May 22, 2006

Back from the NSF

I'm back from the NSF, the National Security Forum. For the last 53 years, the airforce has been having a get together for about a hundred or so civilians from various walks of life who get together with the graduating class of the Air War College (these are generally career officers, Lt. Col's or better, who spend a year in what is essentially an advance studies college), become part of a seminar class in which we interact with the officers and get to know the humans behind the military, and hear various lectures from professors, scholars, and such administration advisors as the Air Force chief of staff and the Secretary of the air force.

I can't go into detail about the specifics of what was said, although I will tell you that during one Q&A, I stood up and asked the Secretary of the Air force if the President ever sends him flowers on Secretaries Day. But here's the amazing thing: I was reading through the bios of all the attendees when I first arrived, and it was filled with people who had Masters Degrees, Doctorates, and listed hobbies such as creating orthopedic limbs. I have a Bachelors degree and my hobby is bowling, so I couldn't figure out what the hell I was doing there. So I attend the get acquainted dinner, and I'm sitting there with three Lt. Cols, a full bird Colonel, the president of a moving and packing company and the mayor of Wichita Falls, TX, and what did we all wind up discussing?

The Hulk.

I couldn't believe it.

PAD

Posted by Peter David at May 22, 2006 09:35 AM | TrackBack | Other blogs commenting
Comments
Posted by: Sasha at May 22, 2006 09:48 AM

It's called popular culture for a reason. :)

Posted by: Hysteria at May 22, 2006 10:45 AM

I'm going to say it--

NEVER underestimate the impact your work can have on people. :)

Storytellers are important, whether they have a bachelor's degree or a master's.

Posted by: Paul F. P. at May 22, 2006 10:52 AM

"The Hulk."

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

I'm sorry, that may be the funniest thing I've heard all day.

You shoulda name-dropped Star Trek and Spider-Man while you were at it and seen what kind of reaction you got.

Also:
"during one Q&A, I stood up and asked the Secretary of the Air force if the President ever sends him flowers on Secretaries Day"

You've been saving that one for YEARS, haven't you?

Posted by: Matt Adler at May 22, 2006 12:00 PM

Can you say how/why you were picked to be invited?

Posted by: Scott Iskow at May 22, 2006 12:02 PM

So they were familiar with your work?

Posted by: Mike Chapman at May 22, 2006 12:25 PM

Clearly they wanted your help to figure out how to stop him. It's not like Ross has had much luck.

Posted by: Mauricio at May 22, 2006 01:13 PM

Well, could be more interesting if one of them was called Ross :)

Posted by: Barry at May 22, 2006 01:19 PM

Awesome.

Posted by: Lorin Heller at May 22, 2006 01:30 PM

First off, that made me bust up too, and I like what Mike Chapman had to say about the subject.

As an aside, I've been geeking out by writing comic book reviews of Silver Age Marvel in order of publication - Bless you Marvel Essentials for making this ridiculous act possible! - Anyway, I've noticed in reading old Tales to Astonish how utterly incompetent and criminally negligent the military was in their dealings with Banner, the Hulk, and Rick Jones. Forgetting for a second that Rick Jones is able to DRIVE out onto a test site in the first place and that he's not consequentially put into juvenile hall for the rest of his life, he's apparently allowed to come and go onto military bases as he pleases, and Banner who is a suspected security risk is able to commit all kinds of insubordination and go off on his own for "experiments" all the time without the military putting a PERMANENT guard on him at all times? Ross should have been sacked or demoted as they did in the film long ago. Ah, the things you never think about when you're reading these as a kid.

Ummm, where was I? Oh yeah! The main reason that I was writing in. As much as all these military and educated guys talking about the Hulk made me chuckle, it also really makes me happy to hear that. It's more evidence that my geek hobby has become more "mainstream" over time. I think if I was a kid now, I would hopefully not be given as much crap for my comics hobby.

Now if we could do something about making Dungeons and Dragons more acceptable to the masses. Yeesh.

Posted by: Michael D. at May 23, 2006 09:13 AM

I have this mental picture of a line of gruff, grey-haired military men standing in line with their mylar-bagged Hulk comics waiting for Peter to sign them...

Posted by: Bill Myers at May 23, 2006 09:36 AM

I find it ironic that these military men were so into the Hulk. After all, didn't the Hulk usually make the army look bad? :)

Posted by: Jeffery R. Lindholm at May 23, 2006 11:34 AM

Peter:

Do you mean to say that you were invited to such an event and you didn't think to wonder how or why until you were at the dinner? I don't think so. When you got the call, weren't you trying to convince the person on the other end that they must be looking for another Peter David? And once you were sure they had the right one, didn't you ask why? Or are you former military and familiar with following orders? Huh?

JRL

Posted by: Stacy Dooks at May 23, 2006 04:13 PM

It's amazing how many diverse people are in the 'closet' when it comes to fandom. My brother runs a store here in Calgary-Red 5 Collectibles-where he sells action figures and pop culture memorabilia, and we've been making a study of the phenomena. Most folks who come to the store are fans, and we can rap about Star Wars, comics, popular culture with them. Some are people who can't believe 'people spend -money- on this garbage' and merely come to rubberneck at the place that 'used to be a barbershop'. Others though, are what we've termed 'closet' fans, people who enjoy Star Wars, comics, what have you but just haven't found anyone to discuss it with, who never got in touch with other fans and formed that brotherhood of the brave. It's fun to watch them slowly come to the realization that, yes, other people like this stuff too and sometimes even open shops completely dedicated to same. It can get everywhere, no question. In the Calgary Fan Force alone we've got lawyers, accountants, tradesmen. . .people from all walks of life with a passion for their little slice of popular culture. As I say, the Geek is with us, in some stronger than others. ~.^

So Peter, if I send you my brother's Maestro figure we've got in stock would ya sign it. . ? :p

Stacy

Posted by: Sasha at May 23, 2006 11:01 PM

So, what exactly did you guys talk about? Movie, comics, TV series?

Posted by: Gunter David at May 24, 2006 12:12 AM

1Very much enjoyed your story and could just visualize you when you asked the secretary of the army about flowers.

But I know why you were invited.After all, you are an army brat, born in Ft. Mead, Md. while your father was stationed there.

signed

Your father

Posted by: Iain at May 25, 2006 11:57 AM

The big question I have is whether any of them actually read the comic, or did they just watch the movie or series, and did any of them have any knoweldge beyond 'standard mainstream knowledge'.

Hi to Peter's Father :-)

Posted by: Thomas E. Reed at May 28, 2006 04:32 AM

I have this terrible feeling that the military is taking The Hulk seriously, and they wanted to pick Mr. D's head for some anti-Hulk strategies they could put in the next Pentagon budget. (Hey, they hallucinated WMD's, after all.)

More seriously, since Hulk stories quite often involve massive military movements, perhaps they were comparing how real tacticians would utilize troops against a threat, compared with the way it's done in comics. In comics the army comes calling in huge waves, while a tactician might use distractions, flanking movements and other strategies.

Posted by: Jason M. Bryant at May 28, 2006 06:26 AM

I'm thinking they just wanted to talk about the Hulk. High level military guys, a politician, and a company president? Their lives probably revolve around paperwork. PAD's job probably seems downright glamorous compared to that.