I waited, my body spread face down and flat on the jungle floor. It would have been a time of rest and relaxation if an attack by unknown numbers of wily, capable and well-armed opponents weren’t also waiting somewhere out in the night. Counting breaths and numbers to hold back the terror of the night wouldn’t come. Staring ahead into the dark, a useless task, could not be avoided.
Every U.S. Marine is trained for guard duty, even officers. Guard duty is conducted continuously by the Corps all over the world. All U.S. Embassies and consulates are guarded by Marines, as well as many military bases and commands of military services, not Marine related. Marines guard the White House. The applied science and art of guarding involves two conflicting actions. Total vigilance and total boredom. Total vigilance is impossible to accomplish while total boredom is impossible to avoid, at times. Waiting for an attack that might not come should not have been boring but it was, like guard duty, although with an element of terrifying fear that was indescribable. And there was nothing to do in a darkness that had to be maintained as near to being complete as possible, in spite of a blooming full moon behind us. No flashlights or lighting of cigarettes.
Lt Strauss,
Just a KILLER read. I cannot wait for the rest. The story has me on the edge of my seat! I was in the Corps from 1977 to 1984. I’m the only son of a Marine. My dad’s dad was a Marine as well. I joined because Judge Malone told me if he saw me in his courtroom one more time he would send me to the state pen for no less than one year. I guess I also joined to finally make my old man proud of me for once. I was just a dipshit kid when I went in and they kicked me in to shape. Eventually became an NCO and always tried to be a good cat. Had some great officers and a few complete assholes who thought they walked on water. But the good ones ALWAYS looked out for their Marines and that was always appreciated by their men. I was a peacetime Marine trained by Vietnam combat vets—glad for that and proud of that. They had MUCH to teach. Good shit, too. Not just all that by the book bullshit. I will shut up and just say that I am SO happy you made it back. And I am so proud of the way you handled yourself. Those grunts ought to thank the GODS that they had you and your magical ways with 105’s and 155’s. I am ashamed that the Corps let you down in so many ways. I hope the rest of your life is one SOLID HOLIDAY. You deserve PEACE.
Semper Fi
Curt Clonts
Thanks a lot Curt for your lengthy and meaningful comment. Most guys don’t comment, and if they do it’s pretty short.
The compliments keep me going more than most would think…
Semper fi,
Jim
Outstanding read, Jim. I’m a retired Marine combat veteran myself. I did 2 tours in Iraq. The invasion in March of 2003 and a 2nd in 04-05. Both with Weapons Co 1st bn 2 Marines. I was medically retired as a SSgt after only 10 yrs from all the damn roadside bombs I got to damn close to. There’s no link to continue that I can see. Perhaps there isn’t anymore to read yet and I just missed that somehow. Where can I find a link if the next ten days are there to be read? Also I’d like to thank you for having the courage to be so candid about your experiences. I was told about your book by a friend of mine who was a Marine and tunnel rat in Vietnam yesterday afternoon. I started reading after my sons were done for bed and haven’t stopped until now. The way you’ve described your experiences and the emotions that you felt bring me back to my own private hells of the past. Keep doing what your doing. My Father was a Marine and a vet of 3 tours in Vietnam. Unfortunately he passed in January. He would have loved to read this. From him and I’d like to thank you for your service and sacrifice. Semper Fi, brother.
Send my your address and I will send you the first two books.
thanks for the time shared over there, so to speak.
Semper fi,
Jim
214 Sheffield Road
Jacksonville, North Carolina
28546
On the way, Vince.
Semper fi,
Jim
Wow! Great portrayal of a horrible nightmare that should not have happened. It is insane that good men were running around in such conditions trying to stay alive and/or kill other good men. Even worse that Americans were trying to kill their own. I have always had great respect and appreciation for those who served, especially in VM.
Your talents were absolutely necessary at the time you were thrown into that hell. My hat is off to you for enduring and thriving, and saving the lives of your fellow Marines. I have wondered at times how a “new” soldier would have any idea of what to do when thrown into battle the first few days of their entry into war. Your account gives me some insight into the answer to that question.
Thank you so much for sharing your story, and for your service. May God bless you.
