One Year Later

This is the one year anniversary of one of the most momentous and fateful weeks of my life.

On Tuesday, the 27th of August 2013, I submitted my dissertation. On Saturday the 31st, I took the surveys Gus and I had filled out in November to the Gordon Highlanders Museum; on the afternoon of Tuesday the 3rd of September, I was back at the Museum, meeting with the curator. That meeting would eventually lead to a mission to document the Orcadian Gordon Highlanders of the First World War.

I spent the next week and a half settling my affairs in Aberdeen, and then on Friday, September 6th, I stowed half of my stuff in a friend's basement and took the rest of it onto a train. The first, far too early leg took me from Aberdeen to Inverness; the second took me to Thurso, at which point I made the ill-advised trek, on foot, from Thurso to Scrabster.

The next day, I went for a bit of a stroll through Stromness, and ended up sitting on a bench and snapping a picture. I just sat there - me, the guy who's always in a rush to be productive. I sat there for at least an hour, drinking the wind and feasting upon the beauty of Hamnavoe, Scapa Flow, Graemsay, Hoy, and the Inner and Outer Holms. I reflected on what I'd done over the course of the preceding year, and the work it had taken to get me to Scotland in the first place.

Early the following week, I got to Bournemouth by sea, ground, and air - with a brief stop in my old stomping grounds to meet up with Pockets. I spent two weeks on a close protection course, and then it was back up to Orkney.

That hour in Stromness was amazing. I can't remember ever being that relaxed. One year later, I find myself reflecting once again on my time in Scotland, and what's happened since. Because, y'know... Holy smokes, I spent over a year in Scotland, three months of which was in Orkney, right? I mean, who pulls that off?

The Dissertation: Mapping the Dhofar Rebellion

As my time in Scotland wanes, I've been both busy and distracted. I've noted some of my projects in some of my recent posts. I'm not done with the Operation Highlander blog by any means, but my posts will probably be lean over the course of the remaining weeks.

One of the projects I've worked on during Operation Bold Brigand, that I haven't really spoken of until now, has been an effort to use some of my favorite open source geographic information systems to map some of the locations of the Dhofar Rebellion. Most notable among these has been the Hornbeam Line, which I've mentioned previously. The first six of eight outposts were fairly easy to find, while the remaining two gave me a bit of trouble until I started thinking outside the box. I was able to find the remainder this weekend, and assembled a slide deck of the satellite imagery to use as a work sample. Pictured is the Reef patrol base, which is described thusly...

Location: PB Reef
Decimal Coordinates: 17.005118° N, 53.743272° E
MGRS: 39QYU9208782167
URL: (click)
Remarks: Displays distinct square seen elsewhere at PB Killi Candidate Site #1 and PB Bole.

... and posted primarily because it's the best photo from the various photos of the outposts in question. I've also been able to locate a couple of the small outposts from the accompanying Damavand Line (here and here), as evidenced by the adjacent helipads.

So, between mapping the Dhofar Rebellion, applying for jobs, enjoying my time in Orkney, preparing for graduation, finally getting around to adjusting to Google Reader's premature demise, working (slowly) on post-master's degree professional certifications, the Orcadian Gordon Highlanders Accountability Project, additional writing, and Arabic study, I've had less time for blogging than I'd prefer. I should have a few surprises for the next few weeks, though. Stay tuned.

Another Bold Brigand Update

Operation Bold Brigand continues, here in my island paradise. Here's an update on some of the things I've worked on this week.

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Arabic:

I've been doing alright with the Arabic, with BBC Xtra listening exercises that teach me a couple of words each week. This week's gems are "المستمعين", which means "listeners", and "المشاركينا حوار", which means "Our Participants' Dialogue" - both of these phrases being endemic to a radio program like Xtra. I've been trying with slightly less luck to do regular study of the Emirati vocabulary, and I'm hoping to add some dialect additional vocabulary that I've studied before. I also tend to use flash cards, but they tend to be a bit cumbersome in circumstances as transient as my own; however, I've hit on an idea to use Excel to turn my Kindle into a digital flash card platform. More on that later.

Physical Training:

Moving right along...

Business Development:

One of my biggest efforts during my time here in Orkney is applying for jobs. Although I'm theoretically still on leave of absence with my company, the organization has gone through a lot of changes since I went on LOA - to include splitting into two independent entities. As a result, I've been actively seeking positions within both of the new branches of the organization, and I've also applied for jobs with eleven or twelve other companies and eleven governmental organizations of one sort or another. I've applied for positions back in the defense sector, in the private security sector, and for positions that have nothing to do with either. I have a handful of contacts and a number of potential employers that I have yet to reach out to. As one of my neighbors in Aberdeen, Kamloops Queen, pointed out: "All you need is one acceptance, though."

