Robert, most guys just like talking about, say, the latest baseball scores.

Welcome to David.

Getting coffee and babke to England could pose a bit of a problem. I hate to wake up so early.

I CANNOT WAIT! There's nothing like low intensity conflict to get me started in the morning! : )

Look at that David, you already have a Seraphic fan club! With Babke.

Well.....speaking for "most guys", I enjoy a rousing argument as to who will win the National League West.....of course, it will be my San Diego Padres...

And I love watching the Futures and Forex quotes dance on my monitor.....

But, I have to agree with Irina....Low intensity conflict will be the perfect complement to my morning ritual....I look forward to hearing from our London correspondent.

BTW....Robert....I am open for discussion about great Samurai movies too. ;)

Lance:

Great idea for a future blog: My Favorite Samurai Movies. I'm on it, thanks so much.

Oh, I can picture it! A close shot on the twinkle in the eyes ... Casa Avrech din dropping down out as we hear "The Malayan Emergency" voiced over a cut to some grainy b&w's ... the printer wheezing out 4 pages of syllabus.

Working title: "Mission Possible"

Jeremiah:

Picture perfect.

... and a poster of the movie "The Wild Geese" in the background.

Jeremiah:

Actually, the more correct movie would be "The Seventh Dawn", 1964, which is actually about The Malayan Emergency, and quite a good movie, and hardly ever seen.

Robert,
thank you for your comments, i hope i will live up to the praise and provide Seraphic Press with some insight. I am a big fan of this blog and it is great to make the occasional contribution.

David:

We all look forward to your dispatches and insights. Also: keep away from the warm beer. It's not healthy. Or so I've heard.

King's College London, or King's College Cambridge? (I would guess London).

David, if you would like me to buy you a beer (warm or otherwise), let me know.

David,

I have no doubt your reports will be interesting and provide an insight that many of us dont readily have....

Concerning, warm beer....as a beer affecianado, I am not aware that it is unhealthy...except for the inherent carbs that beer contains.

Cheers!! ;)

Michael:

David will be in London. He has already met Jackie. Take care of our friend.

David,
Best wishes getting settled in at King's College. Looking forward to your perspectives!
Jeremiah
(Seraphic U. freshman)

The Padres? Oy vey.

And whats wrong with the Padres?

We will see who wins the west this year. ;)

See... most men want to talk baseball.

Ms. Randi c-m,
How many hours does it take to make a good batch of babke?

For me? As long as it takes to drive to the bakery, walk in, and pay for it.

Well, in LA that can take a while....

Well, lucky Robert...he can walk right over.

Randi,

Recently I had an argument with a good friend about if it is at all strange for a guy NOT to be into sports. Apparently it is, but we non-sports guys are out there (and proud).

Hi Doc...actually, none of the males in my house are into sports...AT ALL. And proud of it!

Sorry Robert...didn't mean to hi-jack (no pun intended Jack) your blog.

Randi:

No problem. Go at it. Please. This is afterall: low intensity conflict.

I dont see what's wrong with being into sports...and developing a following for a particular team.

I grew up listening to Padres games from a small transistor radio.....of course falling a sleep before the games concluded. I also enjoyed many great moments with my Dad (obm) tossing a baseball....football, etc.

Of course, like anything.....if you obsess over it, and it gets out of control..then it becomes an unhealthy habit.

So....if you enjoy sports...and attending sporting events...that's great.....if you don't that's fine too.

But dont paint me and other men as abnormal neanderthals if we enjoy watching and cheering for our favorite team.

Next thing I expect I will hear how "backwards" men are for enjoying a beer too....

"But dont paint me and other men as abnormal neanderthals if we enjoy watching and cheering for our favorite team."
Uh, Lance...I believe that was Jack oy veying you re: the padres, certainly not me.
I think it's great to follow sports...when I was a kid, I'd bring a transistor radio (yikes, i'm old) to school during the World Series...I wasn't gonna miss my hero Sandy Koufax just cause I was at school.

Lance,

I think you misunderstood, We the non-sports fans are being portrayed (at least by some) as effeminate fairies and i just wanted to let the world know that a man is still a man even without the desire to watch other men exercise.

I've said this before, I'll say it again: I love the tangents that these comment threads take...far, far away from the intended post.

And surprisingly enough, babke seems to work itself into any scenario!

The Padres are not going to win anything, ever. Tony Gwynn watched the old ownership destroy that team.

Pearl, you're right...I think Babke just might be the greatest actor of all (referring to Robert's last post). Poor Babke must be an empty vessel...look at all the roles she has played, right here at Seraphic U.

Randi, two thumbs up for Babke. She plays her *rolls* so well; she's tied up in *knots* forever, wondering how she can best use her talents for the scene at hand.

She can play *chocolate* really well, and has even attempted *cinnamon*. Playing *almond* makes Babke nuts, and being her best at *raspberry* makes for such a sweet performance. *Cheese* is not her style and having to do *poppyseed* just sticks in her craw. And having to play *prune*? FEH!

But I've got to say that Babke really takes the cake when it comes to palate-pleasing performances.

Is it just me or am I correct to observe that guys who put in less effort to stay in shape tend to mouth off more recklessly about sports? And those of us who break a sweat with any frequency appreciate professional athletes with, shall I say, a more modest gusto? (And appreciate babke, too.)

"you're new best friend".

Surely it should be "YOUR new best friend".

PS Love the blog

Suzy:

My typo, thanks so much.

Lance:

Never fear, I'll always be your fellow sports fan here... expecially since were the co-A.D.'s of Seraphic University. Speaking of which, hopefully David will bring back a few soccer and rugby ringers when he returns from his recruiting... I mean fellowship in the UK. You gotta love how the top Brit schools still encourage lots of sports even through grad school... while our American schools cut phys. ed and sports teams in our schools and wonder why we're getting so fat!

