apparently, only one of the students sold cocaine and is facing the most serious charges.

I don't use drugs, but in college, I nevertheless had a peripheral sense of widespread drug use on campus and I wondered sometimes how students knew where to get it. I had (and have) no idea how to buy drugs, even the seemingly ubiquitous marijuana.

I believe if alcohol and tobacco products are legal, then marijuana, which I believe to be less dangerous for similar effect, should also be legal. But what is legal doesn't always seem right, and what seems right isn't always legal. The law is the law, and they're smart kids - they knew, or should have known, the risks they were taking.

FYI, as of this posting, all 5 students are still in custody in the Tombs according to VINE and the NYC DOC websites. Odd in the case of Michael Wymbs because the news reports said his parents attended his arraignment, hired a very expensive defense attorney, and were prepared to pay his bail. 1:40 pm Update: Wymbs is out, the others are still in.

Eric

Hyundai Christmas song commercials

The cute girl singing and playful guy on instruments with light-hearted antics featured in the new series of Christmas-themed Hyundai commercials are Nataly Dawn and Jack Conte of Pomplamoose. Look up their music on youtube. Yep, cute girl. They're a couple - lucky guy. Precious jewels.

Eric

Cool website of the day: thaddeusrussell.com

I took Professor Thaddeus Russell's class at Barnard in spring 2005. It is one of the few classes I took at Columbia that changed how I see culture and society.

Eric

Amazing Race Season 17 Episode 10

TWOP, my go-to site for Amazing Race episode recaps.

On last night's episode, Nick and Vicki came in last place and quit on the detour, which earned them a 6 hour penalty. It turned out to be a non-elimination leg which means they'll get their last place start time, a speed bump, plus a 6 hour penalty. Normally, that would be the end of them for the race. But the time penalties may be wiped out since they're flying to Korea for the next leg, which means it's possible that the wait for the next flight out will eat up the entire time penalty and only leave them with a speed bump in Korea. I agree with this episode recap that Nick and Vicki should be out of the competition for quitting. Instead, they may hardly suffer for it.

Previews for next week's episode looks like it will involve a lot of Army-related activity in Korea, which will be nostalgic, even though soldiers don't wear BDUs anymore.

Eric

Warm flashes in leg

The last several weeks, I've been getting occasional warm flashes on my lower right leg. Not uncomfortable, but odd, especially when it happens while I'm swimming in the cool water of a pool. I searched on-line and this may be the answer: Peripheral Neuropathy.

Information pages:
http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/peripheralneuropathy/peripheralneuropathy.htm
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/peripheral-neuropathy/DS00131

Eric

Patchwork colors on Empire State Building

Tower lights: 11/18 - 11/21/2010 Private Lighting


Eric

Quote of the day

Rick Atkinson, An Army at Dawn - The War in North Africa 1942-1943, p 377:

Having participated in several catastrophic defeats himself, [British General Harold Alexander] should have recognized that defeat sometimes carried annealing and even salutory properties. A great sorting out was under way: the competent from the incompetent, the courageous from the fearful, the lucky from the unlucky. It would happen faster in the American Army than it had in the British.

Eric

Sullivan Ballou's Civil War letter

** Bumped up from original 29OCT04 posting in honor of Veterans Day 2010. **

US Army Major Sullivan Ballou wrote this letter to his wife Sarah on July 14, 1861, made famous by Ken Burns' poignant presentation in the Civil War documentary series with the backdrop of the haunting Ashokan Farewell. On July 21, MAJ Ballou was mortally wounded in the First Battle of Bull Run (aka Battle of First Manassas). His letter has become definitive of the American citizen-soldier, as well as great romantic literature.

Add 29MAY11: youtube clip from the Ken Burns documentary:



Link to the full letter (there are slightly different versions on other websites)

My very dear Sarah:

The indications are very strong that we shall move in a few days -- perhaps
tomorrow. Lest I should not be able to write you again, I feel impelled to write
lines that may fall under your eye when I shall be no more.

Our movement may be one of a few days duration and full of pleasure -- and
it may be one of severe conflict and death to me. Not my will, but thine O God,
be done. If it is necessary that I should fall on the battlefield for my
country, I am ready. I have no misgivings about, or lack of confidence in, the
cause in which I am engaged, and my courage does not halt or falter. I know how
strongly American Civilization now leans upon the triumph of the Government, and
how great a debt we owe to those who went before us through the blood and
suffering of the Revolution. And I am willing -- perfectly willing -- to lay
down all my joys in this life, to help maintain this Government, and to pay that
debt.

But, my dear wife, when I know that with my own joys I lay down nearly
all of yours, and replace them in this life with cares and sorrows -- when,
after having eaten for long years the bitter fruit of orphanage myself, I must
offer it as their only sustenance to my dear little children -- is it weak or
dishonorable, while the banner of my purpose floats calmly and proudly in the
breeze, that my unbounded love for you, my darling wife and children, should
struggle in fierce, though useless, contest with my love of country?

I cannot describe to you my feelings on this calm summer night, when two
thousand men are sleeping around me, many of them enjoying the last, perhaps,
before that of death -- and I, suspicious that Death is creeping behind me with
his fatal dart, am communing with God, my country, and thee.

I have sought most closely and diligently, and often in my breast, for a
wrong motive in thus hazarding the happiness of those I loved and I could not
find one. A pure love of my country and of the principles I have often advocated
before the people and "the name of honor that I love more than I fear death"
have called upon me, and I have obeyed.

Sarah, my love for you is deathless, it seems to bind me to you with mighty
cables that nothing but Omnipotence could break; and yet my love of Country
comes over me like a strong wind and bears me irresistibly on with all these
chains to the battlefield.

The memories of the blissful moments I have spent with you come creeping
over me, and I feel most gratified to God and to you that I have enjoyed them so
long. And hard it is for me to give them up and burn to ashes the hopes of
future years, when God willing, we might still have lived and loved together,
and seen our sons grow up to honorable manhood around us. I have, I know, but
few and small claims upon Divine Providence, but something whispers to me --
perhaps it is the wafted prayer of my little Edgar -- that I shall return to my
loved ones unharmed. If I do not, my dear Sarah, never forget how much I love
you, and when my last breath escapes me on the battlefield, it will whisper your
name.

Forgive my many faults, and the many pains I have caused you. How
thoughtless and foolish I have oftentimes been! How gladly would I wash out with
my tears every little spot upon your happiness, and struggle with all the
misfortune of this world, to shield you and my children from harm. But I cannot.
I must watch you from the spirit land and hover near you, while you buffet the
storms with your precious little freight, and wait with sad patience till we
meet to part no more.

But, O Sarah! If the dead can come back to this earth and flit unseen
around those they loved, I shall always be near you; in the garish day and in
the darkest night -- amidst your happiest scenes and gloomiest hours -- always,
always; and if there be a soft breeze upon your cheek, it shall be my breath; or
the cool air fans your throbbing temple, it shall be my spirit passing by.

Sarah, do not mourn me dead; think I am gone and wait for thee, for we
shall meet again.

As for my little boys, they will grow as I have done, and never know a
father's love and care. Little Willie is too young to remember me long, and my
blue-eyed Edgar will keep my frolics with him among the dimmest memories of his
childhood. Sarah, I have unlimited confidence in your maternal care and your
development of their characters. Tell my two mothers his and hers I call God's
blessing upon them. O Sarah, I wait for you there! Come to me, and lead thither
my children.

Sullivan

- Eric

The battle for the soul of the region continues in Iraq

In today's news, from the BBC, Iraq attacks: Dozens die in series of Baghdad blasts.

What Tom Barnett said in 2004 about Operation Iraqi Freedom continues to prove true:

Disconnecting the great disconnector from the Gulf’s security scene is only the beginning of our effort, because now Iraq becomes the great battle field for the soul of the whole region. That second victory will be far more difficult to achieve. Our efforts to integrate Iraq into a wider world will pit all the forces of disconnectedness in the region against us. Therefore we must enlist the aid of all the forces of connectedness across the Core—not just their troops but their investment flows and their commercial networks.

America needs to demonstrate to the Middle East that there is such a thing as a future worth creating there, not just a past worth re-creating, which is all the bin Ladens will ever offer Muslim populations—a retreat from today’s diminished expectations. If America cannot muster the will—not to mention the Core’s aid—to win this struggle in Iraq, we will send a clear signal to the region that there is no future in the Core for any of these states, save Israel.

Related: Columbia political science professor Richard Betts explains the grand strategies whose shifting lens can be used to understand a complex security landscape.

Eric

Goal: explore the great parks of New York City

I watched the excellent documentary Blueprint New York City Parks about New York City's great parks, one for each borough. It is now my goal to hike/explore Manhattan's Central Park, Brooklyn's Prospect Park, Staten Island's Greenbelt Park, Queens' Flushing Meadow-Corona Park, and Bronx's Pelham Bay Park.

Eric

Why US troops will continue to be needed for 3D

3D is defense, diplomacy, and development. Tom Barnett recently posted about it. A case in point illustration in today's Washington Post.

Eric

SNL Classic: Eddie Murphy's White Like Me

Thanks to Shane.



Eric

DADT repeal in the Defense budget bill

H.AMDT.672 (A019)
Amends: H.R.5136
Sponsor: Rep Murphy, Patrick J. [PA-8] (offered 5/27/2010)

AMENDMENT DESCRIPTION:
Amendment repeals "Don't Ask Don't Tell" only after: (1) receipt of the recommendations of the Pentagon's Comprehensive Review Working Group on how to implement a repeal of DADT (due December 1, 2010) and (2) a certification by the Secretary of Defense, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs and President that repeal is first, consistent with military readiness, military effectiveness, unit cohesion & recruiting, and second, that the DoD has prepared the necessary policies and regulations to implement its repeal. The amendment also includes a 60 day period after certification before the repeal takes effect.

