My time at night, before sleep and thankfully not during sleep, I thought about things that were occurring, and the less sense they made the more I couldn’t stop lying awake trying not to think about them.
“I’m not that special,” I thought, lying there, not realizing I had also softly whispered the words aloud.
Jim,
With the splitting of TCL Two into two parts, will there be a drop down added on your page to click on take us to TCL book IV?
THE WALTER DUKE. Yes, there will be an additional button to click on as the first chapter of Volume IV is put up, hopefully later today.
The other three books will become Volumes I, II, and III, as the new one begins, since they are not really stand alone books.
Thanks for the question as others might be wanting to know, as well. I will take a close look at what Chuck is doing to get
the chapter up right now.
Semper fi,
Jim
Lt, you have certainly brought us a long way since that first night in a dank officer hootch. I mentioned it a while back, but I’ll say it again, your writing has become much more polished in these last dozen chapters. It’s like you have, at least partially written your way out of the Valley. Anyway, I’m looking forward to TCL Book 4.
Thanks so much Rick. Yes, the writing that beean so long ago has matured as I’ve now written more than a million words
if you count the newspaper articles and op/eds. thanks for the compliment and for putting it up on this site.
Semper fi,
Jim
As publishing and book series goes, this chapter makes a natural and logical transition to book #4. You continue to develop characters, and large and small plot twists. And by writing it yourself, we know that you survived it all.
We are all along for the ride, please don’t leave us hanging too long.
Semper Fi
Todd, there will be no delay in the first chapter of Book IV coming out following the last chapter you read. I will finish the writing of that opening chapter this weekend for publishing next week. Jim Flynn, another reading supporter, has assured that for all of us. The help I have received from so many of you is just extraordinary. Jack Sampson bought five cups of coffee for me on ko-fi, that strange website Chuck Bartok found and operates on my behalf. How could I not smile at that gesture? I’m drinking a cup fright now and smiling with him, I hope. Thanks for the support here and being along for the ride, as you describe it.
Semper fi,
Jim
And away we go! Excited to see where it leads. Have a spot on my shelve for another book! Enjoying each one! Semper Fi, Lt!! From one Junior to another!
Actually, Junior, it’s two books. Two and three of the series will publish simultaneously while the fourth will be written in chapters and put on this site, just as before. Glad my books have a place on your shelf. Send a photo sometime of that display. I’d love to put it up.
Semper fi,
Jim
Somehow did not get any comments
What comments are you talking about Jim? The comment I made in response to your last comment or something else.
If you didn’t get the response then I’ll repeat it if you repeat your comment to allow me to access that memory
repository once more.
Semper fi, my friend,
Jim
enough left over to *bake a sling for the artifact’s box (* make )
Big things are happening quite rapidly !!
Another compelling chapter Sir !
Keep on keepin on, and enjoy the coffee 😉
Semper Fi
Thank you for your support, Bob and the correction was made.
I so appreciate you and so many readers that keep me inspired.
Semper fi,
Jim
Ah, Jim! Been a long voyage since the first pages of Thirty Days! Can’t say each and every one of them has been great – but the writing sure has been!
Each time you write, I feel as though we’ve been there side-by-side; you have a great knack of including we readers as part of the Company, and I’m not referring to the one you are now (in book terms) starting to work with.
So now, starting in Book 3, you will be starting out anew, seeing the world through yet more new glasses.
Can’t wait for the ride, going to probably be as exciting as the on just ending! Thanks for keeping us in the loop.
PS: Healing well from the surgery, took off that troublesome collar, AMA. Damn thing hurt worse than ten surgeries!
I am so tickled, Craig, to hear that you are coming back like gang busters. No more neck brace. Cool, and your writing is so much
more upbeat. I love to see that and I heartily look forward to more of your in depth, meaningful and caring comments as time goes by.
I really was worried.
Semper fi,
My friend,
Jim
What a life’s story you have told so far, Lt Strauss. I’m curious how you went from California to end up in my home state. Is that way down the road in your narrative? The Object is intriguing also. Can’t wait to see where that ends up. Congratulations on your second child coming in your story.
Nope, Thomas, the move is coming pretty damned quick, too quick really but that was the way of the agency wherein
field people were never treated like home office analysts. They were really human beings, as we were informed in Charm School.
We wre characters all able to most willingly and convincingly act like real human beings. We were characters, and hence the second
class treatment. The home office pogues had tremendous and mostly secret respect for us but no sympathy or understanding.
The artifact is still with me as I make the move and, as you will read, playing a huge role in my life. Thanks for the great comment.
Semper fi,
Jim
I’ve certainly enjoyed having you share this amazing journey James! I was hooked in the first chapter of 30Days and have since read everything you’ve written that I could find! I look forward to learning more about your work in the agency! Great stuff! Semper Fi my friend!
