All Comments on 'Chapter 02: 21 Days and a Wakeup'

The old Dear John letter to Steve. Many of us have been there and done that. What happened to separation makes the heart fonder. Nicely written story. Thanks for sharing.

as always. Kinda sad for him, but shit happens. He volunteered for the marines w/o asking her opinion, she said from the get go that she wasn't thrilled about waiting. It was obvious it was coming. Looking forward to the next chapter. Hopefully he can replace her with someone younger hotter and more loyal.

This is some of your best work. Obviously, I'm anxious to see where this is going, but it is a very enjoyable trip getting there. You know when you look for a new chapter first every time you sign on, it is because you are really getting into the story. I wish I had the patience to wait for the whole thing to be done before starting it, but I don't. Keep up the good work.

Thanks, Tim

very well written. so far, your best. thanks.

Man, this is bringing back memories of a lot of guys I knew. Well, written.

Well written and on the money, Nam was a bitch and changed everyone that it touched, yet the wars keep on coming. What he doesn't understand is you get more than one chance at love, can't wait to read the rest, thanks.

Dear Steve, is really much better than what happened with Lassiter. The paper work never ends in any government office... Thanks for bringing these experiences into focus. I never was very enthusiastic about his lady!

A sombre story indeed. Keep going. I am looking forward to your next chapter.

many good to excellent stories. When one reads a chapter to a story and - then- he/she cannot wait for the next chapter to appear posted, it's a pretty good indication the story was a success with the reader(s). I wonder where the author is going to take this story? RAG

cant wait to see where it goes from here.

....guess it's close to home.

Pretty good story, although the statement "Luckily it was nothing like the Tet of 1968 when we got our butts kicked" is misleading. The communists lost the Tet offensive in every sense, on the battlefield. Check out "Tet offensive", under wikipedia.com, if you don't believe me. The communists failed to achieve their objectives, and had far more casualties. Don't get me wrong; I'm not suggesting US involvment in Vietnam was wise, or good, or that we "won" anything. I'm just saying that you shouldn't imply that US forces "lost" that specific battle. But thanks for posting.

No such thing as a US sixty cal machine gun. We do have an M-60 machine gun. Nor do I remember anything refered to as the hut area. Details. anon jerry

Slirpy, it has the "feel". Thanks for an honest story.

Unless things changed considerably from 1961 to your boot camp 10 plus years later, you missed one key point. One of the most important things that took place at Paris Island (no "Hollywood" Marine here) was to apply unrelenting pressure to recruits to see if they could literally and figuratively be driven insane. If you survived boot camp, then you would probably not go bonkers out in the field -- a key part of "Esprit de Corp".

Your stories have gotten better, but your editors still miss too many spelling errors (and/or the incorrect word).

Ted

This is an erotic site. Why d'you come here with your sick tales of tetesterone- fuelled zombies beating the shit out of each other. you need rehab.

Stick to your gay stories and you will be fine, I kept looking for more on this story, is it done?

Either you were there or very close to some one that was!!! A lot of the people have not a clue as to the shit hole you were in.... Keep it going

Hey moron, there are a number of categories on this site, one of which is "non-erotic." Now for those of us with a reading comprehension greater than a first grader, that description probably means the story isn't a stroke story. Rather than demonstrate how far down on the left side of the bell curve you are by complain about a "non-erotic" story not having sex, why don't you go find something else on this site you do like?

Meanwhile, those of us who do have some reading comprehension and do enjoy a story with a plot are looking forward to the next chapter.

....why you illin on WTF? Not like you to censor. I hate it when I miss a trigger.

for me. Been there, done that, got the fucking T-shirt.

Story is well written and I'm enjoying it. Hard to wait for the next chapter.

As one of the other comments said, either you were there or are close to someone that was.

Hope Steve gets a little payback and finds someone who deserves him.

Thanks for you hard work. Hope to see the next chapter very soon.

While I did not serve (I have Cerebral Palsy, not eligible to serve), I knew plenty who did. I would love to see of this story.

Hi SP,

Just wondering if you are ever going to finish this story?

