The Sea Tiger by BillA1
July 2004
This story is a response to Dizzyfish's challenge at JLAnimated. "This story is in response to a challenge by Dizzyfish to write a JL story in which the characters do not have superpowers and are in a war setting."
The Sea Tiger
*******
Da'Nang, Republic of Vietnam, September 1970
*******
"Man, does it ever stop raining here?" Sergeant Stewart thought to himself. He had been in Vietnam for 2 days and it had rained everyday he was there so far. It wasn't a heavy rain. It was just an annoying cold rain.
He was in temporary quarters awaiting someone from his new unit to pick him up. The quarters weren't much. It was a large Quonset hut which had been partitioned into 10 little rooms. As a sergeant he rated a single room and at that moment he was never happier he was a sergeant. In his room he had a single bunk, a double wall locker, a small refrigerator and a trunk plus a writing desk.
He was seated on his bunk staring at the screen door to his cubicle, listening to the sounds of the Vietnamese house maid going about the business of cleaning the other rooms. He had not allowed her in his room because, quite frankly, he was afraid of her. He had heard the stories about not trusting the locals because they would "kill you the first chance they get." And he figured there was no need to take chances.
When he got orders to Vietnam, he was one of the most surprised people at the Quantico Marine Corps Base photo lab. This young sergeant had, in his short Marine Corps career, developed a reputation as Marine combat photographer with a very good eye. His photo work had appeared in the local Marine Corps Base newspaper, the Quantico Sentry. He had had several front page photos in the paper, two center fold spreads and had won 3rd place in the 1969 Department of the Navy photo contest. Some of his work had even appeared in Stars & Stripes newspaper. He just knew that Life Magazine would call him when his enlistment was up. Ah, yes - if he could just bypass the winding down war.
Well, the war didn't pass him by and when he got over his shock of getting orders, he realized this might be an opportunity for success looking him in the face. After all, his idol David Douglas Duncan had photographed Marines during Korea and was at the top of the photographic pyramid. Surely, there was room for him there too.
He was tired. He had difficulty sleeping at night because he could not yet tell the difference between incoming and outgoing artillery fire. And there was firing going on all the time. He was obviously in the "rear", nowhere near where the real action was and he knew that. So why couldn't they stop shooting for one day and let him sleep?
He had been assigned to the Public Affairs Office at Headquarters, Third Marine Amphibious Force. He was a photographer. He was a good one and he was going to show them what he had. He had talent.
There was a knock on his screen door. Stewart looked up and broke into a huge grin. It was a familiar face. It was someone he had worked with back at Quantico. It was Sergeant West, who had been one of the writers for the Quantico Sentry newspaper.
"Hey bro, you miss me?" Sergeant West yelled into the room.
Stewart stood up, reached out and shook hands with his friend entering his quarters.
"Nahh, I didn't miss you. Your ugliness stays with people long after you're gone."
The Marines hugged each other, slapped each other on the back and laughed.
West looked around the small room and said, "Not bad...not bad at all. But you need to get it cleaned up...you got a mama-san yet?"
"A what?" came Stewart's reply.
With that, West opened the screen door and hollered down the hall.
"Mama-san! Mama-San! Come quick."
A little old Vietnamese woman sauntered out of the room next door to Stewart's room and stood next to the screen door where both West & Stewart were standing. She looked at them both and said angrily in quick broken English,
"What you want? Mama-san very busy."
West gave her a huge smile and said to her, "Yes mama-san, you very busy cause you number one mama-san. You number one with this number two G.I. I love you too much."
Mama-san gave West a huge toothless grin and said, "You want me take care of your friend? I do good job. Only 20 P a day plus cartoon of cigarettes on payday."
West frowned, "Mama-san, you no love me too much. 5 P. Then number two G.I. love you too much."
Mama-san looked at West and then at Stewart and then said, "10 P, cigarettes and I do laundry too."
West gave her a big smile and said, "I love you too much. You my girlfriend. You go home with me, right?" Then he started laughing.
Mama-san gave West a big laugh and then looked sternly at Stewart and said," I your mama-san now. You pay me 10 P a day. I no work Sunday. You leave laundry here on bed. I make up bed, do laundry, clean room. You like. You pay me on Saturday. I smoke Kents. You be nice."
Stewart looked at mama-san and said sheepishly, "Yes, mama-san. I be nice."
Mama-san eyed Stewart for a long time and then said, "Maybe you number one G.I. - maybe not - I see...I see." And with that she went back down the hall into the other room she was working in.
West nudged Stewart in the arm and said, "Hey, grab your cover and let's go. I got a vehicle and you don't want to keep the TOP waiting."
Stewart grabbed his cap and walked out the door with West. Both got into the vehicle and West started driving.
