Debacle in Shetland: Sumburgh Head

During my waning weeks in the Middle East, I started planning my invasion of Scotland. Since I had been to Orkney in 2004 and loved it, and since Shetland was even further out, it became one of my major travel goals. If only I knew, ladies and gentlemen, if only I knew. At any rate, one of the spots that I zeroed in on was the extreme south end of Shetland, Sumburgh ("Sum-burra") Head. I even had a look at it using Google Street View, took a screenshot, and posted it to Facebook as my profile picture. (This was before Mark Zuckerberg and his minions cursed us with Timeline; I say this because the GSV screenshot would have made a decent cover photo.)

My initial plan for my second and final day in Shetland was to drive back to the top of Unst, since I hadn't had a chance to take pictures after the geocaching debacle the day before. I got to the ferry landing for the float from the Shetland mainland to Yell, and waited... And waited... And waited. I just missed one ferry, then waited ages for the second ferry (and didn't make it on because the queue was too long), and finally decided that I didn't have time to keep waiting and do both the north end and the south end. Since I had already done the north end, I decided to pull out of the queue and head south.

The drive south was pretty decent, and included a brief stop in Hillside/Voe (north of Lerwick) to take some pictures. Something like an hour later, I arrived at Sumburgh Head, a peninsula and hill that's famous for its lighthouse and its bird sanctuary. (I was hoping to see some puffins, but I was apparently too early to see them this year.) The hill was much easier to walk up than Hermaness Hill (or Herma Ness Hill - Shetland can't seem to figure out how to spell it), and the view was fantastic. I spent about ten minutes walking around, taking pictures, and enjoying some pretty permissive weather. After walking about as far south as I could, I stood at one location and took enough pictures to make a big panorama from (and I may post it once I actually do it). One of my most vivid memories of my time at Sumburgh Head was the helicopter that was doing touch-and-goes at nearby Sumburgh airport - but more on that in a later post.

By now, my trip to Shetland had become a sort of running punchline, but my trip to Sumburgh Head was certainly one of the highlights. It's always nice to set a goal of somewhere to visit, and then actually pull it off - even if that location is in Shetland. Of course, there were a few more adventures for that particular day...

The Royal Cyphers: GR

One of the perks of being the reigning monarch in the United Kingdom is that you get your name on everything. For example, it's not just the British government, it's Her Majesty's government. The Royal Navy doesn't just have ships, and they don't just call them "United Kingdom Ship" such-and-such - they're Her Majesty's ships. I imagine it seems pretty antiquated and anachronistic to most Americans, but it's actually kind of... I don't know, "quaint" doesn't seem like the right word, but it's kind of comforting, and provides a bit of stability and continuity in a way that we don't really enjoy in the States.

One of the manners in which this manifests itself is in the royal cypher. Seeing as how a title such as "Her Majesty Elizabeth II, Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland" is awesome, but sort of long, they shorten it. Pretty dramatically, actually. As such, they abbreviate it - a lot, actually - in the form of the royal cypher, which includes the monarch's initial, their generational title, and an "R" - "Rex" (Latin for "king") for men, and "Regina" for (Latin for "queen") for women. So, for example, the reigning British sovereign's royal cypher is "E II R", for "Elizabeth II, Regina".

The Royal Cypher appears on a lot of stuff over here. One of the places it appears most prominently is in the Royal Mail, particularly on post boxes. They're all red - like the phone boxes - and they're ubiquitous throughout the country. The thing is, when the Sovereign leaves the throne - typically upon their death - not everything gets replaced. Stamps, for example, switch over, but they don't go out and replace all of the post boxes with the former sovereign's cypher. I imagine they eventually do, should one post box wear out for some reason - but let's face it, a metal box with conspicuous red paint to weatherproof it? Something maintained that well could hold out for decades - and, in fact, they do.

