Marion Smoak was the head of protocol for the White House, or so the printed message delivered to my home by one of the compound Lincolns indicated. The time of the event, to be held at the San Clemente Inn, located not more than a mile from the Nixon residence itself, would be dedicated to Pat Nixon’s birthday ball, which wasn’t referred to as a ball at all. The Nixon ‘gathering’ of family and friends would go down at six p.m. the following Wednesday. I was to report to Chief of White House Protocol Smoak after his arrival at El Toro Marine Base was to be scheduled. I was not to be driving, but a passenger in the vehicle so that I could be instructed on how my wife and I were to appear, act, enter and leave the event without the benefit of a written invitation or appearing on any list of participants.
My wife wasn’t pleased with the unsigned note.
I can’t begin to add to the accolades the preceding comments have showered on you. This chapter is mind blowing. All I can say is “You are so charming!”
Thanks for the great comment Chuck, as usual. Great use of that line too…
Thanks for everything your think about me and do for me.
Semper fi, my friend,
Jim
Even though I know it is auto generated, the request for comments struck a chord. While pondering what to say, I came to the realization that your life had to that point been shaped by politics and politicians.
That being said, I still find it a compelling narrative, and count myself among those that can’t wait for the next episode, and read it without delay.
Thjank you, and keep up the good work.
Thanks Tim, for being willing to overlook some of my rather obvious faults.
Thanks for the compliment, as well.
Semper fi,
Jim
James,
I guess I will have to wait yet another chapter (or two) to see if you shoot or pistol whip anyone at Mrs. Nixon’s birthday bash. Yor wife is (and has been) a saint throughout your story, and (as is often true with many men) she is one of your biggest and strongest assets. You are one lucky fellow to have her. But it seems she has an understandably dormant volcano of frustration locked up inside her that is starting to show itself.
Anxious to get to the unraveling of the many mysteries you weave in your story.
Keep pumping out the chapters as fast as you can, Sir.
They are always profoundly interesting.
What a great comment Walter, as usual.
Your mental acumen is right up there and I read your critiques with great attention.
Thanks again, my friend,
JIm
Alrighty then, this started out as Happy Wife, Happy Life and then got lost in the dust to some amazing intrigue. As your wife put it, what you got your self into. Keep them coming Sir!!
The ‘wild’ times that were evident in and around the Western White House
came out of the late sixties and the war, I do believe. So much restrained emotion
and polarization…not totally unlike today except different, of course.
Thanks for the great comment and the compliment….
Semper fi,
Jim
James, Reading about Julie and Matilda just makes me smile.
So much is happening that we just have to wait to see how it plays out.
Unless we find out that you had a “need to know” about Brezhnev’s visit then Ehrlichman telling you that was a major security breach.
Some minor editing suggestions follow:
would go down at six p.m.
Later Ehrlichman says, “The gathering for the president’s wife will go at four in the afternoon on Wednesday.”
Times do not match.
Maybe change this first instance.
I was to report to Chief of White House Protocol Smoak later in the day before when arrival at El Toro Marine Base was to be scheduled.
Maybe reword
I was to report to Chief of White House Protocol Smoak after his arrival at El Toro Marine Base which was scheduled later in the day.
Our presence at the affair had been forced opon us.
“upon” rather than “opon”
Our presence at the affair had been forced upon us.
“Smoak? Her name is smoak? Really? How’s that pronounced”. Smooack or smoke like a cigarette?”
Maybe substitute ? for “. after “pronounced”
“Smoak? Her name is smoak? Really? How’s that pronounced? Smooack or smoke like a cigarette?”
Marion went to West Point
Wiki says he graduated from the Citadel in 1938.
Does not affect the story line.
There was no time, or any of the other pertinent data printed, that might alert me
Maybe change to:
There was no time printed on the message that might alert me
other than attempt to absorb the bitterness the reality the invitation and instructions portended.
