The Dog Ate My Interview!

Brig. Gen. Kevin Killea, USMC, commander of the U.S. Marine Corps Warfighting Laboratory, is a busy man. He essentially wears three hats, because he is also in charge of the newly created Futures Directorate and is the vice chief of naval research. He travels a lot. He meets with a lot of high-ranking, important people.

So, it is not surprising that the interview with him had to be postponed multiple times. Once on the phone, he was open, articulate, informative and interesting. It was a great interview, and I was looking forward to writing the story.

Unfortunately, I conducted the interview from my home office, and moments after I got off the phone with Gen. Killea, my dog Chester chewed up the digital recorder I had used to tape the interview.

The dog seriously ate my homework. He could not have mauled that device any worse if it had been a prize-winning pork chop.

My first response was to contact Gen. Killea’s office to see if they had recorded the interview. Recorders are not allowed in their facility, so they were unable to help. I suspect, though, that they are still laughing.

Next, I turned to my colleague, Max Cacas, who has a long, distinguished career in radio and knows a thing or six about audio devices. He also was unable to rescue my interview. So, my boss suggested I try the Geek Squad at Best Buy. They, too, were unable to help, and they too are probably still laughing. The Geeks suggested I try contacting the recorder’s manufacturer, but that also went nowhere.

My only option was to ask for another interview.

Fortunately, Gen. Killea was sympathetic to my situation, explaining that he has a “Jack Russell terrorist.” He generously made more time on his schedule, for which I am grateful.

For inquiring minds who want to know, Chester is a rescue dog, a pointer/pitbull mix. He is the goofiest, good-for-nothingest dang dog who ever walked the earth. Every breath he takes is a waste of perfectly good oxygen. He never has caught a rabbit, and at times like these, he really ain’t no friend of mine. In fact, if he were any more useless, he would be a cat.

But he does have a certain charm.


Read “Marines Exercise New Warfighting Strategy” for the full article on Gen. Killea and the Marine Corps’ future warfighting strategy implementation through training, war gaming and experimentation.