Jack, I never got around to failing to remember that we had indeed met in Kansas at the rendezvous. What a time that was and
how iteresting. My highly vaunted memory was being attentive to other things that turned out not to be worth that attention. So, I apologize. You are an amazing man and one helluva supporter of mine. Thanks for always being here and there and everywhere (like the Scarlet Pimpernel!).
Your compliments are always appreciate and truly considered very deeply.
Semper fi, my friend,
Jim
Lt. your life is much like mine. You come from the Nam filled full of death and gore, praying all the time to just make it home. And when you did, the miseries just became bigger, just as intense and dangerous. Now you are being swept into another realm of danger and the unknown! Can’t to see this one developed. The CIA is the most feared unit in the states as it is an unknown and secret Living ,breathing monster!
The agency was all of what you portray. You must have special knowledge to know that at the depth you appear to know that.
I wonder, in this time of my life, just how much of the tumult and trouble I deliberately created, or at least created the atmosphere
where it could happen, and what came along by accidental circumstance. thanks for the great comment.
Semper fi,
Jim
Lt. your life is much like mine. You come from the Nam filled full of death and gore, praying all the time to just make it home. And when you did, the miseries just became bigger, just as intense and dangerous. Now you are being swept into another realm of danger and the unknown! Can’t to see this one developed.
Don, this is a repeat of another comment which is quite okay. Your care, concern and interest are much appreciated no matter how
many copies may bleed through!
Semper fi,
Jim
I would like to know more about what happened to your Marines when you were wounded, or did I miss that?
Thomas:
Sent you a personal email in detail about that. I understand and thank you for asking.
What happened back then, as the later results would finally be discoverable, will appear later in Cowardly Lion.
Thanks,
Semper fi,
Jim
James, Interesting this chapter has a sense of transition which several commenters have surmised and you have verified. The adventure continues.
/Snip/ U.S. embassies or consulates, or both. Who guards those facilities?
“Holy cow,” I replied. “The Marines are good cover.”
/ Reminds me of the Staff Sergeant /
Some minor editing suggestions follow:
“I’m not that special,” I thought, laying there
‘lying” instead of “laying”
“I’m not that special,” I thought, lying there
“You are special in one way tonight, Mary said.
Close quotes after “tonight,”
“You are special in one way tonight,” Mary said.
CIA offer came through with significant cash upfront
“up front” seems preferable
CIA offer came through with significant cash up front
terminal the information about it getting out for him and anyone he knew
Maybe add “could be” after “getting out”
terminal the information about it getting out could be for him and anyone he knew
What to do with it and once I got it over
Drop “and”
What to do with it once I got it over
I’ll get you an advance but not tell anyone at the department
/ I can read this several ways – you won’t tell anyone at the department
I’ll get you an advance but I won’t tell anyone at the department
/ OR you are advising Gloria not to tell anyone at the department
I’ll get you an advance but do not tell anyone at the department
realizing I hadn’t given her time to be there
Add “a” before “time”
realizing I hadn’t given her a time to be there
Throughout the proceeding chapters I’ve seen either Galloways or Galloway’s
Should there be a single spelling?
specialist training to be determined.
Close quotes
specialist training to be determined.”
federal law, not unless it some sort of exceptional
“it’s” (it is) rather than “it”
federal law, not unless it’s some sort of exceptional
out there in the world, if that’s where I’m going?” asked
Add “I” before “asked”
out there in the world, if that’s where I’m going?” I asked
Here’s an inch of bills, two ounces, give a take
Maybe “or” instead of “a” after “give”
Here’s an inch of bills, two ounces, give or take
bills from the mint so you probably want to age them a bit before you deposit or spend or whatever
Maybe add “will” before “want”
May add “them” after “spend”
bills from the mint so you probably will want to age them a bit before you deposit or spend them or whatever
yet I also couldn’t go on glad-handing them anything at all.
“anything at all” seems extra
yet I also couldn’t go on glad-handing them.
Julie had turned out so wonderfully
“wonderful” instead of “wonderfully”
Julie had turned out so wonderful
I drove over to the Marinos house
Maybe add Lobos” before “Marinos”
I drove over to the Lobos Marinos house
removable back-mounted
Maybe dash instead of hyphen
removable back – mounted
/ Sorry I don’t know how to create a proper dash /
/ chain haul = chain hoist which doesn’t need rope
/ pulley block and tackle uses rope. If you are using pulley blocks with multiple sheaves for mechanical advantage, then 50’ of rope is not enough. In an earlier chapter you said box weighted 150 pounds.
I’ll assume the latter although for something heavy I’d purchase the former.
