Birthday of the Marine Corps

On November 10, 1775, the Second Continental Congress authorized the creation of the U. S. Marine Corps. Two battalions were eventually raised from young men recruited from places like Philadelphia's Tun Tavern, the very first recruiting location of the Corps.

Hence, on November 10, 2012, the Marine Corps celebrates its 237th birthday.

Those Members of Congress could have little imagined what they were authorizing in 1775, apart from an immediate need to turn back the British Redcoats by force of arms during the American Revolution. No small concern, that. But they couldn't have foreseen the growth of the Corps over the coming years, and the expanding role Marines would assume in the defense of the nation. They knew only that the risks were great, the stakes extraordinarily high, and the plight of the fledgling country growing more desperate by the day. They needed men who would fight with tenacity and skill, who would stand their ground and man their posts even when all seemed lost, and in so doing honor and inspire the young nation with their examples of courage and commitment. What they needed were Marines.

And that's exactly what they got.

Those Members of Congress in 1775 put into play a military force that, almost a century later, would earn additional battle streamers during the Civil War. A half-century after Appomattox, a larger, harder-hitting force of Marines would take to the field in Europe during World War I and become known as "Devil Dogs" by incredulous Germans who could only slow, but not stop, their repeated, aggressive assaults. In World War II, Marines would fight a bloody, relentless, island-by-island campaign that would soon thereafter become the stuff of legends. The Korean War was likewise bloody, with the Pusan landing and the Chosin Reservoir adding to an already illustrious history. The Vietnam War would produce more Marine Corps casualties than did World War II, with places like Khe Sanh and Hue becoming famous for Marine resolve and bravery.

More recently, Marines have seen action in Kuwait and Iraq, and today remain in harm's way in Afghanistan. The young men and women who have worn the Eagle, Globe, and Anchor during the War on Terror have honored the county with their service, as Marines always have, for what is now 237 years.

Those patriots who were Members of Congress created things that would endure, like the Declaration of Independence and the Articles of Confederation. And, thankfully, a Marine Corps to ensure their continuity.

Happy birthday, Marines.

Semper Fi.

Dare Not Blink - Chapter One

This is a sneak peek at Chapter One of my new novel "Dare Not Blink" which is currently scheduled for a November release.

CHAPTER ONE
The office door was closed, hinting that something was stirring, something big and essential and not widely known—something only for those privileged few who were deemed worthy to hear in advance.

"The Old Man’s got cancer, and it’s spreading out of control."

Jeff Wylie, president of Atlanta-based Elerbee Engineering, a consulting engineering firm, took an ominously deep breath and exhaled slowly. His two closest associates, anxious and close-mouthed, sat across the big desk from him.

It was April, 2002.

Wylie cleared his throat and took a sip from a plastic water bottle. He looked over each of the two men carefully, deliberately, knowing full well that his own demeanor was likewise being closely scrutinized. He quickly glanced at his open laptop, then at some scribbled notes on a legal pad atop his desk before finally removing his glasses and straightening in his thick leather chair.

"I can’t be much more specific than that, except to add that it apparently started in his lungs."

His two associates were dumbstruck. The firm’s vigorous, indomitable, sixty-six-year-old founder and chairman, Langdon Elerbee—the Elerbee in Elerbee Engineering—had been such a forceful presence for such a long time that the very prospect of his sudden, permanent departure seemed highly implausible. It defied all that was customary and natural, akin to a Federal Reserve proposition to drop the U.S. dollar and adopt the Norwegian kroner as the new monetary standard of value.
"It doesn’t look good, gentlemen. The time line’s in days and hours, that’s how quickly the disease is overtaking him."

"My God!" gasped Jim Ogden, a senior executive and Wylie protégé. "How did you find out?"

Wylie shrugged. "I’ve known for several weeks that something wasn’t right. He’d had some problems, underwent a series of tests, and then his mood changed, almost as if he’d suddenly lost interest in an entire lifetime of work. His coughing was nearly constant, and with his shortness of breath, his arriving late and leaving early, I knew something was up. His wife called last night to tell me he had been hospitalized, that things were serious and that, well, the doctors were now advising things were moving toward a bad outcome."

Don Burroughs, another corporate officer, could only shake his head in disbelief.

Wylie took another sip of water, then fidgeted with a cell phone on his desk. Ogden leaned forward, alternately glancing at his boss and his feet.

Burroughs shook his head again, his face a bright crimson, his shoulders sagging heavily, his mouth forcing a self-conscious half-grin. "What the hell happens now?" he asked in a voice unintentionally louder than usual.

Wylie turned and stared out a window to the side. "I think it would be an understatement to say we’re in for some challenging days ahead."

Ogden sighed loudly. "No kidding. Who else in the firm knows?"

"Nobody, although Grace Elerbee did ask me to contact Dave Paige and Larry Collier to make sure they understood the severity of the situation."

