Christmas
At Christmas break Mike drove down from Cambridge to Montclair. It was Thursday and he’d finished all his finals the day before. He’d left after the Boston rush hour and arrived in the early afternoon. Neither his father wasn’t home yet. His mom met him at the door, and she gave him a big hug and kiss. “Come on lug your stuff up to your room and drop your dirty laundry off here.”
“I don’t have that much dirty laundry, Mom, just a couple of days.”
“Well it goes downstairs anyway. Meet me in the kitchen when you come down.”
Mike put his stuff away and headed downstairs. His mother was sitting at the kitchen table drinking coffee. “If you want coffee, pour yourself a cup and come sit down and talk to me about school and how you are.”
Mike got his coffee and sat down. “I will, but first you have to fill me in on how everybody is doing.”
“OK, your father is getting back to normal after that horrible experience. He still worries about another more violent attack. The new gun safe downstairs has one of those assault rifles in it, AR something or other. You sister Julie is due any day and your father and I are excited. Maybe she’ll make past Christmas maybe not. Oh, and Sharon is bringing a boyfriend over for Christmas, Tony. Julie and Bill have met him several times and say he’s nice, is nuts about Sharon and is more than acceptable. The rule is, we are all nice. We don’t want to scare him away.”
“Mom, objectively my sister Sharon is very good looking and very nice. Her problem up to now is that her boyfriends were jerks. As to school, I’m doing well. I think I aced all my exams and should have straight A’s this semester.” They continued to talk about everyday things until his father came home.
John wrapped his youngest son in a warm embrace. “It’s great to see you and have you home for a couple of weeks. You probably will become an uncle for a second time pretty soon. Julie is set to pop anytime.”
Mike could tell his dad was excited. After diner his dad took him downstairs. “I want to show you this and give you your Christmas present early. As your mother probably told you I’m worried about a more violent attack and things getting rough for a while. I hope I’m paranoid. But better to be prepared than not.” He then pointed to a second green gun safe. “I call this the naughty safe. It’s got two Ruger Mini-14s in there along with plenty of ammunition, a tactical shotgun and two Glock 17s. I hope I never have to open the safe and use those. I would hope that I can get you to humor me. I know your sisters would turn me down flat. I got you a Clock 19 with a laser sight. I’ve got a gun safe that goes under the car seat and gets bolted down. It’s all legal. In fact, all of this is legal, even the Ruger Minis. You just have to go down to the police station and register the gun. The second thing I got you is this silk money belt. It’s got Krugerrands and Silver dollars in it. Three ounces of Krugerrands in 1 oz, ½ oz and ¼ oz sizes, plus three one oz silver dollars. That’s emergency money. I know you keep a survival fanny pack in your trunk. I’d like you to put it in with the other survival stuff.”
Mike thought about it for a couple of minutes. “Sure dad, no problem. I don’t think I’ll need the Glock or the money, but as you say better safe than sorry. Where can we get the safe installed?”
“You’re probably due to have the car checked over anyway. You can take it to Hillman’s. I already talked to Joe Hillman and they’ll put the safe the car. He says it won’t be the first one they’ve done since 9/11. He put in the safes for your mon and I.”
“Mom has a safe and Glock?” asked a very surprised Mike.
“Yes, she does. We hope that we’re just being paranoid, but even she agrees with this. Reluctantly, but she agrees. I haven’t mentioned this to your sisters. I expect it would go over like a lead balloon.” Mike nodded at that. He decided it he’d process it over the holidays.