It's a frustrating process. For example, one of my buddies who's a recruiter pinged me about a position he was recruiting for, and I spent a good couple of hours putting together a fresh resume and cover letter. I was able to interview with two different representatives about the position, and although things seemed to go well, it sounds like they're likely to keep looking. It's tough to look at that as anything less than about four hours of my life that could have been better spent on other endeavours.

Nearly every job I apply for is through one online portal or another. The benefit of that is that once you have your information plugged into the system, you can usually apply for subsequent jobs with just a few mouse clicks. The drawback is that it's very impersonal, and you don't wind up getting feedback, or being able to get yourself across to the folks who are reading your resume in the first place - assuming that it even gets in front of a set of human eyes, ever. I also know from experience on the other side of the line that hiring managers and recruiters are literally overwhelmed with hundreds upon hundreds of applications for each and every position - I not-so-fondly remember digging through hundreds of resumes from grossly unqualified applicants to find six or eight qualified candidates for a single vacancy. Owing to the workings of the system and the state of the American and international job market, it won't surprise me if I hit four or five hundred applications before I land something... But I hope it happens before that.

Writing Projects:

I've done next to no writing in the last couple of weeks, as evidenced by the fact that I've barely posted anything to the blog in the last week. Fortunately, most of my current writing projects aren't time-sensitive.

World War I Research:

I've been trying to do a sort of final push on the Orcadian Gordon Highlanders Accountability Project. I've done two interviews this week (and a social call on one of my first sources). Contrary to prior projects on which I've worked, it's entirely likely that I won't wind up being the one to do the lion's share of the work, but there's also the digitalization aspect that could see me somewhat easily continuing my work in the coming weeks and months, regardless of my actual location. It's been a really fascinating project on which to work, and hopefully it will mean that my name lives on with some degree of fondness in both the Gordon Highlanders Museum and in Orkney.

Special Projects:

Just thinking about these exhausts me. Moving right along...

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There's plenty more to cover, and there never seem to be enough hours in the day to either accomplish it, or even to write about it. I'm fond of the advice I received from the classic masterpiece, South Park: Bigger, Longer, and Uncut...



... and I intend to keep implementing it, if for no other reason than it helps to maintain my sanity.

Bold Brigand Update

Operation Bold Brigand continues, here in my island paradise. Here's an update on some of the things I've worked on this week.

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Arabic:

I got a lot of Arabic done early in the week, and lapsed a bit after that. I did three reviews of my Emirati vocabulary, and listened to a podcast and a half from BBC Xtra. I'm writing this post late Sunday morning, so hopefully by the time I actually post it, I'll have completed a third listening exercise.

Physical Training:

Moving right along...

Business Development:

This week's big accomplishment was to submit around thirty-five job applications. The job market being what it is, I find myself forced to cast a fairly wide net, both geographically and professionally. It feels really tedious, but it's necessary. I'm also recording some more tracks for some more honesty trace work.

Writing Projects:

I spent a lot of time on writing projects last week. I made some major progress on my dissertation follow-up by getting a tentative outline made out; then distributing stuff from what I call the "Weasel Bin" - stuff I didn't use in the final product - into that outline; and finally, by reverting my finished product back into a sort of manuscript format (mainly to make the citations easier to work with), and then distributing that into the outline as well. In doing the last bit, I discovered a few errors with some of my citations, so I painstakingly back-checked them and fixed the errors so that I now have what I believe to be an error-free manuscript to use as a writing sample. My tentative outline is as follows:

CHAPTER 1: A LESSON OVERLOOKED

CHAPTER 2: AUSTERITY, REBELLION, AND RENAISSANCE
2.1 MUSCAT AND OMAN BEFORE 1970
2.2 THE DHOFAR REBELLION, 1970-'76
2.3 THE OMANI RENAISSANCE POST 1976

CHAPTER 3: HUMAN TERRAIN
3.1 HUMAN TERRAIN IN DHOFAR
3.1.1 COHERENT MISSION AND OPERATIONAL MANDATE
3.1.1.1 OPERATIONS FACILITATE POLITICAL GOALS
3.1.2 CREDIBLE HOST NATION ACTOR
3.1.3 CONTROL OF INFORMATION
3.1.3.1 STRATEGIC COMMUNICATIONS
3.1.3.2 PSYCHOLOGICAL OPERATIONS
3.1.3.3 OPERATIONAL SECURITY
3.1.3.4 INTELLIGENCE COLLECTION
3.2 COHERENT MISSION AND OPERATIONAL MANDATE
3.2.1 OPERATIONS FACILITATE POLITICAL GOALS
3.3 CREDIBLE HOST NATION ACTOR
3.4 CONTROL OF INFORMATION
3.4.1 STRATEGIC COMMUNICATIONS
3.4.2 PSYCHOLOGICAL OPERATIONS
3.4.3 OPERATIONAL SECURITY
3.4.4 INTELLIGENCE COLLECTION
3.4.4.1 HUMAN INTELLIGENCE
3.4.4.2 SIGNALS INTELLIGENCE
3.4.4.3 GEOSPATIAL INTELLIGENCE