AMENDMENT PURPOSE:
An amendment numbered 79 printed in House Report 111-498 to repeal Dont Ask Dont Tell only after: (1) receipt of the recommendations of the Pentagon's Comprehensive Review Working Group on how to implement a repeal of DADT (due December 1, 2010) and (2) a certification by the Secretary of Defense, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs and President that repeal is first, consistent with military readiness, military effectiveness, unit cohesion & recruiting, and second, that the DoD has prepared the necessary policies and regulations to implement its repeal. It would also include a 60 day period after certification before the repeal took effect.

STATUS:

5/27/2010 8:29pm:
Amendment (A019) offered by Mr. Murphy, Patrick. (consideration: CR 5/28/2010 H4055-4056, H4062-4063; text: CR 5/28/2010 H4055-4056)
5/27/2010 10:08pm:
On agreeing to the Murphy, Patrick amendment (A019) Agreed to by recorded vote: 234 - 194 (Roll no. 317).

ADD: CU Prof Tanya Domi and others: We are determined to see legislative repeal this year.

Project Runway Season 8 semi-finalists

April was eliminated in the last challenge. I called it: Mondo, Andy, Michael, and Gretchen are going to Fashion Week at Lincoln Center, although one more will be eliminated when they come back to New York City to narrow down to the three finalists.

April was set up for failure. She was praised all season for making dresses in the same style and then was slammed for it at the end. Mondo once again breezed through, but I got the sense he was coasting. It's time to see his final collection. Andy's textured wet look was sleek. Gretchen's skirt was nice, but the top and jacket were lost. I thought Michael was going to lose because his flowy black dress was too simple, but he won the challenge.

Eric

The Last Patrol by 2 Charlie

Read it: November 2010 Atlantic magazine The Last Patrol by Brian Mockenhaupt.

Iraq is to Europe as Afghanistan is to the Pacific?

Eric

Thoughts of the day

Local treasure: Church of the Guardian Angel, a Catholic church and school at West 21st street and 10th Avenue. For quiet quirky NYC scenery, try walking from the West Village to Chelsea. I need to do it more.

Port 10 has a rooftop lounge with outdoor projection screen theater.

Valerie Mayen of Project Runway, Amanda Baumgarten of Top Chef, and Heather Chittum of Top Chef Desserts seem like nice girls.

Michelle Wie's blog.

Former supermodel Paulina Porizkova on Aging.

For its student-veterans, Columbia named as a military friendly school by G.I. Jobs.

Classic movie moment: Death of Spock (Star Trek II Wrath of Khan).

"From hell's heart I stab at thee ..." - Ahab, Khan, Monty Burns.

Jeremy Lin, playing for his hometown Warriors, made his first NBA preseason appearance last week.

In other Taiwanese-American pop news, good luck to Michael and Kevin Wu on Season 17 of the Amazing Race.

I would have preferred them getting together on the Knicks, but I still look forward to watching James, Wade, and Bosh play together for the Heat this season. James received a lot of criticism for joining Wade's Heat, but I don't agree. He was a free agent and took advantage of the opportunity to join his Redeem Team teammates while they're still in their prime. It came together for them. When you get a once-in-a-lifetime chance to achieve something special, you grab it or regret it.

Last week's episode (Season 8, Episode 11) of Project Runway showcased Ivy Higa bullying Michael Costello. Earlier in the season, before her elimination, she had turned all the contestants against him. I've dealt with venomous women like Higa in the workplace - you can't reason with them.

What does Duke '10 grad Karen Owen's faux thesis about her college sexual experiences say about the premise of 'strict liability' date rape laws? Related, Owen gives weight to disheartening views of modern women. A man's got to be a man: Why I Left My Beta Husband.

Words of the day: Neoteny and Ephebophile.

Lion King's opening number, Circle of Life. Image of lion pride in background inspires, 'Wait, what?' thought. King has harem. King has son, let's call him Simba, with mate1, where Simba has dad's Y and mom1's X, call it X1Y. King has daughter, let's call her Nala, with mate2, where Nala has dad's X and mom2's X, call it X2X. So, while Simba and Nala are half-brother and half-sister sharing a father, they don't actually share genes. Which makes their marriage not gross?

Rest in peace, Sir. I enjoyed hearing about your Vietnam War experiences with GEN Westmoreland. I'm sorry your daughter and I didn't work out.

Eric

Mail Order Wife (2004)

I checked out fake documentary, or mockumentary, Mail Order Wife on Hulu.com. Exaggerated, sure, but the isolation, desperation, and venality of the characters strike enough chords to be very depressing. There is no redemption in the story.

Eric

Thoughts of the day

Alexandra Palmer stands out as the best model, a class of her own, on this season's (Season 8) Project Runway. As far as the designers, I think Mondo Guerra will win; he's in control of his craft, consistent, and has the most innovative style. Andy South's style is as unconventional as Guerra's, but he's hit or miss. Michael Costello and Gretchen Jones should round out the last four finalists.

Swimming is good. Just make sure to shower afterwards.

Check out these faithful performances of South Park songs by Berklee College students.

Ouch. A female college student columnist tells it like it is.

One week until the big Hamilton Society event. My contribution.

Rent: Seasons of Love. Simple and stirring.

R.I.P. Leona Weiner.

Eric

Cool website of the day: Dragonlance Nexus

Dragonlance Nexus.

Eric

Ninth anniversary of 9/11

In light of current events on this year's anniversary of 9/11, my The Power of Diversity column, published in the Columbia Spectator Friday 9 November 2001:

In our war against terrorism, diversity should be the greatest strength of the American people. Our country is not defined by any ethnicity or religion. We share a concept of country that embraces every person, no matter where he traces his family’s roots. Every language, every culture, every religion, every ethnicity, and every race of the world can be found in our American mosaic. To fight this war, our country should be able to draw upon an abundance of diverse human resources.

We have been raised, however, to think of our differences as a source of conflict. Politically correct culture has tried to downplay our differences when we should cherish our diversity and recognize that it makes us stronger people. Now that peacetime discourse has been replaced by wartime necessity, we have the opportunity to transform American diversity from a source of domestic conflict into a powerful weapon. The nation demands the unity of the American people in confronting our common enemy, but the diversity of the American people is the key to American victory.

Osama bin Laden, on his side, views our diversity as a weakness. Where President Bush has continually affirmed that the war on terrorism is not against Muslims, Osama bin Laden has defined the war along unmistakable ethnic and religious lines. His voice is louder than America’s voice in the Muslim world, and he has succeeded in winning the sympathy of many Muslims.

The United States has taken the lead in the war against Osama bin Laden’s terrorism, and we have the capability to defeat him. When isolated, the terrorists amount to no more than a radical fringe of particularly sophisticated bandits. But we cannot defeat terrorism if Osama bin Laden succeeds in polarizing Muslims against America. The war against terrorism is, in large part, a psychological war; therefore, winning the hearts and minds of the world’s Muslims is essential to the American war effort. Fortunately, within our diversity, we find a powerful weapon in the psychological fight: millions of Americans who are gifted with the right language, culture, and religion to appeal to the world’s Muslims on America’s behalf.

In building his terrorist organization, Osama bin Laden has proven to be an astute student of history and a master of propaganda. He appreciates the power of hate and has chosen the United States to be the scapegoat of his hate-driven campaign, much like the way Adolph Hitler once chose Europe’s Jews to focus his efforts. Terrorism represents a virulent form of destructive hate that is every bit as effective as Nazism in 1930s Germany. Like Hitler, Osama bin Laden has presented himself as an avenger of past wrongs, thus masking his murderous actions with pretences of a false victimization. Even as he defiles Islam, kills thousands of innocents, and foments a war that causes massive destruction among those he claims to represent, Osama bin Laden, by manipulating legitimate grievances, has successfully won the sympathy of many Muslims who would otherwise be in the best position to stop him. The unfortunate people who have chosen to support Osama bin Laden, such as the Taliban, are also victims of terrorism. In the unavoidable human cost of America’s battle against terrorism, the supporters of Osama bin Laden will pay the same penalty as the Nazi supporters in World War II.

Muslim Americans are in a unique position to aid the American war effort, both at home and abroad, while diminishing the overall casualties of the war. At home, many non-Muslim Americans lack an understanding of Islam and Islamic culture, which has allowed the fear generated by the terrorist attacks to have a deep impact on our country, particularly Muslim Americans. By engaging in the American war effort and educating non-Muslim Americans about their religion and culture, Muslim Americans can unify and strengthen the American people, while also negating the caustic fear that serves the terrorist enemy. As the face and voice of America abroad, Muslim Americans can effectively combat Osama bin Laden’s propaganda campaign in the Muslim world. By convincing the world’s Muslims to support America and not the terrorists, Muslim Americans can save many lives: those who do not support Osama bin Laden, after all, will not die on his behalf.

In our American diversity, we find our greatest advantage over the terrorists and our nation’s key to winning this war. All Americans share the same duty of service to our country. Muslim Americans, however, have a special opportunity to serve their country with a unique set of skills and abilities. With this war, Muslim Americans hold the power to change the course of American history, and in doing so, to join the annals of the greatest American heroes. Muslim Americans, in essence, have been given a rare chance to create a permanent niche in the hearts and minds of America.

