The Sheraton Hotel was located a little more than half a mile from the airport. It was a huge building about twenty stories tall with a great, although empty lobby at our late hour of arrival. Before departure while still near the gate awaiting the call for economy boarding, Herbert showed up, wearing a big smile and holding out a folder of paperwork.
“Here’s all you need, the ticket to Seoul, for Monday afternoon, the identity stuff you need to check into your new office with Banker’s Life of Iowa, the car stuff, and a few dollars for expenses.”
For the six weeks I was in Mumbai, I had a driver every day. A boon, because, as the saying went, ” good thing there was only one coat of paint on the cars, otherwise there would be twice as many accidents.”
At one point there was a terrorist bombing at a Diwali market. After that, every trip back to the hotel compound, security used mirrors to check under the car for IEDs.
The pace is picking up. Thank you aagain for a great read Jim.
Tim
It’s not at all like the USA once you get indigenous out there in the rest of the world.
Thanks for your own experience here and thoughts about it.
Semper fi
Jim
Mr. Strauss, Sir,
“Welcome home, sir,” he said, sending an A Shau Valley shiver up and down my back.
OH CRAP.
I know I’m about a week behind, but oh my goodness, I sure hope that the uncommonly tall , skinny Korean is referring to his hotel as being a home away from home, and not someone from Nam. (Unless he was the one silent guy that seemed to always be right where you needed him to be and doing exactly what you needed him to be doing (With apologies to you and to him, I can’t remember his name))
PS sometimes distinguished editors don’t have their finger on the pulse of the situation. A) Perhaps he doesn’t understand your audience. B) Perhaps he is in error. C) Perhaps he is really saying that your “30 Days” work was so outstanding that it set the bar too high to be reached again. I’m going with choice C.
Thank you
Thanks for the extensive conjecture and the concern. I will not let any editor change the style of my writing nor the content. I am ultimately in charge of that ]
and I’m surrendering it to no one. Memories like my own are extraordinarily uncommon out here. In fact, that memory in being able to call nine digit grid codes
set along our ways of travel saved my life not only with the artillery rounds but in giving my Marines a most excellent reason to keep me alive. Nguyen was
another extraordinary man but in a different way, as was the Gunny. We shall hear more from both of them. Yes, the man at the door really was him, as shocking as
that seeming impossibility seemed until you read the next chapter.
Thanks for caring and paying enough attention and taking the time to write your thoughts on here. I cannot thank you enough.
Semper fi,
Jim
Your first solo mission strangely reminds me of your first days in the valley when through attrition you are suddenly made in charge !! Strange place, strange people, yet here you are again with unknown expectations of your abilities in a mission as yet unknown to you while others are tuned in on and aware of it. Just another test?? Maybe….
I can’t help but think back to your days at the WWHouse where a “certain someone” high up in “the dept” met and measured you for future employment without you being aware of it at the time !?!? Hmmm… Just a recurring thought I have as I read on 😉
Funny thing about being startled by that hot air balloon, when I lived in S. Miami where the Zoo is now located, was once an old Army base where the local balloons would use and fly 50 feet right over our house with a loud whoosh and wake you up on the weekends !! Good times as the kids really loved waving at the riders 🙂
Waiting on the next chapter James, keep ’em coming !
Thanks SgtBob, you observations are as cogent and applicable as ever.
I believe my ‘fortunes’ changed when I got to Camp Pendleton and was
somehow selected to work for the WWH. I didn’t know who or why but it
made things sometimes downright haunting and uncertain. I had immense power
or I could have none in any situation…and the choice of that, or even
followup discovering information was impossible to get or arrive at.
Thanks for another great comment.
Semper fi,
Jim
Oooh boy James, I came home from Nam to Ft Lewis Washington only to be sent to Pusan,Korea. You brought me back to those memories. I ended up with a staff car a WAC colonel and 1 Star sending me from DMZ and points in between. It was a great tour.
Mike, I am happy for you. Having a one star be the ‘ice cutter’ in that situation must have been wonderful,
not to mention the WAC Colonel. Life’s fortunes and misfortunes can be so strange and hard to predict.
Semper fi, and thanks for the great associative comment.
jim
3rd Comment: I think I know who the Door Man is!
Once again, another combat veteran leans in to offer his analysis
and once again I am surprised as I think most of the stuff coming
is surprising but not to many cut from the same weathered and
tattered cloth.
Thanks Colonel, your this.
