Seek Political Success? Contemplate Naval Duty

It was a long, hot summer for City Council President Eric Garcetti.

There was the everyday job of keeping the council running smoothly, as well as a slew of hot-button issues with which he had to contend.

The list included wrangling a ballot measure to ease term limits for the council through the council -- it was harder than it sounds! -- and dealing with the delicate issue of which naughty words people could use when testifying before the panel.

After this Friday's meeting, the council adjourns for a two-week recess. And that's where we'll begin.

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Question: How is Garcetti spending his vacation?

Answer: In the Navy.

That's right -- the 35-year-old Garcetti is heading to Pensacola, Fla., for a two-week training session as an intelligence unit officer in the Naval Reserve.

Garcetti joined the Navy last year and has been attending weekend training sessions once a month in San Diego. There is also the possibility he will be called up to active duty in the next eight years.

Driven by patriotic pride? Or politically savvy?

"I'm a proponent of mandatory national service, and I think we have sacrificed very little in my generation," Garcetti said, explaining his decision to join. "I think this will help me understand foreign policy better when I return to that sort of work in politics and outside."

A secondary reason, Garcetti said, is that he is considering running for Congress, and having military experience will help him do that job better.

It's hardly a surprise that Garcetti has set his sites on Washington. He studied diplomacy in college and taught it at Occidental College before his election to the council in 2001. He has also spent time living overseas in England, Myanmar, Eritrea (in North Africa) and Japan.

At Pensacola, he'll be staying in a barracks, learning to shoot and making his bed military-style, studying naval history, swimming and learning how to disrobe in the water and making a flotation device with his clothes by inflating them like an air mattress.

Garcetti joked that after this summer he's looking forward to taking orders from someone else. How's this: Swab the decks, Mr. Council President!

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Q: How is Project Restore restoring City Hall?

A: By setting it on fire.

The nonprofit organization that promotes historic preservation of buildings ignited a blaze in City Hall on Saturday night with poorly aimed fireworks at its annual gala fundraiser.