Operation Debnam Pass

Alright, so we've talked about Operation Highlander. Now, let's talk about Operation Debnam Pass.

Oh, you've forgotten about Operation Highlander? Well, let's recap.

In mid-2010, after nearly three years in Virginia - the first time - I was getting bored, and none of my attempts to shift into a different job had panned out. So, one of my mentors recommended that I look into graduate school in Scotland. I found a program that I liked, and for the next three and a half years, that became my primary focus. Later in 2010, I got a proverbial "gravity assist" when I was about to be laid off, which allowed me to transfer to a position in Kuwait that paid me an exorbitant amount of money - sort of a key prerequisite, as it were.

About two years after I'd originally identified the goal, I had the money, and I'd been admitted. I arrived in Scotland, learned a lot about the world, and followed Johnny's advice by doing my best "to taste and to touch, and to feel as much, as a man can before he repents." I finished my dissertation, made my way up to Orkney for a long weekend, sat on a bench in Stromness beside the Hoy Sound, and thought to myself, "What next?"

For various reasons, most of which had nothing to do with me, "what next" didn't really pan out the way that I'd intended. I didn't have grounds to complain, exactly - as everyone ought to know, I eventually got to move home, I married an incredible gal, we bought a cool house, and we invited an amazing dog to join our household. Even so, when I turned forty, I did a bit of a retrospective, and decided that I wanted to start getting more out of my life. I developed a plan for Operation Alchemy, which was aimed partly at getting more out of my forties than I'd been getting out of my late twenties, but also at figuring out what I wanted to accomplish with my fifth decade.

Operation Alchemy was, and is, divided into nine projects: Madrigal (personal goals), Stronsay (spiritual health), Harray (physical fitness), Egilsay (academics), SouthRon (financial management), Tigerlily (professional development), Granite Lodge (work projects), Westray (travel goals), and Wyre (miscellaneous special projects). It's been a good framework for focusing on some of my long-term goals, and it will continue. However, I think that the scope of the remaining years of my forties are coming into focus.

So, what's Operation Debnam Pass? Simple: I'm going to become a Green Beret.

Well... Not actually, but hear me out. I'm nearly a decade outside the qualifying age window. Oh, and that circulatory irregularity that some of you may have heard about? That's permanent, and it prevents me from running. So, actually joining the Army on an 18X contract and attending Special Forces Assessment and Selection is well and truly out. Fortunately, that doesn't stop me from developing a framework of goals to improve my life and accomplish my goals, based upon the Green Berets' training pipeline and operational focus.

Let's start with physical fitness. I've already been working at this with Operation Alchemy's Project Harray, but around three years of aggressive swimming haven't done much in the way of reducing my weight. What did seem to help reduce my weight? Walking. In the latter months of the pandemic era, I unexpectedly discovered that all of the walking that I'd been doing with Tango had reduced my weight from around 315 pounds pre-pandemic to about 270 in late 2021. As we spent less time walking, the weight came back. Late last Summer, I was able to drop some of it again - ironically, when I was walking with a pack to offset several weeks of annual maintenance closures in the local municipal pool network.

For years, one of my life goals has been to complete a modified version of the BUD/S Warning Order, a workout designed by the Navy SEAL teams to prepare candidates for the SEAL Physical Screening Test. As it's written, the Warning Order involves running, swimming, push-ups, sit-ups, and pull-ups. That'll be the initial basis of my program. In lieu of the running, I'm walking with a pack. In lieu of the pull-ups, I'm using a lat pulldown machine to work my way up to doing an actual pull-up - presumably, this will get easier as I begin to drop weight. I've also added kettlebell presses and kettlebell squats. Week by week, I'll slowly add reps and weight. By the time I hit forty-five years of age - a little more than a year - my goal is to be able to complete, if not outright pass, a modified SEAL PST/SFAS PT Test: seventy push-ups, seventy sit-ups, fifteen pull-ups, swimming and rucking objectives that I'll determine at some point between now and then, and a goal weight of 245 pounds.

