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 RUMPLED AND WITH A serious case of jet lag after the long flight from Carlisle, Pennsylvania, I drove my government-rate, rented roller skate through light Sunday traffic and parked under the breezy palms of the Waikiki Hilton, where I stayed for two days while in-processing with the headquarters in late June 2003. The last time I pushed my toes into the ivory sands of Waikiki Beach, we were still at war in Vietnam. I stood on the beach for a while thinking not of Vietnam but of this new war in Iraq and of my son, Miles, who was completing his officer basic training and would in a month join his army brigade in Germany, 3rd Brigade of the 1st Infantry Division—the Big Red One, no doubt soon destined for battle. I spent the next two days at the headquarters of Joint Task Force–Full Accounting, located at Camp Smith, on the northwest part of Honolulu. In the process I made two great new friends. The first stop and first friend was Major “Big Tim” Orner, the S4, or logistics officer. Since we were not allowed to operate in military uniform in Vietnam and could bring in very little U.S. Army equipment, Tim led me to the task force store he had set up with the best available commercial gear, such as REI, Blackhawk, Camelback, and Columbia. It was like shopping at Cabela’s for free. He gave me two large transport boxes to fill, and I tossed in Gore-Tex jackets, rainsuits, gloves, boots, Camelback water kits and packs, mosquito nets, and an entire range of other gear that would make living in the jungle a little more comfortable. Tim would ship the boxes to me on the next team flight headed for Vietnam. The second new friend was Lt. Col. Jay George, the S3, or operations of- ficer. Jay was a wiry, quick-witted soldier with a sensible, pragmatic approach Chapter 1 TO THE FAR SHORE TO THE FAR SHORE  to the complexities of organizing multiple simultaneous missions. Jay and I had a long talk about the best methods of operating in Vietnam and dealing with the government. These conversations greatly boosted my confidence in being able to successfully command the Hanoi detachment. For the remainder of two days I visited each section of the task force, preferring informal conversations to formal briefings. My view of the mission evolved considerably, becoming much more political and complicated than I had ever imagined—it seemed that each section that in-briefed me clearly had its own spin on the issues. In addition, I learned that my old friend, who was also the guy I was replacing , Lt. Col. Steve Hawley, was going to be a hard act to follow as Det 2 commander. It was clear he had done great work, made some important innovations , and had pushed very hard. I was gratified, too, to learn that Lt. Col. J. T. Taylor, another old friend and Steve’s predecessor, was considered to have been a very effective detachment commander because of his simple, decent, modest, respectful, and friendly treatment of everyone he encountered on both sides. I decided that he was the model I wanted to adopt. I thought the staff seemed somewhat surprised by my depth of knowledge of the background issues, the diplomacy, and the details of specific cases. Unlike all the other detachment commanders, who had rolled straight out of battalion command with little time to do more than pack and go to Hanoi, I had the advantage of ten months as a war college student and the leisure to do plenty of research on the task force, the mission, and Vietnam. I felt very well armed intellectually for the challenge ahead. I discovered that people in Pacific Command seemed to have a unique concept of time and distance. As part of their job they dashed across six or eight time zones for a quick meeting and back. My new boss, the commanding general of JTF-FA, Brigadier General Steve Redmann, would just leave for Washington, D.C., six time zones east, and then would come straight back in a few days, followed by a quick visit with me in Hanoi, twelve time zones west of D.C., then six time zones back east to Hawaii. No wonder these people fell asleep at meetings and no one even noticed. After a few informative days...

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