Eric

Dan Henninger: If Saddam Had Stayed

From WSJ.com 02SEP10: If Saddam Had Stayed.

Eric

Needs of the Nation: ROTC at Columbia University and the Quadrennial Defense Review

Posted at Securenation.

Part I: Capabilities and Capacity introduced Columbia University in New York City as the ideal partner for ROTC to produce officers with the capabilities and capacity called for in the 2010 Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR). Needs of the Nation is quilted entirely from QDR text to provide a contextual basis for the partnership, while the links match QDR-identified needs to Columbia sources to further illustrate the investment potential of Columbia ROTC for the nation:

"The Secretary has directed that investments be increased in certain capabilities that have been in consistently high demand and have proven to be key enablers of tactical and operational success." (pp 20-21)

"The Department will work to ensure that all its educational institutions are resourced and staffed with the right mix of civilian and military experts who can help prepare the next generation of leaders." (p 54)

America’s men and women in uniform constitute the Department’s most important resource. (QDR p 49) Our recruiting efforts are long term investments that can yield generational gains. (p 51) Prevailing in today’s wars while working to prevent future conflict depends on the Department’s ability to create and sustain an all-volunteer force that is trained and resourced to succeed in the wide range of missions we ask them to execute. (p 49) The Department must continue developing innovative programs to attract qualified young men and women into the Armed Forces. (p xii)

Many of our authorities and structures assume a neat divide between defense, diplomacy, and development that simply does not exist. (p 74) A series of powerful cross-cutting trends, made more complex by the ongoing economic crisis, threatens to complicate international relations and make the exercise of U.S. statecraft more difficult. The rising demand for resources, rapid urbanization of littoral regions, the effects of climate change, the emergence of new strains of disease, and profound cultural and demographic tensions in several regions are just some of the trends whose complex interplay may spark or exacerbate future conflicts. (p 7) Although many efforts to protect the United States are led by other federal agencies, including the Department of Homeland Security, the role of the Department of Defense in defending the nation against direct attack and in providing support to civil authorities, potentially in response to a very significant or even catastrophic event, has steadily gained prominence. (p 18) Perhaps more than ever before, the United States requires joint military forces able to function and succeed across a wide geographic and operational spectrum. Moreover, military forces must be capable of working effectively with a range of civilian and international partners. (p 7)

Our enemies are adaptive and will develop systems and tactics that exploit our vulnerabilities. (pp 20-21) The Department will continue to work to ensure that America’s cadre of commissioned and noncommissioned officers are prepared for the full range of complex missions that the future security environment will likely demand. Too often, a focus on weapons acquisition programs and overall force structure crowd out needed attention concerning how the Military Departments generate, train, and sustain their leaders. As part of our commitment to ensure that tomorrow’s leaders are prepared for the difficult missions they will be asked to execute, DoD will place special emphasis on stability operations, counterinsurgency, and building partner capacity skill sets in its professional military education and career development policies. (p 54)

Examples of DoD efforts in this area include: Building expertise in foreign language, regional, and cultural skills. We will continue our emphasis on enhancing these skills in general purpose force officers during pre-accession training. Given the inherent link between language and cultural expertise and mission success, this area requires continued focus. (p 54) Operating in partnership with host nation security forces and among local populations puts a premium on foreign language skills and regional and cultural knowledge. Today’s operating environment demands a much greater degree of language and regional expertise requiring years, not weeks, of training and education, as well as a greater understanding of the factors that drive social change. (p 30)

Preventing conflict, stabilizing crises, and building security sector capacity are essential elements of America’s national security approach. (p 75) Stability operations, largescale counterinsurgency, and counterterrorism operations are not niche challenges or the responsibility of a single Military Department, but rather require a portfolio of capabilities as well as sufficient capacity from across America’s Armed Forces and other departments and agencies. Nor are these types of operations a transitory or anomalous phenomenon in the security landscape. (pp 20-21)

Accordingly, the U.S. Armed Forces will continue to require capabilities to create a secure environment in fragile states in support of local authorities and, if necessary, to support civil authorities in providing essential government services, restoring emergency infrastructure, and supplying humanitarian relief. (pp 20-21) The Department recognizes that in order to ensure that enhancements developed among security forces are sustained, the supporting institutions in partner nations must also function effectively. This ministerial training mission is being conducted in Iraq and Afghanistan today by military officers, contractors, and members of the Department’s Civilian Expeditionary Workforce. (p 30) Ineffective governance can create areas that terrorists and insurgents can exploit. Circumstances are ripe for violent ideologies to spread among a population when governments struggle to provide basic services, justice and security, or the conditions for economic opportunity. Civil affairs forces address these threats by serving as the vanguard of DoD’s support to U.S. government efforts to assist partner governments in the fields of rule of law, economic stability, governance, public health and welfare, infrastructure, and public education and information. Because of their linguistic and cultural skills, civil affairs personnel often serve as liaisons to reduce friction between our military forces and the civilian population. (p 17) Efforts that use smaller numbers of U.S. forces and emphasize host-nation leadership are generally preferable to large-scale counterinsurgency campaigns. (p 28)

DoD is also growing its cadre of cyber experts to protect and defend its information networks and is investing in and developing the latest technologies to enable our forces to operate in cyberspace under a wide range of conditions, including in contested and degraded environments. (p 38)

The wars we are fighting today and assessments of the future security environment together demand that the United States retain and enhance a whole-of-government capability to succeed in large-scale counterinsurgency, stability, and counterterrorism operations in environments ranging from densely populated urban areas and mega-cities, to remote mountains, deserts, jungles, and littoral regions. In some cases, it may be in the U.S. interest to help strengthen weak states, including those facing homegrown insurgencies and transnational terrorist and criminal networks or those that have been weakened by humanitarian disasters. Moreover, there are few cases in which the U.S. Armed Forces would engage in sustained largescale combat operations without the associated need to assist in the transition to just and stable governance. (pp 20-21)

In addition to ongoing conflicts, the United States faces a complex and uncertain security landscape in which the pace of change continues to accelerate. Not since the fall of the Soviet Union or the end of World War II has the international terrain been affected by such far reaching and consequential shifts. The rise of new powers, the growing influence of non-state actors, the spread of weapons of mass destruction and other destructive enabling technologies, and a series of enduring and emerging trends pose profound challenges to international order. (p 5)

The challenges facing the United States are immense, but so are the opportunities. (p 97) As noted above, in this dynamic security environment U.S. forces must continue to adapt. America’s Armed Forces have a long history of devising creative solutions to new challenges and this spirit of innovation will be essential as we further evolve and rebalance the force in the years to come. (p 47)

-----------

In conclusion, the Secretary of Defense has made clear: in the complex and evolving security environment, America needs to produce military leaders able to adapt on a full spectrum. Columbia hosts other innovative cross-cutting programs, such as the Earth Institute, that rely upon the special reach and multi-dimensional resources of a global flagship university in a world city. ROTC at Columbia is a rare opportunity to create a partnership that rises to the needs of the nation with an evolutionary officer program that draws upon everything Columbia University in New York City has to offer.

* See Part I: Capabilities and Capacity.

Eric

Wikileaks leak an opportunity for frank discussion

Posted at Securenation.

President Obama is justified in brushing aside the classified war documents posted on Wikileaks as less than a revelation for the nation's political discussion, while also deploring their boon to the enemy and the increased danger to our soldiers and allies. Most experts who have reviewed the documents agree with the President.

The trove of classified war documents, however, is impossible-to-ignore authoritative evidence. But of what? The implications are open to interpretation, and eager opponents of the Afghanistan mission are already spinning the data to press their case for hasty American and NATO withdrawal from Afghanistan. For much the same reason that Afghanistan's opponents tout the leak as game-changing, Wikileaks has given President Obama the opportunity to hold a long-overdue frank discussion with the American people about Afghanistan and the War on Terror.

The President, like his predecessor, has opted to deflect the most disturbing parts of the Afghanistan mission from the American people. Doing so perhaps has protected the mission from reaching a tipping point of popular opposition, but it has also undermined popular understanding of the war and its stakes. As a result, as some war veterans have commented sarcastically, the military has been at war since 9/11, while the country has been at the mall.

In the long run for a long war, an inadequate understanding of the war by the American people cannot sustain the level of national commitment we need to succeed. The media is already reporting growing discontent with Obama's Afghanistan "Surge", despite that the execution stage of the President's strategy has barely begun. It's time for President Obama to put away the platitudes he inherited from President Bush. Instead, Obama should hold a Melian dialogue with the American people to explain the war’s harsh realities and complexity according to his context as our nation’s leader, so we can deliberately weigh the alternatives as he must. Now that the secrets are in the open, the President can fully make the case that the War on Terror deserves our dogged determination for the foreseeable future because of, not despite, the grim struggle.

A favorite quote of mine from Esquire writer Tom Junod explains the challenge of sustaining America's will to win at war and the essence of the Wikileaks affair:

The moral certainty that makes war possible is certain only to unleash moral havoc, and moral havoc becomes something the nation has to rise above. We can neither win a war nor save the national soul if all we seek is to remain unsullied--pristine. Anyway, we are well beyond that now. The question is not, and has never been, whether we can fight a war without perpetrating outrages of our own. The question is whether the rightness of the American cause is sufficient not only to justify war but to withstand war's inevitable outrages. The question is whether--if the cause is right--we are strong enough to make it remain right in the foggy moral battleground of war.