Why 245 pounds? Because Green Berets jump out of perfectly good aircraft, and to do that as a civilian, you have to be 250 pounds or lighter. As I'm writing this, I've got a year and some change, and I'm already partway into the sequence. It's ambitious, but if I keep myself focused, I believe that I can achieve that goal, and celebrate my forty-fifth birthday by jumping out of a perfectly good aircraft. Oh, by the way, I've wanted to get Accelerated Freefall certified for the best part of twenty years, so it's about time that I made it happen.

A lot of people picture the Green Berets as steely-eyed commando types, carrying out kinetic raids, eliminating terrorists, rescuing hostages, and such. In all fairness, they did a lot more of that in recent conflicts than they should have; but their actual role is to leverage regional cultural knowledge, to include language fluency, to interface directly with partner forces. Translation: once again, it's time to get serious about learning to speak and read Arabic. The main challenge in that regard is making time to study, but if I can spend a few months doing a couple of flash cards a day, I should be able to be efficient about things at a projected start date.

Furthermore, Green Berets operate in twelve man "A-Teams," short for "Operational Detachment Alpha" (ODA). These consist of an 18A Special Forces Officer as Detachment Commander; 180A Warrant Officer as Deputy Detachment Leader; 18Z Operations Sergeant as Team Sergeant; 18F Intelligence Sergeant as Assistant Team Sergeant; two 18B Weapons Sergeants; two 18C Engineer Sergeants; two 18D Medical Sergeants; and two 18E Communications Sergeants.

Do I foresee doing thirty-six weeks of intensive medical training, to include a four-week-long residency at a major trauma center, in order to satisfy the qualifications of a Medical Sergeant? No, I do not. Am I going to learn how to turn a bunch of household chemicals into the implements for breaching a door? Also no. Do I think I could stand to use these occupational specialties to develop some skills to make me more useful as an adult man? Yes, I do. A few initial thoughts...

18B - WEAPONS SGT // Special Forces Weapons Sergeants become experts in the world's weapons. I don't need the bulk of that knowledge, but I could stand to learn a little bit. Since around 2014, I've wanted to complete a Bushmaster Armorer Course, though it would appear that they're tougher to find than they were back then. Otherwise, it might be nice to take a couple of shooting courses from Thunder Ranch in Lakeview, Stoneridge Tactical Academy in Central Point, or Rogue Protection Group in Rogue River.

18C - ENGINEER SGT // Special Forces Engineer Sergeants are basically combat engineers on steroids: experts in building and maintaining a range of simple structures, but also in highly kinetic demolitions. I don't really need to know any of that, though some sort of handyman course to improve my home repair skills might be in order. In lieu of becoming a civilian version of a combat engineer, I might look into some basic automotive familiarization training.

18D - MEDICAL SGT // Special Forces Medical Sergeants go through extensive medical training, the better part of a year, culminating with a four-week-long residency at a major American medical center's trauma department. Obviously, that's not in the cards; but maybe I could renew my long-lapsed American Red Cross first aid certification? A colleague recently informed me about a Wilderness First Responder certification course through Oregon STate University, which could be a good option.

18E - COMMUNICATIONS SGT // One could say that as a cyber security specialist of considerable tenure, I've already got this covered. In reality, there's always more to learn. There are some hands-on technical training projects that I've wanted to do for about ten years, and haven't had the time to dig into them. Additionally, it would be nice to read a couple of books, or take a class or two, on radio theory; and maybe get my ham radio operator certification.

18F - INTELLIGENCE SGT // Once an 18B, 18C, 18D, or 18E have done at least one tour, they can apply to re-classify as an 18F, and if they're accepted, undergo the Operations and Intelligence (O&I) Course. I've had an interest in intelligence for years, and I have a collection of both field manuals and more academic literature discussing strategic and security intelligence. I'm also very interested in geospatial information systems, and translating actionable data into map form. Additionally, I've already mentioned the Arabic, and I'm obviously interested in continuing to monitor the Middle East and learn more about its history and cultures. I don't know what the overall plan for the 18F portion of the plan is, but there's a lot of room for growth there.

Additionally, an ODA is led by an 18A (Special Forces Officer), an 180A (Special Forces Warrant Officer), and an 18Z (Special Forces Operations/"Team" Sergeant"). I'm not sure if I need to unpack any of these three roles (maybe a Project Management Professional certification?), postpone them until I've finished the first five, or dispense with them altogether. Maybe that turns into something less formal or structured? We'll see.

