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Speaking of Noah Shachtman, what he lacks in Rancid-understanding he makes up for with reporting on Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates. For months, the guy has been working on a Gates profile for the print edition of Wired, and the finished product does everything a piece like this needs to: it conceptualizes Gates insightfully for an expert audience; it introduces him accessibly to a non-expert audience; and it focuses on the crucibles of Gates’ tenure for both audiences. And there’s also this:
His blue jeans are hiked up a bit too high on his waist, like he’s been wearing suits too long to remember where dungarees belong.
And this:
He smokes cigars, drinks Belvedere martinis with a twist (the first President Bush weaned him from gin to vodka), and watches trashy movies—Transformers and Wolverine were recent favorites.
Understandable. When you think about it, Bumblebee is a giant living MRAP and Wolverine demonstrates what optimizing mature technology for an already-able ground force can yield in combat capability.
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That said, Wolverine also demonstrates the downsides of using a rapid acquisition systems to meet existing demands. Sure he’s highly effective, but like the MRAP there are unexpected downsides. In the MRAP case, difficulty operating in the mountainous and minimal-infrastructure terrain of Afghanistan. In the Wolverine instance, a tendency to flip out and kill people from the various shadowy government agencies that try to control him. I can imagine the GAO would have a field day with him.
FTW.
Transformers and Wolverine also demonstrate that pouring almost endless resources into something doesn’t necessarily guarantee that the results will be any good if the strategy/script is bad, though it does guarantee a lot of cool explosions and stuff. Perhaps Sec. Gates should arrange a screening for Gen. McChrystal?
On the other hand, even the worst movie can be redeemed with a good sense of humor and a lot of nudity…which doesn’t sound like a viable option for Afghanistan, I suppose.