CHAPTER 4: PHYSICAL TERRAIN
4.1 PHYSICAL TERRAIN IN DHOFAR
4.1.1 COMMENSURATE FORCE STRENGTH
4.1.1.1 GEOGRAPHY-DETERMINANT
4.1.1.2 POPULATION-DETERMINANT
4.1.2 INTERDICTION OF INSURGENT LOGISTICS
4.1.3 DENIAL OF INSURGENT MANEUVER
4.2 COMMENSURATE FORCE STRENGTH
4.2.1 GEOGRAPHY-DETERMINANT
4.2.2 POPULATION-DETERMINANT
4.3 INTERDICTION OF INSURGENT LOGISTICS
4.4 DENIAL OF INSURGENT MANEUVER

CHAPTER 5: INTEGRATING FACTORS
5.1 INTEGRATING FACTORS IN DHOFAR
5.1.1 ORGANIC LANGUAGE CAPABILITIES
5.1.2 EFFECTIVE SPECIAL OPERATIONS FORCE EMPLOYMENT
5.1.3 EFFECTIVE LOGISTICS
5.1.3.1 LINGUISTS/INTERPRETERS
5.1.3.2 FIELD CONDITIONS
5.1.3.3 FORCE PROTECTION
5.1.3.4 VEHICLE/MATERIEL PROCUREMENTS
5.1.3.5 SMALL ARMS
5.1.3.5.1 COALITION SMALL ARMS
5.1.3.5.2 DHOFARI SMALL ARMS AND MARKSMANSHIP
5.1.4 AVIATION OPERATIONS
5.2 ORGANIC LANGUAGE CAPABILITIES
5.3 EFFECTIVE SPECIAL OPERATIONS FORCE EMPLOYMENT
5.4 EFFECTIVE LOGISTICS
5.4.1 LINGUISTS/INTERPRETERS
5.4.2 FIELD CONDITIONS
5.4.3 FORCE PROTECTION
5.4.4 VEHICLE/MATERIEL PROCUREMENTS
5.4.5 SMALL ARMS
5.4.5.1 COALITION SMALL ARMS
5.4.5.2 AFGHAN SMALL ARMS AND MARKSMANSHIP
5.4.6 DEFENSE AND SECURITY CONTRACTORS
5.5 AVIATION OPERATIONS

CHAPTER 6: STRATEGIC CONSIDERATIONS
6.1 STRATEGIC CONSIDERATIONS IN DHOFAR
6.2 OPERATIONAL CONCEPTS VERSUS GRAND STRATEGY
6.3 GRAND STRATEGIC LESSONS
6.3.1 CLAUSEWITZIAN TRINITY
6.3.2 POPULATION- VERSUS ENEMY-CENTRICITY
6.3.3 MULTINATIONAL PARTNERS
6.3.4 DISENGAGEMENT VERSUS COMMITMENT
6.3.5 INEFFECTIVE ENEMY
6.4 DHOFAR'S LESSONS FOR REGIONALLY ALIGNED FORCES

CHAPTER 7: PROSPECTS

CHAPTER 8: BIBLIOGRAPHY

So, I'll continue to work on that and other projects this week, preferably with less anal retentive obsession than I found myself demonstrating last week.

World War I Research:

I sort of slacked on the World War I research last week. I have a couple of E-mails and calls to return and some data farming to do this week, so I may try to spend a couple of mornings focused on that in order to feel a bit "caught up". This project is really important to me, but it's also one for which there's less of a deadline or coherent end state, which gives me a bit of flexibility.

Special Projects:

I have yet to do a Demobilization Packing Test. I'll likely do laundry on Monday, and then do a packing test later Monday or Tuesday - it doesn't make sense to do the test without the stuff with which to do the test. One project I did some work on was to put some new clothes into online shopping carts through Amazon, Carhartt, and 5.11. At the moment, all three seem to be out of most of the clothes in my size and my preferred colors, so that'll be sort of interesting if I can't get them lined up before I come home.

* * *
One thing I did that wasn't on the list was to take the night time bus out to St. Margaret's Hope. It's the first time I'd ever crossed the barriers at night, and what I could see was beautiful, although the lights on the bus made it difficult to see very much. I've tended to stay in Kirkwall for most of my stay in Orkney, but I need to make a point of going to see some other sights - and some other islands - over the next few weeks. My big goals are North Ronaldsay and Westray, and the Scapa Flow Visitor Centre and Museum at Lyness on Hoy. Perhaps I'll do one of those this week.

