There’s a generation a lot of people forget exists. We were born at the tail end of the Boomers, but we are not culturally the same as people born in the 40s and early 50s. We are Generation Jones. And honestly, it explains a lot. We grew up in a world that still felt fundamentally analog, but we were young enough to be dragged headfirst into the digital revolution. We are the bridge generation between rotary phones and smartphones, between slide rules and AI, between Walter Cronkite and algorithm driven media. We remember when there were only a few television channels and the entire country watched the same thing at the same time. We also adapted to the internet, email, forums, social media, streaming and now artificial intelligence. We lived before and after the technological singularity hit everyday life. That is not a small thing. People born in the 40s came of age in a post World War II America that was still industrial, deeply hierarchical and institutionally stable. Their formative years were shaped by the Cold War, Vietnam, the civil rights era and a society where information moved slowly. Generation Jones came later. We inherited the aftermath of all of that. We were the kids who watched Watergate destroy blind trust in government. We watched manufacturing begin to collapse. We saw divorce rates explode. We were the first truly latchkey generation in massive numbers. We learned independence early because many of us had to. We grew up with one foot in old America and one foot in whatever this new thing was becoming. We played outside until the streetlights came on but we also learned DOS commands. We learned cursive and keyboarding. We had card catalogs and Google searches. We went from vinyl records to cassette tapes to CDs to MP3s to streaming in one lifetime. We remember maps. We remember memorizing phone numbers. We remember life before GPS and before every human interaction became filtered through a screen. And because of that, I think Generation Jones developed a very unique perspective. We are adaptable because we had no choice but to adapt. We learned technology as adults instead of being born into it. We remember a slower world but were forced to survive in a rapidly accelerating one. That creates a very different mindset than either older Boomers or younger Gen X and Millennials. A lot of us also reject the caricature people now associate with “Boomers.” We were not buying houses for the cost of a sandwich in 1965. The interest rate on my first house was over 14% and that was after buying down a point. Many of us got hit by recessions, outsourcing, pension collapses and economic instability just like younger generations did. We watched promises evaporate in real time. We understand older generations because we were raised by them. We understand younger generations because we had to evolve alongside them. That’s why the Jones generation often feels culturally homeless. We are rarely discussed, rarely defined and usually lumped into categories that don’t actually fit us. But we exist. We are the human transition point between the industrial age and the digital age. And frankly, there will probably never be another generation quite like us again.

Iran has offered what it calls a path toward reopening the Strait of Hormuz and ending hostilities. But today we learned something rather important about what Tehran apparently believes “negotiation” means. According to Reuters, a senior Iranian official says Iran will make no concessions on its nuclear program, even if the United States accepts Tehran’s Hormuz proposal. Iran also says the Strait will remain closed until all of its conditions are met. Those conditions are substantial. Washington would lift its naval blockade of Iranian ports, release frozen Iranian funds and waive sanctions on Iranian oil. Iran would then reopen Hormuz, while nuclear negotiations would come later. There is also an interesting contradiction developing inside Tehran. President Masoud Pezeshkian has publicly indicated Iran could dilute its 60-percent enriched uranium stockpile and permit international verification. Yet a senior Iranian official is simultaneously telling Reuters that Iran will show no flexibility on enrichment or sending its highly enriched uranium stockpile abroad. That is not a minor difference. I support diplomacy when diplomacy has something meaningful to accomplish. But negotiations require movement from both sides. Asking the United States to surrender significant military and economic leverage first, while declaring major nuclear issues nonnegotiable, is not much of an off-ramp. Hormuz remains closed. Military forces remain positioned throughout the region. The Houthis continue attacking Saudi Arabia. And Washington and Tehran remain very far apart on the issue that helped bring us here in the first place. reuters.com/world/middle-eas…

Counselor, surely all those years of education left you with a larger vocabulary and a more persuasive form of argument. I’d tell you the old joke about the difference between a dead snake in the road and a dead lawyer in the road, but at the moment I’m reluctant to insult the snake.

I’m not going to say “respectfully” because I have two years on you, achieved the same rank, flew multiple combat missions, and STILL serve in a meaningful capacity today. But trash-talking @SecWar doesn’t make you look superior, more intelligent, or better qualified. If you’d led with something other than your mouth, you’d know that. Pro tip: Insulting the troops who were on the ground is a very good way to piss off those of us who protected them.

ALEX DEBRINCAT ENDS IT IN OT!!!!!! 3-2 WINGS! One preseason game left, let's go! #LGRW

If you can’t get enough of our editing wars, join @MikeyDiMercurio and me tonight with the ultimate host and our friend, CTD. It’s always a good time, and there’s no telling what Mikey and I will argue about tonight. 😂

This one hurts. The last A-10 has left Nellis. I have spent years arguing about this airplane, its mission, its survivability, its replacement, and the institutional knowledge we are losing with it. I could do all of that again today, but I don’t think I will. Nellis and the A-10 belong together in my memories of the Air Force. The Weapons School, the tactics, the testing, the people, and that unmistakable airplane overhead. For nearly fifty years, the Warthog was part of that place and part of the education of generations of warfighters. Fair winds, old Hog. You did your job, brought people home, and earned every bit of the affection people have for you. This one really hurts. 🇺🇸 acc.af.mil/News/Article-Disp…

Here for it! Channeling the 80s and 90s? 🤔

AMBER alert.

