at the Pentagon

From: Zippy Larson <zippytours@gmail.com>

Subject: at the Pentagon

Date: September 19, 2015 at 7:55:34 PM EDT

To: Zippy Larson <zippytours@gmail.com>

Yesterday,

I went to the Pentagon on Friday morning with some friends.  We left from the VA hospital in Baltimore City, on a VA bus and were driven to the steps of the Pentagon.  We remained seated while a dog entered our bus to check for illegal drugs.

(The only drugs on that bus were Coumadin and Aspirin, in my opinion. )

As we each exited the bus, a young soldier, sailor or marine offered his arm and escorted each of us to seats at the parade grounds. So much to see in that hour.  It ended with a fly - over and began with musical performances plus a contingent of service men from each of the services.  In dress uniform. A talk by the Charirman of the Joint Chiefs and the Secretary of Defense. A beautiful invocation and a March-in-Review. At the far edge of the parade ground were flags from every state of the union, held aloft by service men. 

Lots more that it is impossible to describe without your actually being there.  I can't wait to go again next year on NATIONAL POW/MIA DAY.

And then return to the bus with a police escort off the Pentagon grounds, that put us on to 395 north to Baltimore.  We stopped for lunch on the way home to Baltimore.  OH!  one female sailor fainted in the sun and I watched how they removed her from the parade ground. 

www.dpaa.mil   I took photos but do not know how to add them to an email.   


Winner: Best Tours of BALTIMORE by Baltimore Magazine - 1989

Winner: Best Tour Guide in BALTIMORE by CITY PAPER - 2005

zippytours@gmail.com

    410 - 522 - 7334

 

Book: Objective Troy

From: Zippy Larson <zippytours@gmail.com>

Subject: Book: Objective Troy

Date: September 21, 2015 at 11:00:28 PM EDT

To: Zippy Larson <zippytours@gmail.com>

I went to Baltimore's Pratt library this evening and heard Scott Shane speak about his book:

    Objective Troy tells the gripping and unsettling story of Anwar al-Awlaki, the once-celebrated American imam who called for moderation after 9/11, a man who ultimately directed his outsized talents to the mass murder of his fellow citizens. It follows Barack Obama's campaign against the excesses of the Bush counterterrorism programs and his eventual embrace of the targeted killing of suspected militants. And it recounts how the president directed the mammoth machinery of spy agencies to hunt Awlaki down in a frantic, multi-million-dollar pursuit that would end with the death of Awlaki by a bizarre, robotic technology that is changing warfare—the drone.
      Scott Shane, who has covered terrorism for The New York Times over the last decade, weaves the clash between president and terrorist into both a riveting narrative and a deeply human account of the defining conflict of our era. Awlaki, who directed a plot that almost derailed Obama's presidency, and then taunted him from his desert hideouts, will go down in history as the first United States citizen deliberately hunted and assassinated by his own government without trial. But his eloquent calls to jihad, amplified by YouTube, continue to lure young Westerners into terrorism—resulting in tragedies from the Boston marathon bombing to the murder of cartoonists at a Paris weekly. Awlaki's life and death show how profoundly America has been changed by the threat of terrorism and by our own fears.
      Illuminating and provocative, and based on years of in depth reporting, Objective Troy is a brilliant reckoning with the moral challenge of terrorism and a masterful chronicle of our times.