Matt pulled a folded-up package from one of the overly large breast pockets of his vest. The special photographer’s vest he’d gone on and on about earlier because of the new store on Del Mar in San Clemente called the Banana Republic. The place catered to men in what was called safari attire, like the vest. Half of a Jeep was angled down in the front window of the place. I’d driven by the store but never gone in. My reference to Matt’s vest as a fishing vest hadn’t gone over well so the subject was dropped. He unfolded what became a highway map in front of him.
“Can’t we stop somewhere and have a bite and take a rest?” I asked, fatigued to the bone, the relief of no police pursuit causing me to tire even more.
The B-36 was built by Consolidated – manufacturers of the B-24 – near Fort Worth. The B-47 and B-52 were built by Boeing. My friend’s Dad worked on the B-36 and said the squadron blotted out the sun when it flew overhead. On another note, I was delighted to see the M-50 Ontos at the Miramar airshow a few years back. Your account of it spurred me to learn of it’s pivotal role in the battle of Hue and I was quite thrilled to see that piece of history on display.
Thanks for correcting the misprint…and misthought. The Ontos was way underrated because when it came out it didn’t have the beehive rounds and also was considered too light in armor. Nobody thought about the devastating close in terror it would create in the enemy. Thanks for the informative and helpful comment. I need more of that.
Semper fi,
Jim
I was still too young to have recollection of much before New Mexico but I do recall discussing the artifact years later but we referred to it as the moon stone
You were just a little boy, of course, through those wild times, although you
sure came in on things later on! Thanks kid, for the interesting comment.
At least I’m not imagining that all this happened instead of having lived it!
Love,
Dad
“May you live in interesting times”, ” May you be recognized by powerful people”, “May you find get what you wish for”. You have been led to live your life within the confines of the great Curses.
The events of your life to this point most certainly place you in the midst of interesting times. The linking of the murder of Steed with the 3 marines is an outcome you couldn’t see coming. An ominous warning to close that chapter and leave, you cannot fight a force you cannot see or detect. If they are linked then whom/whatever is pulling the strings behind the curtain is a threat to your family you cannot defend from. It would appear you have been recognized by powerful people who’s agenda is unknown. Time to move forward away from those events you cannot control/contain.
The first two are self evident, the real question is, is the third a curse or blessing? I truely hope it has all led to a blessing for you and your family, may you find that peace and security we all want. A safe and contented existence with grand children close at hand.
I found the statement “Adventure is doing something dangerous that has a happy ending,” to be truly profound. It explains so eloquently the nature of police work. Most policing encounters are benign, relatively happy outcomes. the 95% of routine boredom. The rest are terrifying, they never have a happy outcome, most end in tragedy. We spend our lives seeking adventure while trying to insulate ourselves from the inevitable tragedy, hence to partitioning of the psyche and roots of PTSD. In coming to accept the cause/effect of that partitioning I hope you can find the contentment we seek!
I hope this isn’t the end of the road as far as the examination of the artifact, Inquiring minds want to know!
A truely exhilarating ride James!, keep it up!
What a profound comment James, and vitally interesting. I write on recalling almost everything I can (still can, as the breakdown of
Joe Biden reminded and scared me). Almost nothing was totally left behind in my life as the vitality of it all, the circumstances and
the people were not easily dismissed and mostly never fully went away. Time does launder things but you don’t get to control what things.
Thanks again and,
Semper fi,
Jim
Again a fine read it makes you wonder what you got yourself into That is what is wrong with our government now everything is a secret you must have done a good job you are still here great writing, LT.
It is unfortunate and a bad call when the U.S. disassembled it’s RPS classified document section.
Nothing replaced it.
How things are kept secret at all or available to the people who need that data is beyond me now.
Just watching the classified nightmare of what was kept by the former presidents and how it was kept is astounding.
You cannot play poker with the world if your head, and your hand, is shown to everyone before the betting begins.
Semper fi, and thanks for the cogent accurate and timely comment.
Semper fi,
Jim
So now you travel back alone wondering what you actually got into, or are you really alone.
One of the very surprising facts about CIA connection and work is that you are almost never alone.
If you are not being monitored by the Agency then you are being followed and surveilled by the DEA, FBI, NSA etc.
who are trying to figure out what or who you are.
Suspicion is everywhere with secrecy being something prized for working outside the USA where mostly indigenous assets leave agents alone.
Diplomats in the foreign service hate CIA agents if they suspect identity in that area.
So, it’s not the lonely business it’s portrayed to be in the movies or on television.
Meanwhile, funding, electronics, communications, contact and more are all being conducted back and forth with Agency
propped up company personnel.