As a whole, the concept is loosely inspired not only by the U.S. Army Special Forces Groups themselves, but less so by The Preparation, a "practical, radical alternative to college." The ODA is structured around the question, "what core skills would the United States need to be able to nurture in a foreign partner force in order for that force to win a war"; while The Preparation is structured around the question, "What are the core skills that a young man needs to learn in order to be successful in life?" I'm too old for SFAS or The Preparation, but there's no time like the present to come up with a system for becoming a better version of myself.

So, why "Debnam Pass"? When I worked for the Army at the Fort Irwin National Training Center, one of the key terrain features was Debnam Pass, a corridor that connected the northwestern portion of the training area to the central area. I figure that it makes as much sense as any other sufficiently vague name, right?

So... Watch this space, because big things are coming!

Ambient Videos for Relaxation and Profit

In the last eighteen months or so, I've taken to using YouTube to provide a combination of ambient noise and scenery, either on my workstation or on my actual television set. This can serve a variety of purposes:

A YouTube video, playing even at low volume, will keep a computer "awake" when you're away from it for a few minutes.

Overnight, Tango the Weimaraner is less likely to detect critters like raccoons or possums, but mostly cats, if there's a combination of noise and light on the television when he's sleeping in our front room.

The ambient noise and visuals can facilitate productivity, but also sleep!
I've been enjoying two in particular, and thought I'd share them. The first is from Cozy Timez.


I love the idea of a cozy little cabin with a wood fireplace, insulated from the beautiful display of inclement weather outside. I'd prefer a sleeping dog to a sleeping cat, but it's fine.

The other recent selection is an offering from Artic Ocean: a ship plodding through a stormy sea.


Having briefly served in the Navy, but never gone to sea, part of me idealizes the prospect of leaving land behind and braving the elements aboard a tramp freighter. This video is solid not only because it's got great visuals and audio, but also because it's nearly twelve hours long, which makes it more likely to keep going all night instead of timing out. Then again, the TV tends to shut itself off after a duration without any outside input, so I often have to keep the thing going when Tango wakes me up to request a bladder relief outing.

There's another category of ship-at-sea videos, but since many of them seem to be titled in Korean, I'm unable to find them. Wait, let's try something...


There's one! So, enjoy, and if you have any similar videos that you enjoy using for relaxation or focus, feel free to link to them in the comments.

Return to the Joshua Tree... Or Very Nearly

Last year, Lady Jaye and I got our passports renewed in preparation for a family cruise to Alaska that took place in July. Ironically, we didn't disembark for the port visit to Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. So, with our anniversary approaching, Lady Jaye began looking into potential trips to Canada that we could take in order to use our new passports.

She failed... Or did she?

As she was searching for accommodations, she stumbled across a listing for La Luna Cabin outside Yucca Valley, California. Immediately, I told her that this would be a great idea for an anniversary vacation. So, she booked it, and a few weeks later, we flew from our home to Las Vegas, rented a car, and got on the road.

I've occasionally mentioned my history with the Mojave Desert, near the edge of which one can find Yucca Valley. In February of 2006, I applied for a job at Fort Irwin with Raytheon, was hired, and relocated to Barstow to work as professional OPFOR in Army training exercises. I was classified as a "Civilian on the Battlefield" and even featured - very briefly - in a 2008 documentary. You can also read about a 2008 BBC podcast covering the training at Fort Irwin here, and you can actually listen to it here.

I had originally intended to stay for between three and five years, but a variety of factors led me to seek other opportunities, and I left for Virginia after little more than fourteen months. While I had been back to California twice since leaving, July of 2023 marked sixteen years since I had set foot in the Mojave Desert. So, I thought a trip back to my old stomping grounds was a great idea!