Stewart turned to West and said, "Man, what just happened back there."
West grinned and said, "Bro, I got you a house mouse and it will only cost you a dollar a day plus a cartoon of cigarettes."
Stewart replied, "But man, I don't smoke."
West slapped him on his knee and said, "You do now, get it?"
Stewart settled back in the vehicle, smiled and thought to himself. "I'll learn. I'll learn."
******
They hadn't driven far. In fact, they never left the compound. They pulled up to a large Quonset hut which had a large red sign hanging over the door. The sign read "PAO, Hqtrs. III MAF, Home of the Sea Tiger."
Stewart got out of the vehicle and follow West up the walkway.
"So the name of the rag is Sea Tiger, huh?"
West stopped at the door to the building and said, "Yep, It's the best Marine rag in I Corps....cause it's the only Marine rag in I Corps." And he started laughing.
West opened the door and Stewart walked in.
There were 5 desks that he could see plus a drafting table. There were 2 small desks on each side of the room and a single large desk in the back. The large desk was in front of 2 large partitions. There were pictures hanging on the wall and Stewart thought to himself that he would make a point to look at the pictures later when no one was around.
West placed his cover on the first desk on the left-hand side, pointed to the large Marine seated at the large single desk in the back and said to Stewart, "Go check in with the Master Sergeant."
Stewart placed his cover on West's desk and walked down the center of the hut to the master sergeant's desk. There was a desk on the left at which sat a woman Marine staff sergeant. She had short red hair and was locked in concentration writing at her desk. She never looked up at him.
On the right side, there was a corporal seated at the desk who was also writing. Next to corporal, on a small table, against the wall, was an electric coffee pot. The corporal looked up at Stewart as he passed and smiled. Stewart returned the smile and thought to himself, "He must be the house mouse."
Stewart marched himself up to the master sergeant's desk sharply. Locking himself into the position of attention, he said loudly, "Good morning Top, Sergeant Stewart reporting for duty."
At that moment, the female staff sergeant put her pen down, stood up from her desk and walked toward the front door. The corporal followed her toward the door and motioned for Sergeant West to leave as well.
The staff sergeant closed the door behind them leaving Stewart nervously looking at the master sergeant who now stood up.
"Sergeant Stewart, my name is Master Sergeant Wayne. I run this freakin' place and don't you ever, ever call me "top" again."
Wayne's voice started rising, "Do I look like a damn top to you? Do I look like a toy to you sergeant? I am no damn toy and you freak with me and I will freak you up. You understand me, sergeant? Do you?"
"Yes, master sergeant. I'm sorry, master sergeant."
Wayne lower his voice just a tad, but only a tad "Sergeant, you ever see the John Wayne movie She Wore a Yellow Ribbon?"
Wayne didn't wait for an answer and continued, "John Wayne says a great line in that movie and if you want to get along with me you better remember it. He says, 'Never apologize mister. It's a sign of weakness."
Wayne looked Stewart in the eyes and said, "You'll do well to remember that when you deal with me."
Stewart's voice cracked as he said, "Yes master sergeant. I will remember master sergeant."
"Good. Go outside tell Staff Sergeant Hol to come back in. Then you get back up here."
"Right away, Master Sergeant." Stewart ran to the door and stuck his head out. He gazed in into the laughing faces of the 3 Marines. Staff Sergeant Hol stop laughing and said, "Sergeant, tell the "top" we'll be right in."
Stewart gave the Staff Sergeant a long look and then turned around and ran back to the Master Sergeant's desk. Master Sergeant Wayne was seated again.
"Their on their way in, Master Sergeant."
"Good... now let me have your orders."
Stewart gave the master sergeant his orders and then returned to the position of attention. Wayne took the piece of paper and looking up at Stewart said "At ease, Marine. Have a seat." Stewart took a seat in the chair next to the master sergeant's desk. Wayne continued,
"Sergeant welcome to the Sea Tiger, the best newspaper in Vietnam."
Staff Sergeant Hol returned to her desk, along with the corporal and Sergeant West. No one looked at Stewart as each returned to their task prior to Stewart's faux pas.
Wayne continued, "I edit this rag. You met Sergeant West. This is Corporal Jones."
Wayne pointed over to the Corporal's desk without looking at him. The corporal looked at Stewart and smiled then went back to his work.
Wayne continued, "He is a damn good writer. He's my house mouse - not yours. If you need him to do something, you clear it with me."
"This is Staff Sergeant Hol. She does voice over work for A-FARTS and write articles for the rag."
Stewart looked quizzically at Wayne then at Hol. "What is A-FARTS, staff sergeant?"