Semper fi,
Jim
Jim,
I’ve been noting your time/event management, multitasking abilities, etc too many times, from ’30 Days’ thru the present. And the strength & abilities of Mary as well, so I’ll try to cut back on them.
Your comment about “from a very distinguished editor and reader that my work since 30 Days has been very interesting but not compelling like that work” — Umm, depends on your definition/perception of “compelling” – Completely different unknown ‘rabbit holes’. Lessons learned, knowledge, experience, etc from the first ‘RH’ of being thrown in to combat where folks are trying to kill you (And everyone else.) on a daily basis, would hold you in good stead for the beginning of this new ‘RH’. And, I imagine, multiple ‘RHs’ to come.
And Herbert’s shown “discomfort at having to give her any details at all” shows he has some ‘learning’ about how he’s going to deal with Mary in the future, as Mary seems to ‘understand’ him much better than he does her. Objectively, what a wonderful asset for you.
And finally, the fact your “mission was going to be a lot more complex and difficult than I’d figured, and I wondered why whoever sent me on it might fail to understand that.” – Why do I feel that whoever sent you, did understand it & had a whole lot of confidence in you getting the job done. Kinda like some football scout finding this Div III player who had the abilities of playing in Div I, following him. Then again, you mentioned this mission was indeed some kind of “test”, a “test” to determine if their opinion of you was correct & you were ‘worth’ their ‘fast tracking’ you in the Agency? Also wonder if you’ll find out whoever this ‘someone’ is.
Sometime hard to keep up with as a ‘reader’, let alone living it.
Enough for now my friend,
Doug
Danko comes through, as usual, with a vitally deep and meaningful comment. For some reason I’m unaware of this chapter has
created a number of complex comments that I have spent more time than usual reading, re-reading and then responding to in
kind. Danko, like some others on here, has the unique ability to truly penetrate the meaning of much of what is written
to the point where he, and a few others, figure out stuff that i don’t ar first get myself…as the rendition is more
presentation and it is self reflection.
Thanks so very much, my friend, Doug Danko.
Semper fi,
Jim
Jumping out of the frying pan into the fire again!!
Yes, that short comment does sort of describe it all.
Thanks Tommy.
Semper fi,
Jim
It seems you’ve already met at least one person from the company.
Indeed, Bob, and there would be more who did not announce themselves and seemed to know
a whole lot more about me…which Was sometimes the only giveaway. Thanks for the accurate
and interesting comment.
Semper fi,
Jim
H Kemp Jones
The “Welcome home.” sounded kind of “Hotel California”ish.
Thanks H.Kemp, a man of letters not known for such short comments about almost anything. Then this short but
so accurate tome rolls in. Yes!!!! Thank you.
Semper fi,
Jim
James: I too am addicted to reading your “fiction” I was envious of your Hawaii boyhood, very terrified for you in the Ah Shau Valley and now, you are on your first assignment with the CIA. I can barely wait to read more. I think I should read the first chapters all over again because every chapter brings up questions about the past. Are you really going to get a hot air balloon?
As you are well aware, with your big brain Smith, I cannot tell the story ahead in comments here or it ruins the
revelations as they appear in the story so I can’t answer that question about the balloon. You will have to wait,
but I think it will be worth it…my opinion only. Thanks for your unalduturated support and the interesting way
you framed that in your comment.
Semper fi,
Jim
It must have been a 240D Mercedes . Bought a used one in 1974. Back then diesel cost less than gas but had to fuel up at truck stops. Had about the same acceleration as my first car, 1956 VW
Why did I love that 2 4 0 D? Why is that series among the most popular Mercedes
to get hold of all these years later? Funny how cars can be so very strange at working their
way under your skin. My dad was that way with his TR3. He complained all the time but loved
the thing and kept it until it totally rusted out. Sold it and then regretted selling it.
Thanks for the heartfelt and interesting comment.
Semper fi,
Jim
I don’t even feel qualified enough to comment 🙂
I will read as long as you write…
cb
If you are reading along here, and you obviously are, then this is indeed a place for your to comment and your only
‘qualification’ needs to be a sincere interest… and it doesn’t even have to be a positive interest. This stuff is all, for the most part,
hard to believe and that part isn’t going to get much better. Depending upon your perspective, of course.
Welcome aboard and thanks for the comment.
