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I'm John Bachelor. This is the New John Bachelor show, represented by CBS News Radio,

and it's a great pleasure to welcome my longtime colleague, friend, and informant of matters to do with the United States Navy,

Captain Jerry Hendricks, U.S. Navy Aviator Retired, who is the author of a new book to provide and maintain a Navy, subtitle, Why Naval

Primacy is America's First Best Strategy. Jerry, congratulations for the book, and we begin

with our conversation with threat.

You have asked, and the 65th Secretary of the Navy John Lehman has generously remarked upon your book as a foreword,

and in it, Mr. Lehman uses this historical analogy to explain the present challenge for the U.S. Navy to do with the Pacific Ocean.

He says that it is wise to think of the Western Pacific, that would be East Asia, that would be the People's Republic of China, the Western Pacific as the inner German border, referring to the 20th century. What does that mean, Jerry? How does that

explain the threat and the challenge for the U.S. Navy in the 21st century? Good evening to you.

Good evening, John. And thank you again for having me on. It's great to join you in your new venue here.

I think what Secretary Lehman is talking about there,

and as he contextualizes within his, as you said, very, very kind forward to the book,

is he's talking both strategically and geographically. So the inner German border during the Cold War

...