With that settled they went back upstairs and relaxed. After watching TV, Mike went up and got ready for bed. The next day he went down to the police station. He brought his hunting license and the registrations for both his Remington and his shotgun. The process was fairly painless. It took over an hour and after paying the fees he left with the registration plus all the rules and regulations. On Monday he took the Mustang down to Hillman’s. They did a complete check, rotated the tires, changed the oil and checked the fuel injectors. They also bolted the safe to the chassis underneath the driver seat. You couldn’t see it. When he got home the Glock, extra magazine and the registration all went into the safe. He opened the trunk and lifted the cover and took out his survival fanny pack and added the money belt. That would make his father happy, which in Mike’s view was the whole purpose of this. The Remington 700 went back in the gun safe and he stored all his hunting gear that he had in his trunk since his Thanksgiving hunting trip
He knew that he needed to get familiar with Glock, so he decided that in the week between Christmas and the New Year, he find a range and get familiar with it. Christmas diner went fine. Sharon showed up with her boyfriend Tony Misselli. Tony was a ChemE who worked at one of the big refineries in the Rahway area. He got along well with Bill and quickly warmed up to Mike. He did seem about nervous around his parents. Mike yeaned over and whispered. “Don’t worry we’ve been trying to get rid of her for years. Your good.” Tony didn’t know what to make of it until Bill started laughing.
Two days after Christmas, his father woke Mike up. “Get dressed and ready, Julie’s water broke and she’s at the hospital. We’re heading there. I’d take something to read, it liable to be a long wait.”
Once they were ready, they got into the family’s black Lexus and drove across the GW and then on up into West Chester. When they got there, they found Bill’s parents waiting anxiously. This was going to be their first grandchild. The two sets of parents sat together and waited. Bill’s younger brother was in Pittsburg and Sharon was working. It was just Mike and the two sets of parents. Bill was in the labor room with Julie. Mike sat and went over a textbook that he was going to have the next semester. He must have dozed off, because when he came awake, he was hungry, and it was almost 1PM. Mike took everyone’s order and went down to the cafeteria to get some food. He brought it back to the anxious parents. He wasn’t particularly worried, but he was perceptive enough to realize that someday he may well be in Bill’s position. Waiting for his wife to give birth and hoping that everything would go well. Finally, at 4:30 PM, little William John Kearney Jr made his appearance in the world. Everybody took turns going into the room to congratulate the new mother and father and hold the little guy. When Mike went in Julie looked like hell. But she was radiant as was Bill. He congratulated them both and then gingerly held the baby. Bill and Julie could tell that he was very nervous holding the tiny little baby. They had a good laugh about it. Bill told him he needed to practice for when he had his first.
The rest of the break went quickly and before he knew it, he was back in his room at MIT. He and his roommate Dave talked about their holiday. Mike decided not to mention the Rugers, the other guns and the money belt to Dave. He did mention the Glock and the car gun safe.
Dave freaked a bit. “A gun? You’re not bring it in here are you? Guns freak me out.”
“Don’t worry Dude. This is just to make my dad happy. Ever since 9/11 he’s a bit paranoid. This is just one way to reduce his worry. The gun is in a gun safe is bolted to the car chassis. I’ve got all the paperwork I need. I’ll take it down to a range every couple of months and shoot off a few rounds, clean it an put it back. I won’t have a gun that I’m not comfortable using. Before you ask, I’ve got two guns at home locked in a gun safe. A bolt action deer rifle that holds 4 rounds and a shotgun that holds 5 rounds. My family likes the outdoors and we do hunt.”
“Mike, you don’t have an assault rifle, do you?”
“Nah, I don’t see any reason for those. They’re shitty deer rifles. I don’t see why I need 10, 20 round magazines to hunt deer. You take one careful shot and take the animal down. Plus, I don’t think a
lot of our classmates would do well with guns. From what I heard they shoot the people on their own team when they play paintball. Not cool. “
“Ok, but I don’t want to see the gun that’s for sure. You’re a hunter, who would have known. But now you’re an Uncle again, congrats.”
NROTC
After he got back from Christmas break, Mike got an e-mail from his brother Jack. It didn’t go into any detail at all about what he was doing, just that he was in the Northern Indian Ocean. He did ask Mike to look up a friend of his, Roger Miles, a pilot from Jack’s squadron. He was at Harvard to get his MBA and taught a navigation course for the NROTC. Mike wrote back and gave him a run down on life, what their father was up to and Julie’s new child. He promised to go over and look up Roger. He put this down as a B priority on his to-do list.