Semper fi,
Jim
James,
your storytelling is addictive, One of the unique things about this riveting tail is the way you weave together every day experiences
have some might think that joining the CIA is hardly and every day experience but what you’re really describing is a man moving from one city with his two small children and his wife to another with very uncertain and tenuous circumstances
neither you nor Mary know the area and there’s a strange way the house was presented you’ve got a green Mercedes diesel which should stand out like a sore thumb and you’re in charge of an office that you absolutely know nothing about
what is so captivating about your storytelling is that the stuff when you stand back and look at it it transfixes one because it’s very unusual yet one must get engrossed in the tail because you’re writing pulls one in
i’m not sure what this hypnotic spell that you cast is doing to my psyche but it certainly makes a lot of sense that I can’t wait for the next chapter because what you really described is going off on a business trip for what you are very ill prepared and landing in a country that you are even far more prepared for that’s mesmerizing
I am quite anxious to hear how the first assignment works I’ve got a feeling that there’s going to be a lot more than you’ve revealed
As usual Rich, you are correct in every respect. It was an interesting time indeed and the world was changing around me.
LBJ was in and I though that the departure of Nixon and his entire team would mean that, aside from not being sent to prison
myself or being accused of anything, I could not have been more wrong. Instead of being involved with the direction of
America from that small town on the coast of Southern California I was plunged out into involved with the direction of
America out in the world. thanks for the many compliments as I can use the right now.
Semper fi, my friend,
Jim
Saw your comment to Craig…it strikes me at first impression that the reviewer might think it is fiction! Much more compelling when one realizes it is true
S/F
Interesting response Colonel. I hadn’t thought of that. For self-defensive purposes I write the books and volumes as novels
but I can understand that, even though they are in the first person I could well understand his orientation.
Thanks for that. Bothered by that short phrase or I wouldn’t be discussing it on here. My wife, the great advisor in life named Mary,
said I should suck it up. As usual I violate her very valid and properly better thought out advice.
Semper fi, my friend,
Jim
The last paragraph was the most interesting.
Thanks Warren, as I shall endeavor to write more like that, as things go on….
Semper fi,
Jim
Jim, almost daily I hope for another chapter, even though I know writing such an autobiography is not an easy thing.
I’ve followed you since reading the first chapter or two of “30Days”.
It seems that, having served there myself in 1966, although aboard a carrier in the Gulf, I have witnessed the “other half” through your words.
I also feel a kinship with you- you’ve established a close relationship with many of your readers, including me.
It is a compelling, very honest, retelling of your life, one that I feel very close to.
I know I continually encourage you to “write faster, dammit!” – can’t wait to read every word. Keeps me interested in what each new day brings.
Craig, it’s like you are a mind-reader here. You write this comment just after I read as review, not on this site, from a very distinguished editor and reader
that my work since 30 Days has been very interesting but not compelling like that work. That was a bit to me, as I don’t see it that way as you might imagine.
However, it’s hard, as a writer writing about his own life experience to take such a criticism and not consider it accurate…and therefore a bit deflating and demotivational.
But, there you are, as well as so many of the vets on here that I don’t think see the rendition of everything, and the rather detailed admissions and even rather strange and hunting revelations as ‘compelling.” I know the reviewer was being as honest as he could from his perspective and I’m not angry with him. My solution is to read more of what you and the other ‘reviewers’ write, as you not not professionals and therefore your criticism are much more valid to me.
I cannot thank you enough.
Semper fi,
Jim
“Welcome home sir”. You set the hook solidly with that ending. Can’t get the next chapter out quick enough! This is a a great read. Never know where it will go next.
Thanks for that compliment Phil. Means a lot to me. I am working on the next chapter right this minute with
only a break to answer a few very valuable comments like your own.
Semper fi,
Jim
I can’t help but think of the Eagles and “Hotel California” as an appropriate tune for this new step of faith. Validated by the doorman. Holy molee, LT…what now…
I love that song and the drug induced lyrics all the way through. Of course id doesn’t hurt the effect to
have about the greatest guitar rift of all time within it. Thanks for the comparison and the compliment of your
own ‘lyrics,’ so to speak, or write.
Semmper fi,
Jim
Wowser, LT! Out of the frying pan, into the fire! Welcome to The Company – here is your new employee’s handbook, which reveals 50 blank pages…
And you have eluded most of the jet lag by sleeping most of the trip. It seems that Koreans are about as welcoming as the Japanese. Always a good thing.