For a long time, I figured that all of the post boxes just said "E II R" on them, but I've recently found several much older ones around Aberdeen. The three pictures in this post display the royal cypher of George V, who reigned from 1910 until his death in 1936. That means that there are post boxes outside the Cathedral Church of St. Machar, another one next to Mounthooly Roundabout, and a third on Union Street that date back to at least 1936. The world, and Aberdeen, have gone through a lot since then.

That one at the top is the first one I noticed in Aberdeen that wasn't "E II R" - in fact, I figured it must be a fluke! The thing is, once I noticed that one, I started looking at others. There are tons of old post boxes around Aberdeen, and these three of George V aren't anywhere near the oldest ones. So, what was the oldest one I found? Stay tuned to find out!

Situation Report

It's been about a week since the last time I posted, and what a busy week it's been. Here's what's been going on.

* * *
Exams

Exams went well. I didn't quite finish all of my exam prep goals, but I got a lot of it reviewed. I feel pretty confident about my SND exam, and I'm really confident about my GSI exam. For the former, we were given nine questions, and I wrote on the following three, in the order they're presented below:

Strategic Nuclear Doctrine Exam:
2. To what extent is the 2010 US Nuclear Posture Review compatible with President Obama's vision of a world free of nuclear weapons?

1. "A protected retaliatory capability has a stabilizing influence not only in deterring rational attack, but also in offering every inducement to both powers to reduce the chance of accidental detonation of war." (Albert Wohlstetter) Discuss.

6. Is a NATO nuclear strategy necessary in the post-Cold War world?

I was somewhat critical of President Obama's Prague Speech and the 2010 Nuclear Posture Review, offered a detailed discussion of Albert Wohlstetter's The Delicate Balance of Terror, and drew from Critical Mass's feedback on my term paper ("Assess the value of tactical nuclear weapons in NATO’s deterrent strategy since the end of the Cold War.") to deliver a knockout on the question about NATO.

That was Friday morning. The following Monday, I sat the GSI exam, and answered the following questions in the following order:

Global Security Issues Exam:
5. B: Is the Gulf Cooperation Council a serious multilateral security organization?

4. A: Consider the causes and consequences of 'Islamism'.

3. 'The Anglo-US "Special Relationship" is now a sentimental British memory, out of step with prevalent strategic realities.' Discuss.

Of course, I answered the GCC question first. Of course I did that. Anyway, I said that the GCC is a serious organization, and will become moreso as America's footprint in the Middle East diminishes - particularly if Iran becomes a nuclear power. Then, I drew from my extensive knowledge of Islamic history to answer #4A, and finished out strong by talking up the "Special Relationship".

The Director always recommends that you write on your strongest topic first, then your second, and finish out with your third. Next, he recommends that you spend about an hour and fifteen minutes on your first essay, a little over an hour on your second, and use the remainder for your third. I follow the former approach, but not the latter - I time myself and write for about fifty-eight minutes on each topic, giving myself a couple of minutes at the end of each essay to give my wrist a break from writing. I'll get my results back in a couple of weeks, but I'm pretty optimistic about it - and let's face it, I'm not known for being optimistic.

Orkney
I could use a few days off, so I was gonna go to Orkney. I even booked a cottage on South Ronaldsay. Unfortunately, neither W.R. Tullock Orkney Car Rental and Orkney Car Hire had any vehicles available, and the big boys with cars available here in Aberdeen won't let you take them off of the main island. South Ronaldsay being pretty remote, I was pretty well hosed. So... I'll give it a try again soon.

Dissertation

So, I've used the available time to start in earnest on my dissertation on the Dhofar Rebellion. I've had a year to figure out my approach, I've checked it over with The Director, and I've done some research in conjunction with the article for Small Wars Journal that I wrote with CN Odin. I spent a good chunk of last week sorting my sources out, using a combination of HTML and Excel. I'll add more sources, and I won't use all of the ones I sorted out over the last few days, but I'll be able to draw from the list and paste directly into my manuscript. With that sorted out, I got to work on my introduction, and I'm still working on that at present.