President Bush allowed his narrative of the War on Terror to be drowned out. The Wikileaks leak has given President Obama the opportunity to convince the American people our cause in Afghanistan is still right and we are strong enough to make it remain right in the foggy moral battleground of war.

Thoughts of the day

People are tribal. The world is competitive.

Disturbing story about political correctness attacking Hunter High School. Victimhood is too powerful. The trend is weakening our country. People should rise to the standards. Standards should not be lowered and diluted to create the false appearance of equal achievement. Our country can't afford the illusion anymore.

The number of jobs shrink while outsourcing (rich get richer) and illegal immigration go up, collective and individual debt, US priced out of global marketplace, welfare state (free riders) - how can we retain and expand value creation and production within the country and reverse the destruction of the upwardly mobile middle class?

PBS's Need to Know seems pretty fair - I liked their report on Afghanistan.

Sounds right: The holy fucking grail of chickianity is the drama-free, faithful, feminine and beautiful babe.

Eric

Life plan

South Park once again hits home on the essence of a popular flawed way of thinking, this time with the great underpants gnomes: "Phase one - collect underpants, phase two - ? (silence), phase three - Profit!" That pretty much captures my life plans. Act in the present, have long-term hopes, but have no plan to connect phase one to phase three.



Eric

Jeremy Lin signed by NBA team

Jeremy Lin has signed with his hometown Golden State Warriors.

I'll be following Lin's NBA career with much interest as a fellow 1st generation Taiwanese American. He's exceeded initial expectations at every stage of his basketball career, so there's reason to believe he'll succeed in the NBA, too.

May Jeremy be a credit to our tribe.

Eric

Cool website of the day: web.archive.org

Think that link to a cool but deleted webpage is dead forever? Try searching for it at web.archive.org. For example. It doesn't seem updated past 2007, though.

Eric

Thought of the day

Comparing my heart-broken stuff to MRA/PUA self-improvement stuff, what stands out is that the idealistic vision of a soulmate has guided my decisions. Yet despite the failure and hurt, I haven't changed my mind. The problem is everything else follows from the premise and it seems the premise is wrong. So I have nothing. I want it, yet I get older, and hope dims with the setting sun. From Thoreau's Walden: "The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation. What is called resignation is confirmed desperation."

Eric

The traitor Bradley Manning

From AP story Alleged Army whistleblower felt angry and alone: Manning wrote he had copied onto compact discs "possibly the largest data spillage in American history" while listening and lip-synching to Lady Gaga's "Telephone." He wrote that he exploited "a perfect storm" of military computer vulnerability: "weak servers, weak logging, weak physical security, weak counterintelligence, inattentive signal analysis."

The Bradley Manning story is particularly galling because he's a 96B Army intel analyst, my old job. That means he held a TS/SCI (top secret with access to sensitive compartmentalized information) clearance, as I did. He was given a grave trust and responsibility by the Army. As an intel troop, it was Manning's duty to protect the information to which he had access.

Manning says he exploited weaknesses? Manning was the weakness he exploited. He betrayed his trust and shamed 96Bs and the Army intelligence community. A harsh example should be made of him.

Eric

A vision of officer training from S.M. Stirling's Necessity

Disciplined. Pragmatic. Tactically and technically proficient. Esprit. Initiative. Innovative. Thinkers. Learners. My hope is Columbia ROTC produces officers with a synthesis of the best of the military and the academy. A good reference for my hope is described in Necessity by S.M. Stirling, War World Vol. 1 The Burning Eye, created by Jerry Pournelle, pp 227-233:

(History:) After the breakup of the CoDominium and the virtual depopulation of Earth, Jarnsveld's Jaegers (JJ) found its original functions more and more redundant as the local militias and national conscript army grew in size and effectiveness. Gradually it assumed a new role as an elite, all-volunteer cadre and rapid-deployment "fire-brigade" unit.
. . .
(Recruitment:) Most of the Jaegars are "younger son" types. Service tends to be traditional in certain families, and is also attractive to the restless (travel offplanet, otherwise rare for Frystaaters), the eccentric (the regiment is very much a world to itself, and is tolerant of anything that does not interfere with the mission), and the ambitious (those who survive two terms are eligible for land grants and interest-free loans).
. . .
(Organization:) The basic tactical unit is the five-trooper "stick." Above this level all groups are expected to have "plug-in" capacity, able to combine and shift as need and opportunity dictate.
. . .
Training, Tactics, and Philosophy:
A few typical sayings:
"The guns are clean; the troops are ready to fight; everything else is bullshit."
"Winning battles by attrition is to the art of war as a paint-by-numbers kit is to the Mona Lisa."
"You don't win by killing the enemy, but by breaking their hearts and making them run."
"We are not a numerous people. Our casualties are expenditures from capital, not income."
"Quality defeats quantity; maneuver defeats mass."
"Outsmart them. There's always a way."
"Win. If you can't win, cheat. There are no rules."

Frystaat military thought holds that the one basic problem of war is uncertainty. A commander cannot really be certain of anything, from the behavior of his own troops to the accuracy of his maps. You can never tell what the opposition is going to do. Furthermore, once engaged no amount of real-time communication equipment will save you from the "fog of war." Even if the machinery works with unjammed perfection, it still tempts superiors to risk information overload, which paralyzes decision making.

Historically there have been two approaches to this problem. One (exemplified by pre-Napoleonic Prussia, the 20th-century Soviet Union . . . ) attempts to reduce the uncertainty by simplification. Training and discipline are repetitive and rigid; a tactical manual lays down all the acceptable answers; initiative is forbidden; battle plans are rigidly adhered to regardless of circumstances. "Nobody thinks, everybody executes" (Frederick the Great). This system is characteristic of states with small, paranoid elites and large, expendable, but untrustworthy masses of subject cannon fodder. A typical feature of such systems was the KGB automatic-weapons units that followed Soviet troops into battle, machine-gunning stragglers. Soldiers, divisions, and even entire armies are treated as fungible goods, like ammunition.

The other approach accepts, embraces, and attempts to use the "fog of war." This involves a radical decentralization of command authority, trusting those closest to the information to use it properly. Plans are treated as a basis for creative improvisation. Flexibility is cultivated, the capacity to "roll with the punch," winning by shock and psychological dislocation rather than simply chewing up the enemy's men, machinery, and units.

Certain qualities are implicit in this method: really good staff work, not mere formula-following; high unit and individual morale; meticulous training in tactics; training that is intelligently understood, rather than followed by Pavlovian rote. Rarest and most precious of all, the combination of discipline and individual initiative. Historical examples would include such units as Rogers' Rangers, the S.A.S., and the Long Range Desert Reconnaissance Group. In terms of armies, the post-Von Seekt German Army and the Israel/Dayan Zahal. In terms of philosophy, Liddell Hart's/Gerasimov's "indirect approach."

Forces of this type require a different ethos, a "band of brothers," rather than "Fear your officer more than the enemy" (Frederick the Great). It also requires a different type of recruit, people who already have well-integrated personalities and the capacity to work intelligently in groups. They still require hard training and respond to the traditional motivators (primary-group identification, unit esprit), but not to the hammer-them-flat approach necessary to turn "scum of the earth, enlisted for drink" (the duke of Wellington) into reliable soldiers.

This conflict of styles has always existed. However, post-gunpowder technological and tactical developments have generally favored the second type. First, increased firepower forces tactical dispersion. Until the middle of the nineteenth centurey, armies could literally march into battle shoulder to shoulder. This kept every soldier under the eyes of his officers, his NCO's, and (just as important) his comrades. Napoleon's armies were larger than Frederick the Great's, but he could still oversee the entire course of a battle from a hilltop, and battles lasted no more than three days.

Industrial-era productivity permitted armies too large to oversee in the old sense, but the generals were still unwilling to admit the need for dispersal on a battlefield dominated by firepower. This was not merely conservatism. They knew that the training system was designed for the traditional battlefield, and there was no way of telling what would happen if the men were turned loose. Furthermore, they knew that dispersed operations required more and better training.

The turning point was the First World War. In 1916, the British sent their troops forward at the Somme in long rows, walking upright. This produced 60,000 casualties and no gains in a single day. The soldiers were short-term volunteers, and their commanders had no faith in their ability to perform any but the simplest military tasks. Ironically, these enthusiastic, comparitively well-educated volunteers were better suited to flexible tactics than the slum dwellers and dispossessed Irish peasants of the British regular army!

Later in the same war, the German Army (usually less conservative than its opponents) organized many of its best divisions into "Storm Troops" (a title later made odious by the Third Reich). These were trained to operate in small, self-sufficient groups, infiltrating the enemy lines instead of battering at them, attacking weakness instead of rather than strength. Pockets of resistance were isolated and left for the follow-up elements; the aim was to pierce rather than push back the enemy front and reach the "soft underbelly" of administrative and logistics units. It was an infantry version of what, when mechanized, became known as "blitzkrieg."

Needless to say, Frystaat has always favored the second type of army, with the Jaegers the distilled essence of the whole philosophy. An army of aristocrats, self-motivated, they are the product of an environment that has been culling weakness of its human inhabitants for more than five centuries. They are also an army of supreme pragmatists, fighting with a cold, intelligent ferocity, uninterested in fripperies or "gallant last stands."
. . .
p 246 The Band operated by Frystaat military custom, although scarcely a dozen were of that breed. That meant a tradition of small-unit work, without an elaborate administrative structure: Initiative was not encouraged, it was demanded, and that meant information had to be widely shared.
. . .
pp 260-1 "I was a history student, originally," he said. "And we Frystaaters don't have much use for that 'tin soldier' shi . . . er, foolishness."
Ilona chuckled. "Frystaat's an . . . odd place, from what I've heard. Aristocratic republic, but the underclass aren't allowed arms at all. Combat units are all gentry and their retainers, so officers aren't social superiors, just . . . how did you say it, Piet?"
"'Functional specialists.' Expected to lead by example and force of personality. Still, people need some ritual, a sense of belonging. . . . I'm familiar with the way my homeworld's military build loyalty and solidarity, and it works, so . . ." he shrugged.

