I left the Seven Dwarfs at the restaurant, wondering if a group having so much fun forming up to play private investigators, could possibly be at all effective. Gularte drove, while I prepared myself for the coming meeting. I had little doubt that Haldeman was going to be in some sort of rage over my conduct. I’d been foolish to think that my showing up a mile from the compound, playing as a representative of the base commander at Camp Pendleton, wasn’t going to reach his ears. I also knew it should not have mattered at all to him, so why was it very likely that it did?
I thought about my responsibility as the beach patrol commander. I would send Gularte back from dropping me off at my Cabrillo apartment to pick up Steed to be his partner for the shift, replacing me in that role. Neither Herberich nor Steed were suited up for beach patrol work, however, so I instructed him to take Steed home to get into uniform.
Damn ! The gut punch that your wife threw with her quote ” She is your friend , I am your friend . We are your friends , Living that is . ” All I can say is Wow ! Then the hit to the jaw by your Chief . What a chapter is all I can say .
Thanks Chuck, I much appreciate the insight…as I didn’t really think about the depth of her comment until you wrote your words about it.
Back then, it was simply the way it was. I’d lost so many and time had not passed to flow over those losses or lessen the depth of my grief.
Semper fi, my friend,
Jim
Wow James! I feel like you’re in a “fun” house at an amusement park where you’re presented with several doors each offering a different opportunity and experience! Great writing as usual! I’m all in! Thanks for continuing your great work! Semper Fi my friend!
Jack, it’s good to read your stuff here and your are so cmmplimentary and kind. Thanks for being so immersed in the work
and also so damned complimentary. I am half way through the next chapter and now, because of you and ‘the guys’ I have to
get back to it and finish before Saturday…
Semper fi, and thank you,
Jim
Well now, things are really a foot!! How do you tell the players without a play bill, had to reread to soak it all it all in and still not sure which way it is going. Awesome read Sir. Keep up the great writing and help us figure this all out. Semper fi LT!!
Thanks Bob, for the great compliment. My new regularity is almost totally due to the audience response as writing is such a lonely business.
Every morning I arise to read comments like your own that simply demand that I answer them personally. What if I was to become a big star
and woke up to look at a thousand comments. Heartwarming? Or frustrating? I’m pretty sure frustrating would more fit, as I do like
being so personally involved with thise who are enjoying this rather different adventure.
Thank you!
Semper fi,
Jim
Once again you make the reader feel; your Haldeman dialogue reminds me our superiors really know more than we think
and this incident is long before cell phone cameras
Mary is teaching you how to read people, how to think before you speak and to measure your words
and ot to trust everyone- which I learned in civilian life with great pain Marines learn to trust those around them
the real world doesn’t operate that way
I am struck that Mary snd Lori respectively taught/teach us how to interact with humans or even degenerates like the Haldeman’s of life
perhaps the taught this at IHM?
I remember situation 20 some odd years ago when my mother was in the hospital and I read the nurse, the riot act for a misdeed and when Lori and I got in the car to come home I said OK go ahead and tell me how wrong I am, she said very kindly, and then a little soft voice like she was talking to a toddler I don’t think you’re ever going to learn that your behavior is so over the top that it becomes the issue and not the situation, which you were completely correct about. I heard that comment have never forgotten it and I have been a much better person for it. Thanks Jim for sharing a great piece of writing.
Rich, you are an astute and penetrating man with an intellect that seems way beyond “Marine Corps tough,’ and more. Yes, my wife’s ability to read people is and was uncanny. I never have truly learned how to be that way. It’s talent, like calling artillery to use a bad example. I too am so many times over the top that I end up unwittingly making the issue about me instead of the issue. Maybe that’s why God sent us the women He did.
Love you brother,
Semper fi,
Jim
First, Thank you for your service, Lt..
I’ve been reading your work since the got-go of “30 Days…”, seems like a couple years!
Never disappointed, always a good read. Like another tune from the 60’s, ‘ you keep me hangin’ on’
Keep up the good work, great work!
Samper Fi, if that’s acceptable from an old Swabby, USN 74-78
Looking forward to the next chapter…
Always loved the Navy D.W. and still do. Thanks for the compliment and I am hard at it on the next chapter
which I should have up by Sunday morning, God willing, the creed don’t rise and Chuck is expedient.
Thanks so much for helping me keep on going.
Semper fi
Jim
Interesting very interesting!!! Give em hell Jim.
Thank you Harold. Give them hell, which is an oblique compliment if there ever was one!
Appreciate the support and the encouragement.
Semper fi,
Jim
Awesome as always, Sir! You are helping me understand what I would have experienced while I was in Marine ROTC at Iowa State University in 1969-1971. We were in the Platoon Leaders Program.