Thanks for the thought-provoking comment.
Semper fi,
Jim
Now I am more eager than ever to see the next chapter. However, I really need to stop checking after I have finished reading my novel or watching a favorite YouTube series, Getting to bed at 1:30 AM then laying there for another 2 hours wondering about the death of Steed is going to make an old man of me. I now have to re-read this last chapter wondering just how I missed reading that Steeds widow was not going to receive any of the benefits from the policy that you sold him. Hmmm!
Life itself has so many twists and turns. Are we really responsible and in control of most of it as the justice system and others
hold us accountable for, or are we mostly just reacting to circumstances thrown at us at high velocity and not necessarily with any’understandable
logic? Interesting thoughts, particularly when following the life I’ve led…or been led along.
Semper fi, and thanks,
Jim
Mr. Strauss, Sir,
“Stay away from the Steed thing”? “The life insurance money isn’t going to the widow”? Were Rick Steed and his wife Russian spies or something like that? Just as I was starting to feel good about you and Matt, the new car and getting rid of the object, I feel myself starting to get angry about some of this. Why would Matt walk you through the possibility of a connection between the Dwarfs, Steed, his wife, his murderer, the three Marines etc. What good could that do for you? Was the cowboy Chief a plant, too? Who can you really and fully trust besides your immediate family and bozo? I don’t know how you were able to navigate your way through all of that. I am sure that I never could have. This is another outstanding chapter and thank you so much for sharing,
You can’t mistrust everyone or not take people into your confidence.
Like with my wife, if I’d have failed to include her in most everything, including the possession of top-secret information, then I’d have had not wife, not for very long anyway, yet she was and remains invaluable to me…and was also to the CIA without their knowing it.
Oh, much of it they knew and ignored, I’ll give them that.
Thanks for your concerns expressed here and, in a way, I apologize for the rather violent shocks of twists and turns in the story that just don’t seem to be logical or believable at all until later on when some truths fall right out of the sky.
Semper fi, and thanks for the great caring comment.
Jim
It’s a crazy ride you are on thank you for keeping the readers so involved
Thanks Joseph, much appreciate the short but meaningful compliment!!!
Semper fi
Jim
WOW! What else can one say.
Laconic. That compliment. One word but packed with meaning. Thanks for helping keep me going!
Semper fi,
Jim
*Seems like you’re living through a series of accidents without any parallel I’ve ever heard of.” (* missing forward ” mark)
Mark seems like you, to also be more than what’s on the surface and may well be a good mentor into your new world of reality disconnect !!
Glad the “object” is gone, but do the scars remain on your hand afterwards ??
Great read James, keep ’em coming 😉
Semper Fi
Then seven ‘grooves’ remain with me to this day, although no longer red in their shallow little canyon bottoms.
Never got the arthritis back I was developing from shipboard injuries though and that’s been a blessing. Matt was another gunny
kind of person. Rare and rare to be able to recognize what they are when they appear…and also with no way to predict who they
are or how or when they might turn up. Thanks for the depth of your comment and your continuing pursuit of following this convoluted
story.
Semper fi,
Jim
LT, back to back great chapters with so much revealed and yet so much mystery still abounds. Shocking revelation about Steed but is it true or another silent test to see how you react. And Matt turning out to be a huge surprise and I suspect more surprises will be coming from him. Is he your CIA watchdog who’s really watching you. WOW
What an accurate rendition of what’s going on in every way JT. Thanks for that and I’m sure the other readers checking comments out
appreciates that kind attention to detail and also intelligent speculation. Much appreciated.
Semper fi,
Jim
Better and better. Still the occasional editorial slip:
“they want something more from you than you likely won’t want to give them or do for them.”
Do you mean either: “…more from you than you likely want to give them…” Or, perhaps, “something from you that you likely won’t want to give them.”
Thanks Tim, I’m not it and much appreciate the editing of stuff I work over, review, and still miss.
Very sharp on your part and very thankful on my part.
Semper fi,
Jim
Jim,
Thanks for another episode. Things getting real squirrely.
Puzzling as to why Matt would bring up Steed and then say–more or less–that he was killed by the CIA. Matt seemed to have a lot details about Steed’s death. Why bring it up to you?
Was what Matt told you, true or not, a test to see how you would respond to the ‘friends’ of your new employer being responsible for killing one of your real friends?
Seems more than that.
You write that Matt says: “…The money going to the widow, thanks to you won’t be going there at all.” Have no clue about what THAT means…wish I did. His widow is not going to get any life insurance money? Also… “Nothing is what is seemed back there…” Is he implying that Steed was not the Steed you knew? I am thoroughly puzzled and confused. So, I will have to be patient and stay tuned.