Eric

Capabilities and Capacity: ROTC at Columbia and the Quadrennial Defense Review

Posted at Securenation.

“America’s men and women in uniform constitute the Department’s most important resource. Prevailing in today’s wars while working to prevent future conflict depends on the Department’s ability to create and sustain an all-volunteer force that is trained and resourced to succeed in the wide range of missions we ask them to execute.” (p 49)

The 2010 Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR) is the Secretary of Defense’s “capstone institutional document” that establishes the “policy and programmatic foundation that will enable the next generation to protect the American people and advance their interests.” (QDR p 97) The QDR's guidance in reshaping the military responds to the demand “America’s Armed Forces rapidly innovate and adapt—the Department’s institutional base must do the same” (p xiv) in a “complex and uncertain security landscape in which the pace of change continues to accelerate.” (p 5) The QDR is clear that readying the force for the challenge requires "innovative programs to attract qualified young men and women into the Armed Forces" (p xii) and reforming how military leaders are developed.

Columbia University, with its gifted students and rich combination of first-tier university and New York City resources, offers an ideal partner for ROTC to "recruit personnel with specialized skills" (p 51) and "ensure . . . officers are prepared for the full range of complex missions" by "enhancing these skills . . . during pre-accession training." (p 54) Recognizing officers need greater academic breadth and depth to be "better prepared to assume the responsibilities of waging war, peacekeeping, stabilization, and other critical missions carried out by our military" (H.R. 5136 p 5), the Department of Defense has already responded with the Alternative Commissioned Officer Career Track Pilot Program to facilitate their advanced education. In the same vein, cultivating an officer corps with the capabilities identified by the QDR necessitates the best possible intellectual foundation for military leaders. The Department of Defense, therefore, has a compelling interest to produce officers with greater capacity and a strong academic grounding in the formative pre-accession (cadet) stage of their development. ROTC at Columbia meets that need.

As it does today, much of the weight of future missions will fall on young officers. In the short term, Columbia-educated lieutenants and captains who developed broader capabilities and capacity as cadets will be better equipped to “rapidly innovate and adapt” to unpredictable challenges. Over the long term, their strong academic grounding will lead to commensurately greater acquisition of capabilities and capacity growth over the course of their military careers. The QDR’s forecast of politically sensitive efforts using smaller numbers of both special operations and general purpose forces (QDR pp 28-30) further emphasizes the growing need for individually exceptional officers.

Where the QDR seeks to ensure “educational institutions have the right resources and faculty that can help prepare the next generation of military leaders” (p xiii), Columbia provides “one of the world's most important centers of research and at the same time a distinctive and distinguished learning environment for undergraduates and graduate students in many scholarly and professional fields.” (Columbia University mission statement) Where the QDR describes a heightened need for a full spectrum of engineering, scientific, medical, computer, foreign language, regional, cultural, and other skills, Columbia offers excellent programs in all those areas within a full spectrum of world-class academic departments. Beyond the university's abundant resources for cadets, Columbia "recognizes the importance of its location in New York City and seeks to link its research and teaching to the vast resources of a great metropolis." (CU mission) For Columbia, ROTC graduates fulfill the university's expectation of alumni "to advance knowledge and learning at the highest level and to convey the products of its efforts to the world." (CU mission)

ROTC will be home at Columbia. Columbia has the largest population of student-veterans in the Ivy League and alumni group Columbia Alliance for ROTC has the express purpose of supporting ROTC at Columbia. Growing calls to restore ROTC on campus have come from students, professors, alumni, campus organizations and publications, and university leaders. After years of dormancy, Columbia is reviving its long military tradition, reminded by the martial memorials spread around campus. Columbia's famous Core Curriculum, required for College undergraduates, was designed as a classical foundation for officer education. The standard-bearer for Columbia officers is founding father Alexander Hamilton and his lifetime of visionary, innovative leadership in and out of uniform. The Alexander Hamilton Society, the campus group for cadets and officer candidates, invokes his heritage.

Columbia is New York City's premiere university, and there would be substantial symbolic value for the military in the return of ROTC to the Columbia campus. Moreover, a ROTC program at Columbia would solve the military's absence of ROTC within Manhattan, which has poor access to ROTC despite hosting the highest concentration of college students in the country. Near Columbia are Barnard College, a premiere women’s college, and City College, GEN Colin Powell's alma mater and the flagship CUNY.

The QDR concludes “[t]he challenges facing the United States are immense, but so are the opportunities.” (p 97) With the establishment of a ROTC program at Columbia, the military has the opportunity to form a valuable 21st century partnership with a global flagship institution in New York City.

* Go to Part II: Needs of the Nation.

Eric

Thoughts of the day

The Cathedral and the Bazaar (source: chicagboyz) is by a software programmer about his experience with open source development. "Cathedral" is the metaphor for traditional development by a small group of experts. "Bazaar" is the open source development by a community, where form takes shape sort of like the chaos theory of Jurassic Park. How can open source be applied elsewhere?

War World Vol. 1 The Burning Eye is the 1st book of a "future history" science fiction series created by Jerry Pournelle. I recommend the book; I should look up the other volumes in the series. Two of the stories in the book, "The Deserter" (p 54) by Poul Anderson and "Necessity" (p 227) by S.M. Stirling, stand out. "The Deserter" is about a legendary officer in a military of a crumbling interplanetary empire at war. He has been stationed in a garrison on his home planet, but when he realizes his unit and the empire are leaving his planet for good, he deserts in order to protect his home in the chaotic post-imperial period. When the duty to home and family in troubled circumstances at home contradicts with soldierly duty to a troubled nation, especially in a forward-deployed imperial military, what is an honorable man to do? Perhaps Anderson had in mind the southern USMA cadets and Army officers who defected to the Confederacy in the Civil War. Today, the US is not an empire, but a wounded hegemon of a besieged world order. At what point will our honorable soldiers find their greater duty is at home? In "Necessity", Stirling thoughtfully describes the military heritage of the fictional Jarnsveld Jaegers the way I think our military should be. When I think what can be accomplished with Columbia ROTC, Stirling's vision comes to mind.

Another depressing post from Roissy that hits closer to home than usual. I would have rejected his kind of thinking once upon a time. It still upsets me today. But I'm resigned to the growing undeniable proof he's right. Not all of it, maybe, I still stubbornly hold onto some hope, but enough. At least I know the way I favor is wrong. Oh, and another one is married with children. The sun is setting, like in one of my childhood favorite computer games, Lords of the Rising Sun (youtube clip).

Reproductive Medicine Associates of New Jersey advertises on the PATH train for women to have children using other women's eggs. Their ads ask for egg donors between ages 21 and 30.

Too bad the Celtics lost the NBA finals. I liked what they were about. Pierce, Rondo, Garnett, Davis, Perkins . . . an intense, gritty, skilled, veteran, and champion-proven team. They got up 3-2, took the Lakers to 7 games, and played Game 7 their way in LA, up 15 points in the 3rd quarter, but just didn't have enough in the end - too old, Perkins hurt, Allen's offensive game disappeared. It was a special play-off run for the Celtics; I don't think this Celtics group has another run to the finals.

Mets are 10 games over .500, leading the wildcard standings, and 1.5 games behind the Braves. The Braves aren't giving up the division lead. Both teams have been hot at the same time and beating top AL teams. The Phillies are keeping up with them by beating top AL teams, too. [27June10 update: Mets win and Braves lose, so Mets are .5 games behind the Braves again.]

Boondocks is a very sharp show. Comparison and high praise: it's in the South Park class. Kudos to Aaron McGruder. I don't agree with all his politics (eg, he buys into the wilfully ignorant OIF anti-war narrative), but I appreciate his activism and like that he is critical with insight. The show's opening theme song by Asheru stirs with activism: "I'm a remain a soldier until the war is won."

Chivalry, Bushido, RoE, MPRC. Legal is not right and right is not legal. When the choice is either follow the rules to defeat or do what it takes to win, what do we do? See Dan Simmons' Hyperion story about Colonel Fedmahn Kassad's abandonment of the New Bushido in order to turn around a losing war against the Ousters, thus earning the label Butcher of Bressia.

Saw it on the PATH: MacLaren makes a heck of a baby stroller.

Guilty funny: The Tard Blog.

A GOP volunteer on the street informed that a Michael Chan is running for Congress. I can't find anything about him on-line, though.

Eric

Glen Davis like a soldier

In Celtics-Magic Game 5 of the Eastern Conference Finals, May 26, 2010, Glen Davis was hit hard in the face by a Dwight Howard elbow and suffered a concussion. Despite his obvious disorientation from the concussion, Davis tried his best to get back on his feet and into the play. By giving the utmost of himself to continue mission, Davis showed a soldier's ethic.



Eric

Memorial Day 2010 at Soldiers and Sailors monument

Yesterday, I was at the Soldiers and Sailors monument at 86th st and Riverside park to watch the Memorial Day ceremony. The sailors and marines are from the contingent visiting the city for Fleet Week.



