The rest of the deployment went fairly smoothly as deployments go. Patrols to keep the Taliban and their fighters away from the cities and key areas. Being cold and uncomfortable in the high mountains of Afghanistan. The occasional brief firefight with fighters, but nothing more than hit and run raids. The Taliban had no intention of standing toe to toe with the Marines.
When they got back to the states, Mike prepared for his separation. He had only the remainder of April, May and two weeks in June prior to his separation. It was no surprise to Mike when both his roommates got engaged to their girlfriends. His only reaction was a mildly snarky. “You got engaged. I’m so surprised.” He of course said this when the perspective brides were not around. After the announcement they had drinks at the ‘O’ club.
What floored Mike was when the battalion CO called him in to tell him that he and Wilson were getting the bronze star and Ramírez the distinguished service medal. The CO then sat him down and said. “Mike, I know we’re not going to keep you. I understand that. You’ve been a damned good officer and have more than carried your load. Wherever you go just remember you are a Marine.”
He was deeply touched by the praise; he knew exactly what the CO meant. When he got his medal, he was both proud and a little embarrassed. So many had risked as much or more than he did without this kind of recognition. On his last day, which was the second Friday in June, he signed his discharge papers and headed over to the ‘O’ club for some farewell drinks. He did promise that he would be back in September for both Steve and Pete’s weddings.
The next morning, he got up and headed out to New Jersey. He wasn’t sure if it was really home, but it was the closest he had. It was a ten hour trip that he made with just a stop at a Mikey D’s for a quarter pounder, a coke and a bathroom break. When he arrived home, he dragged himself into the living room and hugged his parents.
He was getting used to civilian life. The first thing he did was sleep in late, that meant only until 7:30 AM. Then he was up. He went for a five mile run and then came home, got cleaned up and ate a good breakfast. After that he started to review all the journals that he hadn’t had time to read on deployment. He’d kept up his subscriptions and had several sitting around.
He ordered one of the new Kindles from Amazon. It would take PDFs and he could download a number of the journals that he wanted on to it. He also ordered some more academic books. Many were Chemistry or Engineering books. He also added a lot of just leisure reading, plus some books on the outdoors. The bill from loading up the kindle was pretty high, but he had money and wasn’t spending much. The amount of cash that was coming in from the patents was pretty good. That with his savings had him set for a good while.
The next thing he needed to do was to work on his camping equipment. He had plenty of camo from his time in the service. Before he left the service, he made sure to get a couple of more sets of woodland camo utes. On his list were light weight gortex boots, a lighter weight sleeping system, a light weight down camo jacket and a couple of miscellaneous items.
He was able to find a three season super light weight sleeping bag. He added a light weight hammock and rain shelter along with a good bivy sack and pad. The jacket was pretty easy to find. All of these were somewhat expensive, but not having to lug around the extra weight was worth it. He also set up two first aid kits. A simple one that he would take with him into the woods for short hikes and a more complete one for longer treks. The more complete one included a special splint for broken bones, a couple of suture kits, forceps and a scalpel.
That done, he started to concentrate on getting a job with a good research lab. He compiled a list of seven labs he was interested in, this included the one Dave was working in. Then he sat down and wrote letters to all of them. It didn’t take long for him to start receiving phone calls from perspective employers. He even got some from ones he hadn't written to. This included an invitation to meet at Rutgers. They had one of the best ceramic labs in the country. He agreed to drive down to New Brunswick even if it was more politic than anything else because of the help he got from the New Jersey congressional delegation for NROTC.
Three of the labs were out in California near San Francisco. He arranged to fly out there and spend a week talking to people. He also wanted to spend some time in San Francisco itself. That trip proved to be very interesting. One of the labs was small, but he liked the two founders, Dimitri and Ashish. They took him to dinner, and they spent hours talking about what they were doing. This definitely made the short list. One somewhat disconcerting interview was with another lab’s HR person. The guy seemed particularly concerned that he had been in combat. Mike didn't mention killing people. He didn't want the guy to lose it. Apparently, he was worried Mike would snap out and kill people.