So, we flew into Las Vegas, picked up our rental car, got something to eat, and got on the road. As I mentioned, I lived in Barstow, and the initial leg of our trip took us from Vegas to Barstow along the route I had taken several times in years past, when I was flying out of Vegas to visit home. Interstate 15 from Vegas to Barstow is quite the stretch of territory, with a mixture of failed and struggling settlements, and no shortage of dessicated detritus littering the desert. Additionally, a long stretch of the highway runs along the southwest quarter of Fort Irwin, affording me occasional glances into the training area, as well as repeated glances at Tiefort Mountain. In 2006, when I first arrived at Irwin, one of my co-workers repeatedly told me - literally, about six times during a two minute-long lecture - that "Tiefort Mountain is the biggest sumbitch out here, so if you ever get lost, you just sight in on Tiefort, and you can find your way home." I snapped a photo, sent it to some of my former co-workers, and we kept moving.

I had only ever driven past the settlement of Baker. On this trip, we stopped so that Lady Jaye could witness the glory of the World's Tallest Thermometer, and a nearly defunct TCBY location. On our way back, we ate at the legendary Mad Greek restaurant.

When we arrived in Barstow, I gave Lady Jaye a quick tour, showing her where I'd lived, where I'd bought groceries, where I'd gone drinking with my co-workers, and the main drag through town. With that over - honestly, Barstow didn't seem much different than it had been when I left, but I don't know that I'd exposed myself to much of the city during my residence there - we got on the road to Yucca Valley. During my brief season in Barstow, I had driven the routes from Barstow to Vegas (I-15), Laughlin (I-40), and back home to Oregon (US-395). I think I may have taken California State Route 247 south of Barstow for a mile or two, but never as far as Lucerne Valley, and certainly never as far as Yucca Valley, Joshua Tree, or Twentynine Palms. On the advice of a neighbor, I had deliberately avoided Joshua Tree National Park. I thoroughly enjoyed the drive, which felt like a mix of familiar terrain and unexplored territory.

Aside from a memorable dinner at The Copper Room (where our waiter looked like a young David Koresh) and two lovely dinners at Yucca Kabob, we bought groceries and made a lot of our own meals. Lady Jaye went on a lot of walks around the cabin, and I joined her for several of those. The cabin itself featured twin soaking tubs on the back deck, of which we made copious use.

Our big adventure was two mornings spent in Joshua Tree National Park. Lady Jaye read online that the best place to take sunrise photos in the park was at the Cholla Cactus Garden, where the Mojave Desert transitions into the Sonoran Desert. Mea culpa: tasked with navigation, I took a wrong turn on the first morning, and we nearly ended up driving out the northwest entry gate toward the city of Joshua Tree, instead of arriving at our planned destination. Lady Jaye was furious, and the situation was tense. We ended up driving back to our original destination to confirm the route for the next morning, then doing a bit of hiking at the Arch Rock trail, taking in both Arch Rock and Heart Rock. (A couple of months later, I happened to see Arch Rock as the Windows welcome screen!) We drove around a bit more, then enjoyed breakfast at Crossroads Cafe in Joshua Tree.

The next morning, we made it with time to spare, and got situated a few minutes early. Our goal of taking sunrise photos was partially foiled by a massive cloud that blocked the sunrise, but the cloud eventually shifted enough to allow for some great shots of the faint glow of the cacti in the morning light. From there, we went to do some hiking at the Hall of Horrors, and later at the Barker Dam Trail. Between those two hikes, we drove up to the Keys View overlook point, which was - for me - one of the highlights of the trip.

Of course, our adventures in the park led to some Googling, which revealed a great website Cali49, which boasts a lot of features on the park (including the defunct Golden Bee Mine, overlooking the Cholla Cactus Garden). It joins Tom Mahood's OtherHand website, and the Wonderhussy Ghost Town Living YouTube channels, in fueling both my fascination with the Mojave Desert, and my regret at having explored so little of it during my brief tenure as a resident therein.

For these, and other reasons, I want to figure out a way to spend a bit more time there. Will it happen? Who knows. How will I make it happen? An even better question... But, as Wilfred Thesiger so rightly noted:

"The desert had already claimed me, though I did not know it yet."

So... More on that to come, I suppose.