Thanks Karen, for taking the time to write. Sorry it took a few days to respond.
Your opinion as a woman is very important and the question being answered about what it’s really like to be thrown into
that mess and try to make it is very important. I had not thought of that, although I’ve never read or seen much
about how that could be done. It generally ends in death, of course, as you read…
Semper fi,
Jim
Wait! What? NO! This is the end of the first book ALREADY? Jesus that went fast! OK Jim. I’ll go back through again and read for edits. I missed Nam, I graduated HS in 74. I was and always have been and always will be, a huge supporter of those who chose to serve US! I have gained a HUGE education reading this. None of us at home, had any idea of the racial strife. It wouldn’t be until the 70’s that we’d start figuring that out. We never considered that any of you were fighting a civil war among yourselves! It’s a great read! It moves fast. I like that! You give enough detail that this should be a great read for anybody, military or not. Thanks for your hard work!!
Thanks for the great compliment Mark. Yes, it does move fast, although all three books together, when they are done,
will be over a thousand pages! Thanks for caring and writing about your interest on here…
Semper fi,
Jim
Damn good read, Jim. I can only hope for more, and soon
Thanks Jim,
Are you following Chapter to Chapter?
There should be a link at the bottom of each chapter.
semper fi,
Jim
Jim – First, I, too am missing a link at the bottom of this chapter. More importantly, God this is good. Your experiences/story remind me of a personal hero in our small town of 2,000, Larry Walton, the catcher for the local Little League team that made it to Williamsport, Pa. and the semi-finals of the Little League World Series. A helluva good guy. His dad & mine were both mailmen. Marine Lcpl Lawrence Walton was lost in the Tet offensive. Much respect & thanks for you all. USAF Ground Radio 72-76 stateside.
So sorry that Larry was one of the ones who went down in Tet. To be in the wrong place
at almost any time in the Nam was bad and unpredictable. But bad for certain.
Luck played such a larger role than training or execution of orders.
Semper fi,
Jim
My friend Pat Kenny recommended your writing to me and it did not disappoint. I was not tested like you as a young Sergeant during the Vietnam era although we had a few close calls (non-combat) over in Turkey of all places. Later I went the college route and received my commission as a Signal 2Lt and went on to serve a career in the Cold War Army and retired after Desert Shield/Storm in November 91. Much respect to you Sir, for your service to our Country and for your superb writing ablity. I like Pat look forward to reading your forthcoming works.
“Mustang”
Semper Fi brother
Sincerely, George Stotz, Captain AUS Retired.
Had the Stotz brothers in the dorm room with me at Quantico.
Tough solid guys. I wonder how they did in the Nam. Anyway,
loved mustangs. Never met an officer who came up form the ranks who
was not a class act. We’d have been good together.
Semper fi,
Jim
PS Thanks for liking the work.
James, I was in Corps from 68-74. I was a 7562, CH 46 Aviator type. I sincerely hope that some lessons were learned from those who served in Vietnam and put to use at Quantico. It would be a damn shame if the nuts of it were lost for future NCO’s and Officers. You write brilliantly, and I can say I was disturbed to say the least at the mis-function of this Marine Company. While I had my share of suck the seat cushion up my ass events, we did not encounter the brutality of the ground fight for the most part. We came in, with gun ship escort, and left as fast as we could. Thank you for your service to our country and thanks for writing. I look forward to reading more of your books and the rest of this great story.
Semper fi.
Thank you Pat. I remain totally in the dark what was learned and what was applied
from Vietnam. I have a feeling it’s very little. Just the way it is. The training staff in Quantico
was very rigidly precise and disciplined but it was not well experienced or gifted. And I am presuming that was
by design. Thanks for the comment and for liking my work.
