Getting to Russia was not as easy as I would have thought, considering that I had U.S. Embassy sponsorship. I started coordinating with the ACIU in December of 1998 while still in Korea. My life took on new meaning and focus and I was determined to do well in my upcoming job. Chief of the […]
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An assignment to Russia
How did I get my assignment to Russia? If I said “Because I didn’t ask for it?” would that make sense? I had been in my job as the G-2, the senior Intelligence Officer, for Marine Forces Korea for only a few months, but it was time to start asking about a new job because […]
Eat ‘til your tired. Sleep ‘til your hungry.
The old adage of a Marine aboard ship… There we were, forward deployed, ready to meet Saddam’s forces. OK – the year was 1993 and we were there to demonstrate U.S. and coalition resolve that Kuwait would not be vulnerable again. This meant military exercises, running around the desert, and mostly for me, providing […]
The ritual of sharing coffee or, know the host culture before you step on your crank – more from my unpublished memoirs
On the same trip to Abu Dhabi, we met with the senior leadership from the UAE’s military. We were briefed in the van on the trip through the city to the military headquarters. Everyone in line from most senior to most junior. It was cool. I was the second most junior.We filed off the van […]
Shawarma for lunch
I went on a trip to the UAE for an intelligence exchange conference. Per diem was a cool $105 a day. There was no way I was going to spend that amount unless I ate in high-end restaurants. That wasn’t me – food could be had on the cheap. The first day, I strolled down […]
Dinsmere (name changed to protect the innocent)
Dinsmere was a Lance Corporal, having been promoted back after getting busted to PFC. He was a great Intelligence Marine, but not a Marine’s Marine. We were on an exercise and had the opportunity to find and explore a MAZ-543 with a Scud missile. The MAZ was a massive eight-wheeled missile transporter with a small […]
A dog named Notso
The XO of Marine Aircraft Group 11 had a bulldog named Notso. His last name was Bright. One year for the Marine Corps Ball, one of our august officers volunteered for duty the day of the Ball so that he would not have to attend. The Commanding Officer took exception to this and looked for […]
Once More On Board (Bored) Ship
Ship life for officers is little better than that for enlisted folks, except for one major exception. Chow in the wardroom is unlimited and eating on the mess deck is an exercise in finding the right (any) nutrition and quantity. I was now a lofty First Lieutenant and the S-2 of the Marine Aircraft Wing, […]
The Old Guard New Lieutenants
New lieutenants don’t think like you or me. I was an old Lieutenant – crusty with eight years of service and five promotions already under my belt. I was on the career home stretch. I had company, too. One of my fellow MECEP’ers, Andre Leblanc was what I call the ultimate Marine. He had come […]
The Tank
Is there anything under a tank that one needs to see? Part of training new lieutenants is to have them crawl under a running tank. I am sure this is important to build self confidence and show that it can be done. Our day came during training. I happened to be the acting Company Commander […]
Training to be a USMC Officer, The Basic School (TBS, also called The Ball Slap)
Training to be an officer in the Marine Corps is interesting and the epitome of diversity. All the differing backgrounds and bases of knowledge had to be molded so that every new lieutenant had a basic skill set to enable him (I say him because my company was an all-male company through training) to be […]
Bored Marines
One never wants one’s Marines to be bored. While with the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit cruising through the Mediterranean, we were scheduled for an exercise at a training area in northern Italy called Monte Romano. As an intelligence collection and signals exploitation unit, we didn’t operate with the main body. We supported the warfighters by […]
Dumping the Trash
My deployment as part of the 26 Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) provided rich fodder for stories. Extended periods on board a ship tends not to bring out the best in Marines, even when they are able to get ashore. Here’s a picture of that hog – long since decommissioned. As we transited across the Atlantic […]
Falling Gaijins
James Roddy and I took a day trip from Misawa to Towada-Ko, old Towada where there is a lake in the mouth of an ancient crater. This is a tourist spot for the Japanese, but not a place where many Americans go. It was really beautiful when we went – the leaves were starting to […]
When you’re not an alcoholic but the leadership is convinced you are.
Japan was an interesting place for me. Too bad I was too young (early 20’s) to enjoy it properly as testosterone and hormones made me waste much time in unhealthy pursuits:). A friend of mine, a Petty Officer 2nd Class in the Navy was arrested one evening for “disrespect to an Airman.” He was drunk […]
My Memoirs – USAFA
USAFA I won’t tell too many stories about the Air Force Academy. I didn’t like it there and I wasn’t there for myself, so without the internal motivation, I was not going to be successful. I went from being a Cadet in the class of ’85 to a Private in the Marines. However, it was […]
Outland and Sean Connery
I’m sorry to see the passing of Sean Connery. He wasn’t my James Bond since I didn’t start watching them until Roger Moore. I saw the reruns with Sean Connery and was already ruined at that point. But I remember him in Outland, too. This movie received little acclaim, probably because the tropes were recycled […]
The passing of another SF author
2020 can suck it. I’m staying out of the political firefights – no one wins in those. The end of the US election process can’t come soon enough and yes Facebook, by all that’s holy, I am going to vote. Stop sending me notices even though I opted out of them on the settings page. […]
Escaping into a good book because the real world sucks
I can’t do anything about COVID-19, but I can do something about books to read:) This isn’t a shameless plug, unless you don’t read, then I encourage you to get lost in a good book, any book. You can get a lot of entertainment at low to no cost. There is no more fertile world […]
My take on the great TP run of 2020
My take on the great toilet paper run of 2020. I have twenty years in military intelligence followed by a career in business consulting (admittedly, as a lawyer) where I worked with human behaviors mainly, followed by a career as an author where I’ve published some 24 books in the post-apocalyptic genre. The bottom is […]
On TV in Alaska
I was recently interviewed by KTVF-11 in Fairbanks. We talked for nearly an hour, mostly about the craft and discipline of writing, but all of that conversation hit the cutting room floor. The business side of being a self-published author made for the most compelling minute and a half. I’m happy to see that they […]
Free Audiobook: The Green Door of Fate by Craig Martelle
Would you like a free audiobook? An hour and a half future award-winning story, read by Chris Abernathy. All you have to do is sign up to my newsletter list (you can unsubscribe at any time, but that seems inconceivable because this is me and you’ll get notified about my new book releases).The Green Door […]
New Story: Information War
A new short that is available now. It was in The Expanding Universe but that anthology has been unpublished, and this short story is now available separately. Information War The first casualty of war is the truth. Expect the same thing when it comes to meeting the first aliens. How will people respond? Power, opportunity, […]
Emotional Support
We all get down. We all have successes, no matter how small. Finished that first chapter? That’s a win if it’s something you’ve never done before. Stuck halfway through your book? We’ve had that, too. Lamentations are sometimes good for the soul as long as it doesn’t become the story of your life. Find what’s […]