As fate would have it, I received my draft notice on January 4, 1971. So school was over and I became an Army man. I ended up spending 2 years in Panama with a small Mil. Intel. Gp.
I also became a Christ follower during this time.
Steve,thank you for identifying with my work.I am happy that life changed at that critical time and what you learned
and your ability to stay alive because of it and in one piece was a gift from God. The God you now follow because
of your learned experiences…and life’s unanswerable questions.
Thank you for the introspective and revealing comment…and the inherent compliment it contains.
Semper fi,
Jim
Getting deeper and deeper, Jim. And drawing the reader in like a fly to the honey. Really loving your writings.
Dan is sure a pro at editing. Always great clarity.
Another comment about DanC, and I’m loving it. He’s mostly unheralded…and I publish his corrections and assistance so that everyone
on here will see that he’s making a great contribution. I’m sure he reads these comments and feels the same way that I do.
Semper fi, and thanks so much…
Jim
Well LT. it seems you just cannot stay out of the strange limelight, and screaming danger an lack of who is on your side !! Sitting on the edge of my seat waiting to see what deep hole you fall into next ! VN didn’t kill you , you got this, go gettem !
Thanks Don, appreciate your deep interest and the constant following of my writing of the chapters.
Your kind of personal support and motivation reaches me and affects me deeply.
Most Sincerely,
and Semper fi,
Jim
You have a gift for superb story telling James. Don’t stop now!
I am on it Chuck, rolling out a chapter a week, spurred on by the men and women on here who
motivate, push, beg and shove for me to continue. A grand compliment.
Thank you so much,
Semper fi,
Jim
Go get ’em, Junior!
Chris, well, Junior is always down there, back then and now…and resorting to allowing that creature to rise from the deep locker I keep him
in isn’t something, and wasn’t, that I could consider. Insane or ununderstandable behavior should never be met with brutal violent force.
Just doesn’t work very well in the short run and then ruins sleep forever.
Thanks for the short but meaningful comment.
Semper fi,
Jim
Oh, what a tangled web we weave…
Indeed, Michael, the web, which I did not see as a web at the time, was made of steel tendrils
sometimes as short ps the edge of a razorblade.
Thanks for the great short comment.
Semper fi,
Jim
Welcome home Lieutenant!
Vietnam Veterans Day 3-29-2023.
50 years from the end of the war we still carry in our hearts…
Thanks for your service.
Thanks Tony, means a lot to be in the land of the living and being able to actively do what I do these days.
The USA sent me and then spent a lot of time and money putting Humpty Dumpty back together again.
Appreciate the thanks and the thought behind it.
Semper fi,
Jim
When Haldeman turned on the radio – “It was ‘Fortunate Son’ by Creedence. The song didn’t take me back to Vietnam but I remembered it well from my hospital days and nights. I waited in silence for what must be coming, the song gently belting out it’s lyrics: “You know that it would be untrue…You know that I would be a liar…” The lyrics you quote are from The Doors song “Light My Fire” and are not from “Fortunate Son”. I recommend you either correct the song title or quote lyrics from the CCR song as needed for the narrative.
Thanks Jerry. Corrected,
Appreciate your sharp eye.
Wow! I feel like I was there with you.
Thanks for that great compliment Ted, as any author would love to read those words.
I am working away at justifying the faith and confidence you and others on here have placed in me.
Semper fi,
Jim
Hanging up the uniform for the last time is one of the hardest things one will ever do. It is like saying a final goodbye to your best friend. That Uniform was you, your life, your soul, your being. Without it, you feel you are less than nothing. It’s day one at BootCamp all over again. Welcome to the new world, Civilian.
That was a tough conversion at the time. That I would re-enter the Corps later on several more
times (the CIA believed being a Marine was a great cover to travel internationally) was a bunch of short term
treats. Thanks for the meaningful and shared emotions both of us went through.
Semper fi,
Jim
James, This chapter stirs so many emotions: love of family, the bond of friendship, respect of superior officers, etc.
Nicolas may have purchased the Mercedes in Germany tax free through the Canadian PX. He also may have inherited some money. We shall see if any of that is pertinent.
The line “As my fear of being fired went down my anxiety over what they might want me to do rose to replace it.” is classic. I laughed out loud.
Some minor editing suggestions follow:
she was teenager with all the problematic emotions
Add “a” before “teenager”
she was a teenager with all the problematic emotions
‘land of the round eyes.’
aka The land of the Big PX
aka The land of Magic Toilets
my wife said, this time emotion effecting her delivery
Think “affecting” rather than “effecting”
my wife said, this time emotion affecting her delivery
Pat is an even greater woman. These are my friends
Maybe “They” instead of “These”
Pat is an even greater woman. They are my friends
I was nobody, and nobody’s don’t talk, they listen
“nobody’s” is plural not possessive – “nobodies”
I was nobody, and nobodies don’t talk, they listen
giant castle door’s I imagined that might lead into Dracula’s castle
“door’s” is plural not possessive – doors
giant castle doors I imagined that might lead into Dracula’s castle
You know that it would be untrue…You know that I would be a liar…”
Is from the song Light My Fire by The Doors
NOT Fortunate Son by Creedence Clearwater Revival
The liquid wasn’t black or deep brown, it was faintly yellow Apparently
Two sentences. Capitalize and punctuate.