"Have you done that?"

"No."

"Are you going to?"

Wylie turned and glared at Ogden before sharply replying, "No."

Ogden and Burroughs were suddenly bewildered and unnerved, as much by Wylie’s tone and body language as by the news itself.

Wylie reached up and opened the top button of his starched white shirt, loosening his red-striped tie—an uncharacteristic move that hardly slipped the notice of his two hyper-attentive colleagues.

"I should tell you both that I’ve been planning for and anticipating this very opportunity, which incidentally I’ve shared with no one else, not even my wife," Wylie added. "Langdon Elerbee had a plan for the continuance of this firm after his eventual retirement, of course, but now his departure seems likely to occur before his final imprint can be put into place. And I should also tell you that my plan differs considerably from Langdon’s, especially with regard to the people that he and I see as vital to this firm. He has his preferences, and I certainly have mine."

"But the Board’s already approved Langdon’s plan to name Dave Paige as Executive Vice President," countered Burroughs after a weighty silence.

Wylie’s expression hardened. "I’m well aware of that, thank you. Do you not remember that I sit on that same Board?"

Burroughs swallowed and looked away.

Ogden leaned closer to Wylie’s desk. "What the hell’s going on here, Jeff?"

"What’s going on here is simply that a rare moment of opportunity has arrived, and I don’t intend to squander it. Langdon will soon enough pass from the scene, leaving an obvious void at the very top of the firm. I will be elevated to Chairman and C.E.O. by a Board of Directors that I will now lead. I will then proceed to put into place an organizational structure of my own design, and with people of my own choosing."

Wylie hesitated a moment before adding, "Let me say once more: I do not intend to let this opportunity pass, gentlemen."

Wylie then sat back and watched. He carefully studied the faces of Ogden and Burroughs as his words were absorbed and comprehended. His two associates were experienced veterans of the intrigue and stealth warfare so common to corporate America, especially at a headquarters level. Wylie’s own arrival two years prior had brought with it a sort of ruthless, zero-sum, internecine style that the traditionally conservative Elerbee Engineering had yet to fully emulate or widely embrace. The gentlemanly, consummately professional approach of Langdon Elerbee still remained the behavioral model throughout the vast majority of the company. Wylie understood all too well that his detached and secretive management style was distasteful to most of the old Elerbee hands, but he also knew that many of the firm’s top executives could be easily browbeaten with a string of smoking-hot expletives or a strategically arranged display of temper.

Wylie also knew that only one top manager, Dave Paige, could not be so easily cowed. But he would deal with Dave Paige in his new plan, in his own way, and on his own terms.

The reckoning for Paige would come on day one, page one, paragraph one. It was all in the plan. Things would come roaring at Paige like a runaway locomotive, at once so swift and powerful and unexpectedly that an instant replay would be needed to reconstruct exactly what had transpired. Jeff Wylie could not, would not tolerate the presence of Dave Paige in Wylie’s new order of things. Again, it was all in the plan. And for all practical purposes, it was the plan.

That rarest of moments will soon arrive, Wylie now knew, filling his head with a dizzying array of rich possibilities, accelerating his pulse like an astronaut’s on the launching pad, triggering his predatory impulses like a tiger stalking its prey. The day would soon be his to win or lose.

And he had every intention of winning.

Wylie suddenly rose, and as he did so he buttoned his collar and straightened the knot of his tie. Ogden and Burroughs also stood, not knowing what else to do.

"Enough of the preliminaries, gentlemen," Wylie said, his hands now resting upon his hips, his words coming faster than usual. "Like myself, you are about to hear a knock on the door. If you are bold enough to answer, you will find yourself face-to-face with a magnificent and unequalled opportunity of a sort that, if you are indeed fortunate, will come along only once or twice over an entire career. If you choose to ignore that knock, you will most likely lose your one and only chance to make some serious noise in this company. And I mean serious noise, gents, with all the influence and prestige and remuneration that the term signifies. The decision is yours alone, but the rules are such that you will be required to make it in the next three minutes."

Wylie stopped and stared at his two associates, sensing the shared tension in the deathly silent room, shifting his icy gaze from one man to the other, feeling his own heart rate quickening inside his chest.

"Are you gentlemen hearing me loud and clear?"

Both nodded their understanding, each then cutting a quick glance at the other.