BTW, British junior officers and NCO's are usually rugby players... we better put that in our Low Intensity Conflict playbook.

Jake:

Sports and the British:

Incredibly poignant stories from WWI of British officers charging into German machine guns, kicking, yes kicking soccer balls and yelling, "Let's go get 'em,chaps!" Naturally, these brave and naive officers were cut down like wheat.

These things happened only in the opening days of the war when both sides believed it would be over in four months.

Yes, let's hope the civilized warriors rely on the physical fitness and tenacity of sport... not the actual sports equipment in battle, (although the SAS does prefer Nikes according to Andy McNab)

Robert: Great blog. Stumbled into it surfing for screenwriter info, have been quietly following it for quite some time. Looking forward to seeing David's perspective on LIC!

Boxer 5:

Glad you are enjoying Seraphic Secret. LIC is what the US Army will be fighting for some time to come so David's field of study is crucial.

BTW, my father the Rabbi, was a Chaplin in the 42nd Division, retired a Full Bird.

Just lost the post on which politicians served/didn't. I am not a politician, but I served, and continue to.

Without addressing the specifics of the politicians in the list, I can tell you that after fighting as an advisor alongside an Iraqi Army counterinsurgency brigade for a year, I believe more strongly than ever that we should not abandon these brave men the way we abandoned the South Vietnamese.

Agree with the invasion of Iraq or not, accept the moral obligation we have to our Iraqi allies or not, the message our enemies will draw from a US defeat will hurt us and embolden the bad guys for the next three decades at least (OBL and Saddam were big fans of Blackhawk Down, because of the ending that "taught" them that Americans run from bloody fights). If you want us to cut and run so that a Democrat can finally get back into the White House, I suggest you be careful what you wish for.

Chaplains have a hard job, I have to tip my hat to your father. By the way, 42d Division (NY National Guard) lives still! They were in central Iraq up until recently, commanding a mix of National Guard and Regular brigades on the main highway between Baghdad and Mosul, did a great job.

Is it just me or am I correct to observe that guys who put in less effort to stay in shape tend to mouth off more recklessly about sports?

It is just you. ;)

Boxer 5:

Thanks so much for your articulate comment about or moral obliigation in Iraq. I could not agree more.

I deleted that posting. It was put up by a commenter I have banned several times. The only commenter I have ever banned. Though we welcome adult disagreement, he is inappropriate, off-topic and his tone is, well, unfortunate.

President Lincoln never served. Neither did FD Roosevelt. As far as I'm concerened this is not relevant. The Commander-in-Chief should be wise enough to listen to his Generals--or not.

You could argue that because of the huge difference in the nature of the military compared to when he was young, it's probably a good thing President Bush never served in the regular army. There have been two significant revolutionary changes in the armed forces since the late 1960's... both positive. First, the switch to an all-volunteer force and second, the switch from the low-morale of the late 1970's to the very enthusiastic force we see today.

What made JFK such a good president from a military point of view was he took office so realtively soon, (just 15 years), after he had served himself, and the military was not all that different.

The disconnect Jimmy Carter, who served with great distinction, had with the military in his time in office was pronounced. Things had changed too much from the WW II era and his perspective was screwed up. However, he did authorize a very helpful increase in defense spending in his last year in office. Reagan took that ball and ran with it, but without 3 years of ill-effects before it.

Boxer 5:

Glad to hear the Rainbow Division is still alive and doing well in Iraq. Factoid: This was General Douglas McArthur's Division.

Robert,

The British success in Malaya seems to be the hot new model for wars and low intensity conflicts. Did you see this article in the WSJ?

The model comes from "Learning to Eat Soup with a Knife: Counterinsurgency Lessons from Malaya and Vietnam" by Lt. Col. John Nagl. And all the cool wonks and military types are reading it.

Alcibiades:

Boy is your name hard to type.

Yes, I did see it. But at the same time, we have to recognize that the conditions in Malay were very, very different and thus though we can learn from Malay we have to adjust our tactics for what's different in Iraq.

Remember in Malay, the communist insurgency had no religious overtones. Also, the country was jungle and the British were able to isolate the population from the insurgents thereby cutting off food and supplies.

Also, the indigenous population had no love for the commies. Actually, they hated them.

Iraq is urban warfare, a whole other animal.

But there other models. I'm looking at the British in Aden. Nice little war. The British only closed shop there because they ran out of money.

Gosh, I'm getting all misty eyed for the old colonial days.

Robert-I e-mailed you months ago in response to your reminisces about Joel Braverman.I believe we spent 1 year in school together in high school at JBHS.I thought of you this week for for 2 reasons.Every year at my Reform Temple where I teach-we show "The Devil's Arithmetic"-and I think it's an astounding work.Also Saturday night I attended a Bat-Mitzvah for Victor Megerman's daughter in Teaneck N.J.and I must have mentioned seeing the film this week.Both Victor,Arthur Wein,and his wife Alice Kopyt,remember you and your wife and were astounded that you had written a number of things they had seen.I also remain a friend of Mel and Richard Friedman-who I met 40 years ago in Camp Massad.SO -thank you for creating some really moving Jewish-Themed cinema and "Chag Sameach" to you and yours.-Ira.

Ira:

Thanks so much for your kind and generous note. I'm so glad that my film has found a place in your school––it's a work I'm particularly proud of.

You might try reading my novel, "The Hebrew Kid and the Apache Maiden," it's also a great way to educate Jewish kids about their heritage and their place in America. Perhaps I can come and speak at your school next time I'm on the east coast if I have time.

I've been writing to to Arthur and I just have to tell you that it's wonderful to hear from old friends. Chag Kasher v'sameach to you and your family and please stay in touch.