Stories from my past and hope for an American future

Stories from my past and hope for an American future

For the record, I am age 66.

The first time I got shot at was in the Philippines.  It was banditos shooting at us, and when I heard the crack of a bullet going by my head, I remember asking the gunny (who was nearby and a former surfer from Southern California)  if that was what I thought it was. He said yes, and then all we could do was shoot back with blank rounds, which worked OK in this case. After that we carried regular ammo.

When I joined the Marines (around 4 decades ago), we had terrible racial problems. Even some units took away e-tools from Marines who had sharpened them up into swords for wacking up fellow Marines. Well one morning I had mess hall Officer of the Day duties, and black Marines were dapping and cutting in line. Well I ordered them back, like just get in line. When they responded in a negative way, all I did was draw my pistol and lock and load.....and they respectfully just got back in line like everyone else. I was willing to shoot somebody if need be. Fortunately, common sense predominated.  After all, we all wanted to eat breakfast as a priority.

I once came home with my date in Atlanta, Georgia. In hindsight we were both drunk. It was around midnight. Well a couple came up to us suffering from a bad trip incurred by buying some bad LSD on 14th Street in Atlanta. So we called the doc, and the police came. That's the way it was in Atlanta back then.  I always remember my reaction when I was told that I looked like a purple pig.  That hurt my feelings and changed my view about unsafe drugs right then and there. Later her roommate (a girl) came home and I reported I had raped her roommate. She believed it, and it all sorted out in the end.  The couple on the bad trip ended up getting hauled off to Grady Hospital. After that, I do not know what happened to them.

During first grade I lived at Pearl Harbor Naval Base, and we had a "popsicle man" who drove through the neighborhood delivering  the wares. Recently during some hospital time, I got to revive the popsicle habit.  I liked it. It made me remember, too.

Last, I also remember mostly reading about  America's delving into drug use in the past, like with cocaine and marijuana.  So here we go again, it seems.  At least it can be a self-correcting problem, so to speak from my point of view.

America can do better than that today, and so I hope for our Country's future.