Eric

Seen from my window: painted ad on building at 8th ave & 34th st

The building at 494 (or 496) 8th Avenue on 34th Street, just past Madison Square Garden, displays ads on its south side. I assume the space is owned by Lamar given the painted Lamar label beneath the ads. What makes the ads special are their size, at least 10 stories high, and they aren't factory-made posters draped on the building; they're painted by hand using the pulley-operated platforms used by window washers.

According to this website, ""The Wall" is the largest painted wall ad in New York City. Located at 496 8th Avenue, at 34th Street, this 8-story building overlooks the heavily trafficked area of Penn Station and Madison Square Garden. [Note: Just counting the floors on the adjacent buildings as a yardstick shows the ad takes up more than 8 stories.] On a clear day, the billboard can be seen from 20 blocks down 8th Avenue. It is 225 feet high and 95 feet wide. It's stated that a half ton of enamel paint is used in each mural. It costs upwards of $175,000/month for advertisers to rent the space. Most murals use 4 painters and can take up to 12 days to paint each mural. Most murals remain for 1-3 months before design/advertisers change."

I think every ad is an over-sized work of art that exceeds highly acclaimed modern art. Yet the ads are taken for granted as part of the NYC midtown landscape.






Eric

Cool website of the day: youku.com

There are foreign versions of youtube, such as soku.com and youku.com. They aren't limited by US copyright law, although you cannot open (most) videos that violate US copyright law from a US site. Still, you may get lucky (eg, FG's The Rose). And if you're willing to watch an otherwise barred video in, say, Russian (eg, RoboCop), then you may just find it.

Eric

Mets in 1st place!

A week-and-half ago, the Mets were in last place, not hitting with runners on base, and generally looking a lot like the incompetent Mets from last season. It looked like another lost season and Mets fans were grumbling. Last night, with the Mets double-header sweep over the Dodgers and the Phillies loss to the Giants, the Mets climbed into 1st place, a .5 game over the Phillies.

Because it's happened so suddenly, the Mets streak to first has been a surprise. Unplanned for happenings is one reason why sport is such great entertainment. In the midst of the expected, sometimes the stars and planets align.

Who knows whether the Mets bats really are waking up and how long the Mets can stay in first or keep up the great pitching and winning baseball, but for today, Mets fans can enjoy the gift.

Add: Mets swept the Dodgers today to finish up the homestand at 9-1 with a 7 game winning streak, moving from 4-8 and last place to 13-9 and 1st place in the division. Phillies won today, too, so the Mets lead stays at .5 game. After both teams get tomorrow off, the Mets start a 3 game set in Philly on Friday. Who knows if the streak will add on or end in Philly, but we at least get to enjoy the gift for another day.

Something to watch out for: Ike Davis, who has played very well over-all since being called up, may have stone hands at 1B. His scouting report says he has soft hands, but a few foul pop-ups have bounced off his glove and he's missed making the pick on a few off-line throws (e.g., Reyes' throwing error today) that a soft-handed major league first basemen should suck up.

Eric

"Oh my god, f**king man up, Conor!"

War of the Roses is a radio skit by the The Kane Show that takes listener requests to prank call suspected cheating SOs over the air. There's some suspicion the calls are scripted, especially the calls that play out as perfectly pathetically as this call (11/09/09).

With the radio host's help, the boyfriend Conor has the stage set perfectly. His despicable girlfriend Audrey fell right into the trap. She was caught and knew it. She was ashamed and resigned to the coming storm. Conor seemed worked up and ready to roar with righteous anger. Then, in his moment of redemption, with all male listeners cheering him on . . . wait for it . . . he begged her. "What?!", the radio host’s shocked disgust spoke for all men. Audrey's contempt for Conor overflowed. Hilarious stuff; you feel bad for the guy, but it was truly a pitiful unmanly display.

A woman dating coach comments on Conor.

Eric

Summer 2002 Vision Statement: Military Veterans of Columbia University

Note: Outside of Oscar Escano fresh from OEF I, the milvets who started MilVets in 2002 were pre-9/11 veterans. Nonetheless, not yet a year after the 9/11 attacks, I was motivated by the war veterans who would soon be enrolling at Columbia. I strongly believed they deserved a student-veterans group ready to welcome them when they arrived on campus. In my mind, the group was meant more for them than for us pre-9/11 vets. (Over the years, I've taken a deep breath and reminded myself of this whenever a fellow milvet who's also a war vet pissed me off.) I often discussed the war veterans aspect at the time, so I'm surprised I didn't explicitly state that reason in my summer 2002 vision statement - I thought I did. Anyway, what I said in my vision statement applies to them, too.

Vision Statement: Military Veterans of Columbia University.
By Eric ******, 27 August 2002

My seminal motivation for MilVetsCU is a simple one: as a former soldier and as a current Columbia student, I believe that there should be a student club like this at Columbia. There is every positive reason to form this club and no negative reasons.

1. Social group: Because of General Studies, Columbia probably has the largest concentration of veterans in the Ivy League. Factor in the graduate schools, non-American veterans, and the scattering of veterans in the other undergraduate programs; military veterans probably constitute the largest special interest population at Columbia that isn’t represented by its own student club. My experience tells me that veterans come to Columbia seeking a new challenge after years of honorable service, to remake themselves as Ivy League students. While some veterans return to military service by their own choice, by and large, they are not at Columbia to relive their military days. They find a home at Columbia that fulfills their intellectual expectations, but they also find – often to their surprise – that their military service has imprinted itself upon them. By inclination, especially after years in uniform, many veterans are protective of their own individuality, but at the same time, they discover that military experience gives them a shared bond. On a level forged by earned experience, they are understood by and understand their fellow veterans in a way that is often hard to communicate with other classmates. The military is, in fact, its own American community with its own cultural influence. As much as any group of students organized along a special interest, veterans deserve their own organization at Columbia.

2. Practical benefits: Because of the years given over to military service, veterans are older, more mature, perhaps with a different perspective, and are usually financially independent. Many veterans begin attending Columbia shortly after leaving the military, which can be a culture shock and a significant lifestyle adjustment. Similar to Columbia students in general, many veterans are not from the New York City area. The added maturity of veterans alleviates the transition process somewhat but the assistance of experienced classmates who understand their special needs always helps. As such, like any student club, a military veterans group can function as a support group and a network of resources that serves the veteran-student well beyond the initial transition from soldier to student.

3. A unique resource: Columbia’s veterans, whether former soldiers, marines, sailors or airmen, represent a special, hard-earned pool of knowledge, perspectives and experience within the Columbia community. The military has an essential historical, cultural, political and social role in our society; the Columbia student body would be well-served by a focal point of classmates who have “been there and done that.” As many veterans have noted, shocking ignorance about the military seems to prevail among otherwise intelligent and well-informed Columbia students. Grossly offensive stereotypes that would be unacceptable if applied to any other group seem to be accepted as a matter of course when applied to the military. In any era, but especially in the growing uncertainty of today’s world, it is vital that Columbia’s graduates leave this institution with a better understanding of and respect for the military. While it cannot and should not be the only answer to ignorance at Columbia, an organization of military veterans can greatly aid this institution’s mission of preparing graduates as informed members of society.

4. Pluralism ideal: Columbia University aspires to be a pluralistic institution that promotes the best qualities of a diverse society. The promise of that ideal attracts military veterans to Columbia University. Indeed, veterans are well acquainted with the benefits of diversity from serving in the military, and many veterans have served overseas. Sadly, Columbia University has had a shameful record of anti-military discrimination since the 1960s, perpetuated by a minority of actively anti-military students and even the administration itself. The Military Veterans of Columbia University would be an important agent for restoring true pluralism at Columbia and healing the 40-year-old wound to Columbia’s proud traditions.

Bonus. For military veterans only, a calling: The School of General Studies allows our relatively large veteran population at Columbia, and that makes Columbia unique in the Ivy League. At present, there is a fledgling military advocacy effort at Columbia and an older effort at Harvard being undertaken by non-military students and ROTC cadets. Ladies and gentlemen, ROTC cadets are not military veterans. I commend their efforts to represent the military on campus and I feel our groups ultimately have a shared purpose, but bottom-line, it is our place as veterans to represent the military, not theirs. The military is far more than just ROTC. At Columbia, as students and as veterans, we have an opportunity to advocate for the military that is unique across this country. Furthermore, the Columbia name carries weight, and the difference we make on this campus will resonate far beyond Morningside.

The Vietnam War ended 30 years ago, and it is past time we closed that chapter of American history. There is no better place to do that than in the nation’s cognitive centers and memory banks, elite universities like Columbia. 30 years equals 3 decades of cultural upheaval and 30 (!) different generations of college students. Things have changed more than we realize, and I think our campus is ready for change. I believe we are merely agents of history – we are discussing this group now simply because it’s the right time for it.

After a year at Columbia, I am convinced that Columbia’s military veterans constitute a special breed of student, the elite class of an elite class. We have an opportunity to make a difference. In the words of the immortal poet, the times -- they are a-changin'.

Relief of solitude

The New York Times discusses Embracing a Life of Solitude. I can identify with the longing for the relief of the simple peaceful quiet life, free of the demands, tensions, exhaustions, expectations, competitions, struggles, fears, worries, confusions, constructs, and complications of living in society among people. I have that fantasy. For companionship, maybe add a dog. Maybe add a mate and, with her, my child or children. Yet, I'm studying to be a lawyer, which is just about the occupation most intertwined with the grinding machinations of society and the tangled affairs of people, because a part of me still wants to make the world a better place. It seems like a self-destructive contradiction, but perhaps the desire for a perfected world is not entirely contrary to the desire for a life of solitude. Of course, if the world cannot be perfected and I can no longer tolerate the world as it is, then quitting is the only choice left.