THE WALTER DUKE. Neither Steed nor his wife Kathy were anything I thought them to be but I’ll leave that there as the monetary mystery
is revealed in the next chapter. Why people in the business or in play say the things they do? Because of the very human need for
association and for not traveling through life alone. Spying is a very lonely business and yet your very life is built on trusting others.
You can’t come to trust without knowing. You can’t know without testing. You can’t test without giving trust…and so the spinning ball
continues to roll. Thanks for the usual great and introspective comment.
Semper fi,
Jim
Mesmerizing … dangit! When are you, or are you, returning to something recognizable? You are living in the Twilight Zone!
Rod Serling was a genius in putting that show together, although, unlike my life of the time, none of it was contiguous.
His shows, many of them, were not truly believable either…like some of the segments in my life. Who can really believe
the artifact, which wasn’t invented by me to add zest to an otherwise dull existence. How about the fake containment chamber
and what that might have contained at San Onofre…and there’s more coming. Thanks for the compliment.
Semper fi,
Jim
WOW, Jim! What an interesting and captivating chapter! Alice in Wonderland indeed.
So you are about to change your life drastically and permanently. Wondering how this will change you – and your wife and kids.
“real-life human chameleon” describes you pretty well – from your first step off the plane in Vietnam, through all the changes along the way. And I’m sure that here jn your “retirement” you continued to change. Improvise, adapt, overcome. Isn’t that what they teach at TBS?
I’ve had a lot of “adventures and tragedies” along the way, but very few, if any, would compare to yours.
Talk with you soon, good friend.
Adapt, Craig, that was the big one, as I recall. “What now lieutenant?” the ‘game’ none of us wanted to be called upon to play. The reaction course where they first beat the crap out of us and then required that we do some totally ridiculous project requiring team work…not telling us that who took over the small group was credited with being a real leader. The project itself was meaningless. “Getting others to do what what you want them to do because they want to do it.” Different times but the meaning of it all playing through out lives. Thanks for the great comment my friend.
Semper fi,
Jim
Chameleon, my call sign; has been read in to a very small and private compartment! But actually just discovered there by the knowledgeable players and promoted into being an asset rather than erased as an impediment! Now I understand why you see conspiracy everywhere! Real is far better than imagination! Great chapter…it is almost like the last 10 days when you develop into a real Company Commander, you boarded the Lear settle into being a player! Great stuff
That you are reading the segments to attentively, Colonel, still surprises me and your conclusions
area so very well written and meaningful. Almost like you aren’t a Marine at all!!!! Uuuuuraaaaah, brother.
Semper fi,
Jim
You have me checking my mailbox before breakfast! I suspect there are more Steed instances.
Your suspicions shall, indeed, Harry, be confirmed….Thanks for making your conclusion public.
Semper fi,
Jim
WOW!
some of your best writing ever
a thrilling tale.
Is it live or is it memorex?
You are brilliant at disguising your self awareness Sandeep insights
Is Matt a substitute for your id or super ego?
Quite a “coincidence” he be came your guide to the CIA
a hitchhikers guide to the galaxy?
I read this four times then meditated and reflected
When the reality of your life’s experiences suddenly feels like fiction, it often indicates a significant shift in perspective or awareness. This could be due to various factors such as:
1. **Disorientation or Surrealism**: Experiencing something so unexpected or extraordinary that it feels unreal, as if it couldn’t possibly be happening to you.
2. **Detachment**: A psychological response where you feel disconnected from your experiences, as if observing them from the outside. This can occur during periods of intense stress, trauma, or significant change.
3. **Reflection and Realization**: Looking back at past events with a new understanding or seeing them in a different light, which can make them seem almost like a story rather than real life.
4. **Cognitive Dissonance**: When new information or events challenge your existing beliefs or understanding of the world, causing your mind to view your experiences as less real or more like a narrative to reconcile the differences.
This feeling can be unsettling but can also lead to deeper self-awareness and understanding.
Which is it?
Cognitive Dissonance has been a part of my very being since the earliest of days.
My realization that the world, in almost every part and degree, is not as overtly displayed or even
understood. We live atop of veritable sea of deliberate and accidental deception but great ‘sailors’
across this sea we have become…or not. Thanks for the usual very critical and very complimentary
comment.