I’ll write this for one pulley at the top.
fifty feet of half-inch rope and a decently priced chain haul
“pulley block with a swivel head” instead of “chain haul”
fifty feet of half-inch rope and a decently priced pulley block with a swivel head
mounted the chain haul up on the overhead beam
“pulley block” instead of “chain haul”
mounted the pulley block up on the overhead beam
rope left over after stringing it through the chain haul pulley
“pulley block” instead of “chain haul pulley”
rope left over after stringing it through the pulley block
had enough left over to bake a sling
“make” instead of “bake”
had enough left over to make a sling
hid the rope and chain haul inside two big cabinets
“pulley block” instead of “chain haul”
hid the rope and pulley block inside two big cabinets
Blessings & Be Well
Thanks for the compliment, the blessings and most of all the work you are continuing to do to keep this
whole site intact, readable and ongoing. Means the world to me and many of the readers on here.
Thanks so very much!
Semper fi my friend,
Jim
LT, I’m sort of at a loss on how to say this. In one of my recent sleepless nights I went back to your first day in the valley and came with you up to present day. I have gained more respect and admiration for your journey than I can begin to articulate. Rapidly approaching the end of my ninth decade on this old rock, I hope and pray that I can go with you a while longer, long enough to find out what the hell is the artifact!! And thanks for the ride thus far!!
The ride…make me think of you as John Wayne, tossing his saddle cup on the stagecoach and getting aboard, from the movie of that name.
The old one, like you and me, not the new one. Thanks for giving me the kind of support you do in writing on here and complimenting my
work and life as you often do. Please don’t die yet!!! We need you…and I’m sure a lot more people whom none of us even know.
Semper fi,
Jim
This was almost too much for my old brain to comprehend. The changes in your life (some good; maybe some not so good) were coming so fast that I don’t know how you dealt with them all at once. Was it what you had to deal with back in Nam in the A Shau that in some way prepared you for your future careers that you had learned to juggle so well? It seems like most of your “friends” or associates in all these endeavors were sometimes helpful and sometimes not. It is obvious that your wife was a large reason why you had stability in such an unstable time in your life. And maybe Bozo was there to watch over you and keep you sane.
Bozo stayed on into his dotage, as you shall see. What a perfect cat to come into my life at that particular time. I still sometimes see his reflecting eyes shining, as he sat out in the empty street at night when we were gone, waiting for our car to appear in the distance. The valley did prepare me for a lot of future combat, which was as filled with more subtle deception than the ‘real’ stuff. Thanks for the observation and writing it on here.
Semper fi,
Jim
I’m hooked like a big red fish!! Love it and thanks LT.
Big Red Fish…almost sounds like you are a Native American from the very old times when somehow people who didn’t have red skins were called that. Thanks for the compliment that went along with that expression!
Semper fi,
Jim
From one emotional wave crest to the next, your life’s story just keeps unfolding in ways I hardly expect. As you were hoisting that artifact into the furnace, I remembered leading the State Boiler Inspector around our business. He grabbed the pipe leading to and supporting the boiler expansion tank and started shaking it. In a thick German accent, he said: “vat hoppens vin dat Eart quake comes?” I yelled: “stop shaking it, you will break it!” I could just see hot water spewing and steam burning us all. Your little ball of terror might go through the side of that sheet metal heater and careen around the garage before breaking out to disappear down the hill.
All sorts of things ran through my mind about the object back in those days. Maybe the most important thing that happened changing my life at that time wasn’t PTSD related at all. It was discovering then, and for all my remaining time on this planet, that nothing is certain and almost anything is possible…even those things we can only imagine that we can’t imagine! Thanks for part of your own story. The inspector talked like Kissinger when he was relaxing (his accent became more pronounced when he relaxed or drank alcohol).
Semper fi,
JIm
What a twisted web you weave, there is always a bit of surprise as the plot continues to develop. All I can say is thank you, for all you did.
Thanks a lot Ed. There’s little question about the fact that I’ve been around the Horn a few times.
How I came to be involved had a to to do with the combat I survived although I was unaware of that for
a long time. Thanks for the compliment.
Semper fi,
Jim
Sometimes life requires us to step off into shark infested waters in order to do what’s right and faith enough to sometimes blur the lines between what’s perceived as right or wrong.
I have encouraged several veterans to jump on this train with you James as a way of applying healing balm to their PTSD.
My wife texts me now when the new chapters break the surface and I can breathe again from the waiting.
Thank you for those blessings James!7
What author would not want to read this comment? Wow. Never expected the plaudits, like your own here but most not at the emotion level you just delivered. Thanks doesn’t quite say what I feel in reading and then rereading what you’ve written and what you not only say but do with my
work. Love it!!!
Semper fi,
Jim
WOW, Jim!
Quite a shift in this chapter in delving into your personal life.
Thanks for feeding the masses of your loyal followers with another chapter.
