School Daze with Uncle Jimbo
I got a sort of left-handed shout out from fellow military blogger Jim Hanson over at Blackfive.net. We both attended the same Knight Center Seminar on “Foreign Policy - and a Changing Media World”, and he mentioned me in his wrap-up of the event.
Jim, a former Special Forces soldier who goes by the nom de guerre “Uncle Jimbo,” is apparently still basking in the glow of our one joint appearance on CNN two years ago, where, in his mind, he performed a heroic slam-dunk in response to a question from “Week at War” Host Tom Foreman.
Here’s what Jim wrote of our session with a representative from the U.S. Institute of Peace:
“The only entertaining moments came when former CNN Pentagon rep, where he had a supporting role in my shot across their bow, and current Military.com blogger Jamie McIntyre snapped out of the daze she had put him in to ask if maybe her Institute should put it’s new HQ in the open space in the middle of the Pentagon for ironic effect.”
I did say that. And I was falling asleep in the session. The woman had such a soothing voice, and it had been a long day… anyway I woke up long enough to ask if it was just coincidence that the fancy new headquarters of the Institute of Peace was being built directly across the street from the State Department on 23rd St, in DC. It was, I was told, the only available parcel of land. That’s when it occurred to me to mention that there are five and a half acres in the center courtyard of the Pentagon, which right now are only occupied by a small hotdog stand known affectionate as the ground zero café. Okay, it was just an idea. Sometimes I can’t resist going for the cheap laugh.
I had a great time at the Knight Seminar, meeting fellow bloggers, and learning some new tricks of the trade. Jim was by far the most gregarious and unfiltered of the participants. He seemed like the guy who could definitely lead a group of aging journalists into some real Tiger Woods-style trouble.
Jim, by the way insists he’s a pacifist. I told him he struck me as the kind of pacifist would could pass-a-fist through someone’s face.
Tags: Blackfive, Blogging, Knight, Uncle Jimbo