I really appreciate you taking us along on the trip. Been to a lot of the places, but never Seoul. Anxious to see your reaction to the local food.
BTW, all my race cars were BRG, with lettering in bright yellow.
Things are going a bit better here, although I have a distinct lack of energy. And following up with the VA on some assistance.
Semper Fi, good friend.
More like unknown but so well known great friend, Craig. I am sorry about your lack of energy. I know that’s a real bitch.
Even at my age now I don’t have that issue but well recall trying so hard to recover my energy after the surgeries. I think it took
about a full year. I had a former nurse write me that most of the post medical stuff wouldn’t really have happened because, at any time,
I could just have gone into an ER and gotten by bloody or debris-ridden bandages replaced. Not my world back then at all and they probably
would never have wrapped me in Saran Wrap at all. Sincerely pray and hope for your recovery from this latest affliction.
Your great friend.
Jim
Another great “story”….Thank you for sharing. They always remind me of some of my travels. Your fishing vest part of the story reminded me of when I was detached to the OIG. It was very formal and the standard was to wear suit and tie every day in Washington, DC. I agreed with that except for the days where I had no meetings outside of my office.
When I would travel I always bought a polo from the Marine Corps detachment with their emblem at the embassy. They were very nice usually. So I started wearing those on those days of no meetings. At first there was all kinds of comments, but I also kept a shirt, tie and coat in my office. That seemed to help those of differing minds to accept I was going to do this.
It seems your Herbert was of the same cut that our HR was. HR was a unique inbred group. They were all ladies from the same church. At one point they locked the door to their office and would not return anyones calls. While in a meeting with the Inspector General I mentioned this. Harry had no idea this was happening. All of a sudden they started answering phone calls and you could at least get in the front door that was more of a “man trap” with another door leading into HR and a secretary at the window.
Wow three flights to Seoul? To me that would be a logistical nightmare. With any one of those flights being late. The times I was in Seoul, United had a direct flight to LAX. Meeting your “attache” at the airport is always a bonus. He probably worked for your company though. Having a driver is also a bonus though that limits your ability to travel to places you don’t want anyone to know about.
One time I arrived in Seoul on a holiday and the streets were empty. It was very eerie. There was only one restaurant open and it was a Kimchi restaurant. Your stomach would not have survived that…lol.
It is funny what some drivers will do to help their cars last longer like shifting too soon. One country they decided headlights ruined the car so they drove around at night with no lights on.
Again thank you for a very realistic story…
Michael
Like Colonel Homan on here. The colonel became a world traveling mercenary following this military service. He, you and I, and a very rarified air group of others, all share the same kinds of stories about what it’s really like out there…although except for my work and the work of very few others, does not really see much of the light of day…and get believed, anyway. Robert Ludlum never went out there. John LaCarre was an analyst as was Ian Fleming. The real players don’t often tell their stories and then they are not usually accepted as being true or as interesting. I beg to differ here, and part of the credibility of this work is the commentary of others who’ve really been out there.
thanks for being one of those guys and writing about it here. Your comments could not be appreciated more and I know the other readers have to be thinking the same thing.
Semper fi, my friend,
Jim
Another great chapter James. Hope you get the truck and the hot air balloon. About 40 years ago I got my wonderful wife Sue and hot air balloon ride for her birthday. She loved it.
Keep on reading Charles. I’ve been pretty effective at accomplishing some of those things that satisfied me most. There’s almost nothing like being in a fairly rapidly hot air ballon skiing a few hundred feet across the ground/water/desert or whatever, not knowing where the hell you are really going or truly caring. What magical, generally silent, freedom and release. Thanks for the great comment…and keep on reading to know much much more.
Semper fi,
Jim
Jim,
Thanks for another dose!
Captivating as always.
Three big moments when I read this chapter.
First, “The flight and arrival in Albuquerque went down without incident.” I became crestfallen when I read the first part of this sentence because I thought the plane crashed. Maybe use “went off” instead of “went down”. The flight “went down” is sorta like at an airport hollering to a friend 50 feet away “Hi, Jack!”. Words you do NOT want to say at an airport.
Secondly, when you pulled back the drapes in the hotel room, I surprising read: [should be ‘A’, not ‘I’ By the way] “huge lit orb floated just beyond the railing of the balcony,…” I immediately mentally pictured a large UFO…coming to get YOU.