Our mouths salivate to learn what IS on that last tape.
Wishing you well, Sir.
THE WALTER DUKE.I did not like, and you will not like, what’s on that last tape. This last book of the series will be followed next week by the first chapter of Book IV, as II will be split into two books because it’s too long as one. The CIA connection is also going to venture back into the administration and application of some violence, which wasn’t evident as I tried to leave all that back in the A Shau Valley. Life out here comes at us all, however, and violence is a part of that. Thanks for the usual great comment, my friend,
Semper fi,
Jim
“I did not like, and you will not like, what’s on that last tape.”
Hooked again after that remark & the fate of the artifact concealed in the heating unit. How did you keep it together with the upheaval & uncertainty you were facing?
Phil, have you noticed in our culture that we are all responsible and accountable for everything in our lives yet stuff keeps coming at us that we never asked for, supported, understand, accept, deny, and so much more. I sure as hell never asked for the artifact, nor would have had any idea to ask for or about before receiving it. And just what in hell is one supposed to do with such an object, throw it in the ocean as my wife recommended? We all ‘keep it together’ one day at time, hour by hour, minute by minute, while trying to maneuver to make the best of those things that that simply can befuddled the best and brightest. Fear and worry did not leave me when I came home, the ability to accommodate them did increase dramatically, however.
Thanks for a great caring comment.
Semper fi,
Jim
This chapter has the feel of an end of book chapter. Sure there may be a couple more to set up the next arc, but my minds eye sees you standing at the top of a mountain staring off into the vista of the great unknown.
All I can say is “What a ride!”
Some of the readers on this site, who write comments, like you, are prescient when it comes to being able to predict what’s coming.
This chapter was indeed, the last chapter of what will be Book III, when the manuscript is broken apart to be two books. The
more than a thousand page would be too much for today’s readers to work with. Next week will be the first chapter of the 4th book
in the series. Thanks for figuring that out. You are a very astute reader.
Semper fi,
Jim
Thinking about moving on….everything we did back then was leaving old and heading to new adventures! Everyone our age was and is in the same spot; home town, school, military or some special trading! But most people get settled in and spend the rest of their lives doing career! We however have spent our lives keeping ahead of the boredom! I look forward to learning how Julie & Bozo react to Michael….
Colonel Homan, you give too much away by knowing the name of the new addition to the family before the family member makes an entrance! You are most correct in everything you say in your comment, which isn’t uncommon at all. You are down there headed for Key West and I feel sorry for you because you will be missing our unusual fifty degree days next week. Too bad for you buddy. Thanks for the pithy comment, per usual.
Your friend,
Jim
I found myself reading very slowly, savoring every word. I recalled that day many months ago when I read the first chapter of “30 Days”, and thought of all the events described since then. What a ride!
One cannot help but wonder about how (and if) all the loose ends will ever be tied up.
Thanks Randy, for the great and complimentary comment here. All the loose ends will only come to conclusion over time,
as you hopefully keep on reading. This last chapter was the last chapter of what will be Book III, as its broke off from
II and the fourth is begun. Thanks for wanting to read and know more.
Semper fi,
Jim
So your homologated beach patrol? During your patrol did you ever gavotte?
One of the things that I realized in life is that you know we go through our experiences and all of a sudden we’re 25 ,27,30 and we kind of accept what it happened then we have children and we see them turn 25,30 and their lives are so different than what we went through and I’m very grateful for that. I wouldn’t trade any of the experiences I had until the age I was 25 but I’m sure glad my children didn’t have to go through them.
You are facing the uncertainty in your life at this point with tremendous confidence and you’re going ahead I would’ve been a nervous wreck . I would have asked Richard where is the offer letter? What about benefits?
I would not have handled this cloak and dagger experience well.
So the UFO relic is gone , now what is going to happen to the C4 and diving gear?
If you have any RPG’s in stock I need to fix an “issue”
So well written
Dear Richard, Marine Officer and gentleman of some repute. No, we didn’t dance during beach patrol shifts (gavotte).
No, the artifact is no gone. It’s hidden in the garage so my problems with its revelation are minimized. Early on I ‘made my bones’ with
the agency by never asking for proof of anything. They always came through, although not in ways entirely understandable. They were
extremely dependable, even in getting me into prisons and then back out of them! Benefits were provided, the very best available, through the shell companies I formed, as real field people cannot be carried on regular employment rolls for obvious reasons. My retirement was never discussed until I retired, although it was apparently always there. Expenses, even personal, went on American Express cards and were never questioned unless the expenses involved alcohol, bribery, our things considered outrageous (like paying full boat for a first class air ticket!). You will read some pretty wild expense stories in the coming chapters. Thanks for the great comment, as usual, my friend,
Semper fi,
Jim