Operation Bold Brigand Continues!

Regular blog readers may notice that my posting has been just a touch spotty over the last couple of weeks. I've also now reached the point of having zero, count 'em, zero posts uploaded in draft form. I intend to remedy that over the next few days, as one of my blogging secrets is to do a lot of writing up front, and then post the drafted stuff for a few weeks thereafter - particularly on busy days. I have tons of cool stuff yet to come, but as the Operation Highlander extension, Operation Bold Brigand, continues up here in Orkney, I've had my hands full with a variety of worthwhile projects. Here are a few of the things I've been working on.

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Arabic:

As I've noted before, I've been studying Arabic for years, trying to get myself to the point of basic fluency. During my year in Aberdeen, I was focused mainly on learning vocabulary from the Defense Language Institute's Libyan Basic Language Survival Kit (LSK), though my efforts waned later in the year. At the moment, I've transitioned to the Emirati LSK, as I think that future opportunities in the Gulf are more likely to manifest themselves than opportunities in Libya - the aforementioned Emirates Center for Strategic Studies and Research being but one example. At any rate, I've been (slightly) better about studying lately, which has involved listening to the DLI audio files while reviewing the written vocabulary on my Kindle. I've also been doing listening exercises with BBC Xtra podcasts and, occasionally, the Radio Sultanate of Oman live stream.

Physical Training:

In theory, I'm walking uphill from the city center to my digs three times per week, doing a full stretch-out three times per week, push-ups and sit-ups twice per week, and two swim workouts at the Pickaquoy Centre per week. In actuality, I've not set foot in the Pickaquoy Centre, I've tended to walk uphill three times, and I've done no stretching and neither a single push-up nor a single sit-up. I feel like this week will be my week... Or next week, maybe.

Business Development:

A couple of weeks ago, I posted about my work developing honesty traces over at the Joshua Tree Security blog. I've mentioned honesty traces on the Highlander blog once before. I'm working on this, and a handful of other projects, the idea being that I can either use them in future jobs, or possibly use them as products and/or services in the event that I ever decide to start my own business. In addition to that, I've been applying for at least twenty jobs per week, since I'll eventually have to transition back to the real world - something that requires gainful employment. (I suppose that the Arabic stuff technically falls into this category, but I prefer to keep it distinct.) So, this stuff keeps me somewhat busy as well.

PSP Certification:

I've spoken previously about my desire to get my PSP certification. In theory, I'm reading fifty pages per week in either The Design and Evaluation of Physical Protection Systems by Mary Lynn Garcia, or ATTP 3-39.32 Physical Security. The reality is that I've done so much studying this year, that maybe I can leave something for next year. On the plus side, the Garcia book is now available for Kindle, which meant that I was able to leave the physical copy that I'd lugged to three different continents (and only got about a quarter of the way into) with CN Homeboy, who should absolutely read it and pursue his own physical security qualifications.

Writing Projects:

I've actually been doing a lot of writing - just, not so much blog writing. The big thing I'm working on is a follow-on to my dissertation. When all was said and done, my final submission had fifteen or twenty mistakes in it (mainly mixed up citations, a couple of textual and bibliographical inconsistencies). As of last night, I think I've gotten the thing perfected, but should I have an occasion to use it as a writing sample, I want it to be perfect - the way it should have been when I handed it in, but that was a matter of managing my risks, so whatever. (It was still bloody good, regardless.) Anyway, the final submission was also just a portion of what I had hoped to write, so I'm also tearing the manuscript apart, reorienting it, and formatting it to include all of the notes and sources that I wasn't able to include in the original version. As discussed with the Director earlier this year, my intent is to get it to the length of a formal white paper, and then submit it to a think tank or journal for publishing along the lines of what CN Odin and I did earlier this year, except a bit more ambitious (and hopefully for pay this time).

I've also had a couple of other projects that have spun off from that. One (that will probably be included in that white paper) involves intelligence, and another involves cultural sensitivity restrictions with which American personnel must comply while deployed to the Middle East. So, I'm working on those bit by bit as well.

World War I Research:

So... I've just realized that, until now, I've almost completely omitted a major chunk of what I'm doing up here in Orkney. It's a long story, but the gist of it is that I sort of stumbled into a gig on behalf of the Gordon Highlanders Museum, about which I've written before. In advance of the centenary of World War I, I'm working with the Gordon Highlanders Museum and a number of local Orcadian sources to research Orcadians who served with the regiment in World War I. I've been on Radio Orkney and in The Orcadian, conducted several interviews, met with several local experts, and have a great deal left to do while I'm here. It's been really interesting research, and it will sort of forever link me with both the museum and Orkney - that's pretty sweet, huh?