A couple of weeks later, Mike had a couple of free hours and thought that this would be a good time to look up Roger. He got the NROTC number and called it. Some chief petty officer whose name he didn’t quite catch answered the phone. “Hello, chief, my name is Mike Mulvaney. My brother Lieutenant Mulvaney asked me to get in contact with one of his squadron mates, Lieutenant Miles. I was wondering if he was in and if I could come over to see him for a few minutes?” The reference to his brother and squadron mates brought some quick action. The chief came back and told him that Lieutenant Miles was in his office and would be glad to see him. He’d looked up where the NROTC building was and figured it was about 5 minutes away on the MIT campus.
Roger Miles was about 5’10’’, stocky with sandy hair and a ready smile. He knew that Jack was very proud of his little brother. Just 18 and studying for a doctorate at MIT, not shabby. That screamed geek to Roger. The problem was that Jack also said he was good at soccer, had a black belt and liked hunting, fishing and camping. That part didn’t compute. Of course, he got into the Harvard MBA program and had graduated number five in his class at the academy. He was very interested in meeting Jack’s kid brother.
Mike arrived at NROTC building and told the Petty Officer at the door, who he was and who he’d come to see. He was led to a small office and introduced himself to Roger ‘Call me Roger’, Miles. Roger realized that Mike looked a lot like his older brother. Same dark hair and blue eyes, same build and they both had an easy-going manner. He knew Jack was competitive and he didn’t doubt that his brother was as well. They talked about a number of things. Then they got around to 9/11. Mike recounted how he’d waited hours to hear if his father had survived. He admitted that if his father had been killed, he would have quit school and joined the Marines. This was the first time he’d ever told anyone. Roger got it and he was surprised that he could see Mike as a Marine. A Marine with a PhD from MIT, now that was a good one. Just then Tim Smith, the marine captain on staff walked by. “Hey Tim, come in and meet Mike Mulvaney, his brother was in the same squadron as me. He’s getting his doctorate at MIT”.
Tim Smith was a typical marine, tall, lanky with a shaved head. He stepped into the office and shook Mike’s hand and then took the other chair. Roger let Tim know that Mike’s father had been in the South Tower but made it out. Mike added that they had friends who didn’t and that he still was angry about it. He then told them about the Glock 19 in the car safe.
Tim asked. “You any good with that Glock?”
“I don’t know what good is, but I was taught never to try and use a gun you weren’t familiar with. Once I got it, I went to a range to practice. I must have gone through 2 boxes of ammo. I finally got to where I could hit the ten ring 9 out of 10 times at 25 yards with measured shooting. And do the same at 15 yards just letting it rip as fast as I could.”
“Not bad” said Tim. “You know we go to the range to keep in practice. Of course, these Navy pukes really can’t hit anything. If you want, we’re going two Saturday’s from now you can join us. I’ve got a Berretta you can try out. It’s a bit bigger than that Glock you’ve got.”
Mike thought it was a great idea and they agreed to meet at the range at 10AM on the Saturday after next. Mike then excused himself to back to study.
When he left, Roger looked at Tim. “What do you think?”
“Well he doesn’t look like a geek but being here I’ve changed my opinion on what they look like. The stereotype really doesn’t hold that well here. I wonder if he can shoot as well as he says.”
“Well if his brother says he can do something, I wouldn’t bet against him. From what Jack says his kid brother is just like that. So, don’t be surprised if he’s a good shot. He did tell me that if his father had been killed, he’d have left school to become a Marine.”
“Really, how old is he 18, 19?”
“He’s 18 and comes from a military family. His father was NROTC at BC and in the brown water navy. Stayed in the reserves and retired as a Captain. His brother you know about. His uncle was a grunt in Nam, got his medical degree and wound up surgeon in desert storm. Plus, they are connected in New Jersey.”
“Well” said Tim “I see where you are going. Let’s see how well he can shoot.”
They met at the range on Saturday as agreed. They went in and set up. Mike put 14 of 15 rounds in the ten ring at 25 yards, shooting deliberately. Then he had the target moved back to 15 yards and put 12 of 15 in the ten ring firing as fast as he could.”
