December 17, 2005

Silent Night

By Frederick J. Chiaventone
An old friend asked me to join him for lunch the other day. Although we'd stayed in touch over the years we had not had the opportunity to sit down together for years so this was something not to be missed.  Because of my friend's tight schedule we met at his office and it was both strange and reassuring to walk up the steps of his place of business. It had begun to snow heavily and already young men were busy shoveling off the sidewalk and strewing salt afterwards. My friend is Lieutenant General Dave Petraeus now commanding the Combined Arms Center at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. Having spent the last couple of years in Baghdad, Dave enjoyed the cool whiteness of his new surroundings. There are still soldiers everywhere in evidence but thankfully not a single gunshot or explosion, except for the evening gun, to mar the snowy silence. Over sandwiches we chatted quietly about old friends and what they were up to these days and then slid easily into a discussion...(Read Full Article)