spend more time with his family. as you know, he's been a staple here for decades. the dean of the press corps. without question a gentleman in every sense of the word. a great dogged reporter but a gentleman. i'd like to just take a minute to read something from a book written by one of my predecessors called "confirm or deny." written by phil golding. he wrote this back after he left after the mcnamara administration. he says something here about the pentagon press corps that i think suits not just all of you but certainly bottle burns to a tee. so if you'll just indulge me for a few minutes. the responsible members of the underrated press corps of the pentagon sit in their grubby room on the second floor of the big building -- >> martha: we'll take a moment to bring in curt volcker, that