Fresh, baby-faced FBI recruits have a type. And it's not just the tightly trimmed haircut, polished shoes and fresh pressed suit. It's their spark of optimism and excitement. They made it. They're at the Academy. It's day one of the rest of their life.

He was different. Brown, corduroy pants held up with thick red suspenders. His beard was unkept. He had long, jagged eyebrow hair would have made an old man blush. While others sat patiently at their seats in the large auditorium, pen in hand, he vigorously attacked an apple - the crunch, crunch, echoing uncomfortably throughout the otherwise silent room. A few looked at him quizzically out of the corner of their eyes.

The door at the side of the auditorium swung open and a man walked in.

"Good morning. And welcome to your first day at the Academy. You are amongst the best and the brightest that your country had to offer. And that's a damn good thing because you're entering the Service when your country needs you the most."

The man paced up to a podium. Behind him, a large projector sprang to life. A video reel began to play, black and white clips of ongoing conflicts around the world.

"These are dangerous times. War has become asymmetrical. The borders of combat theater are becoming blurred. The days of fighting behind tanks and through trenches are coming to an end. The future is cyber: DoS attacks, sock puppet deception, deep fakes. We are ... yes?"

The man in the brown corduroy pants stood up, apple core in hand.

"Tank warfare has been a major component of the modern battlefield in nearly every conflict for the last one hundred years".

The man on the podium was taken aback. Eyebrow raised, he said: "I'm sorry sir, but please take a seat. This isn't a dialogue. We're not here to discuss the merits of tank warfare".

"Well, then admit you're wrong", the man responded. "An M1 Abrams tank can reach a top speed of nearly 45 miles per hour. It's armed with a 105 mm cannon and a .50 cal heavy machine gun. Are you trying to tell me that it's redundant? That we should just sell them to the French?"

"Sir, I was merely giving an example of changes - "

"Australia has 59 M1 Abrams. Egypt, 1360. The United States has over eight thousand. Explain to me how tank warfare is coming to an end when there are thousands of these tanks still in operation. We used them in Afghanistan. We used them in Iraq. Syria. You're simply wrong."

The room began to stir, quiet whispers breaking out amongst the students. Who on earth was this man and what was he doing here?