Special Projects:

I've also been working on a number of projects each week that don't fit into any of these other categories. For example, this week, I need to: put a variety of replacement clothing items into online shopping carts to facilitate quick ordering right before I leave Scotland; do a test pack of the stuff I intend to take home with me to ensure that I have enough room in the bags I intend to take; work on a Strategic Studies archive/database project; send an E-mail about an outstanding financial matter; do laundry; and go to the chemist. See? One of 'em's already done!

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Oh, yeah, and I also need to make an effort to see a bunch of parts of Orkney that I haven't seen yet, enjoy my time here, and do a bit of blogging when I have a few moments. So... Stay tuned. Still.

More to come.

Bold Brigand: Nairn Station's Ambitious CCTV Mast

My route from the Isle of Wight back up to Orkney, I found myself waiting for half an hour on a rail platform in Nairn. I was actually fairly fortunate to get there - my flight landed with barely enough time to get to the station in Inverness in time for the late train to Aberdeen, but the cab driver asked where I was headed and suggested that he take me to Nairn instead. We got there with plenty of time, but I found myself killing time. As I was chatting on the phone with a couple of folks back in the States, I noticed a really ambitious CCTV mast. It's not uncommon to see CCTV (short for "closed-circuit television") cameras throughout the United Kingdom - British security folks love them. At any rate, I snapped a picture, and figured I'd share.

Bold Brigand: Revisiting the Isle of Wight

The Isle of Wight is located south of Portsmouth, across a body of water known as The Solent - not to be confused with "Soylent Green", which is allegedly people. To the best of my recollection, I first became aware of the Isle of Wight in 2003 while doing intensive research into the Roman conquest of Britannia. During the first century invasion of southern Britannia as ordered by Emperor Claudius, the Isle of Wight - "Vectis" - was conquered by a Roman officer named Vespasianus, who would later become Titus Flavius Caesar Vespasianus Augustus, the ninth emperor of the Roman Empire. Suetonius records:

"In the reign of Claudius he was sent in command of a legion to Germania, through the influence of Narcissus; from there he was transferred to Britannia, where he fought thirty battles with the enemy. He reduced to subjection two powerful nations, more than twenty towns, and the island of Vectis [The Isle of Wight], near Britannia, partly under the leadership of Aulus Plautius, the consular governor, and partly under that of Claudius himself. For this he received the triumphal regalia."
- Suetonius, The Life of the Deified Vespasian, ch. IV

Being the Roman history aficionado that I was back in 2004, I determined to visit the Isle of Wight. In early August, I arranged digs for a couple of days and took first the train, then the ferry, then another train, to get to a town called Shanklin on the southeast end of the island. One of the fascinating things about the rail line on the Isle of Wight - a mere shadow of its former self - is that it uses retired coaches from the London Underground. So, if you love the Tube, but hate London, then the Isle of Wight is the place for you!

As in 2004, I stayed at the Avenue Hotel. It's fairly centrally located, only about ten minutes walk from all of the "action" in Shanklin. Not that there's actually much "action" in Shanklin. While it's theoretically a big tourist destination, it doesn't seem that much actually happens there - as evidenced by the fact that the Bon Jovi concert from the 16th of June was still being advertised on buses in late September. That's part of Shanklin's charm, I suppose; and it's allegedly part of what drew the likes of Charles Darwin, among others, to the island during the nineteenth century. At any rate, the Avenue was just how I remembered it: friendly staff, comfortable rooms, big disused rear courtyard, and a great breakfast.

One big difference was that, in 2004, the Isle of Wight was about ten degrees cooler than the weather where I was living (and working with Pockets). That was quite a welcome change, as it was wayyyyyy too hot where I was staying. This time around it was really warm and humid - not thrilling. I wandered around a bit more this time around than I did the last time, but didn't wander all the way down to the Esplanade - I got a look at it from above, which was quite sufficient. On the other hand, I wandered entirely by chance into a pub called Indy's, operated by Emilee, better known as "Indy" owing to her longstanding obsession with Indiana Jones; and her mother, Lorraine. I enjoyed a couple of long chats with Lorraine, and a couple of regulars named Mark and John.

After a couple of nights in Shanklin, it was time to return to my island paradise. The time spent in Shanklin was bittersweet, as I remembered some good times I had there, as well as some of the less fortunate fallout that followed my departure from the United Kingdom. I'd wanted to revisit the Isle of Wight, sure; but in some ways, I wanted to overwrite some of those memories from 2004. Even though I visited some of the same places where I'd wandered all those years ago, I think that the new memories will prevail... To include a great memory of an Isle of Wight beer called Undercliff Experience from the Yates Brewery. Thanks, Avenue Hotel and Indy's for making my repeat trip to the Isle of Wight one to remember. As to whether I ever wind up making it back... I suppose only time will tell.