EXCERPTS:

Edward Griffith-Jones: “We live in a world where everything is so specialized, now people don’t know how to make anything, they don’t know how to survive,” he said, speaking by cellphone from the forest. “I’m not completely self-sufficient, but I’m learning.”

David Glasheen: In the city, he said, when you need something, “you pick up the phone and everyone comes running. This is an environment where you have to be independent. Most men can’t handle it either.”

--- That's the first problem: I'm born and raised a coddled city kid who lacks even basic Boy Scouts survival skills. I'm too dependent on society. Disconnecting from support networks (the Matrix - ha) requires learning how to be a self-sufficient survivalist even if I embarked on a life of solitude with modern comforts.

Edward Griffith-Jones: “I have to collect firewood, rather than do some job that I have no idea what is the point, which I hate, and from which I am completely alienated,” he said. “Everything in my life feels full of meaning.”

--- The upside of deprogramming as a social derivative and reprogramming as an independent individual. Yes, I know it's hard to be self-sufficient. I took Econ 101 in college; I understand why people banded together to escape the Leviathan and develop relatively secure, stable, specialized, and efficient societies. But we pay for everything we get and we have to pay for everything we desire.

David Glasheen: There is an inherent conflict between the peace of total solitude and the pleasures of companionship, he admitted. “It’s literally like living in heaven on Earth,” he said of the island, but “I guess I could say I’m desperately lonely sometimes.”

--- Speaking from my own experience, that's the second problem: yearning loneliness competes with the relief of solitude. Then again, that particular problem may resolve itself.

Eric

"New" Domino's pizza . . . not really

The supposedly revamped Domino's pizza doesn't taste different from the old version except the crust now tastes like the Domino's garlic sauce that came in plastic cups.

The concept of poor customer feedback spurring a redesign of the pizza is a neat idea for an ad campaign but it doesn't help the brand when the actual pizza doesn't deliver on the advertised promise. Domino's pizza wasn't bad to begin with - the kind of assembly line factory pizza you soak in hot sauce. It still is.

Eric

New York Times: A Wall Street Invention That Let the Crisis Mutate

Wanna get angry? Read this. Makes me want to do something about it.

Eric

Letter to my fellow advocates for Columbia ROTC

To my fellow advocates,

Columbia ROTC advocacy positions are largely based upon abstract concepts like expanding civic virtue and shrinking the civil-military divide. Most of us are ROTC advocates because we believe in those concepts. However, I believe we must look beyond the abstract and convince decision makers and other influential people to support ROTC at Columbia with compelling interests and tangible benefits.

Columbia ROTC was once the nexus of a university-military partnership that philosophically and practically molded generations of American civil and military leaders in the unique tradition of Alexander Hamilton. The Hamilton Society, with Columbia's present-day cadets and officer candidates, invokes that heritage. In the 4 decades since the acrimonious divorce, however, both the university and the military have left the partnership behind. Columbia must be convinced that reuniting with its forgotten partner is more valuable than the status quo. Towards that end in recent years, a revival of Columbia's military tradition has begun among students, alumni, and professors. For the military since the dissolution, ROTC has devolved from producing distinctly Columbia officers to producing interchangeable officers with the same factory standard. As a result, ROTC graduates - unlike service academy graduates - are viewed equally whether they hail from a flagship institution like Columbia or small humble schools like North Idaho College and University of Maryland Baltimore College. Under the current ROTC system, the military doesn't differentiate among host schools according to quality and reputation. Instead, an ROTC program is judged by an accounting standard, whether an acceptable number of second lieutenants are produced at an acceptable price, with consideration for factors such as the host's comity with the military, racial diversity, and regional coverage. For our advocacy, the consequence of the military's current standard is that the strengths of ROTC at Columbia, as we see them, are not considered advantages by the military. Meanwhile, Columbia's high costs, estrangement, and suppressed cadet numbers are considered glaring flaws. During the same period our advocacy has been a hard slog, the military has awarded ROTC programs to small humble schools like NIC and UMBC with ease.

I conclude - suspect - that Columbia will be considered a poorly qualified candidate to host ROTC as long as we are judged by the accounting standard that awards ROTC programs to schools like NIC and UMBC. So, we have a choice: continue to struggle to convince decision makers on ROTC at Columbia under a standard that is practically anti-Columbia, or attempt to change the standard that's applied to Columbia so that Columbia's strengths are viewed again as tangible benefits, rather than marginal factors.

Granted, the DADT block is obscuring everything else, so I cannot be certain at this point that the military and Columbia cannot resolve their differences and agree on ROTC under current conditions. My fellow advocates seem to believe that negotiating known issues like academic credits, faculty status, and scholarships will be the first step, while deciding program features is a second-stage issue. I disagree. To paraphrase the Bollinger 2008 statement that handicapped the NROTC poll, the university's demurral to revisit the status quo is persuaded by the military's current disinterest (see below) in starting a program at Columbia. In effect, the status quo is synergistic. To win their commitment to a program on campus, we need to excite decision makers on both sides with a plausible vision of ROTC at Columbia. Or else, without the incentive of compelling interests and tangible benefits from the outset, the military and university likely will fall short of the first stage of talks, or their talks will begin and end with a reiteration of their current positions. If after DADT the two sides fail to reach a common ground for change, I don't know that we'll be able to convince them to try again.

Time.com Why the Ivy League is Rethinking ROTC Dec 18, 2008: Moreover, even if Bollinger did let ROTC on campus, the Pentagon may not allocate funding to start training there, according to spokesperson Eileen Lainez. Students who are so inclined can continue to participate in Army ROTC and Air Force ROTC at nearby colleges.

New York Times The R.O.T.C. Dilemma Oct 26, 2009: Yet even if the Harvards and Yales decided tomorrow that they wanted R.O.T.C. back, it’s not clear that would happen anytime soon. Army R.O.T.C. has 273 host campuses, serving an additional 1,256 colleges; Navy R.O.T.C. has 72 hosts serving 86 additional colleges. Whether the military would welcome the holdouts as host campuses or keep them as satellites might have to be battled out politically one day.

Washington Times Ousted ROTC may go back to school Mar 23, 2010: The Pentagon's Ms. Lainez said the military services have not approached a large number of schools in the post-Vietnam era to open new ROTC programs. . . . "The current infrastructure is sufficient to both produce the desired number of commissionees, and … there is abundant opportunity for interested students to participate," she said.

In sum, I believe our abstract arguments aren't enough to convince the decision makers. Columbia fits poorly with the military's current standard for ROTC, and the military's disinterest impacts on Columbia's position. Therefore, establishing compelling interests and tangible benefits for ROTC at Columbia and applying a standard that favors Columbia's strengths are prerequisites for constructive negotiation between the university and military. The DADT review gives us a 1-2 year window to convince them and other influential people that our goal is worth becoming their goal, too. Whatever strategy we choose for our advocacy, a clearly conceptualized vision of ROTC at Columbia is important as a reference point to define our course and measure our progress.

Working notes on establishing compelling interests and tangible benefits for ROTC at Columbia:



Sell the opportunity, not chastise nor lecture. Maintain affirmative tone. Plausible clearly conceptualized vision of ROTC at Columbia. Address the letter jointly to both parties in order to foster notions of Columbia-military partnership and joint responsibility for the situation and solution.

1 Set value context: model and standard-bearer for Columbia officers is Alexander Hamilton with his exemplary leadership of nation in and out of uniform. Include VIP, eg POTUS and GEN Petraeus, statements about ROTC at Columbia. Image: 'Love Cherish Defend It' from inscription at base of American flag on Low Plaza. Refer to proud NROTC et al's CU military history and tradition.

2 KEY POINT to reframe value: MUST DEVELOP in-depth analysis tying the February 2010 Quadrennial Defense Review to Columbia; wed the military's most advanced vision of mission (QDR) with Columbia's highest vision of purpose (flagship institution); show Columbia's global perspective matches the military's global perspective. See the August 2010 independent QDR review panel report. Also see the joint USN/USMC/USCG A Cooperative Strategy for 21st Century Seapower (2007), the Army Capstone Concept (2009) and Army Operating Concept (2010). Differentiate ROTC at Columbia from generic ROTC programs. Emphasize that ROTC at Columbia is a rare and precious opportunity to create a new forward-thinking innovative program that draws upon world-class university resources and top-quality students in a global city. Analogize the potential of ROTC at Columbia with prestige programs like the Earth Institute.

3 Package existing assets: Core Curriculum is purpose-designed as a classical foundation for officer education. Broadly, Columbia's world-class university resources, large pool of diverse top-quality students, and full spectrum of university undergraduate and graduate departments and majors. New York City resources. Saltzman Institute for War and Peace Studies.

3-a Package existing assets, living Columbia military community: Hamilton Society, a campus cadets and officer candidates group that is a ready expandable base for a fraternal 'corps of cadets'. The largest population of student-veterans in the Ivy League. Active-duty officers in graduate programs. Columbia Alliance for ROTC, an alumni group including many veterans organized to support ROTC at Columbia.

3-b Package existing assets, supportive environment: ROTC advocacy has grown organically within Columbia from students, alumni, and professors supporting the military on campus. Increasing institutional support for military on campus, such as statements by university leaders (eg, Trustees Chair Bill Campbell), participation with Yellow Ribbon program, Columbia War Memorial, military commissioning ceremonies on campus (with pics), discrimination policy amended to include "military status" as protected category. Multiple Spectator staff editorials supporting ROTC at Columbia. DADT cited as only significant bar to university support of ROTC.

