We were driven halfway across the state by Wash U before being handed over to Ryan – the Graduate Debate Assistant from UCM. This was a town were Gavin and Fraser had made a serious impact last year so we had something of reputation to live up to! Alex had met Ryan and some of the UCM debaters when they travelled to Oxford last year – the UCM debate team go to the UK each year as part of the Montgomery Cup. Once we arrived we were introduced to Jack Rogers who is the head of the Debate Team – Jack is also a Lieutenant General in the US Army reserve as well as having a PhD in Communications. He also proved to be one of the nicest and most entertaining people we have met so far. On our first evening we were taken for dinner at the home of a university benefactor – the business school is named after his family. It was to be our second formal dinner in as many days. Also present were the University Provost and several Deans who were in charge of various departments at UCM. The meal was excellent and it was nice to be in a family home setting rather than a restaurant. Afterwards Jack took us to a party hosted by one of his graduate assistants.
The next morning we rose early and went to visit Whiteman Air Force base – 10 miles from downtown Warrensburg. This is home of the B-2 stealth bomber fleet and we were able to see a couple of them on the ground – each aircraft is valued at $2 Billion. We were also able to watch some A-10s and T-34s flying around the base. We left feeling we had checked another American thing off the list – seeing a strategic nuclear deterrent up close! After the base visit we went to the local AM radio station KOKO to do an interview with ‘Woody’ - the closest Warrensburg has to a local celebrity. We continued on to the golf course where we played 18 holes with Jack and his Communications Department colleague Art. Alex is quite a good golfer – Ali had never hit a golf ball in anger. The Golf carts were particularly good fun as neither of us have driving licences! Ali learned how to hit the ball towards the flag– Alex hit some very good shots on the 16th – Jack smoked cigars – fun was had by all…
The debate that evening had just over 100 people in attendance. We were defending the other side of the Iraq resolution and were trying to get the troops out in 90 days. The debate was conducted in a good sprit and although the audience were initially hesitant they really warmed to us and we were able to win the vote to take us to 8-0.
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