Bold Brigand: Royal Marines Museum

When I arrived in England in 2004, the first tourist attraction I visited was the Royal Marines Museum. In the course of two visits that summer, I bought two T-shirts, one of which is now hilariously undersized, the other having mysteriously disappeared from Globetrotters Hostel in Dublin. (Unfortunately, the latter is no longer available - and it was the awesome blue one, too! Dagnabbit!) Anyway, as I was going to be passing through Portsmouth anyway... Sort of... I went to the Royal Marines Museum! With about fifty pounds of kit on my back! Just like a yomp, except I took a cab!

The Royal Marines Museum is awesome - easily one of the best museums I've ever been to. It resides in the former Royal Marines barracks in Eastney, a neighborhood of Portsmouth not so far from the Portsmouth Historic Dockyard - also worth your time if you get an opportunity. I remember back in July of 2004, when I insisted that I'd been to Eastney, and several of my employers insisted that I meant Eastleigh. I did not, in fact, mean Eastleigh. At any rate, there are a number of great exhibits throughout the museum, beginning with the formation of the Royal Marines in the 1600's and ending with current operations in Afghanistan. While I was disappointed that operations in Iraq were largely skimmed over, I was thrilled to see that both the Jebel Akhdar War and the Dhofar Rebellion were mentioned, as was an early 1960's operation in Kuwait about which I'd never heard at all, even once, in my entire life. My one gripe was with their SA80 simulator, the sighting for which was off, and the plastic/glass for which hadn't been cleaned in ages. Aside from that, it was great to review some of the old exhibits (including the talking Hannah Snell mannequin, using a projector that's probably been running non-stop since I last saw it in 2004); and, as before, my favorite bit in the whole museum was this gem at the very beginning, trying to put a positive spin on the American Revolution:

"The war raged on for a further 8 years involving battles on sea and land. Peace and defeat came for the British in 1783 and the new republican nation of the United States of America made its triumphant military commander, General George Washington, the first President."

Bam. We nailed it. And by "we", I mean America.

I bought myself another shirt - the green one, as the blue one isn't available anymore... drat! - and was on my way, after taking a few more pictures. One of those was of the legendary "Yomper" statue, dedicated by Baroness Thatcher and commemorating the Royal Marines' 1982 yomp across East Falkland. You can see an overhead shot of The Yomper statue here. And then, with my fifty pounds worth of kit, I got into another cab and headed to the ferry terminal for the next leg of Operation Bold Brigand.

But wait! There was one more thing! As the cab was pulling away from the museum's "car park" (parking lot), we saw a Trafalgar class fast attack submarine pulling out of Portsmouth harbor! It was quite obviously a Trafalgar class sub, because the new Astute class submarines look completely different, and the Vanguard class ballistic missile subs are all based up at HM Naval Base Clyde, outside Glasgow. Suh-weet! With that, I was off to the Isle of Wight.

Bold Brigand: The Mary Shelley

I've mentioned my good friends The History Chicks on several occasions. My "gateway podcast" from the Chicks was their minicast on Mary Shelley (podcast/shownotes). When I saw The Mary Shelley (located here) while engaged in my close protection course, I had to take a picture to share with the Chicks, and now I'm sharing it with you. The Mary Shelley is a J.D. Wetherspoon pub, as is the Archibald Simpson.

The History Chicks' feature on Mary Shelley is great, and since it's a minicast it's fairly short, so go check it out!

Bold Brigand: Namaste Gurkha

So... I have this thing here in the United Kingdom. I just sort of, y'know... Stumble, upon Nepalese restaurants. There was the Gurkha Kitchen in Shetland - literally the last place on Earth where one would expect to find a Nepalese restaurant. Then, there was the Gurkha Kitchen in Aberdeen - one of two restaurants at which I was such a regular customer that they started giving me rides home from the restaurant. So, was I surprised when the close protection team and I discovered a Nepalese restaurant while scouting Blandford Forum for our final exercise?

No, dear reader. I was not surprised.

On the first night of our final exercise, we had a couple of hours to kill before we were supposed to pick up the guy whom we were guarding. Having scouted the restaurant with Tom Thumb the day before, I insisted that we go. (You'd be amazed what you can get people to do when you offer to pay.) Being a sort of amateur Nepalese food aficionado, I was able to make a number of recommendations that were quite well received. (Zulu was a lost cause, but more on that later.) We enjoyed momo, some great naan, and since I wasn't driving, I had a great big bottle of Tiger! Awesome!

