seven_pillars

I was accepted to my country's merchant marine officer school out of high school but I ended up not taking the place - our navy trains officers alongside the civilian students for some components of their training, and I decided I could never be happy in that environment because,. Just for me personally, I'd have felt in some way 'inferior' to the military guys.

That's laughable knowing what I know now as I went on to get a commission as an army officer, but it makes me wonder; do you have any regrets about going the civilian route? And what's your relationship like with your navy counterparts? Fair seas and all that :)

Gents,

I tend not to post on subjects I know nothing about, but I'm making an exception because this is the first AMA I've read to the bottom of in a long time. Great subject and you guys' answers are wonderfully in depth and detailed. Super engaging and informative, so major thanks.

My question; I'm military, and my lack of knowledge on cyber security bugs me. I have zero tech background. If I was to set aside a few hundred quid and a few hours a week, where would I start developing an ability to secure my immediate environment while protecting myself? My gut says buy a clean new machine, set it up in a way that's sterile of personal data or connections to myself, and try to break and then fix it. Presumably that leaves me vulnerable across a network and, if so, how do I neutralise that vulnerability? I see in other threads that you've recommended open courses. Any suggested starting points?

Last and most ignorant question: I've always harboured a worry that googling malware terms, hacker groups, infosec etc and clicking links leaves me vulnerable drawing attention to myself, in the same way that I'm careful not to use obvious keywords that might find me on a security agency watch list. Is this justified or am I being a paranoid joe?

Thanks again, and keep fighting the good fight.

I've grown up with James, my cousin and best friend, who has CF. He's 24 and is coming up on 18 months since his lung transplant. In that time he's road-tripped around the country, partied at festivals, been in three stage productions, taken up competitive running and started a rock band. He's hyper-aware of his mortality, but his way of dealing with it has been to try to cram as much living into every day as he possibly can - barring times like this morning, when he was in bed and horribly hungover. Living intensely is his coping mechanism - and it's meant that his prognosis is really excellent, because his attitude to treatment and the mental side of his illness is so overwhelmingly positive.

On the other side of that, the daughter of a close family friend was born with CF within a few days of my cuz. She dealt with it quite differently - rather than trying to engage with her treatment, she stopped taking her meds and became very self destructive. As a result she ended up passing away two years ago.

I suppose my question is, in light of the way that different people deal with something like CF; what kind of coping mechanisms would you say you and your family have developed? Does Eli's illness have a major effect on your own psyche, and has it changed you much?

Bonus question: My experience of CF treatment comes from the last 20 years. Do you know of any major differences in the way Eli's condition was dealt with early on that would be majorly different from what my family has seen? Are there any major pending breakthroughs that could help him?

I really appreciate your taking the time to do this AMA. I hope Eli has the same quality of life that modern medicine and the right attitude have given my cousin, and that we find a way to cure CF in his lifetime.

I know I'm late to the party here, on the other side of the pond, but for what it's worth your attitude is fantastic. We grew up knowing my cousin was really sick and that he couldn't always keep up in our games because he'd start coughing. And that we were absolutely not allowed to take an enzyme ( :P ). But it wasn't until I was maybe 16 that my dad brought up the fact that, hey, James is in hospital again and things don't look good. On some level I always knew, but it was never really discussed. That meant that when the time came to talk about it when his condition deteriorated and we weren't sure if he'd get a transplant on time, it was a really uncomfortable topic of conversation.

Huge respect for your attitude and approach.

A group of mates and I had planned to run the Rally after graduating, but I accidentally joined the army instead (of graduating, that is). Now the plan is back on the table and we're wargaming the most entertaining possible scenarios. So, to help us on our way;

• What's the most interesting, entertaining or otherwise tell-the-grandkids reason you've seen a competitor fail to complete one of your events?

• What's the best loadout you've seen enter the Mongol?

• Favourite type of tea? Whiskey? (EDIT: That is to say, what are your favourite teas and whiskeys, as distinct from 'is your favourite type of tea whiskey', which, while a respectable answer, isn't quite what I was getting at).