It's remarkable, but I've just felt something I haven't felt for a while: a surge of pride for my country. This sudden feeling was prompted neither by spin nor by fear, but instead by the simple sight of a Hornet taking off from a carrier in the Persian Gulf. Just seeing the plane take off in the middle of the night, so sure and so swift, made me feel somehow reassured, even glad. It's not the most irrational emotion I've ever had, but it certainly is odd.