4 Highlight added value: Symbolic and public relations value of new ROTC at flagship institution Columbia in New York City. ROTC in NYC: no current ROTC program in Manhattan NYC. Close by are Barnard, a premiere women's college, and CCNY, the flagship CUNY and Colin Powell's alma mater. Nearby Central Park and Grant's Tomb offer additional resources.

Perhaps include 'why ROTC at Columbia' statements addressed jointly to CU and military, from university leaders, professors, students, and alumni (similar to the Hamilton Society testimonials that are addressed to Columbia students).

Perhaps include a brief summation of conflict issues (credits, faculty appointments, scholarships, cadet numbers) in order to place them in context. Retain affirmative tone.

Add: From a senior Civil Affairs officer on a CA blog: "I know the Army currently targets some of its ROTC scholarships specifically at schools offering degrees in nursing. It also targets some scholarships to help provide officers to Army National Guard and Army Reserve units, as well as the Active Duty force. Since over 90% of Civil Affairs is in the USAR, if United States Army Civil Affairs and Psychological Operations Command (USACAPOC) designated USAR Civil Affairs as an accession branch that could bring officers in as lieutenant, this might be an option. I am thinking degrees in anthropology, civil engineering, requirements for some category three languages would be useful. I think we are still at the advocacy stage, however. Keep advocating. I think this is an important cause."

Add: Sample rewrite:

Unique heritage. The model and standard-bearer for the Columbia officer is
Alexander Hamilton and his exemplary leadership of nation in and out of
uniform. The university has a proud military history, especially with
Naval ROTC. Many alumni supporters of ROTC at Columbia are Navy veterans.

New potential. [MISSING IN-DEPTH ANALYSIS] The military's evolving global
mission, represented by the QDR, has aligned with Columbia's global
perspective and focused the potential of a Columbia officer program. ROTC
at Columbia is a precious opportunity to create a fresh innovative
forward-thinking program that draws upon world-class university resources,
a large pool of diverse top-quality students, a full spectrum of
university undergraduate and graduate departments and majors, and the
local resources of a world capital. For example, Columbia has large
excellent engineering and science programs that may interest the Air Force
and Navy, and top language, anthropology, and civil engineering programs
that may interest the Army and Marines. Notably, our famed Core Curriculum
was originally designed as a classical foundation for officer education.

Living Columbia military community. The Alexander Hamilton Society, the
campus group for cadets and officer candidates, is a ready expandable base
for a fraternal 'corps of cadets'. Columbia contains the largest
population of enlisted plus commissioned student-veterans in the Ivy
League, along with many active-duty officers in the graduate programs. The
Columbia Alliance for ROTC, of which I am a member, is an alumni group
with the express purpose of supporting ROTC at Columbia.

Supportive environment. Since 2005, DADT has been repeatedly cited by
university leaders as the only significant obstacle to the university
welcoming ROTC. The ROTC movement at Columbia has grown organically within
Columbia from students, alumni, and professors supporting the military on
campus. There is growing substantive support for the military on campus,
as expressed by university leaders such as Trustees chairman and Army
veteran Bill Campbell, multiple Columbia Spectator staff editorials
calling for ROTC at Columbia, university outreach to young veterans and
robust participation with the Yellow Ribbon program, the unveiling of the
Columbia War Memorial, commissioning ceremonies on campus, and the
discrimination policy amended to include "military status" as a protected
category.

Added value. ROTC at Columbia would fix the absence of ROTC within
Manhattan, which has one of the nation's highest concentrations of college
students. In the immediate vicinity are Barnard, one of the premiere
women’s colleges, and City College, the flagship CUNY and Colin Powell's
alma mater. There would be symbolic and public relations value in an
ambitious new ROTC program at Columbia, New York City's flagship academic
institution.

Add: At the April 18 World Leaders Forum with Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman Admiral Mike Mullen, President Bollinger said in his introduction, "The chairman leads an organization, most crucially, that provides our nation’s necessary point of engagement in a dangerous and complicated world, though he would be the first to say that it must be only one part of a whole web of strong, diplomatic, civic and economic relationships across the globe. Our servicemen and women are called on to fight battles, but also to be the diplomats with village elders and emergency responders in nations devastated by natural disaster." Also, Mullen and Bollinger answer a direct question about ROTC at Columbia during the Q&A. See the transcript and video.

Add: From Kaboom - Embracing the Suck in a Savage Little War, by Matt Gallagher, p 272 "I believed that many of the men at the top of the totem pole truly wanted the army to become a learning institution, but in my experience, the giant clog in the middle wouldn't allow for it. An institution as large as the army didn't change overnight, and the "that's the way it was for me, so that's the way it'll be for them" mentality persisted." p 278 " ... although I hadn't sought the press, I understood their power in bringing issues to the public. Nothing made large institutions change their decisions more quickly and more emphatically than public pressure." Other: p 289 "We were wrought up with ideas inexpressible and vaporous, but to be fought for. We lived many lives in those whirling campaigns, never sparing ourselves: yet when we achieved and the new world dawned, the old men came out again and took our victory to re-make in the likeness of the former world they knew. Youth could win, but had not learned to keep: and was pitiably weak against age. We stammered that we had worked for a new heaven and a new earth, and they thanked us kindly and made their peace." (quoting T.E. Lawrence, Seven Pillars of Wisdom) p 292 "I wondered if the GWOT-era leaders and soldiers raised in counterinsurgency actually could change the institution, instead of the institution swallowing them and their experience whole. It'd be too easy for people who hadn't really been there and who hadn't studied the trends of irregular warfare after World War II to write Iraq off as an anomalous brushfire. . . . The old men would return, as would the old ways. Tradition demanded it. The unconventional spirit of the young would awaken again when needed once more by their country. Honor demanded it."

Add: To learn more about the underlying philosophy for the QDR-based appeal, see from SWJ: Design and the Prospects of a US Military Renaissance by Colonel Christopher R. Paparone

Add: DADT transition possible argument for CU ROTC: "[SLDN's executive director Aubrey Sarvis] said the key component to any major culture shift is education and training. . . . "And that begins at the top, particularly in a large organization like the military with one million plus," said Sarvis. "It trickles down from the officers of the corps?all the way to the ranks.""

Add: Warrior Nation by Michael Nelson.

What can colleges do to mitigate these developments, which taken together have heightened the already great American proclivity to war that Bacevich, Beinart, and Rubenstein document in their books? Forget about trying to bring back the draft. The technologically complex modern military needs long-term volunteers, not short-term draftees, to function effectively. The all-volunteer military isn't going anywhere.

ROTC is different. Colleges that have kept their doors shut can begin by reopening them. As the Stanford historian David M. Kennedy argues, excluding ROTC for the past four decades has simply ensured that elite universities, "which pride themselves on training the next generation's leaders, will have minimal influence on the leadership of a hugely important American institution, the United States armed forces." "It's clearly best," Kennedy told the Stanford faculty, "for our democracy to have, among its military officers, citizens who have a liberal education at the best universities in the country."

But reopening the doors to ROTC, a military institution that is understandably chary of being burned again by some future campus controversy (an especially unpopular war? military harm to the environment?), won't be enough. Colleges and universities need to put out the welcome mat so that students are encouraged to consider military service as an option for at least part of their lives—en route, as some of them will turn out to be, to high public offices in which they will make decisions about war and peace in years to come. One form of welcome would be to top up ROTC scholarships so that high-tuition institutions are affordable to service-oriented young people. More generally, though, colleges should take to heart an argument made by Josiah Bunting III, the Vietnam-era army-major-turned-novelist who later became president of Hampden-Sydney College and superintendent of Virginia Military Institute.

Writing in The American Scholar in 2005, Bunting observed that the long-term benefit to society of Teach for America—the program that recruits high-flying college grads to spend two or three years teaching in difficult public schools—is that later in life, when they are in positions of influence, "they will know the costs and difficulties and sometimes dangers of such duties. So it should be with ... soldiering in behalf of the American people." That's not a programmatic plan of action, but it is an animating spirit that individual colleges and universities would do well to adopt and then apply to their own distinctive circumstances.

Add: GEN Petraeus on changing the Army.

Add: The cadet number issue is a real one, and we need to approach it in several ways:
a.. Argue that lower numbers are worth it anyway due to:
a.. Quality of students
b.. Engineering
c.. ROTC+
b.. Argue that numbers will go up with ROTC on campus (though there have been
times when there have been more Harvard ROTC students in MIT Army ROTC than MIT
students) or recognition and with ROTC+
c.. Allow service-based scholarships, including ROTC, to top up need-based aid to
create packages competitive with service academies. Anne Neal and I are working
with some reporters to begin this discussion in the context of the Yellow Ribbon
Program, and then generalize to ROTC scholarships).

Add: Harvard ROTC blueprint.

Add: The moral compass of the Army is the PL and the CO. I told every one of my PLs that they have to set that moral standard, that once you slip to the left, you can’t pull your guys back in.
—Capt. Dan Kearney, New York Times Magazine, February 24, 2008 Source.

Add: It might be worth some brainstorming at an outline level. Among the angles I'd add
that are different from the Harvard blueprint are:
a.. Engineering and the need for that in Navy and Air Force in particular
b.. NYC
c.. Long commute time to Navy program
But many of the points in the Harvard blueprint are the same for Columbia, and are
worth making if applicable.



Eric