Changing Fluids

I've lived in the United Kingdom twice, and in the Middle East once. The United Kingdom introduced me to tea, and refined my taste in alcohol. The Middle East was basically devoid of alcohol - Kuwait being a dry country, and my travels elsewhere in the region being fairly limited - but further ingrained tea culture into my system. A year in Scotland left me with a taste for a dram of twelve-year-old Highland Park Scotch whisky, and time spent in West Sussex and Kuwait eventually led me to prefer Ahmad Tea's loose leaf Earl Grey - oh, and Rakkasan Tea's Himalayan Black Dragon oolong.

Recently, I've had occasion to discover a new variety of grain alcohol that I've been enjoying, and a new tea that I'm trying out. So, I figured I'd share.

On a recent trip to Portland, I visited the Oregon Afghan Halal Market, and purchased a bag of Afghan style Saffroni Dholla green tea. I've had a few cups of it, typically with a couple of teaspoons of sugar in an attempt to replicate the Afghan style. Quite honestly, I find it fascinating that only a single website on the Internet shows any indication that this stuff exists, but whatever, right? By the way, the only reason I knew to look for a special Afghan green tea was because of a Veterans Day marketing E-mail from Rakkasan Tea.

On a side note: if you're in Portland, you should swing by the Oregon Afghan Halal Market and buy something. If you're anywhere where you can support Afghan refugees in America, you should do what you can.

Anyway, at some point in either February or early March, I had occasion to grab a bottle at my local liquor store to take to a buddy. I found a cheap bottle of huckleberry whiskey, and gave it to him almost as a gag gift. We both decided to sample it, and it was actually really good. I don't know how available it is nationwide, but it's Porter's Huckleberry Whiskey from the locale that's known for its bourbon purveyances... Ogden, Utah? Okay, so that doesn't make a ton of sense, but trust me, the stuff is good, smooth, easy to drink. I definitely recommend it.

Am I bailing on Highland Park or Ahmad's Earl Grey? Of course not, but as they say, variety is the spice of life.

NOTE: Originally posted in April, and accidentally posted to Operation Highlander. Oops.

Digital Investigation: The Missing Gymnasium

In 2007, I moved from a remote area of California into the metropolitan area of Hampton Roads, Virginia. One of my goals upon moving was to find somewhere to swim laps. Shortly after my arrival, I visited a gym within walking distance of my apartment, walked in, and asked a single question: "How much would it cost me to swim laps in your pool?" Instead of giving me an answer, the representative behind the desk gave me a complete facility tour, then tried to hype me up on the value of Muscle Milk Bars, before finally giving me some sort of price list. I thanked her, left, and never set foot in the building again.

A few months ago, I was reminiscing about the incident, and couldn't remember the name of the gym. So, I tried to look it up, and found that it's gone. Wait... What? The building was on River Birch Run, opposite Greenbrier Mall from Greenbrier Parkway. But, as one can see from the current map that the only present businesses on that block are a Firestone Complete Auto Care, an MRI clinic that was under construction in September of 2007, and a retirement complex for senior citizens. I was stumped, and even creative Googling didn't help.

I finally found part of the answer: a literal missing building. Since it was on the periphery of a mall parking lot, Google Street View offered multiple angles on the building, revealing it to be a Bally Total Fitness. Remember those?

Well, apparently the company started selling off assets around 2011, and the chain itself ceased to exist by late 2016. A quick Google search failed to determine when the Chesapeake location closed.

This may seem like a really trivial thing to post about, but it had me really curious, and it ended up taking some modest sleuthing skills to work out. I also remain stunned that a perfectly good building wasn't sold off and repurposed, either by a different fitness company or some entirely different tenant. Now, all that remains is a patch of grass and a disused, presumably deteriorating parking area. That just seems strange.

As for me, I eventually started swimming, intermittently, at several branches of the local YMCA. I frequently ran into two major issues: seasonal electrical storms that forced the temporary closure of the pools during the timeframe when I was usually there, and high school swim teams that were allowed to take up the entire pool facilities. I probably could have adjusted my own schedule if my fitness had been a high enough priority, but it wasn't, and I didn't. Such is life.

PRE-PUBLICATION UPDATE: Oddly enough, when you start Googling "Bally total fitness," you get video recommendations. As it turns out, around a year ago, some guy back in Chesapeake made a video about this very Bally's location. Here it is...