Semper fi,
Jim
James, Eyes only, please? This link is to -in essence- my birth certificate. In trying to come to grips with the “who I became” ( it and all that was done while in S E A is classified and I apologize I cannot be more forthcoming. This Thesis was used by the V A Central office to set up new treatment programs nationwide and contains a Grief manual in the latter part that speaks more directly to “Anniversary Grief” which you might enjoy? I was part of a National Training Team for the V A in training and teaching other treators for Chronic, Severe, Combat Related PTSD. I do not wish to be found as the sun is setting. As you well know! But I find your writing and replies as deep and necessary and they parallel, IMHO The writing of my friend Steve Maso, Capt, US Army (ret) and deceased. You provide the kind of reality that returns us to our days that never end nor will be again. Sorely needed! Thank you -again for what you do,!!? I am on Face Book if you wish. But trying to keep a low profile. Here is the link… Difficul, existential first section ,but necessary…
Here is a quote by Albert Camus… It is THE “left overs”…
Albert Camus, in his book, “The Rebel” The triumph of the man who kills or tortures is marred only by one shadow: he is unable to feel that he is innocent. Thus, he MUST create guilt in his virtue so that, in a world that has no direction, universal guilt will authorize no other course of action than the use of force and give its blessing to nothing but success. When the concept of innocence disappears from the innocent victim himself, the value of power establishes a definitive rule over a world in despair. …. That is why an unworthy and cruel penitence reigns over this world where ONLY the stones are innocent.
What an exhibition of off-the-cuff intellect Robert! I clicked on the document and read the entire paper, written back in 1980.
What a wonderful grip you had on PTSD and how you went on to delineate the treatment providers is new ground, at least for me.
That feeling of innocence you discuss with respect to Camus. No shit. That is one of the key things lost. An innocence that I wanted
back so badly I could not really define what it was that I had lost that I wanted back. Your dividing off of combat PTSD from regular one event
stuff is also brilliant. The ongoing non-stop day after day, night after night shit wore us down. And God did not die for us he simply somehow got lost
down there along the river at the bottom of the A Shau.
Thank you ever so much.
2625815300 Dial it.
Your friend and brother,
Semper fi,
Jim
I did dial it… I needed to tell you that the path you are on is….IS, the best healer and to not seek total peace. The drive you express to complete this manuscript, is Mighty. Mity pure and a gift! Schweitzer opines “The gifts we give others dies with us…the gifts we give others lives on in history. This amnuscript is-as I take deep note of the replys from other seekers and fellow travelors, James is …IS a gift for the many seeking some surease of bound slavery to taht fucjing time space continuum and your sharing, as honestly as you are, IS a gift and others realize it. It fits into their lives and times the lived and continue to live. It can be done no better than the brother to brother you do as you release the events inside you. One thing I deeply learned in treating so many and needing to hold MY story back that assisted so many was the knowledge that it’s like the tea bag when left far too long in the hot water, I mat well end up so strong the tea is unpalatable -just like the canteen water -hot- that had those damned iodine pills in it. Your work here is strong and true and keeps my addicted soul living again those days when I was like Bob Seegers; song :Like A Rock… when I crawled out of my SOG extraction bird on a fire base somewhere and looked arounf into the valleys and rivers stretching below. I was THE rock. I was strong and proud of what I was able to do until the truth of it all smacked me into the realities of the moral pain of what I was doing. It’s late, and I;ll be visiting old places in Savannakhet Province shortly. AGAIN! Nite my good friend? Semper FI.
Deep water here in this comment. The tea bag when left in too long. I love that.
The manuscript continues unabated. I write really fast, being able to type about 110 words
a minute (many classes early on by the Maryknoll nuns and then a lot of years of pouring scripts and
other stuff out). My comments do not take as long as you might think.
The manuscript only takes longer because I wrestle with each part to try to get it right.
Thanks for the care and concern.
I really really appreciate that.