I'd love to post bits and pieces of it, but when I submit it, the whole thing will be processed through TurnItIn. The website will search the web, and give my paper a percentile score as an indicator of plagiarism. So, I can't put any of it online until after it's been submitted. I'll post periodic updates, though, and talk about the course of the project. I'm already way ahead of my peers, and I hope to be finished a couple of weeks early... Y'know, like, probably like a month early. So, like, four weeks, or something, I guess.

* * *
So, with exams completed, I expect the blogging to pick up a bit. This semester's been pretty crazy, and I'll have a few things on my plate over the next few months, but it shouldn't be anywhere near as crazy as the last few months have been. (And hopefully those aren't famous last words!)

Around Aberdeen: Oystercatchers

Seagulls - or, rather, rats with wings - are ubiquitous in Aberdeen, as it's right on Scotland's northern coast. A couple of months ago, I started seeing a new type of bird, smaller than a seagull, with black and white plumage and a long, orange beak used for digging town into the ground (presumably to feed). The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (there's a Royal Society for pretty much everything) has a bird identifier utility on its website, so I used it to figure out what it was that I was looking at. The answer? Oystercatchers. I occasionally see them getting into airborne fights with attacking seagulls, but since oystercatchers don't seem to do things like steal food or spread garbage around, and they're a lot quieter than seagulls, and they seem to travel in pairs (awwwww), they've garnered a sort of soft spot with yours truly.

Now, if only CN Black Sheep and I could figure out a way to significantly cull the seagull population...

Exam Help from Goodreads

One of the methods I use to nail exams is to cite books that I've read. It seems like a really simple method, but apparently I'm pretty much the only person in class who actually does it. Seriously, I will do footnotes in my exams. It's a technique, so to speak, that I picked up from working with sensitive information, which must often be cited in order to ensure accuracy and ability to find the original source. That particular method is pretty similar to citations and footnotes in academic work, only the work I do tends to be a lot more important than academic work, because - let's face it - a lot of academic work is nonsense that will never serve any actual purpose. (Strategic Studies, thankfully, does not fall into this category, especially not in the way that anthropology or sociology do.)

So, with my last set of exams coming up, I thought to myself, "Why not put together a list of the books that I've read that have informed my opinions on a variety of these topics, and review that list in order to ensure that I have plenty of books to cite while writing my essays?" Fortunately, a couple of weeks ago I decided to actually invest an hour or so into the Goodreads account that I've allowed to lay fallow since 2007. I know, right? I went in and entered most of the books I've read since about 1996, maybe even a few before that, and then culled the list to include only those books which directly or indirectly apply to the subject matter. Here's my list:

A Bloody Business

Assault from the Sea

A Savage War of Peace

An Unorthodox Soldier

Another Bloody Century

Arabian Sands

Band of Brothers

Black Hawk Down

Bravo Two Zero

Ceasar Against The Celts

Citizen Soldiers

Dune

Faith of My Fathers

Guests of the Ayatollah

Heart of Darkness

How Did This Happen?

How the Irish Saved Civilization

Imperial Grunts

In the Service of the Sultan

Inferno

Intelligence Power in Peace and War

Iron Coffins

Islamic Imperialism

Legionnaire

Modern Military Strategy

No Easy Day

Orkneyinga Saga

Papa Bravo Romeo

Plutarch's Lives

Rising Sun

Rogue Warrior

Shadow War

Starship Troopers

The Agricola and the Germania

The Civil War

The Conquest of Gaul

The Evolution of Nuclear Strategy

The Prince

The Return of History and the End of Dreams

Sea Power

Thinking About Nuclear Weapons

Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea

Warfighting

World Politics and the Evolution of War

I obviously won't cite all of these books, but if a couple of them are on my mind at the right time, it'll help. Totally worth the effort, I tell you what.

Around Aberdeen: What Is That!?