... and the bottom line from a video that's about three times as long as it needs to be is that the building was probably condemned, and demolished in lieu of being rehabilitated into something suitable for another business to occupy.

Fueling the Fires of Civilization: The Perfect Shave

I officially started to develop a bald spot around the time that I was twenty-three years old. Most of the men on either side of my family are bald, so it wasn't much of a surprise. By the time I reached my late twenties, I would occasionally go for a full shave, but usually had my barber manicure a tighter and tighter patch of hair. When I arrived in the Middle East in late 2010, I finally committed to the "bald is beautiful" look.

Some of my fondest memories of Kuwait were the hours spent, usually every other week, in the barber's chair. My Pakistani barber, Mohammed, would send his cousin to get me a cup of tea, and then shave my head, style my beard, and give me a back massage. That treatment was suspended when I repatriated in early 2012, and then resumed six months later when I arrived in Aberdeen for graduate school. There, I found a Turkish barber shop, staffed by Orhan from Turkey, and Yari and Alex from Iran. Same thing: cuppa, head shave, beard trim, back massage. The Aberdeen contingent added something I don't remember from the Kuwaiti sessions: ear hair singeing utilizing fire.

Turkish barbers are tougher to come by in the States, so I eventually had to develop my own shaving methods. For a long time, that involved a mustache and beard trimmer, followed by hot water and a double-bladed, fixed headed Gilette disposable razor. I still prefer that particular razor for some circumstances, but when I got married, my buddy Caleb sent me a fantastic shaving set that I've gotten a lot of use out of.

This started with the handle: a Merkur Mk34c Double Edge Razor with Heavy Duty Short Handle. Accompanying this was a pack of Feather Double Edge Safety Razor Blades, platinum-coated, and manufactured in Japan. When I found myself running low after a couple of years, I invested in a pack of (I think) one hundred; at present, the fifty pack seems to be the best available option.

Caleb recently reported that he's "upgraded" his own setup to include the fancy new design from Henson Shaving. If you're just starting out, or have to have the newest thing, give it a try; for me, I'll probably be using that Merkur equipment for the rest of my life. What can I say? Henson is Canadian, and Merkur is German. I have a German dog, a German car, and I'm predominantly German in my personal heritage, so it just makes sense, right?

That takes care of the razor itself. How about the lather? Caleb got me a combo pack of Pacific Shaving Company's Caffeinated Shaving Cream & Aftershave. I find myself going through a lot more of the shaving cream than the aftershave, so I've replaced it a few times. As for building and applying the lather, Caleb sent a Fento Badger Hair Shaving Brush and Chrome Razor Stand. This doesn't appear to be available anymore, but Amazon's current best-selling option seems to be the Perfecto 100% Original Pure Badger Shaving Brush.

It's worth noting that in recent years, as one might expect in the current social climate, badger hair brushes have generated some controversy due to questions about animal cruelty, particularly when sourced from Chinese manufacturers. I'm no proponent of animal cruelty, but the entire point of "Fueling the fires of civilization" is to embrace traditions. So, I'll probably remain a proponent of actual badger hair, but it's worth mentioning the issue so that people can make informed decisions about what they use, and where they source their supplies.

A few years ago, I saw a video about lathering up, and that video recommended a run-of-the-mill stainless steel dog food bowl. I bought an 10-Pint Our Pets Durapet Bowl from our local pet supply chain, and it works great. Disliking the appearance of a dog food bowl on our bathroom counter, my wife bought me some classy looking concrete bowl. I tried it, but it didn't work as well. So, I still use the dog food bowl, but once it dries out, I try to stash it underneath my sink. No small part of being civilized involves the work of maintaining a happy home.

A few lines up, I linked to a video from a Scottish company called Executive Shaving. I've never used any of their shaving supplies, but their shaving tutorial is the best one that I've found on the Internet. Once you have your supplies - or even if you're just going to stick with a disposable razor and hot water - the video below is worth your time to watch.


I almost forgot: a few years ago, a friend randomly sent me a can of Lumber Prince Beard Balm. I use it on occasion, particularly when trimming up my beard. It does a great job of softening my whiskers. I'd definitely recommend it.