Semper fi,
Jim
I was there in ’68-’69.. I was also a Project 100,000 troop. Your “visitation” to us Moron Corps folks was a tad painful. I knew I was in trouble when I got back.. spent over 7 months in a mil Ortho hosp in a body cast getting put back together. Too much time to think and recall. Started college as soon as I ETS’d Went into psychology only to try to figure out how I got so morally bankrupt. While completing my Masters’ Degree I was asked by the VA to help start a new in -pt PTSD tx program. HAted to work in the V A but someone had to. Ended up supervising and training PhD candidates from across the nation as well as training and supervising IDF psychologists and psychiatrists from Israel and 4th year residents in Menninger School of psychiatry in treating chronic severe PTSD. Never took myself seriously just doing what I loved and learned about the inner workings. It was an avocation. Retired in ’97 due to leftovers of Ortho injuries and “The Secret Agent” four sonds w/ A/O left overs. Lived by the mantra “I’m already dead, just waiting on God to get the freaking telegram. Your rendition of how it was is like a whirlpool, sucking the self down to memories that are-mostly at night-too real, and the “Anniversary Reaction” to certain times of the year when the shit was deepest, are stirred. WILL buy the book, ’cause it is REAL and it demands to be seen and heard! Can relate to it almost too well. You spell out what needs illuminated and I cherish that. We did the best we could with what we had. I KNOW you did and I trust your efforts here will reward you internally as well as financially! You SO well deserve it. I leave this with you as I await next issue? I have seen things I cannot unsee; done things I cannot undo, heard the screams of dying and wounded; heard the silence of the dead after the battle is done; felt the tremors of weak kneed response to the crash of the adrenaline; buried too many who fought for idealism and what ever reason they gave themselves for fighting and dying; seen the indegenous villagers watch their hooches, children and livestock killed and burned. ; smelled the White Phosphorous and Napalm…. Seen the eyes of the enemy when the lights go out after my weapon spoke before his did; Decided who lived and who died in a split second simply to survive..
There are comments and then there are comments on here.
Yes, someone who remembers, as I remember.
The “seen but cannot unsee,” and the “done things I cannot undo.”
Such poignant descriptive phrases so well put one after another.
Thank you, brother, for laying it down like I do here.
And you shall have another chapter tomorrow or whenever I finish the last two days
I have wrestling with what happened on the edge of that A Shau ridge.
Thank you for introducing me to the idea of “Anniversary Reaction.”
Could not be better described, and could not be further from civilian understanding..
The ‘indigenous.’ Yes, them.
We left them behind us all, strewn like the peeled fruit of many eaten oranges.
Thank you for replying and make me sit here thinking about what I am doing and what you have done.
My friend, I guess I would describe you, although I don’t know you except in spirit
and having traveled down the same road as I to get here….where we are now.
Semper fi
JIm
..we lived life and death in a few short years; eighteen,give or take a year or so.Having done such non-God like things====the utter abhorrance, unfathomable fatigue, and self rejection concerning acts and deeds done.
He never comes home again and his house knows him no more(Job 6;0)
“since I have lost all taste for life,I will give free reign to my complaints ;I shall let my embittered soul speak out ( Job 10:13).
Am I worthy to deserve life? the very question of existentialism is raised. From “Jesus loves me” to “Kill cause they deserve it and its fun”. Am I not worth less than an animal? At least an animal eats most of it’s kill.I stood and laughed. I was invincible. Immortality touched me.I was God! I decided who lived and died;how fast or slow they died; how easy or hard they died…..
Coming home,no one,leastwise ourselves,knew us.We wore our pain in silence. Killed ourselves in silence.Begged in silence for others to kill us. As time wore on,it became more and more necessary to scream my pain,like Job. It’s not my fault God put that load on me…. I was just doing my job. I was a nice kid,’till they told me to kill women,children and babies—then paid me to do it.
You forgot, or left out, the part about how if you didn’t do it they would kill YOU. Another example
of purely driven logic attempting to explain life experience that came from no logical construct whatever except naked survival.
That time of utter reduction to a feral beast-like state and then the ‘bounce’ back to a phenomenal world where survival itself
isn’t really discussed at all, and when it is it is done so in an ethereal distant way. Think of all the guys coming back that
did not take this wondrous phenomenal world (to which they are forever denied full entry back into) and apply the naked violence
they learned in the real world to destroy what they came home to. In truth, they could not and have hope, which once you’ve lost
everything else, is created within you by associating in this ‘other’ world returned to. We can’t get back into it fully but we will always hope that we can. Thanks for the clarity and brilliance of your comments that I am becoming addicted to.
