Dateline: the public affairs office, Office of the Secretary of Defense, Pentagon, 28 March 2005
You know, when I worked at the college, getting in to see a 4-star was a huge deal. Not that it freaked me, it just stimulated the system so much that everybody and their brother needed to "coordinate."
Life is so much more interesting now with Esquire, because I pitch my F2F's directly on my own, and when I get them, they happen. So today, with a very nice assist from the Office of Secretary of Defense's public-affairs people, I get to interview two four-stars by lunch, with somebody just as good for later this afternoon.
I won't kid you, I never got into any of these offices when I was working for OSD, because those were places my mentor and boss Art Cebrowski went. And I had no problem with that.
Still, it's kind of amazing that I'm about 3 months working as a Contributing Editor with Esquire and here I am getting into three offices I never could have touched in my old day jobs.
Interviews went well. The first 30-minute went 60, and the second went 40. I only wish I wasn't in such a recovery mode still.
Hell, here I am sitting in one of the coolest places in the world to eavesdrop on conversations (big cubicle pool of action officers here in OSD public affairs office) and my hearing's so bad right now (feel like 10 feet under water with two ear infections) that I can hear my heartbeat and not a whole hell of a lot else!
Still, they are treating me very nicely. My handler, a wonderful USAF colonel, is taping all the interviews as well (standard practice), so as I work my little recorder for the first time, at least I have a backup. Neater still, they promise written transcripts within the day, which is nice.
Of course, I will still send my cassettes off to Esquire for transcription, because my guys there are genetically incapable of trusting authorities (just as my guys/gals here are genetically incapable of trusting the press). Fortunately, I am used to operating at this seam, where everyone sort of trusts me.
As a side note, my colonel/handler was nice enough, after the two morning interviews, to escort me (I am without clearance right now) to the Pentagon's barbershop where I got my usual cut (#4 on top, #2 on the side), which was fun. I haven't managed a stop there in two years or more, and I used to love getting my hair cut there.
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