It can be lonely at the top. Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr. ascends the air stairs for a flight home from Brussels, Belgium, following a meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group at NATO Headquarters on Oct. 11; in his first weeks as JCS Chairman, Hamas launched an assault on Israel from Gaza; Israel declared war on Hamas; the U.S. mobilized air and naval forces to try to contain the Middle East conflict from spreading, attacks on U.S. bases in the region increased, and the U.S. shot down drones and cruise missiles launched at Israel from Yemen.