After he got back from California, Mike went down the family house at the shore to just hang out for a week or two. While he was there, he just relaxed. Worked on his tan, exercised, fished in the bay and went out at night, a lot of times to the Stony Pony. After about ten days, he was ready to hit the interview trail again.
His next to interviews would be in Pittsburg and Evanston. He was going to drive to them. He left a day early because he wanted to get some shooting in at the range near Harrisburg. So, he packed up his AR-10, Browning and the Glock when he went on his trip.
When he got to the range, he bought 100 rounds each of .308 180 grain SGK, .9MM and .243 Winchester ammunition. That was how he paid for use of the range. He put 30 rounds though the Browning and was pleased that it was still dialed in out to two hundred yards. He started off with the 16” barrel on the AR-10 and put twenty rounds through it. Mike was getting good groups out to five hundred yards. When he switched to the 20” barrel, the range went out to 700 yards and at one thousand yards he still got reasonable groups. The Glock was dialed in as well.
As he was putting things away, he looked around the shop and found a vest that he really liked. It was a molle tactical vest, which meant he could attach and detach what he needed easily. When he went to pay for it the owner looked at it. “This is also a plate holder, we’ve got steel, ceramic and soft plates for it.”
“Why would I want a plate? I’m not going into combat again anytime soon.” Was Mike’s puzzled answer.
“I take it you’re a hunter from what you brought in here to shoot. It used to be that hunting accidents were rare. They happened, but not that often. We’re seeing more close calls out there now. Some of the regulars who come in here have been just missed by eager hunters. In fact, I used to just sell a couple of Kevlar vests. Mostly to the black helicopter crowd and the preppers. Now more hunters are wearing them. “
“You’re shitting me. What about hunter safety courses?”
“Take em, but don’t listen. People are more into going out and exercising their ‘second amendment rights’. They don’t seem to realize that their dealing with a deadly weapon and that other people have rights as well. Especially the right not to get their ass shot by some yahoo with an AR. Another thing to worry about is the Marijuana farmers. They go out into the woods and set up these plots and are pretty diligent about ‘protecting’ them. They can be dangerous too.”
Mike was a bit taken aback by what the owner said. He didn’t think it was bullshit. People may well be getting careless with their shooting. He’d seen some evidence of that down in North Carolina, but not much. Most of the people either grew up with guns and respected them or learned in the military to respect them. But there were jerks in any crowd. Mike started to look seriously at the vests.
He wound up buying the tactical vest he wanted, plus two Kevlar vests one for himself and one for his father. He also got soft inserts for the tactical vest at a discount. The owner let him know that these were all level 3A. Good against pistols and would stop something with under 1400 feet per second velocity – probably.
Mike spent the night at the local Holiday Inn. He ate, cleaned his weapons and put them away. In the morning, he got up and ready for an
interview and drove on to Pittsburg. After Pittsburg he drove up to Evanston for is second interview. Neither of the organizations were what he wanted. Nice people and smart people, but what they were working on was not his thing.
He spent some more time down the shore and set up his trip up to the Boston area. That was fun. He got to see Dave and his wife, Linda. Linda was six months pregnant and Dave was a bit nervous about the whole fatherhood thing. They spent time with old school friends filling each other in on their lives over the last four years. Mike made sure he only told them about the funny stuff he’d gone through. He left out all the blood and guts stuff. They didn’t need to hear it and he wasn’t in a crowd that would understand.
The two labs he went to were both excellent labs doing things Mike was very interested in. In both cases he spent hours talking to the various researchers going over what they were working on and Mike’s background. It was a fun, and stimulating He’d forgotten how much fun his field was, at least to him. These two went on the short list. So, he had three places to choose from. He told them that he would be busy in August and September with personal commitments and that he would let them know well before Thanksgiving. Everybody was fine with that.
