This week, Bombshell bids farewell to summer with our final distributed ops episode, closing out what has been a nice, quiet August (ha. ha). Afghanistan is, as usual, still a thing, but this time President Trump - or his teleprompter - actually gave us some thoughts on the matter. We lament waking up to a nuclear test in North Korea and the latest chapters in the Kenyan election and China-India border disputes, and drill down on how everything became about readiness and readiness became about everything: the Seventh Fleet, the Army, DACA, you name it. Finally, we give our take on John Kelly's efforts at discipline in the West Wing and the continuing parade of White House departures, as well as views on Back to School reading and "book dates" with your partner. Readings: "," M. Taylor Fravel, War on the Rocks "," Ankit Panda and Vipin Narang, War on the Rocks "," Lousie Watt, AP "," Alex Horton and Thomas Gibbons-Neff, Washington Post "," by David Larter, Defense News "," Wesley Morgan, Politico "" Julie Moreau, NBC News Back to School Reading: , by Sarah Helm , by Walter Isaacson , Michael Lewis , Amor Towles , Zia Haider Rahman , Mike Duncan , Debby Applegate , Kate Quinn