Semper fi,
Jim
Maybe its time to create a “new way” to peddle books. You have a large audience checking for a new chapter of your book daily. As soon as I seen the EMAIL I have to go read the new installment. You have created a following. If you could find a way to capitalize on that format you would have an all new Web form of publishing. Sadly I’ve not read much in my later years but read voraciously in the younger days. You’ve managed to wake up that reader in me with these postings. Semper Fi MSG, US Army retired
Well, the following is indeed, bigger than I ever expected. About ten thousand readers a day.
I guess that’s a lot. Other than publish on Amazon and try to get it all edited and in print,
I don’t how to maximize things on the Internet. It is all so damned complicated. And I also don’t want to
upset the veterans who are reading this for free. Some of them can’t pay and advertising might drive them away or piss them off.
So I will continue to plug away, writing the segments while I work to get book I out there.
Thanks for caring and saying something about it.
Semper fi,
Jim
As a Spec 4 Army platoon medic who served in Iraq, I feel pretty damn humble right now, to you and many of the others whom have posted here. Im on the edge of my seat with this story, and cant get enough. I will spread the word!
Thank you most sincerely Robert. I was over in that Iraq thing when it was called Desert Shield
and then later for the Storm but I was in Jeddah and Riyadh. It was so much different than the Nam.
Like the men were so much tighter and homogeneous. Better Marines, I think.
Anyway, thanks for putting the word out there. Hope this story helps some guys. It’s helping me a bit to
tell it.
Semper fi,
Jim
Hello James. Sorry for the shortness of my comment earlier about a left out letter I. I needed to be at the lab for blood work that my cancer doctor wants and I was about to be late because I couldn’t stop reading what you wrote. The missing letter I is in paragraph 13 that starts “What’s the ammo situation? It’s in the sentence that says “….making slight changes wasn’t “gong” to affect the outcome.”
Spell check is funny. It reads both going and gong as real words so it will
not interrupt the flow to recommend changes. Too bad. Yes, of course the word was
going and I have to fix that and some others before this goes off to Amazon next week!
A lot of work. Thanks for picking that up and writing about it here.
Semper fi,
Jim
WHAT YEAR DID ALL THIS HAPPEN???
As you have no doubt figured out, this is some sensitive stuff being written here and
I would rather not go into exactly whom I was with or when this happened. I am writing
this as fictional novel for a damned good reason. I would like to live out my years!
Thanks for asking and hope you keep reading.
Semper fi,
Jim
Alright Mr. Spooky… I used to think the same way. Now, I don’t care. Time has a way of making willing or unwilling participants….just fade away…
Mr. Nobody
No it does not. The only solace of time passing is in the passing, unless
accommodation and a drive for redemption can be initiated and maintained. Of course,
that’s just what I believe and try to practice. Maybe demential or alzheimers in old age
offer strange solace. I don’t know.
Thanks for saying it as you think it is and for reading the story.
Semper fi,
Jim
Somewhere about half the way down you left out the letter I from the word going. It’s just written gong.
Thanks Tom. I hope to catch that and others in edit this coming weekend.
Then it’s off to Amazon.
Appreciate the help, and the reading.
Semper fi,
Jim
You have a good comment stream. Feed upon that to keep you motivated to write. I had a conversation a while back with a buddy. Seems the National Library opened a section for war memories and stories. Don’t know how that all came about but I thought I would mention it. The real deals usually don’t know much about what not the real deals do to support the real deals. We’re the remf’s remfs. Well, anyways, as it works out you’re memories can be archived free of charge, minus a postage stamp, of course.
Mr. Nobody
Thank you Mr. Nobody. I reply to the comments because the commenters on here are so heartfelt and
meaningful that I can’t not comment.
And their comments do motivate me to continue during blue periods.
I don’t care about archiving at some dead museum of the dead.
My work will either ‘archieve’ on the Internet and
in my books or it won’t. I’m not writing it for that purpose.
But thank you most sincerely for everything
you write and the care that’s obviously in your heart…
Semper fi,
Jim
I love HE it was the only thing that would keep them off of us for three days and nights
Sort of like that proverbial smell of napalm in the morning? In reality
HE was the staple of the artillery and those new fuses were killer for working
the canopy jungle. Better than VT really. thanks for the comment and the reading…
Semper fi,
Jim
I read a lot. This is the best account of the realities of combat that I have ever come across. You are a gifted writer.