While I didn't get a picture of the proprietor, we got several chances to chat with him. His name is Raju, and he's a veteran of the Queen's Gurkha Signals. He told us about Nepal, and about his service in the Gurkha Signals. Zulu, in his infinite wisdom, asked Raju about the legend that a khukuri can't be returned to its scabbard until it's drawn blood. (Raju didn't even let Zulu finish the question before answering that he knew where he was going with that, and no, they don't do that anymore.) With a great meal and some great team bonding complete, it was time to rock and roll.

The next morning, and half of the next day, Zulu kept telling people - particularly attractive young women - about the gastronomic effects of the "Gurkha curry" he'd eaten the night before. I literally couldn't take that knucklehead anywhere. On the plus side, another town, another Nepalese restaurant... You can't get much better than that.

Bold Brigand: Two Weeks of Close Protection

I needed to kill a couple of weeks. I decided to do that by continuing my education... Right after I'd finished and submitted my dissertation. Yep, I'm that guy.

I got in touch with a company called Titas, Ltd. and took their Executive Close Protection course. Despite booking in on short notice, and despite arriving a couple of days after the course had started, I joined with my coursemates and put in a yeoman's effort to catch up on the bits that I'd missed. I was fortunate to join a solid "team" - although we were technically classmates, the two weeks we spent together basically amounted to two weeks of fairly hard work.

"Shorty" was a large Lithuanian doorman/bouncer. He's been in the United Kingdom for several years, and had some excellent local knowledge of the area in which we were conducting our training exercises. As a result, Shorty ended up being our guide for most operations, and we deferred to him when planning routes - and planning routes was a giant part of the preparation for nearly every operation in which we participated. As such, Shorty's local knowledge was priceless, as was his general demeanor. Nothing upset the guy, he was constantly calm, always ready with a joke, and a great sport about the inevitable comparisons to both Borat and Ivan Drago.

"Zulu" is a serving Royal Engineer with two tours in Afghanistan to his credit. He was constantly eager, and constantly fixated on performing well. There was a lot of "young soldier" in Zulu, as evidenced by the repetition of various stock phrases and the sort of demeanor that I generally associate with young initiates to military service - particularly recent graduates of Marine Corps basic training whom I've known over the years. Zulu and I were the only two students who stayed in the affiliated hotel, so we ended up carpooling and eating most of our meals together; as a result, we got to know one another fairly well.

Finally, there was Tom Thumb. Thumb is a former Royal Marine turned roofer, and a family man. Despite his modest stature and age (he was the oldest participant by about fifteen years), Thumb absolutely led the pack, and his reliability and good nature made it easy for the two of us to get along and work well with one another. As he's getting to the age where roofing is likely to get more physically demanding for him, he's looking to close protection as a career that he can transition into that can allow him to continue making an income by applying a bit more brain and a bit less brawn.

Overall, I think the course was valuable. Our instructor had several years of experience in executive close protection for several high profile clients, which allowed him to illustrate a number of concepts with anecdotes from his past. We covered topics including threat and risk assessments, vehicle and building search procedures, operational planning, venue security, convoy security, and surveillance, among others. Many of these were topics I was familiar with, or even fairly expert in, before I took the course; but the practice was good, as was seeing it employed in a different context than the ones I've typically been exposed to. There were a handful of topics that I would have omitted had I been orchestrating the course, but the overall course was a good use of two weeks of my life.

As I write this, I've just received notice that all four of us passed the final exam, and to the best of my knowledge we all received satisfactory marks on the final exercise as well. The certifying authority, Highfield Awarding Body for Compliance, will issue our certificates, at which point my colleagues will submit lengthier applications for their Security Industry Authority licenses, allowing them to work in the United Kingdom (or for UK-based companies operating overseas). For my purposes, the certification alone should be sufficient.

With two weeks down, I was off and running on a Monday morning to take care of some long standing obligations.

Bold Brigand: Meeting Pockets

In 2004, I spent two months on "unpaid work experience" on the south coast of England. The experience was fantastic - the time of my life, in fact - and I was able to acquaint myself with great swaths of West Sussex, visit London once or twice, and hit a few other hot spots before embarking on an epic two week holiday around Scotland, Ireland, and France (after which it was back to the States for my last year of undergraduate study). I also acquainted myself with some great guys, one of whom was a guy around my age who was known as "Pockets" because of his habit of keeping his hands in his pockets when they ought to have been hard at work. ("Idle hands... ") Following my Orcadian respite, I had a long travel day that happened to take me through my old digs in Sussex, and I was able to rouse Pockets from his current gig as a journeyman embalmer to pick me up from the train station and join me for dinner.