"Good, because you two are the only people in this firm—hell, on the planet earth!—that I’ve revealed my intentions to. I am going to take control of this organization and drive it to places it never dreamed it could go. There will be new service offerings, new acquisitions, new markets, and unprecedented levels of revenue and profit. I am going to do what I came here to do and overturn the institutional reluctance to take risks and stir up the industry. I am going to reinvent this firm, to change its culture, to put it on a fast track. And I’m going to need a team around me who sees what I see, feels what I feel, wants what I want. And you two are the very first members of that prospective team that I’m approaching. But you must keep silent about this conversation, as I have thus far, for to do otherwise will result in all manner of unpleasantness crashing down upon you. There are those on this executive team who absolutely do not need to hear about this. This has the potential—no, the certainty—that a lot of feelings will be hurt and a lot of careers altered before all is said and done. Be that as it may. I’ll do what needs to be done, you can be sure of that. But I will be the only one to make the decisions as to who needs to hear and who doesn’t. Am I making myself crystal clear?"

"Yes," they both said in unison.

Wylie then glanced at his watch. "Time is up. I need to know here and now. And then, either way, I will need your silence until I instruct you otherwise. And if you’re thinking that I’m asking you first because I value you and want you with me, well, you’ve guessed correctly. That is why I’ve called you here. That is why you’re hearing this."

Wylie then smiled slightly, sliding his hands into his trouser pockets.

"Gentlemen, your moment has arrived. You’ve heard the knock. Now you must answer."

Wylie nodded, his slight smile still attached, his eyebrows arched.

"So, are you with me?"

Huh? A Business Thriller?

Have you ever read a thriller about the business world? The what, you say? The business world? Really? Somebody’s done that?

As Thomas Magnum, Private Investigator, so famously observed, “I know what you’re thinking.”

There is no such genre, right? A business thriller? Who in the world would write such a thing?

Well, as Todd Rundgren so famously crooned, “Hello, It’s Me.”

My new novel Dare Not Blink (Navigator Books) is currently scheduled for release in November. It’s a story about an Atlanta-based company who suddenly finds itself in the midst of a vicious internal struggle after the sudden death of its beloved founder and majority owner. For those who have been a part of the rough-and-tumble of corporate America you will find much that is recognizable—from the strengths and flaws of the characters to the cutthroat maneuvering of some of the top executive operators. It’s a fast-paced read with plenty of twists and turns, and the reviews from beta readers (including a CEO) have been excellent. I’m really looking forward to its release into the marketplace.

In the next few weeks we’ll be finalizing the cover and getting everything in place for publication. I’ll give you an early peek at it soon.

So yes, there is such a thing as a business thriller. And I’ve written one. By golly.

As the proper English gentleman (and Magnum antagonist) Jonathan Quail Higgins so famously uttered, “Quite.”

10 Ways to Get America Back on Track

1.     Get rid of reality shows like the one featuring those pathetic, miserable fools sisters and replace them with more inspiring subjects. Gabby Douglas and Missy Franklin come to mind. The U.S. military also has an abundance of worthy subjects. Hollywood celebrity worship is to a healthy culture as a dog-poop topping is to  pizza. Neither is improved.   

2.     Create a massively funded legal juggernaut to oppose the ACLU, with great vigor, especially on matters of religious freedom.  Maybe Donald Trump could lead it (but not make it into a reality show!).

3.     Break the public unions. Taxpayers will be well served. It’s a nasty cycle of political bribery and cronyism. God bless Scott Walker.

4.     Begin some type of ethics training for middle and high schools, and especially into undergraduate and graduate programs. The number of crooks now in our public and private sectors is worrisome.

5.     Find the right bi-partisan balance in regulating market activities, especially in the financial sector. Not overly burdensome, but smart and with plenty of bite for the offenders. And by all means don’t house the convicted offenders in minimum-security prisons. Let them experience for themselves what they did to others.

6.     Consider our national security as the primary objective for securing our national borders. Then work backwards from there to create a fair immigration policy.

7.     Enact term limits for members of Congress. Say, three terms for a representative and two terms for a senator. Stop the pattern of going to Congress and staying forever, dodging the tough votes, and retiring a multi-millionaire. Really, how much good is Harry Reid doing this nation? Your witness.

8.     Don’t gut the military. We have Islamist extremists who want to murder us by the tens of thousands, and the Chinese are building their military to control the Pacific region. We draw down at our own peril.  

9.     Address and fix the debt issue, with everything on the table.

10. Elect a president who has experience in the private sector, and preferably who would have a running mate with budget experience.

Those are my 10. What are some of yours?

A Lasting Friendship

Many years ago I had the great privilege of being Executive Officer (XO) of Battery M, 4^th Battalion, 12^th Marines, 3^rd Marine Division. We were stationed on Okinawa but made two training trips to Camp Fuji, Japan, near the base of the beautiful, majestic Mt. Fuji. We were commanded by Captain Robert L. Adams (above, right), a splendid CO who had earlier been seriously wounded in Vietnam, and who knew his business as an artillery professional. I was Captain Adams’ second in command, frankly a job I still consider to be the best I ever had.