Tim for President! This is how you solve problems.

From the ready room to the Ma and Pa diner, there will be copious amounts of coffee. ☕️ I’ve got a full dance card this weekend. Car shows, cruise-ins, and my favorite, the James Dean Festival in his birthplace of Fairmount, Indiana. Time to finish detailing Mojo, put on some leather pants and a pink fuzzy sweater, and go enjoy myself. Enjoy this first weekend of fall! 🍂🌻🍁

Saudi Arabia may be approaching a decision point with the Houthis. After another round of Houthi attacks, including six ballistic missiles Saudi Arabia says it intercepted Thursday, Riyadh is moving beyond simply managing the incoming threat. Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan are now taking their Mecca Joint Defence Agreement into operational consultations, with an urgent meeting of their military chiefs reportedly being arranged to determine what support Ankara and Islamabad can provide. France is already deploying troops, radar and air-defense systems to protect Yanbu, which has become increasingly important as Saudi Arabia attempts to move oil westward and reduce its dependence on the Strait of Hormuz. Meanwhile, Saudi civil-defense warnings have covered Mecca, Jeddah, Yanbu, Tabuk and Taif. Then came something else worth noticing. Saudi Grand Mufti Sheikh Saleh bin Fawzan Al-Fawzan called on Saudi troops to remain prepared for combat and spoke of restoring the internationally recognized Yemeni government’s authority over all of Yemen. None of that proves a larger Saudi offensive is coming. It would be irresponsible to say that it does. But taken together, this is no longer a single indicator. It is a cluster: repeated missile and drone attacks, civilian warnings, additional foreign air defenses, consultations under a mutual-defense agreement, an urgent military chiefs meeting and unusually strong language from Saudi Arabia’s highest religious authority. One more thing caught my attention tonight. In his interview with Bret Baier, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian insisted that the Houthis are responsible for their own actions. At the same time, credible reporting citing Yemeni, Iranian and regional sources says IRGC personnel provided direct guidance during the Houthis’ recent offensive down Yemen’s Red Sea coast. Those two things deserve to be placed beside one another. Watch Saudi Arabia. Riyadh has shown considerable restraint. That does not mean the restraint is unlimited. reuters.com/world/middle-eas…

Happy Cat!!!!!!!!!!!!♥️♥️♥️

“When you play the Game of Egg Salad, you win or you die. There is no middle ground.” ⚔️♥️🙏🏼

🥰🥰🥰

I don’t even know how he does it all. He manages all of this during the holiday season, when he is appearing everywhere almost every day listening to children’s Christmas wishes. Not to mention the disaster work he does for the Salvation Army. Joe narrates our books, edits as he goes, and somehow finds time for everything else he does. But he is also one of my dearest friends and my spiritual touchstone. When I need perspective, particularly on matters of faith, Joe is one of the people I turn to. There are very few people in life you trust that way. He is one of mine.

A Haiku for Harvest Behold Autumn’s Radiant pure dance of light In golden spectrum ~ Epistemology Quest

The Houthis are not letting up. Saudi Arabia says its air defenses intercepted and destroyed six Houthi ballistic missiles today, targeting Taif and the Yanbu area on the Red Sea. Emergency warnings were issued across several areas, including Jeddah and Mecca. Yanbu is particularly important. It isn’t simply another Saudi city. It is a major Red Sea energy hub and an alternative route for Saudi oil exports, making continued attacks there strategically significant. We’ve been watching this escalation build for weeks. Six ballistic missiles in a single day is not background noise. Keep your eye on Saudi Arabia and Yemen.

Another drone has crossed into NATO airspace. This time, it came down in Romania. Romania’s Ministry of Defence says the aircraft entered Romanian sovereign airspace this morning and remained there for approximately four minutes before crashing in a forest near Solca. Romanian F-16s were scrambled, civilians were warned through RO-Alert, and authorities have now recovered the small drone. Fortunately, there were no casualties or property damage. We need to be careful with attribution until Romania finishes examining the aircraft. What is already established, however, is the pattern. Romania now reports 28 unauthorized drone incursions in 2026 alone and 47 since the war in Ukraine began. We have talked for some time about Russian operations increasingly pressing against NATO’s borders and about the danger of eventually having something come down on the wrong side of one of them. This morning, something did. The important question is no longer whether NATO airspace will be penetrated. It repeatedly has been. The question is how the Alliance distinguishes accident and spillover from probing or deliberate action, and what happens when the next one does not land harmlessly in a forest.

A short free-preview of last night's paid-subscriber-only UNCLAS Read Board Podcast where I lamented the dozen of lost years of experience when tossed X-47B...and only now are trying to play catch-up with the MQ-25A.

Mikey, you know the rule: There’s no whining on a submarine. This is an extraordinary amount of complaining from a man who could have avoided the entire “editorial roadmap” by simply writing it correctly the first time. My full editorial notes are over 100 pages. In an effort to be kind to you and not completely break your spirit, I gave you a roadmap, beginning to end. All you have to do is follow it and make the corrections as you go. Now quit bullying your printer, put your pinky down, and get back to work. 😂