“Nice shooting. Would you like to try the Berretta? Asked Tim.
“Sure”. Mike took the gun, examined it, check to make sure there was nothing in the chamber and a full clip. He put the target at 15 yards and after a couple of shots, started to put everything in the ten ring. He loaded another clip and at 25 yards did as well with the Berretta as the Glock.
“Nice shooting, Mike, nice shooting. You’re almost as good as a Marine and certainly better than the squids” said a smiling Tim. They left and went to get some coffee. There they talked about hunting and fishing. Mike allowed that he still shot the .243 Winchester, because he couldn’t see the need to go bigger where he did hunt. He also regaled them with tales of his tracking and survival training and his knowledge of poopology. They had an enjoyable time and agreed to do it again the next month.
That Monday Roger and Tim met in Tim’s office. “Well what do you think?” asked Roger.
“Hell, he loves the outdoors, is a good shot, has some woodcraft, is pretty strong and athletic and wants to get back at those turbaned bastards. He’d make a good Marine is what I think. Maybe we should go talk to the Captain.”
With that the two got up and walked to Captain Mann’s office. He commanded the Iron Side Brigade, the name of the NROTC unit. After they’d sat down, they laid out the situation to the Captain. “So, let me see,” said the Captain, “you two want to recruit a PhD candidate at MIT who is only 18 to join the unit and you expect him to be a Marine Option. I assume this is a contract student?” Both men nodded. The Captain thought for a few minutes, then looked up and smiled. “Hell, a Marine second louie with a PhD from MIT, who’ll want a combat posting. I love it! One of my classmates is in BUPERS and handles a lot of this stuff. I’ll give him a call and talk with him. If he thinks it’s a go, he’ll grease the skids and layout what we need to do. I’m sure that this will take a couple of weeks. Thanks for making my day.” The two got up and left. Outside the shook hands and went off to attend to their day.
A few weeks later Captain Mann called them into his office. “I’ve got good news, my classmate at BUPERS said that there can be an exception made because he’s so young. He told me that the Marines weren’t so sure, but the Navy side of the house loved it. Although I think the Marines like it as well. One of the brass figured out that they might have the smartest 0-1 in the services not stuck in some lab someplace. Here’s what you need to do. There’s a form letter that I’ve had typed up. He’ll need to put in all the relevant details and then we’ll get it going. For the cherry on top if we got a recommendation from his brother, father and uncle that would put some added oomph to it. Not that we think it’s needed. But this is a military
family and once they look at the records it will really be smooth sailing.”
Both Roger and Tim were elated. The after the next Saturday at the range Tim broached the topic to Mike. “Mike Roger told me that if you’d lost your father you would have quit to join the Marines.” Mike nodded, not sure where this was going. “Well what about joining the Marines for a 4-year tour after you get your PhD. We’ve got a Marine option in the NROTC unit and all the students in Harvard and MIT can join. You’d join as a contract student. The only sticking point is that you’ve already got your bachelor’s degree, but our CO checked with BUPERS and they would probably approve it. The CO gened up a letter and you’ll just need to fill in the particulars; and then we type it up in the proper form and you sign it. If we could get recommendations from your father, uncle and brother that would be as our CO says the ‘Cherry on Top'. What do you think?”
Mike knew what BUPERS was and he was sort of familiar with NROTC since his brother went through it at Penn. But he was very interested but wanted to know everything before he agreed. “So, what would this entail?”
“You’d have classes 4 days a week at 8 AM. Three classroom sessions and one drill session. The drill session is where you learn to march, salute all the military stuff. Most of the classes are history and military theory classes. As a contract student you’d just go to Marine OCS for six weeks in the summer before you get your degree. Oh, and you’ll get money in your last two years.”
“I’m really interested, but I need to talk with my parents. I’ll come over and pick up that letter and fill it out on Monday.”
Through the Gate: The Chronicles of Cornu Book 1 Page 18
