Blogging on Request

Last evening, I sent IOZ a link to this Ralph Peters column, which is altogether remarkable for reasons too numerous (and too fatiguing) to list. Several factors caused me to think of IOZ in connection with this Peters study in psychological disturbance, pretentiousness and related sins. This passage especially caught my eye:

I came out of my tent cranky, having failed to sleep between the two massive civilian-contractor trolls who had an Olympic snoring face-off on the bunks on either side of me. And I still didn't know when I'd have a seat on a flight for the last leg into Baghdad.

Then it hit me. Proust had his why-bother cookies, but it's the smell of mess-hall grease in the morning that takes me back. As more soldiers and Marines materialized from the transit-camp tents, headed for the funky latrines or lining up early for chow, I was home again, back in the world in which I'd spent most of my adult life.

Given IOZ's anarchic, Frenchy, and savagely literate ways, I was certain he could work wonders with the possibilities Peters offers so generously and without a trace of self-awareness (which, of course, makes the gifts that much better).

IOZ exceeds my expectations.

Merci, Monsieur!