Maybe add “caused by” after “bitterness”
other than attempt to absorb the bitterness caused by the reality the invitation and instructions portended.
driver of the limo when you drive them back and forth to El Toro and back all the time?
Two “back”
driver of the limo when you drive them back and forth to El Toro all the time?
getting up to walk over to sliding glass doors
Add “the” before “sliding”
getting up to walk over to the sliding glass doors
conduct a confidential investigation instead of what I and the Dwarfs were up. To.
Drop Period after “up”
Lower case “t” in “To”
conduct a confidential investigation instead of what I and the Dwarfs were up to.
Secret Service was no more secret about their operations
Maybe “not” instead of “no more”
Secret Service was not secret about their operations
Haldeman nor Ehrlichman kept almost very much on their desks
Maybe “nothing” instead of “very much”
Haldeman nor Ehrlichman kept almost nothing on their desks
he dropped his hands to side handles
Maybe add “the” before “side”
he dropped his hands to the side handles
is not something you want to discuss with anyone
Drop the “not”
is something you want to discuss with anyone
Your official reason, in fact your very identities is the same.
Add comma after “identities”
Your official reason, in fact your very identities, is the same.
Blessings & Be Well
Thanks, once again, my friend, for the vastly vital critique and editing.
I was informed by my daughter, after her reading of the chapter, that her doll was
‘labeled’ Matilda but she called the doll Mrs. Beasley. In looking the collector doll up now
I see that the dolls are sold using both titles. My daughter still remembers some of the
other sayings from way back then, before Mrs. Beasley went ever more silent.
Thanks for everything…your work being a great compliment and help to me.
Semper fi,
Jim
Wow, keep them coming. One part hit home. I’ve never had the Vietnam talk w/my wife.
Phil, many combat vets use my books as a cathartic relief with family members who have no clue and can’t listen to
you tell stories that have all the ‘meat’ lift out of them…for damn good reason. Give them my books and then simply say: This is why I can’t tell you about what happened over there
back then. Thanks for the great and so meaningful comment.
Semper fi,
Jim
Wow !! Held my attention.. waiting on the next one !!
Thanks so much Riger. Much appreciate that straight fm the shoulder kind of compliment.
Semper fi,
Ji
Good read.
Check “ and the Dwarfs were up. To. The town….”
John Rambo. Interesting name. Thanks for the correction and thanks for reading…and thanks for not hunting me down and killing me.
I much appreciate hearing from men like you and what you have obviously been through to come to me using this identity.
Semoer fi, brother,
Jim
I know the look in the conversation you had with Mary. I’ve had it a great many times over the 35 years of marriage with my beautiful wife Lori they must teach it at IHM or you and I are just complete bozos and women get it.
Long story to tell you when we get together for dinner about when I was at true value hardware and we got invited to the Friday night celebration at the Com and Don’s house with the silent drill team because I was giving them $1 million check
kulak what is the common down at that time and his assistant was Butch Neil
Lori and Mrs. Neil tried to engage in conversation but Mrs. Neil was not versed in the corporate world at war he lived in
she asked me where generals, fine wives like that, and I replied first she’s southern and second they go to charm school
Lori looked at me like perhaps I was the ranged and said charm school and I said oh yes it’s a real thing
I’ve been explained it, and I’ll have to tell you that story in person with my wife present
The depth. The deep end of the pool, the deep end of the ocean, the depth of human thought, endeavor and philosophy. It’s all there in
your meaningful and well taken comment. IHM. My wife and your wife went to the same woman’s high school on the outskirts of Chicago.
We are the beneficiaries of their learning and their studied presentation to us. You are a remarkable man. You do not present yourself that
way and may not even feel, in your heart of hearts, that you are that, which is why God sent me to sit beside you. You are remarkable, as a
man and as a secret agent working on behalf of all humanity. It’s such an honor to be your friend and an ‘object of your intention.’
Thanks so much for sharing this openly with everyone.