The only thing I'd add at this point is that if I haven't shaved my head for awhile, I'll buzz my hair short with a mustache and beard trimmer, then shave it closer with an electric razor, then finally implement the process described in the Executive Shaving video. I'll just add that however you're shaving, and irrespective of what you're shaving, be careful - cuts aren't fun!

All Good Things: BBC Arabic Takes a Hit

Last week, I learned that earlier this year, the BBC World Service discontinued broadcasts in ten foreign languages. Among these was the BBC's Arabic Service, which had been broadcasting to the Arab world for more than eighty-five years. For me, this marks not only the end of one of the more consistent and reliable Arabic audio streams, but also the end of the BBC Xtra podcast.

al Jazeera: BBC Arabic radio goes off air after 85 years

Middle East Economy: Hundreds of jobs lost following BBC Arabic radio transmisson stoppage

Arab News: End of an Era: BBC Arabic Radio goes off air after 85 years

Zawya: BBC's Arabic radio service bids farewell to the world after 85 years of broadcasting

Daily Mail: BBC World Service is to cut 382 jobs and will AXE Arabic and Persian radio stations under plan to make more of its broadcasts 'digital only'

For the uninitiated, there are actually two BBC entities that sort of coexist like conjoined twins in the same ecosystem. The domestic British Broadcasting Corporation, often affectionately referred to as "Auntie Beeb," provides domestic programming to the British audience (though some of those program(me)s are subsequently proliferated to other countries on outlets such as BBC America). "Auntie Beeb" is funded by the infamous licensing fee, by which any Brit who owns a television (and maybe a radio?) pays a fee for it, which goes to support the BBC, public broadcasting style. The other twin is funded by the British Foreign Office, and focuses on the production of content aimed at informing and engaging an international audience.

The Arabic service celebrated its eightieth anniversary in 2018, and the History Extra podcast - a production of the BBC domestic service's BBC History magazine - used the occasion to interview one of the BBC's executives, Wissam El Sayegh. Five years later, and even under these unfortunate circumstances, it's still worth the listen.

I experienced the BBC's Arabic Service in three contexts. The first was in either late 2007 or early 2008, when I discovered the BBC Xtra podcast. That was not too terribly long after its 2005 debut. It's since jumped around a bit, but you can catch the last few episodes here, at least for a limited time. I retain a cache of dozens of episodes of Xtra from the period ranging from around 2007 to around 2013, and a handful of later episodes. I had started studying Arabic in mid-2005, with very few resources easily available to me, and Xtra was great because it's consistent format helped me to learn words and build an understanding based on what I knew was going on. I paired Xtra listening sessions with lessons from ArabicPod.

The second incarnation, which I would have experienced intermittently starting around the same time, was the live Internet stream of the BBC's actual Arabic Service, which would broadcast the Xtra programs, but also offered other programs and live news coverage. Same idea: listen, identify different segments, and learn words and phrases. The live stream was the Internet-accessible version of the BBC's aforementioned long standing Arabic radio service, which broadcast across the Arab world. During my own stint living in Kuwait, when I drove alone, I'd regularly tune the actual, bona fide radio program in on 90.1 FM - though if I'm being honest, I was usually more likely to tune in the BBC World Service's English programs on 100.1 FM.

I had noticed a couple of months ago that my previously successful efforts to access the BBC Arabic Service via the Radio Garden app had begun to fail. As stations occasionally disappear and reappear, I didn't pay it much mind, but then I decided to do some Googling, and discovered the sad news: that not only had the BBC shut its Arabic service down, I'd missed the whole thing. I managed to download the crew's farewell special. Even though my Arabic was never strong, and has deteriorated significantly since I left Kuwait more than a decade ago, I was able to get the gist of the various conversations. It was a bittersweet listen.

The BBC's official position is that this was a difficult decision to make, that it was driven by the restrictive budgetary environment in the United Kingdom following Brexit, and that their goal is to focus on digital content. So, maybe there's room to hope that some incarnation of the BBC's Arabic radio content may return at some point. In the meantime, I'll pat myself on the back for saving as many episodes as I did, and continue to enjoy those episodes when I resume my Arabic studies... Soon, hopefully.