FNGs Archives - James Strauss

TWENTY-NINTH DAY, THIRD PART, Thirty Days Has September

I huddled in what I had come to consider my cave, a dry place in a wet world of drizzling misery. The bottom of the cave, although consisting of sandy dirt rather than stone, like its walls, was mildly dusty from going many years without being touched by outside...

THE TWENTY-SEVENTH NIGHT, 30 Days Has September

by James Strauss | 116 comments

Wet muddy foxholes rapidly became repositories for almost everything the combat company Marines usually carried on their backs. There was nothing to effectively hide or cover the holes with when they were abandoned, as they’d been there so long that both sides of the...

THE SIXTH DAY SECOND PART, 30 Days Has September

by James Strauss | 44 comments

“If you go chasing rabbits and you know you’re going to fall, tell ‘em a hookah-smoking caterpillar has given you the call…” played on Stevens’ little shoulder-mounted radio. As usual, Brother John’s fatherly deep throated introduction made me feel better just ...

THE SECOND DAY, 30 Days Has September

by James Strauss | 36 comments

I could not believe I was flying into my first field experience wearing crummy Korean War utilities. I wished fervently that I’d brought my own from training. At least they would have been green instead of whatever color I now wore. Being colorblind as a Marine...