Typhoon Season

Acknowledgements

My thanks to all of you who’ve written and sent e-mail. Some of you I’ve gotten to know well, and I’m honored that you’ve made me a part of your lives.

A couple of you are thinking about trying for one of the service academies. Remember, good grades in tough courses count. Take science, math, anything that will challenge you as much as getting on board the carrier at night will later on. Give me a shout when you pin those butter bars on.

To Joe, who lost his lovely wife earlier this year — peace, brother. All our best to you and your beautiful new baby.

And Slats, fighting the good fight — keep the faith.

For all of you who’ve asked about the earlier books and how to get them: Sometimes they go out of print for a while, but the publisher assures me that they’re still kicking around in the system. I’m letting them know every time I get a question about them.

Just a note before you start the book — we’re crossing the international dateline a couple of times, and the time ticks in the book reflect that. Easy way to remember it: If time is getting earlier when you cross the dateline, you add a day. In Hong Kong, it’s a day later than it is in D.C., except at 1200 GMT. Hope that prevents some confusion.