Hol started to answer but the master sergeant cut her off. Hol shot Wayne a nasty look but made sure Wayne didn't see it.
"Sergeant Stewart, what kind of a writer are you? You don't know what A-FARTS is?? Lad, A-FARTS is American Forces Radio and Television Services. You want them to get and use the crap you write. And son, I am sure you write crap!"
Stewart sat up in his chair a little straighter. "Excuse me, Master Sergeant, but I'm not a writer. I'm a photographer."
Hol giggled then suppressed it quickly when she saw Wayne shoot her a sharp glance. Wayne exploded, "J.C. in heaven - a picture taker. How the hell did you get here? How come you didn't go to the Division photo lab?"
From back behind the partition on the right side behind Wayne's desk came a voice, "Master Sergeant Wayne, would you step back here please?"
Wayne shot Stewart an ugly glare and went back behind the partition. Staff Sergeant Hol made eye contact with Stewart, smiled and said in a low voice,
"Welcome to Vietnam, Sarge. I think you are about to get out of your first firefight alive."
Stewart smiled back and said, "Thank you, staff sergeant."
Wayne came back from behind the partition. He was clearly unhappy. He looked at Stewart and said, "You can stay. I want to you to report to the Major and then you come back and you see me, understand?"
"Yes, Master Sergeant." And with that, Stewart got up, placed his cover, which he had been holding, on the chair and walked behind the master sergeant's desk and entered the partition on the right. Facing him was a large oak desk and behind it was a big man looking down at the papers on his desk. Stewart assumed the position of attention in front of the desk and looking straight ahead said, "Sir, Sergeant Stewart reporting as ordered, sir!"
"At ease, Marine." Without looking up, the Major continued, "Welcome aboard, sergeant. My name is Major Kent. I'm the public affairs officer. Behind you across the way is Lieutenant Prince. She is my deputy."
Kent looked up at Stewart and continued, "You're here because I need a photographer to push this paper where it needs to go. All of the Marine combat correspondents attached to the Division and the Air Wing send their stories here and we compile them into the weekly paper but we don't have our own staff photographer, so we never have good art to go with our own stories. With you here - we do. Now report to the master sergeant and welcome aboard."
"Aye, Aye, sir." And with that Stewart snapped back to attention, did an about face and marched himself back to Wayne's desk. On his way back, he looked at the Lieutenant, who he noticed was a woman Marine with long dark hair pulled tight and rolled into a bun on the back of her head.
Stewart made his way back to Wayne's desk. The master sergeant didn't look up but said,
"Get your trash and get down to your desk where Sergeant West is at."
"Right away, Master Sergeant!"
"Stewart, one other thing."
Stewart turned and said nervously , "Yes, Master Sergeant."
Wayne looked up, smiled and said, "Welcome aboard, Marine."
Stewart gave him a huge grin and said, "Thank you, Master Sergeant."
He grabbed his cover from the seat where he had left it and walked to the desk next Sergeant West near the front door. He placed his cover on his new desk, sat in his chair and turned to face West who was now looking at him smiling and munching jellybeans he kept in a jar.
Stewart said in a low voice, "I'm think I'm going to make it here, man. I'm think I'm going to make it."
*******
Da'Nang, Republic of Vietnam, November 1970
Sergeant West was standing in front of the Master Sergeant Wayne's desk as he had done many times during his 10 months in Vietnam.
"Damn it, sergeant, you keep giving me crap. Where is the passion in your writing? This story about the civil affairs unit you wrote...why in hell should I care about them? Nothing you wrote makes me want to care about what they're doing...and damn it, lad, what they are doing IS important!"
Wayne paused and then said, "Lad, when we leave this stinkin' rathole, all that will be left behind will be the CA projects we did for these people and your stories for our people. And right now, you ain't telling me crap. Got it?"
West looked down. He had heard this song a hundred times in his tour. Nothing he wrote was ever good enough. "Got it, master sergeant."
West went back to his desk and started munching jellybeans from his jar by the handful.
Stewart looked up from his desk and said, "Man, don't let him get to you. And you have got to stop eating that pogey-bait or you're going to blow up like blimp."
West didn't stop eating but did grunt to acknowledge that he heard him.
Wayne hollered down the hallway at West,
"West, get back here. I got an assignment for you."
"On my way, Master Sergeant." And with that, West ran back to the Master Sergeant's desk.
Wayne stood up, sip on his cup of coffee and handed West two sheets of paper.
"Sergeant, I'm going to give you a real fluff piece to do. Give me a 800 word interview on Lieutenant Colonel Rightman."
Pointing to the paper in West's hand, he continued, "You got his bio there. He's the commanding officer for recon battalion. Likes to go out when they do emergency extractions. He was the Marine aide-de-camp to the Secretary of Navy and on his second tour here. This man's going to be Commandant one day. Do me a good job here, okay?"
