Writing

Up till today, the only general I knew named Bostwick was Barry, and that just because he's an actor who played George Washington. Now, I know two - almost.

While I was at the hotel earlier this week, I saw a number of military people. I stopped one of them and asked what was going on -- it's doubtful that a coup d'etat would be started at the Arlington Ritz-Carlton, especially as the putative combatants seemed to be armed with Blackberries and cell phones, but hey, this is a digital age, so you never know. Turned out that they were US Army recruiters, selected from the pool of Army recruiters across the nation, and they were there to attend a 'Recruiting and Retention' conference. Now, that's got to be a tough job in just about any circumstance, but as the woman I was talking with told me, it's particularly difficult now, as the 'dwell time', or length of time away from combat operations, is shrinking, so that soldiers are finding themselves sent back to combat more quickly than anyone might expect.

I was impressed by the courtesy and professionalism of the person I was talking to, as well as the other military people there. I had eight years in the military, and I know that they come in all shapes and sizes. I also know that recruiting is an image-driven occupation, so you want only your best-looking and best-sounding people there. Nevertheless, I liked what I saw. Since I was still thinking kindly of the Army from our encounter with the woman in the elevator, the prior night, I thought I'd tell someone. So, when I got home, I found the name of the commander of her organization, and I dropped him a line. Turns out it's a general named Bostick, not Bostwick, and he replied with a brief note of his own.

So now I know two. Kind of.