ANN ARBOR, MI – I had fantasies of being T.E. Lawrence in college.
The British intelligence officer earned the name “Lawrence of Arabia” for his support of the Arab side in the 1916 revolt against the Ottoman Empire. No, I didn’t want to join some faction in a war, but as a Navy officer with an Arabic degree, I wanted to live in the region and serve as a diplomat.
Two deployments on warships later, I used my Arabic for maybe 15 minutes total in one conversation at a base near Dubai. Dreams blew away in the desert wind…