A time to chortle
In the movie “Pearl Harbor,” President Franklin D. Roosevelt is told by his top military advisers that it would be a fool’s errand to attempt a daring bombing raid on Japan’s mainland in response to the sneak attack that wiped out most of the U.S. Pacific fleet. Roosevelt was seeking a bold action that would shake Japan’s confidence, as well as repair America’s collective psyche, which was jolted immeasurably that early December morning in 1941.
As the film depicts, a high-ranking naval officer tells the president that what he is suggesting “can’t be done” because the distance the bombers would have to travel to execute the mission far exceeded their range, and the navy lacked the ability to get them any closer to Japan.
Roosevelt, who by this stage of his life was confined to a wheelchair because of an earlier bout with polio, struggles mightily to his feet in the film — without any assistance — and angrily exclaims, “Don’t tell me that it can’t be done.” Of course, Colonel James Doolittle did lead the air attack on Tokyo that historians consider one of World War II’s major turning points.
I thought of this scene as I read Senior Writer Donny Jackson’s report on xG Technology’s latest milestones (on page 8), which include the first commercial deployment of its revolutionary xMAX platform. When we first started writing about xG two years ago this month, there were many who said that what CEO Rick Mooers was suggesting couldn’t be done. And who could blame the naysayers? Mooers claimed the ability to transmit wireless signals using extremely low power and unlicensed spectrum over distances up to 18 miles, then promptly went back into stealth mode, which only fueled speculation.
The reason for the secrecy, according to Mooers, was the company wanted to make sure its technology worked as claimed before it solicited customers. Subsequent field tests have validated the assertions, and now xG can claim to have passed the most stringent test of all: getting a commercial entity to buy the system, which Florida ISP Far Reach Technologies has done to provide mobile voice-over-IP service.
It always strikes me as petty when I hear someone say to another, “I told you so.” But if Mooers were to do just that, could anybody really blame him?