Your accepting the vest before getting on a flight…funny that airport security today asks you do you have any items that you personally did not pack, etc. You are more trusting of Matt than I. I would have figured there was an electronic “bug” of some sort somewhere within the vest, or some other item that might get you in trouble with airport security–maybe another part of ‘this test.”
Thirdly, when I read “The uncommonly tall and skinny Korean leaned forward slightly and smiled a deadly smile.
“Welcome home, sir,”
…for some reason I pictured it was your native guide that served you well in the A Shau Valley.
Please learn to write with both hands so you can write more, faster.
God Bless.
Walt
THE WALTER DUKE. Sometimes I have to be reminded, by you, about why your name and the form of title is as I write it on here. You have a talent you are more than
likely unaware of to assemble those things of the past, reflect upon them in the present and then state about future events with a clarity and accuracy that can be downright scary to the rest of us more ‘normal’ humans. I am not normal, of course, as most of the readers would agree and you too, I’m sure. The Ufo was a balloon, of course, as you read, but the alien thing, whether in Hawaii (as portrayed in Down in the Valley), the artifact and it’s so very ‘out there’ origins undetermined and more is predictive on your part. We are not done here with this story. I have the vest in my closet. I presumed the vest to be a gift from Matt. I never asked, only commented later on about how much I’d admired it and how Banana Republic no longer produced it as I’d checked. Three days later a package arrived with a new vest in it from Matt, this time with a card saying he’d found one form me. I now have both vests in my closet and still war them never to know where in hell the first one Herbert handed me came from since I’d never asked. And then there’s that other thing which you will read as you move into he next chapter…the kind of thing that raises small hairs not he backs of necks….
Thanks for what it is you are and do and write on here….and the feelings you obviously have and demonstrate toward me and the story.
Your friend,
and Semper fi,
Jim
Hello James. Thanks for more excellent storytelling.
Minor note..
“The uncommonly tall and skinny Korrean leaned forward slightly and smiled a deadly smile.” Extra R in Korean.
Got the correction and thanking you for it. Much appreciate the compliment as well.
Semper fi,
Jim
That “deadly smile” seems to be a bit of foreshadowing – as it takes you back to the valley.
Besides a Commercial ticket in airplanes, I also hold a CFI in Gliders, but have only observed balloons. Looks and sounds like fun.
Thanks for the predictive part of your comment, as we shall see in the coming chapter. Also, I too first flew in gliders when I was a Civil Air Patrol certified pilot back in high school at Bellows Field on Oahu. Ballooning is close to that silent form of ‘cloud biting’ experience of mostly silent dancing with the winds.
Thanks for the associative comment. We have a lot in common.
Semper fi,
Jim
LT, you’re back in the shit obviously. Will be interesting to see where this leads you. Looking forward to following chapters.
Thanks JT. I never really understand the interest or support for a chapter is at until I read these comments, and
then, every time, I am raring to go at it again. I’m writing the next chapter right now and it starts with
an emotional bang.
Semper fi,
Jim
low key but interesting beginning!!
Low key, indeed, using a rather substantial comparative index I might add….but I fully get your meaning and appreciate the
compliment that comes with it.
Semper fi,
Jim
Albuquerque went down without incident., nobody asked whether
* ., period unnecessary
I huge lit orb floated just
* A huge
Thanks, Don, for the editing help. Since my most prolific editor decided to retire, I much appreciate your help
in making this story better.
Semper fi,
Jim
Your suggestions have been corrected. Thanks for the help.
My first trip to Korea was similar. A strange place and a complicated culture. But they are a complicated people
Lots of seemingly small stuff that can get really big really fast.
Thanks for the support and credibility addition.
Semper fi,
Jim
Doorman someone from your past??? This is getting interesting and can’t wait for more. Keep them coming.
Thanks Peter for that predictive comment. I am amazed at the ability of readers like you who are able to
almost see into the future of the story because you hold the material so far written at the very forefront of your mind.
Thanks for another exhibition of that.
Semper fi,
Jim
The first time I was in China, I was not met and took the first car I saw rather than approved line. He delivered me to the hotel but only in back so he wouldn’t lose his taxi. First time in India, they scared the hell out of me because they only
turned their lights on at night when approaching other cars! trying to do the same thing!
Colonel, I have heard of that proctice but was never in the environment where it was actually done. Being abroad can
be so satisfying, interesting and at times awful and terrifying. Thanks for the great additive to my story, and he
credibility it also provides.
Your friend,
and Semper fi,
Jim