From: gawne@lhea1.gsfc.nasa.gov (Bill Gawne)
Newsgroups: alt.callahans
Subject: Once Upon A Lifetime
Date: 1 Apr 1995 05:06:22 GMT
Organization: NASA Goddard Space Flight Center -- Greenbelt, Maryland USA
Message-ID: <3lin0e$1sa@post.gsfc.nasa.gov>

At the end of the bar, Bill sits reading.  The paperback is an auto-
biography of Gunnery Sergeant L. C. Greenwood, entitled _Once Upon
A Lifetime_.  From time to time Bill sips from the snifter of 
Remy-Martin VSOP cognac which Mike has been keeping filled as the
evening passes into night.

"Good story, Mike." Bill allows, when the big Irishman comes by
polishing the bar.  "Not much like my own, other than we were both
Marine staff NCO's.  But worth reading."

"You checked out today, right?" Callahan asks.

"Yep.  Last day.  It started in Dallas in 1972, and ended in Quantico
today."  Bill peers into the flames of the fireplace.  "Lot of memories,
Mike"

"Want to talk about 'em, Bill?"

"Maybe sometime MIke.  For now I think I'll just head home."
Bill looks at his watch and sees that the hands have moved past 
midnight.

He drains the cognac from the glass and steps to the chalkline.

"To twenty-two good years.  I'm glad I lived through 'em."

and as the snifter arches into the fireplace nearby patrons can
hear a soft, "semper fi."

*crrraaaassshhhh*

"G'night Mike."

Mike Callahan watches him go, and then walks back to Bill's customary
place at the end of the bar.  The book's title is the same, but the
byline has changed.  Mike smiles, thinks "It'll be a good read,"
and pockets the paperback.


Bill Gawne - in Callahan's as in real life.      <gawne@rosserv.gsfc.nasa.gov>
Senior Spacecraft Analyst, XTE           | Disclaimer: Nothing I post in
Science Operations Facility; and         | alt.callahans represents an official
Master Sergeant, US Marine Corps Reserve.| position of any organization.

-Bill Gawne, MSgt USMCR(Ret.)

The nation continues to invest in a Marine Corps based in large part on
its confidence that Marine forces will prevail, even under the most 
demanding circumstances.                      - Introduction to FMFM 1-2