A couple of months ago - sheesh, maybe even February? - I was on my way to the post office near campus before heading to campus itself, and I happened to look down on the pavement (sidewalk) and see something I would have never expected to see in Scotland in 2013. Do you recognize it? For my younger readers, and for those who have never worked with technology, that's the magnetic "disk" portion of a 3.5" floppy disk! Not only did I use these things a lot in middle school, high school, and college/university, but when I was working in network security a few years back, I actually had the responsibility of destroying old ones. How was that accomplished? But physically breaking them out of the square plastic case, removing the metal bit in the middle, and feeding the flimsy magnetic disk into a paper shredder. Ahhh, memories... And now those memories will extend to my time in Aberdeen!

Island Paradise: Message in a Bottle

A few years ago, the BBC did a really neat audio documentary entitled Message in a Bottle - not to be confused with the evergreen song by Sting and the Police, or the Nicholas Sparks novel and film, all of which share the same name. The documentary focused on Orkney, and discussed other locations in the Faroe Islands, Shetland, and Scotland. Normally, that kind of documentary isn't really my thing, but this one really held my interest, and I actually keep it on my mp3 player at all times. Now that I know how to embed mp3s into the blog, I thought I'd share it with you folks.

One of the folks they interview in the documentary is a guy named Rory Auskerry. I've never had any personal contact with Rory, and Rory's never heard of me at all (it will be interesting if he finds me through this post!), but we have a mutual acquaintance. Rory grew up on an island called Auskerry, which is one of the islands in the Orkney archipelago. As you can see here, there's nothing there - two things that are, for some reason, labeled in Russian, and that's it.

Anyway, enjoy the documentary. I know I have, on several different occasions. And, for anyone who's curious, the other two BBC documentaries I always keep on my mp3 player, they're The Generals Debate Iraq and The Wireless World of Gerry Wells. The first is very serious and informative, while the second is lighter, like Message in a Bottle.

Exam Prep Update

Nobody who knows me well will be at all surprised to know that I'm using Excel to organize my study for my second set of exams here in Aberdeen. I made a list of stuff to study, which then expanded a bit. It's remained (mostly) intact since Thursday. I've been using it to keep track of the various things I need to either read for the first time, or review from earlier in the semester. It's been pretty effective.

I probably won't finish everything on the list. The Secondary Study Topics, for example, may get a bit of attention, but I'm focusing on areas of overlap between my two classes, and trying to figure out particular sources that I can be ready to cite. I worked from a similar strategy for last semester's classes, and was fairly successful in Strategic Theory, and did well enough in Strategic Intelligence. I'm feeling pretty confident about GSI, so I've been focusing on materials that cover both GSI and SND, because I'd like to do at least one grade point better in SND than I did in SI last semester. I'm still a bit nervous about SND - Critical Mass is a tough grader - but I'm probably more comfortable with the concepts, and with having appropriate sources to cite, than I was in SI last semester.

I checked the exam timetable again. SND is Friday morning, and GSI is Monday afternoon. I'm pretty confident that I'll be ready.

Gotta say, I'm getting a ton of mileage out of my Kindle during this particular exam prep period. I've been using my laptop, and studying in the SOC, but I've also been taking my Kindle to Starbucks and reading Modern Military Strategy, or a ton of PDFs. As part of my continuing mission to turn my Kindle into the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, I've also sent some additional "Defeating Tech" PDFs to it, including some Marine Corps doctrinal publications, and the transcripts to the 1981 Reith Lectures for reading while listening to the corresponding mp3s. In all honesty, it's really simple stuff, but I love how I've been able to use the thing as a sort of academic force multiplier. It also saves me lugging my laptop to Starbucks. I continue to lean further and further toward blaming all of the Kindle's shortfalls on the university's network settings.

More updates as they come, but as far as I can tell, I should be more than ready to trounce my peers when it comes time to spend a combined total of six hours destroying my wrist. Booyeah!