This is very well written ... thanks!

hell of a wake up. TK U MLJ LV NV

Almost perfect description of day to day life when flying in to Danang and getting used to the humidity. Chulai just as bad up the coast where I was. Picked up a wart in Bangkok myself on R & R. Didn't change much from my experience in 66 and 67! We still had the M-14s though. Continually rusting overnight from the humidity. Thanks for the memories. I wish I had gotten a Dear John...The one I left behind and returned to made my life miserable for years before I divorced her. Go figure....!

OldMarineVet...

I can't begin to describe my feelings. I too lost my love while in that mess, and I won't even try to explain my thoughts about that. But perhaps that was your intention, and maybe your feelings as well. The only finality for us was what happened. Semper Fi.

I too spent my time only in the USAF flying C-130 slicks. You have to have been there as you have nailed this story. Thank you for your service and stories.

I've heard that about the UH-1 series based on configuration but never heard a Herk called that. I've heard some erroneously called Puff before but never Slick. I've ridden in slicks even rappelled and jumped from a few. Heck I even test jumped the two SOTAS contenders during their mid-70s jump trials. I was glad what became known as the UH-60 won out as I hated having to "scoot" into the doorway following the jump command since that other models door could only hold 4 abreast and not 5 as the 60 and UH-1D/H did. And yes, I have dozens of C-130 "slick" jumps as well. From the initial six at Friar Field to the jungle clearings of Panama. Still can't say I ever heard of one called a Slick. But who knows.

Slirpuff, thank you for sharing. I've long forgotten just how many times I've spent at 21 days and a wake-up. I've read all your stories before and I am affected the same way as the first time. Please keep up the great work. Perhaps in a few years I'll start sharing some of my own.

that scenario happened more often than not, usually with the same results, TK U MLJ LV NV

I hate to interfere with a pretty good story, and I've heard the same mistake made by soldiers, so don't feel alone with it. However. There is no 60 cal machine gun. Technically, it's a 7.62mm NATO M60 air cooled belt fed light machine gun. And at 500 meters or less the M16 is MORE accurate than the M14, although the truth is that marksmanship is in the man behind the weapon, not the weapon itself.

Just saying. It irritates me to hear people identify weapons incorrectly. Sorry to intrude that into a really good tale.

Brendan (1SG, ret.)

i realy can understand how some woman nuckel under from the presure with a man in the army but what i i dont get is how a ather man could go after such a woman while he knows her man is fighting for him its just not done in my book and no matter what i think he atleast deserves to get his ass kicked serverly

“Hell, I could be sitting in my own kitchen having breakfast in eleven hours.” – 11 hours? I thought he had 21 days?

“rice patties” – It’s rice PADDIES!

“eye of a knat” – It’s GNAT.

You repeatedly use “use to” where you should be using “used to”. Here is a link explaining the usage http://www.grammar.cl/rules/used-to-use-to.htm

“Luckily for the guard he didn't cut the jugular and put two slugs in Robert.” – “he didn’t cut the jugular and THE GUARD put two slugs”.

Thanks for your service.. Army 70-91. I can tell u were there.

I liked it but there were a few glaring errors. First, every Marine in Vietnam knew there ain't no such animal as a "sixty caliber" machine gun. Second, I did two tours

in the Nam and never ever saw or even heard of ANY Marine asking for a transfer. I know the NCO's and officers in my units would have laughed their asses off at such a request. Maybe that happened in the REMF units, but not in the rifle companies.

But it is fiction, and I liked it spite of a few perceived errors.

There

They over ran places but we took back and their casualties were high

But they won on published accounts as Ho Chi Minh always said

Better nasty war

Gunships had crew chief and gunner only as crew

"sixty-caliber machine gun" never happened. Coulda been a .50 cal Ma Deuce, or an M60 7.62 mm. No "sixty-caliber machine gun"-ever.

Takes a cheating asshole out at 500 yards!!!

You wrote:

"There were seventy of us that flew into Da Nang airport that morning. Twenty-two Marines, Forty Army and eighteen Air Force cadets"

In my book, 22+40+18=80

Otherwise, great story.

"navel port" as in belly button port?

Eighty flew into Da Nang,not seventy.