Thanks

Like Steinbeck, we believe that, “In long-range planning for a trip, . . . there is a private conviction that it won’t happen” (17).  At far too many points in the planning for this trip, we have been convinced that it would not happen.  It almost did not.  We have many people to thank for the fact that it has. COL John Graham saw the potential for what we have come to think of as the hybrid-disciplinarity of our quest and secured us funding from Army Research and Development Command (RDECOM) that added the important element of visits with scientists to assist us to understand where we are headed in the next fifty years.  We owe a debt of gratitude to Academy Professors, LTC Peter Molin and LTC John Nelson, who told COL Graham our story; we thank them for the power of their narrative.  LTC Brian Imiola reached out to his community at West Point to secure us a van for our trip; for our “Rocinate” we are most grateful.  Many, many more people assisted us in a variety of ways, and we will continue to acknowledge them as we make our way, but we will end for now with our thanks to the Department of English and Philosophy at the United States Military Academy, our intellectual “home,” chaired by COL James “Rick” Kerin, that has supported us throughout the vision and planning for this trip.

~ Margaret Downs-Gamble and MAJ Shawn Neely