We had no trouble crossing the brook, which was a mere tricklet.

Yet Wayne Rooney scored at a good time, three minutes after the restart, to soothe any gathering nerves and the night can ultimately be chalked off as one of the finest occasions of Hodgson's 17 months in the job.

More than most of his flag officer peers, he understood how to navigate Washington politics and news media, helping him rise through the ranks and obtain resources he needed, although fellow Army leaders often resented what they saw as a grasping careerism.

When I realized that that wretched little tin can was all that stood between me and the world, his wife and his family, there was an acute palpitation around the heart, and a dry blottery feeling in the mouth.