Mike went home and talked to his parents about it. They thought that he should take his time making a choice and all so spend a bit more time relaxing. He had plenty of money saved up and more was flowing in from the patents. After talking to them, he decided he would go to Steve and Pete’s weddings down in North Carolina which were three weeks apart. He could bunk at his old place. Then he’d come back up to New Jersey and head out for an eight to ten day backpacking trip into the Adirondacks. By the end of that he should have made up his mind.
Mike headed down to Wilmington for the weddings. Pete was going first and there was a lot of kidding that if Pete didn’t survive, Steve could make a run for it. This of course was never even whispered anywhere near the perspective brides. Mike was going to be both weddings and would be wearing his dress uniform. He checked and the Battalion CO who agreed that it was fine with him. When somebody he was close with tried to call him Lieutenant, he would playfully reply. “It’s Herr Doctor Mulvaney, if you please.”
Both weddings went off without a problem. The brides were ecstatic, and Pete and Steve were both somewhat nervous. Mike told them that if they could survive the Marines, marriage was pretty easy. Key thing - keep your zipper zipped and roll with the punches.
After the wedding Mike headed up to New Jersey to get ready for his backpacking trip. He got together his clothes. Several sets of camo utes, underwear including silk underwear for warmth. Blue jeans and a couple of good chamois shirts were added. Just in case they were needed, a pair of chinos and a dress shirt. Then a pair of trail runners. When he was camping for a couple of days, he could wear those rather than the boots. Both medical kits, to which he added two Israeli Bandages. He remembered what they gun range owner said about druggies. There were about twenty plus pounds of food plus miscellaneous gear. Sleeping kit, personal cleanliness, cooking and tools. He took a KA-Bar knife, a combination hatchet and tomahawk, a boot knife, Leatherman multitool, compass, flashlight, headlamp and some miscellaneous items. All together it weighted a bit more than sixty pounds. This was lighter than he humped around in the Corps.
Mike called his Uncle Sol to let him know that he was on his way. The Kevlar vest and the inserts were in the lock box in his truck. He added his gun case with the AR-10 and Glock. He wanted to get one more round of shooting in before the hike. He could always zero in the .243 in New Jersey. The AR-10 no way. He was half considering taking the Glock with him for druggies.
Mike wanted to spend some time at the range with his AR-10. His plan was to work with both the 16” barrel and the 20” barrel, each with and without the suppressor. First up was the 16” unsuppressed. The targets he concentrated on were from 200 yards to 500 yards. Mike was happy to see that the rifle and scope were still zeroed in. At first, he took measured shots at the targets. The rifle didn’t go off target at all. The he tried to shots in quick succession. Once again dead on. He repeated that with the suppressor. At end of that he felt that the 16” was more than accurate out to 500 yards.
Then he switched barrels to the 20”. This he wanted to try from 500 yards out to 800 yards. The measured shots were fine. The quick two shots also were fine out to 700 yards. At 800 yards, they were problematic. He tried pushing it to 1,000 yards. He could do it, but the shots had to be measured and taken with much more care than at the 500 to 700 yard shots. The suppressor didn’t change anything on 20” barrel. All together he’d spent a several hours at the range and put eighty rounds through each barrel.
The Glock was next and he felt 40 rounds through that were enough. He stopped to talk to the owner again. He found out that some people were making their AR rifles legal by taking off the flash suppressor, changing out the pistol grip and making sure that stock was a fixed stock.
Mike’s reaction was ‘What the hell. The thing still shoots over thirty rounds in a few seconds. What does that do to it.”
The owner replied. “I can’t help it if the people writing the laws know shit about guns. Seems stupid to me, but it’s starting to happen, especially in New York and New Jersey. Hell, I can make that fancy AR-10 you have legal in both states in under a day.”
Mike said he’d think about. On the way out the owner talked him in to buying 500 rounds of 180 grain SGK in .308. As he was leaving Mike thought the guy was a great salesman. Why he bought the 500 rounds he really couldn’t understand.