Semper fi, my friend,
Jim
simply put CD is learning that life isnt either/ or; it is and/but
more insightful is
Cognitive dissonance is not inherently bad. It is a psychological state where a person experiences discomfort due to holding two or more contradictory beliefs, values, or attitudes simultaneously. Here are some aspects to consider:
1. **Positive Aspects**:
– **Motivation for Change**: Cognitive dissonance can drive people to change their beliefs or behaviors to reduce discomfort, leading to personal growth and improved decision-making.
– **Enhanced Self-Awareness**: It can prompt individuals to reflect on their beliefs and values, leading to greater self-understanding and clarity.
– **Critical Thinking**: Experiencing dissonance can encourage critical thinking and the reevaluation of assumptions, fostering intellectual growth.
2. **Negative Aspects**:
– **Stress and Anxiety**: The discomfort caused by cognitive dissonance can be distressing and may lead to stress or anxiety if not resolved.
– **Defensive Reactions**: In some cases, people might react defensively, rejecting new information or doubling down on their existing beliefs to avoid the discomfort of dissonance.
– **Avoidance**: Some individuals might avoid situations or information that cause dissonance, which can hinder learning and growth.
Overall, while cognitive dissonance can be uncomfortable, it is a normal and potentially beneficial part of the psychological process that encourages learning, adaptation, and self-improvement.
Thanks Richard, anybody that thinks you aren’t one smart SOB is out of his or her mind.
Thanks for putting all that together…as it is all spot on.
Semper fi,
Jim
Wow! LT. That was quite the whirlwind trip. The money not going to Steed’s widow, hmm!
Alan
Rick, the money, the widow, the CIA, the Dwarfs, San Onofre and the artifact…
all of it somehow differential and apart but all of it also somehow together.
More as we proceed.
Semper fi, and thanks for the great comment,
Jim
I was wondering about the 3 dead marines & the death of Rick. Matt plies you with enough info that possibly ties this all together & then tells you to get out of town & leave it all behind & start a new life. What was his motive? What about the dwarfs? Are they & others you interacted with in San Clementine lives in peril?
My life becomes forked in a way that I could not truly take in properly at the time.
Everything you conclude…I concluded, and everything you don’t understand, I didn’t understand at the time
either. But clarity is coming so hand in there as the tossed seas become giant swells instead of breaking
surf.
Semper fi, and thanks for the great comment.
Jim
What an introduction to your new job/life! Glad it was you and not me. Can’t wait to see what is next in your life!
Thanks David, much appreciate that complimentary comment, as you might imagine and hope to life up to your expectations.
Semper fi,
Jim
Marines and then the appearance of the artifact in. my life around the same time.
* extra period
Am I going ot have to lie some more to m wife about this one too?”
*to
*my
Thanks for the editing help Don, much needed and much appreciated.
Semper fi,
Jim
Rabbit hole indeed!! Be careful Alice!! That was a jamb packed chapter. My head is still spinning. Will you ever come across Matt again in the future, and saddened by the end of Steed. Just what have you got your self into now Ollie….. Keep up the awesome writing. Semper fi Sir
Thanks Bob, much appreciate that comment and Steed was a hard one, following all the others after the valley.
Semper fi,
Jim
Can this tangled web of a Gordian Knot get any bigger? I want to trust Matt but….. The Steed business REALY upsets me. Careful where you step James.
The funny thing so many years later was just how interconnected most things were although those connections
weren’t apparent while living in the midst of them nearly so clearly as they became later on.
Thanks for the comment and the support Charles.
Semper fi,
Jim
c
Charles, I presume the small letter ‘c’ means something? In physics ‘c’ is a symbol meaning the speed of light, as in the infamous formula E=mc2. Hmmmm.
Semper fi,
Jim
Unbelievable yet totally believable with you! I’m eating up every word and waiting for the next chapter. Thank you so much!
Credibility is tough for some of the rendering of what happened in those days,
although in looking closely now at the effect of some things then those effects are
damned evident. Quantum computing, Simultaneity radio, CERN results of the Higgs Boson,
and more go right back to a change in direction the world of physics took post atomic.
The artifact. I believe it’s taken years but it changed everything. As the perspective of
belief sank in then physics turned away from old stuff that really wasn’t valid even if the results
were made to work.
Semper fi, and thanks for the great comment.
Jim
Man! Another chapter that has left me amazed that anyone could live a life like that!
Sometimes the whole thing is hard for me to believe myself and I lived
it, am still living it. Thanks for the compliment.
Semper fi,
Jim
WOW and I thought the Valley was rough. LT you are going in a hundred directions and a thousand miles an hour ! So many unknowns, no guidance and alone again.Can’t wait to see where this leads us !
Thanks Don, much appreciate the compliment and your interest in knowing more and following the story with such close attention.
Semper fi,
Jim