We trained hard, and if I do say so myself Mike Battery was the best firing battery in the entire Marine Corps during our time.  We were the envy of our battalion, the equivalent of playing on a championship team. It was heady stuff for a twenty-something lieutenant in a unit of one-hundred Marines. And we found time to enjoy Japan—its sights, its culture, and especially its people. It was a terrific education.

As is tradition, Marines refer to captains as Skipper, and so for me Bob Adams was then, and remains so today, Skipper. The bond we developed enabled us to remain in touch over the many years since we were together in uniform. Skipper continued in the Marines until his eventual retirement, and I went on to a career in the business world. We raised kids, traveled the world in our respective careers, and managed to remain in touch.

Skipper and wife Leah visited my wife and I in Atlanta not long ago. When we started reminiscing it was almost like we were young and back in Japan again. The names of our troops didn’t come quite as easily as they once did, but it was amazing how much intricate detail we could recollect after forty years. We even joked as we did years ago about how Japanese often struggle to pronounce L-words like “village,” which hence becomes “virrage.”  And to be fair, my command of the Japanese language has improved nil since we were there.

I also found out that Skipper had become a woodworker of some distinction, with a gorgeous grandfather clock to his credit. To my surprise, a box arrived on my doorstep this week. Inside was a bird house, expertly crafted and made of cedar, and with my name (sorta) inscribed across the front.

I can only hope that the birds who take up residence will have as much fun living in it as I did in receiving it.

Semper Fi, Skipper. Stop by if you ever get to Atranta again.

  

Hard Drive, RIP

I recently had a tech support person with a hard foreign accent deliver the hard truth that my hard drive had crashed. I even paid for that diagnosis, while all along my instincts had been telling me that the hard drive was finished. Once confirmed, I had to consider the next steps.  

So what now? Buy a new hard drive and replace it myself? Buy a new computer? Shrug it all off and catch the next flight to Costa Rica?

Well, I bought a new computer. On balance, I think I made the right choice. I can only hope it all works out. Here's a bit of the summary: 

Good news: I saved the most important files only an hour before the crash.
Bad news: I lost all my work-related Outlook folders and emails.

Good news: My wife and I kept up with emails and texts from our amazing new iPhones.
Bad news: We never talk anymore since we're busy doing amazing iPhone stuff.

Good news: The 330 songs I had purchased from iTunes were saved.
Bad news: The 700 songs I had added from my own CD collection weren't. (iCrap!)

Good news: I'm learning Windows 7.
Bad news: I miss Windows XP (sorta like I'd miss my favorite watch; it was comfortable).

Good news: I've now got a new, updated computer.
Bad news: It wasn't free.

I would prefer not to hear the phrase, "Your hard drive has crashed," for a long time to come. But of all the "crashes" that could have come my way, I suppose this one was probably the least destructive.

iGrateful, iThink.

I Still Miss John Wayne

The Duke, John Wayne, died 33 years ago this week. I miss him, still. And I still enjoy his movies, especially those World War II films where he and the good guys would always win. He was greatly popular with U.S. Marines, and there were at least two C-ration items named in his honor: the John Wayne can opener and the John Wayne cookie. Why? Beats me. We Marines didn’t question.

I read a biography about Duke several years ago and discovered the interesting tidbit that he really didn’t like horses. For an actor who arguably did more to popularize the Western film genre than anyone else, not liking horses came as a bit of a surprise. I suppose it would be akin to discovering Mario Andretti’s dislike of fast cars or Bruce Springsteen’s dislike of loud music. Or Bill Clinton’s dislike of a gorgeous, um, bacon cheeseburger. It just didn’t seem to fit.

John Wayne came along at the right time. He was an unabashed American patriot at a time when patriotism was widely understood in simpler terms than is apparent today. He smoked cigarettes, drank whiskey, and killed the bad guys in his films. He was gentle toward women (except Maureen O’Hara, with whom he had an extraordinary on-screen chemistry and off-screen friendship). Occasionally he would die a hero’s noble death at the end of a picture, which was never pleasant. And he would almost always provide a worthwhile life lesson somewhere between the opening and closing credits.

His friends in the entertainment industry spoke often of his loyalty and generosity as a friend. As big an international star as he became over a long career, he could poke as much fun at himself as he could others. Comedian Rich Little did a splendid impersonation of Wayne, from his voice to his gestures to his walk, and I can remember Duke roaring with laughter as he sat with Johnny Carson and watched Little’s hilarious routine. And the laughter was authentic, as was much else with Wayne.

That was then.

Now we’ve got the pretty-boy actors who spend a disproportionate amount of time doing little more in their films than eating. And their causes are rarely conservative anymore. Or often hardly even patriotic. Was John Wayne the greatest film actor ever? Nah, I won’t go that far. But he was darned good, and his screen presence was always infinitely more commanding than these contemporary lightweights.

Thanks, Duke, for all the great work you’ve left for us to enjoy.

Semper Fi, good sir.