That night at the Holiday Inn, he cleaned his weapons and put the bullets into plastic boxes that held a hundred rounds each. He was pretty surprised at the amount of ammunition he had. After a night at the Holiday Inn, he headed up to Lake George.
The Grand Tour
King Fredricke convened the planning meeting for the Grand Tour. Every two years the royal family made a tour that touched all the major cities and many of the smaller towns and hamlets in the kingdom. For the last ten years, the crown prince, Randall and his family had made the tour. This year it would be no different. At the meeting was Fredricke and his two wives, Randall and his wives, the chancellor, the foreign minister and three children of Dr. Jorgenson. These were Mary, who was the chief medical officer of the kingdom, Morton, the chief engineer and science advisor and Joanne, who along with her brother ran the agriculture research center.
Fredricke started the meeting. “The route will be north along the Coast Road to Randport. That will take some seven days stopping at each of the way stations and towns along the way. Countess Sophia, and her family seem to do be doing well since she took over from her father. Randall, she has talked about doing works on the docks and expanding the fishing. Please be sure to review all of this and send a preliminary report back to Baron Morton.” Randall made the note and agreed. The king continued. “Morton based on what the crown prince finds you may need to go up there and assist in the planning. Sophia is smart and wouldn’t suggest something she hadn’t thought out and gotten the concurrence of her advisors.”
Morton spoke up. “It may be best if I accompany the crown prince at least as far as Randport. That will give me a better idea of what needs to be done as well as what is feasible.”
“Excellent idea Baron Morton. This will assure the duchess realizes we are listening and taking her concerns seriously. Well that’s one more carriage at least to Randport.” The king smiled and then looked down at his notes and paused for a few minutes.
He then resumed. “The next stop is Centralia. Duke Marvon is a good administrator and his wives are a big help. The problem is succession. He’s eighty years old and he hasn’t produced and heir yet. I’m concerned that if he dies without a suitable heir, that there will be trouble. This is the major trade hub for all the cities in the kingdom, so it is a rich prize. The other nobles will all vie for the title and that can get bloody. Nothing large scale, but murders and feuds that will last for decades.
Baroness Mary can you throw any light on this?”
Mary looked up. “Yes, your majesty I can. This has been a known issue for some time. My father personally examined him and had a sample of sperm taken. The problem is that the number of sperm he has is low and not very vigorous. Given the low fertility in general, he didn’t see any medical resolution to the problem. Now given the duke and his wives ages, it is a moot point.”
“Thank you” said the king. “Let’s move on to Westland. Duchess Morinia has that well in hand. I trust that it will be easy. The key here are the herds. Randall be sure to discuss any of the new breeds being introduced.” The king turned to Joanne. “Baroness Joanne do you have anything to add?”
“Not much” she answered. “The prince has all the details on what we are developing, and the new cattle breed we have. We’d like any feedback that we can get. That said, the bison and caribou are the best animals the further we go north. Of course, the bison are simply not amenable to domestication and the Caribou are somewhat better. If anyone can identify new areas for either crops or animals, we would be interested in exploring all the options.”
Randall laughed. “Yes, I can just see some poor soul trying to domesticate a bison.”
The group enjoyed a good chuckle at the mental picture. Then the king brought the meeting back to the topic at hand. “Then it’s on to Great Falls and your sister. You should arrive there after the spring floods have reached their peak. I’m sure that you and the family will have enjoyable visit. I’m a bit concerned about brigands between there and Midport and Midport and here. Chancellor, will you alert both my daughter and Duke Edwin at Midport to increase the patrols and look out for any brigands.”
The Chancellor was somewhat taken aback. “You have some information I don’t have on threats from Brigands your majesty? The last band were either scattered or killed. The band under Bart the Red are operating in the south western part of Landia and I don’t see them coming east anytime soon. The band that was raiding in Tandor has been further west as well.”
Through the Gate: The Chronicles of Cornu Book 1 Page 33