Thomas P.M. Barnett :: Weblog

Dateline: TF Green Airport, Warwick RI, 3 November 2004

Just finished 4 speeches over three days: the CAPSTONE presentation at National Defense U in DC on Monday, the luncheon speech to a gathering of intell analysts and contractors in Columbia MD on Tuesday (an annual symposium of the Central Maryland chapter of the Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association, or AFCEA), and then, today, after flying to Montgomery AL last night, I briefed the current classes of both the Air War College and the Air Command Staff College, or almost 1,000 students in all. The total audience for the four briefs was probably 1,500, as the AFCEA conference was large.

It was a three-medallion trip for me, meaning AFCEA gave me a nice (and very large) Intelligence Community medallion, and both Air Force colleges gave me their school medallions.

Alas, I return home empty-handed nonetheless. On the Delta flight from Montgomery to Atlanta, I made the mistake of taking off my waist-pack while I worked over some old blog files that I was reviewing to order my ideas for the next book, and I got so intensely focused on that, that when we landed I simply grabbed my overcoat and my PC bag and departed the small commuter plane without my waist-pack, still under the seat in front of me. I got about 40 yards in the terminal, decided to buy some newspapers for the long flight to Providence, and instantly realized my mistake. Dashing back to the plane, it was empty save for the sole attendant and a cleaning guy. No waist-pack under the seat.

I don't think the cleaning guy was holding out on me, at least I'd like not to jump to that conclusion. My guess is that someone in the back of the plane spied the pack, with its glistening silver Verizon cellphone attached, and made the quick grab.

I made all the appropriate efforts at Atlanta, but got nowhere. No one had turned anything in, and the plane was cleaned out and turned around to Dulles within an hour.

Significant losses for me: all my ID's (license, college ID, special Dept. of Navy ID), all my credit cards, my cellphone, my Blackberry, a bunch of other small items like some cuff links I bought in China that had sentimental value—and of course the three medallions from the trip).

I feel embarrassed and stupid about the whole thing. I've left things on planes before but they were always there when I ran back, so this was really disheartening. Unless the cleaning guy felt he had hit some legitimate paydirt, then it was another passenger who simply decided to take advantage, and that sort of event always leaves me feeling a bit hollow.

Luckily, I have both pairs of glasses and my keys (separately held), and didn't lose anything connected to the PC, or my notes for the book. I'll be out for the phone, getting a new license, and I'll have to go back to my wife's old Handspring instead of the Blackberry. Not sure how much trouble I get into for losing the government ID's or Blackberry, but I'll just have to live with that. In the end, probably $300 out of pocket, plus $44 in cash lost (honestly, the only thing the thief really gains unless they pawn cellphones).

Got a hold of my wife and she canceled all the cards immediately, so no damage there. Now, I'm just sitting in Green waiting for my wife to drive here late at night to give me money so I can get my Honda out of the parking lot (I have no capacity to get my hands on money).

Thank God I have a couple of spare credit cards I don't carry, plus a passport. Otherwise I don't think I could make it to Princeton tomorrow night (thankfully, no rental). But I'll be forced to get the new driver's license upon my return on Friday, otherwise, I won't be able to rent a car next week for my next DC trip.

I try not to read too much into things, but this event makes me feel like I should really stop traveling so much and get out of the talking/speeches business. Then again, they were all great talks (at least, the last three were) to large audiences.

I guess this loss just goes along with my general ennui about the election. I felt Bush would win all along, just like the Yankees always did over the Sox. I'm just glad I was on planes yesterday when all that nonsense from the exit polling got the Dems all jacked up. That would have been a bit too much to bear.

It's weird, but the election doesn't seem to settle anything for me, as I suspect is true for many Americans. I'm not dismayed Bush won, but I'm not happy either. The whole thing just strikes me as somewhat passionless. So Bush won. So we get more of the same. So nothing really decided or changed.

So what do we do now? Stay the course in Iraq? Keep telling allies to shove it? Go after Iran or North Korea?

I'm left with the question that motivated my book: Where is this whole thing going?

It just doesn't feel quite right. It doesn’t feel sustainable. It doesn't feel like a winning strategy.

So I guess I hope I get past this little personal bump with minimal cost, get a good night's sleep, have a good talk with my spouse about how our eldest son isn't doing so well in school, get a sense of whether or not Bush's victory means anything to me personally in my career (should I consider going somewhere else in this government or just get out?).

Oh, and catch a morning flight to New Jersey tomorrow in less than 12 hours and give another big talk at the Woodrow Wilson School at Princeton later in the day.

I fear I am losing track of more than just my wallet in this life, but five flights in three days can do that to you.

[Then I get home to find that someone's pinched my blog for the day!]