Wayne paused and then added almost as if it was an afterthought. "Take Stewart for the pictures."
West turned his head and looked back in Stewart's direction and then looked back at Wayne.
He said softly, "Master Sergeant, I can do this. I don't need Stewart for this. Let Sergeant Stewart do a civil affairs piece. We both know he can use the writing practice. I can take the duty camera and shoot a head shot and Stewart can process it tomorrow, okay?"
Wayne eyed Sergeant West coolly and said, "Okay." Wayne took another sip of coffee and then hollered down the hall.
"Stewart - Get up here."
Sergeant Stewart ran up to the master sergeant desk and stood next to West. Wayne looked at Stewart and said, "I got a half-day piece for you. Four hundred words, 3 pics on the playground 1st Combat Engineers is building at the school right outside the perimeter. Come back tomorrow with good stuff or you're going to catch it from me. Got it?"
Then Wayne looked down at his desk and said, "Now, both of you get out of my face."
Stewart and West went back to their desk and grab their equipment. West stuffed several pencils in his shirt pockets and stuffed several handfuls of jellybeans in his trouser pockets and then said to Stewart,
"Hey bro, Want to catch a flick tomorrow night."
"What playing?"
"Kelly's Heroes".
"Nah, I don't want to see a war movie while I'm in one. I want to do something but we can figure it out tomorrow. Okay?"
West headed out the door with his gear in tow. "Hey, good luck. I'll see you tomorrow."
Stewart hollered out the door at West, "Keep your head down, man". Then grabbed his gear and made his way to the perimeter gate.
*****
Stewart was tired when he came into work the next morning. He had been up most of the night writing captions for his pictures and writing and re-writing his little story. He felt the master sergeant was going to being happy with his stuff.
Stewart walked in the office and immediately sensed something was wrong. Staff Sergeant Hol was at her desk being comforted by Lieutenant Prince. Major Kent was standing over Master Sergeant Wayne rubbing his shoulders. Corporal Jones simply looked lost. Stewart put his stuff at his desk and walked over to Corporal Jones's desk.
"What's going on?" Stewart asked.
At that moment, the phone rang and Major Kent went back to his desk to answer it
Corporal Jones had the sad face of a man trying not cry. "It's Sergeant West. He was killed last night."
Stewart winced as if he had been hit in the stomach with a brick. "What??? How? What happened?"
Major Kent came from behind his partition. His look was somber and he spoke not looking at anyone in particular.
"Now that we are all here, I just got the official word. Sergeant West was killed accompanying Lieutenant Colonel Rightman during an emergency extraction of one of his reconnaissance teams. The team had incurred casualties and requested an emergency extraction from enemy-infested territory, in an area beginning to be enveloped by dense fog. The team was extracted under Lieutenant Colonel Rightman's personal supervision, then, as the helicopter began its ascent, it crashed into a mountainside in enemy territory, killing all aboard."
There was silence except for the gentle sobbing Staff Sergeant Hol and the sniffles of Corporal Jones.
Master Sergeant Wayne stood up, wiped his eyes and said, "Damn it, we still got a paper to put out. Staff Sergeant Hol - write me an obit on Rightman."
Staff Sergeant Hol, choking back her tears, said "What about an obit on Sergeant West."
The Master Sergeant looked at her sternly but was speaking to everyone.
"Look - Rightman is probably going to get some award named after him. West is only going to be a memory for us and his family. Damn it, now you write the obit and list the crew members. We'll bury the story on page 3."
Lieutenant Prince spoke with a fire in her voice, "NO! - Make it page 4."
Sergeant Stewart hung his head down and said softly, "Master Sergeant, it's not fair. I should have been with him. It's just not fair."
Lieutenant Prince put a finger to her eye as if she was wiping away a tear and said in a firm voice,
"Sergeant, life's not fair. If you didn't know it before - you know it now. You play the cards you're dealt or you fold...and the Marine Corps doesn't allow folding so we're going to play this hand our way."
Corporal Jones ran down to Sergeant West's empty desk and grabbed the jar of jellybeans from the desk. He opened the jar and everyone reached in and took a handful of candy.
Corporal Jones said, "To Sergeant West."
"To Sergeant West." Came the chorus. And with that everyone threw some candy in their mouth and smiled.
Major Kent broke the silence by saying, "I have a letter to write to his parents." And with that, he walked back to his office. Lieutenant Prince followed him back and said, "I'd like to drop a note in the letter, too, sir, if you don't mind."
With that, Master Sergeant Wayne turned his attention to Sergeant Stewart and said,
"Alright, Stewart let me see that story you wrote."
END