Despite the fact that I've gained about seventy pounds, grown a beard, and lost a lot of my hair; and the fact that Pockets has grown a beard and gotten a helluva lot more ink, it was just like old times. We laughed like schoolboys, remembered the good times of 2004 and all of the great guys (and also the wankers) we worked with, and then took a stroll down to the beach front so that I could have a quick look at the place where I'd made so many memories so many years earlier. With that done and dusted, Pockets and I shared a last laugh and a hearty bro-hug goodbye, and I was back on my way.

Island Paradise: A Brief Respite in Orkney

After my early day of travel (and my ill-advised yomp from Thurso to Scrabster), I spent several days in Orkney. Having always previously stayed with contacts in Orkney, this was the first time I actually stayed in formal visitor accommodation. As things in Kirkwall were (to the best of my knowledge) booked up, I ended up in the Stromness Hotel. The Stromness Hotel boasts lovely rooms, a great breakfast, and three - yes, three - pubs, to include a "whisky heritage bar". The Stromness Hotel, with its youthful and hard-working staff (who seemed ubiquitous - I swear, one kid working there seemed to be involved in serving me just about every meal I ate there, regardless of the time of day) did a great job of making me feel welcome. With so much pressure having arisen during the intervening weeks, it was extremely cathartic.

Early in my trip, I had my first ever wander around Stromness. Small by comparison to Kirkwall, Stromness nonetheless boasts its own history and a variety of curiosities. Stromness is located within the sheltered harbor known as "Hamnavoe", the latter being the village's original name. Hamnavoe is Norse for "safe harbor", as the harbor was within a protected area of Scapa Flow. The ferry MV Hamnavoe transports passengers from Stromness to Scrabster several times daily (except when it doesn't). In the days of sail, and the early age of steam propulsion, Stromness also served as a last stopping off point for ships from the Hudson's Bay Company that were bound for Canada and elsewhere. Login's Well offered one last source of fresh water before the ships left on their long voyages across the Atlantic. At some point, a tiny foot path in Stromness inherited the name "Khyber Pass" - not to be confused with the Indian takeaway near the University of Aberdeen campus.

When I arrived in Stromness, I'd spent the prior two weeks finishing off my dissertation and preparing to leave Aberdeen, and I just sort of needed a break. I found a conveniently placed bench at the south end of the village, and just sat there for at least an hour, maybe more like two. It was positively idyllic, just cold enough to be comfortable for a well-insulated bloke like me, but sunny enough to bring out Orkney's lovely greens and blues.

During one trip by bus from Stromness to Kirkwall, I looked out the bus window and saw that the waters of the North Sea northwest of Kirkwall (right around Finstown) looked as smooth as glass - something I didn't think was even possible for a body of water connected directly to the ocean, and particularly the North Sea! Of course, I had to snap a picture of it to share with you, my beloved readers. While in Kirkwall (which happened a couple of times, both for errands and for general leisure), I also stumbled upon...

... another blackening. One would almost think that I'm getting to the point of being pretty familiar with this place I fell in love with so many years ago... But, alas, my respite was to be interrupted in short order. There was time to fill, and there were things to do, and as soon as I'd had a moment to catch my proverbial breath, I was off and running once again.

Operation Bold Brigand Commences

After an early morning of clearing the remainder of my stuff out of my room and packing the rest, I put my stuff into storage with my good friend Tashtego, and I was off! I caught the early train to Inverness, followed by the train up to Thurso. This involved doubling back on part of a route that I took when leaving Orkney in 2004 - a train journey I thoroughly enjoyed.

I arrived in Thurso wearing my Arc'Teryx Echo Pack, my 5.11 Rush MOAB 10, and my ancient Eddie Bauer backpack. Using some utility carabiners, I was able to clip the whole mess together, which made it moderately easier to carry; still, approximately sixty pounds worth of kit is heavy and bulky, no matter how it's packaged. I also made the mistake of deciding to walk from the rail station at Thurso to the ferry terminal at Scrabster. That ended up being about two and a half miles, and I was dying by the end of it - not bad for a guy in his thirties who hasn't played this game in nearly a decade, but still something that I was grossly unprepared for.

As I neared the ferry terminal, I passed by the Ferry Inn, which had four flags out front - notably, none of them was the Union Flag. Looking at Google Street View, they appear to be the American, Scottish, Norwegian, and Canadian flags. Why the first and last flags were there is beyond me, but since every American flag outside American soil is worth photographing, I snapped a quick picture and then kept walking.

I had to wait in the terminal for car passengers before the foot passenger terminal right next to the ferry's pier opened up. I caught my wind, and finally made that last arduous run with all of that kit on my shoulders. As I neared the terminal, I saw a sign welcoming me to the Scottish Highlands - this would have made a bit more sense in Inverness, as I was now leaving the Highlands, but I snapped a picture anyway. It seemed an appropriate transition point as I left Scotland proper to revisit my favorite island paradise.