Thank you Richard. Sort of a litany, I guess. Laying it down in writing seems so different
than through the years thinking about things. Never put it all together like this in running form, of course.
Wonder where the whole thing is going…not the story. I know where that is going. I’m talking about all the guys like you who are
coming along and especially all the guys who are here because there’s no place else to go where understanding might be found.
thanks for those words of support, short as they were.
Semper fi,
Jim
Another riveting segment. You have a gift and thank you for using it to our benefit. You take us right in beside you.
Thank you Peter. I’m not sure what my own intent is as I write.
More to get it down and make sure it makes sense and is accurate as I can
make it. I remember a lot of my conversations with the Gunny to this day but
not all of them, for example. Anyway, thanks for the compliment and the reading.
Semper fi,
Jim
Fantastic. I was lucky enough to have not gone to VN. You make it sound realistic. Not sure I could have handled it. Looking forward to next posting. Thanks 🙏 And thanks to all the VFW.
Hell, Richard, I couldn’t handle it either. And the after shit was something, is something, too.
Anyway, thanks for the comment and the support.
Semper fi,
Jim
I’m having a hard time wrapping my head around sending a boot 2nd LT whos Artillery into combat as an Infantry Company Commander. The leadership failed badly here he valued fucking you over more than he cared about the safety of his men. That’s sad, your very fortunate your map reading skills were superb to be able to navigate the company.
A 5% daily loss is unacceptable, should of fragged his ass if you ever got the chance.
I don’t think that some field grade officers gave much of a damn about the
company grades and below out there in the bush. They did not want to go
and they proved that time after time. Fragging anyone back in the rear with the gear was
a certain trip to Leavenworth for a long long stay. Of those of us who made it nobody
wanted to go home to that.
thanks for the comment.
Semper fi,
Jim
Lt. just a few words about e-books. I have two out there somewhere in La La Land floating along and receiving a nibble once in a while. I went the free route through Book Tango and wish now I had chosen a package where they present your book to different entities. Those who have read my books, say they couldn’t put them down, but without the right package, they seem to end up in the rear somewhere near ignore ?? You’re a damn good suspense writer and I follow your additions everyday, just hope yours makes the top shelf. Hardback would be your best way to go if you can afford it. Do a few book signings and appearances and go from there. Good luck, you deserve it !! Nam 68-69
Thanks a million for your advice. Yes, I am learning about that too.
If is all about the audience. I don’t care how good a writer you are it does not
matter if nobody reads the material. So I am planning on hardcover and using raw right ‘package.’
thanks for your comment and caring…
Semper fi,
Jim
What are your book titles, Raymond? Those of us reading LT Strauss’ stories would probably enjoy reading yours, too.
Yes, Raymond, please get some of your stuff on here so the guys can read it.
Semper fi,
Jim
Dang, I was there. Well, not really. I was there as I read your words. I became so engrossed, I was back to February 1970 somewhere across Liberty Bridge near Dodge City. Our deuce and a half broke down while in a convoy. Long story short, we had to dig in for the night. Only four of us. Scared shitless. Anyway, that ole feeling creep back in. Your story has had me reliving my time in ‘Nam even though I only spent less than 30 days outside An Hoa Combat Base during my tour. Some feelings never leave us, we just wait out the night and pray for daylight.
Hey, thanks Bill. I mean for ‘being there’ in that way, which is a compliment of the highest sort.
Thirty days out in the bush is an eternity and in fact will span three books here.
I just finished the Tenth Day this night and onward.
Thanks for the support and the comment.
Semper fi,
Jim
Thanks again Lt. Jim as the others say. I have read all your installments from the beginning, I am not a book reader so this is good for me. My next donation to the DAV will be in your honor. And I might get a book for someone I know. I hope you do well with it. So good of you to do this for all that might need it or for those that just don’t understand what combat over there was like, I was in combat for a while but nothing like what you just laid out. or maybe I just did not comprehend what was happening. because I was not in charge of the company. Just a squad leader. 11b40 or as they say another FNG grunt. Don