Semper fi, my great friend,
Jim
Neither Haldeman nor Ehrlichman kept almost anything on their desks, ……maybe change to “kept much”
Sharp eyes…Fixed
Thanks.
I quietly went down the stairs toward the front door as quietly as I could. Used “quietly twice”
Wow missed another. Thanks, Randy
with a glint in here* eye (her)*
So the non-birthday birthday party is of course going to be anything but !!
I can see your wife just full of more questions which you won’t be able to answer !!
Your story often reminds me of my own return to the land of running water and all night generators and how I was too dumb to see how people hated me just for “being” !!
Hang in there James, I can see the under pinings of a story to blow the minds of the dwarfs coming soon !! 😉
Semper Fi
Thanks Bob,
Women are fascinating creatures, for sure,’
Semper fi
Jim
2nd to last paragraph: “Mardian had used a word for people like he and I” Replace “I” with “me.”
It is fixed.
Really appreciate all the help.
In Ehrlichmann’s instructions “One inside, you” should be Once.
Thank you so much, Kathi!
Even farther down: “Ehrlichman once again bent forward and looked own at the thin stack of documents before him.” You need a “d” before “own.”
You are on the ball!
Thank you, John
“knowing full well that she wasn’t excepting an answer”
I believe that should be expecting an answer.
Much farther down: “I silently opened the front door to make my exist.” Last word should be “exit.”
Got it!
Thanks again
Nearer the beginning: “Our presence at the affair had been forced on” should be followed by “us” (or forced upon us).
We are getting a little more insight of your family side of this story
It is another part that makes it interesting
Question:
You never mention your wife’s first name –
Is there a reason?
Always enjoy a new chapter
Thanks Duke
Mary.
Semper fi,
Jim
Another tantalizing and mysterious section. My butt cheeks are beginning to hurt from being on the edge of my chair. Thank you, Marine.
Thank you, Marine. One hell of a big compliment and I take it as such. Thank you in return for putting s big smile on my face this night.
Semper fi,
Marine,
Jim
As always I could not stop reading once I started. Enjoy each chapter very much, thank you for your books!
Well, William, I much appreciate your comment here. This kind of stuff is the kind of stuff that keeps an author like me going. I don’t have
works that the ‘normal’ public can or will deal with so you, and men and women like you, are my real audience and I much appreciate hearing form you whether you buy my books or not.
So, thank you, from the bottom of my heart.
Semper fi,
Jim
About halfway down, should “excepting” be “expecting?”
Thank you, Bob.
Fixed it!
Interesting…it strikes me that the Ashau was a much simpler place than 1970 California
I am not sure, in retrospect, which place was more dangerous. I presume the upfront, you die now, kind of effects of living
day to day and night to night in the A Shau, rather outweighed the deeper and darker potential of living where I was and doing what I was
in the aftermath.
Semper fi, my great friend,
JIm
And the suspense builds……
Keeping it interesting, and keeping the flow going. And you, Sir, have a most astute wife. Having grown up in the service, I am used to military wives being able to read between the lines, and to interpret others with whom they interact. It always amazed me that my first wife was totally obtuse 24/7.
Really enjoying the story, Jim, and always waiting for the next chapter. Thank you!
Thanks Craig. Half way though XXXI.
Much appreciate the motivation comments like your own give me to
force me to keep working.
Semper fi,
jim
“You and your wife will show up in the parking lot of the compound here to be taken to the Inn and hour early.”
Shouldn’t “the Inn and hour” be “the Inn an hour”
Corrected, Thanks
No end in site?
No, Harold, no end in sight. I will have to start Book III soon but I need a segue.
Thanks for the observation.
Semper fi,
JIm
Good read. I don’t remember the year but I do remember being in Brezhnev’,so arrival ceremony at the White House. I rember thinking those eyebrows need a serious trim.
Ready for the next one sir.
The year was 1973 Laddie, and it was some year indeed. Thanks for the compliment too…
Semper fi,
Jim