The liquid wasn’t black or deep brown. It was faintly yellow. Apparently
The woman left, Nobody asked me
Period instead of comma
The woman left. Nobody asked me
comment being stated by someone known to be such a brilliant must have shown
Several thoughts:
Add “mind” behind “brilliant” & “have” instead of “be”
comment being stated by someone known to have such a brilliant mind must have shown
OR substitute “so” instead of “such a”
comment being stated by someone known to be so brilliant must have shown
Marine mess or officer’s club
I’ve seen officers club OR officers’ club
Marine mess or officers club
Make the Chief feel better, keep up your impotent investigation, find nothing of substance of course, and then report
Lists like this are better delineated by semicolons
Make the Chief feel better; keep up your impotent investigation; find nothing of substance of course; and then report
report to Mardian when gets back
Add “he” before “gets”
report to Mardian when he gets back
unable to remain silent, the three Marines
Two sentences. Period instead of comma. Capitalize “The”
unable to remain silent. The three Marines
but I didn’t like the feel of being paid off
Maybe “feeling” instead of “feel”
but I didn’t like the feeling of being paid off
I didn’t want the word ‘this,’ whatever it was
Maybe expand “this” to “this sort of thing” – ties together earlier sentence about Mardian and following sentence about Mardian.
Substitute “expression” for “word”
I didn’t want the expression ‘this sort of thing,’ whatever it was
wife would approve of me going ‘off script.”
Single quote mark at end of sentence.
wife would approve of me going ‘off script.’
but there had to be reasons for what everyone was doing for such seemingly great people, like the Chief and her, to be doing them.
Sorta redundant. Maybe rephrase:
but there had to be reasons why such seemingly great people like the Chief and her were doing them.
What was a Marine sergeant doing driving that kind of expensive car, even if it wasn’t his own.
“even if it wasn’t his own. Seems extra.
What was a Marine sergeant doing driving that kind of expensive car?
HE wanted to know what kind of Fed you are
“HE” lower case “e”
He wanted to know what kind of Fed you are
What could tell I him that would be meaningful?
“tell” and “I” transposed.
What could I tell him that would be meaningful?
if she was filling him in on everything the Dwarf’s did
“Dwarfs” rather than “Dwarf’s”
if she was filling him in on everything the Dwarfs did
It was as if I was doing same thing all over again
Add “the” before “same”
It was as if I was doing the same thing all over again
and you have a command, of sorts.
Close quotes
and you have a command, of sorts.”
Blessings & Be Well
WOW, Thanks again Dan.
Does it seem like it is getting better.
Two of us go over these several times.
Maybe it is ‘old age’?
Semper fi,
Jim
DanC is a treasure trove of editorial input. We appreciate you keeping the chapters rolling along in such a timely manner, Jim. Guys like DanC shows his by giving such helpful critiques. What a win win for all of us Cowardly Lions readers.
All the best,
Christopher
Thanks so much, as DanC’s work is so quietly accepted by all of us and he needs some sort of reward other than my glowing thanks.
He’s ‘weathered in’ to my style and storytelling and I am so fortunate that he found me. Thanks for looking in from the outside, so to speak and
thanking him as a reader of some interest.
Semper fi,
Jim
James, Not old age. Just that folks are wired differently with varied skills. You do the heavy lifting remembering the story and presenting it in a compelling manner. Chuck puts it up on the Internet. Others post wonderful, heartfelt comments. I have an eye for detail.
Credit the Dominican nuns plus a Jesuit high school to teach sentence structure and grammar. Add a life of technical work where instructions must be unambiguous; but the documentation is not necessarily so – and one learns to read closely. I welcome the editorial comments of others – particularly in reference to popular culture such as movies. There I’m clueless. Folks do catch things I miss. Let’s all work together.
DanC, the Dominicans. It was the Maryknoll nuns for me and then the Dominicans in Duluth when dad got transferred. I though the Maryknoll
habits were wild until I was presented with the Dominicans of the time. What time and effort they put in doing their habits or costumes as we called
them as students of the time. Your “eye for detail” means everything to this effort or the stories would be so broken up and muted.
Thank you, of course and I am glad that others have come aboard to thank you, as well.
Semper fi, my friend,
Jim