After the pig hunt, Mike wanted something to cut the noise of the gun down. Both his barrels had AAC combination flash suppressor and muzzel brakes on them. They were threaded for an AAC suppressor, aka silencer. A suppressor is on the NFA list, which means that there was a lot of paperwork to fill out and a $200 tax to pay. He had no trouble with the paperwork. The suppressor he chose was the top of the line AAC quick attach suppressor - the 762 SD. On the next pig hunt after he got it, he used it. Unlike the movies, you could still hear the shot. Only it wasn't deafening. Made taking a lot of shots easier on him. He'd still use the special noise cancelling headphones to save his ears.
The pig hunting continued every couple of weeks. They not only hunted pigs on Ted’s farm but several other farmers in the area had a pig infestation as well. Their only real predators for them where coyotes and the pigs could out breed such predation. On one of the hunts, they ran into a couple of really pig, vicious pigs. They killed two of them before the others scattered. Mike took a picture of the pig and some measurements. When they got back home, they hit the internet to look it up. When the found out that it was a European Wild Boar, Steve was pissed. “What asshole let wild boar escape into the wild. They do as much damage as any other pig, but are bigger, meaner and have some serious tusks. Those suckers are dangerous.”
Nobody could disagree with that.
Teaching at Lejeune
Mike was back at camp Lejeune, after his first deployment. He’d covered for the married guys while they took leave to spend time with the families that they hadn’t seen in eleven months. Families that worried whether their loved ones where going to come back whole, physically and mentally, or come back at all. After they got back, three weeks of leave was enough for Mike. He spent time visiting his parents and stopping in to see Dave Lee, who’d gotten married during the deployment. Dave was at a research lavatory associated with MIT. Like Mike he wanted to do things, not teach and go through the academic grind and politics.
He’d started to get into the swing of the stateside rhythm, having proved a competent platoon commander made dealing with the troops easier. They were now all combat veterans and they knew that 2nd Lieutenant Mulvaney was a good man to follow. Clear headed, decisive, brave but not fool hardy also a bit devious. Something the Insurgents had found out the hard way. Mike and his new platoon Sargent Peters were sitting across from each other at a desk in the cramped company office, when a corporal came looking for 2nd Lieutenant Mulvaney. It seemed that the Battalion CO was in the base commandant’s office and they both wanted to see Mike. He looked at Sargent Peters, who just shrugged his shoulders. He seemingly had no idea what this was all about. So, Mike followed the corporal out and headed to the commandant’s office.
The base headquarters, like most of the camp was more World War II and Korean war vintage buildings than anything built in the last 25 years. The commandant’s office was on the 2nd deck, floor for all those non-marines. Mike went up ladder, not stairs, and went into the office. He was prepared to wait a while. This after all was the military and hurry up and wait was the norm. Instead the commandant’s aid a 1st Lieutenant, sent him right in. As soon as he got in the door Mike snapped to attention and called out in clear voice. “2nd Lieutenant Mulvaney reporting as ordered Sir.”
He looked and his Battalion CO, a two-star general, he took to be the commandant and female marine major were all seated at a table. There was one extra chair. “At ease Mulvaney, please take a seat and join us. We’d like to get your help on something. Oh, this is Major Barnes.” Said the general.
Mike sat down. “Sirs, Ma’am. What is it that I can help you with?”
The general then talked about the fact that there was an extension of the University of North Carolina on the base. It was administered locally by the Wilmington branch of the university. They were having trouble getting them to accept Marines to teach the lower level math courses. He was wondering if Mike would be interested in teaching any of the courses and if he felt qualified.
Mike was sure that he could teach them as his doctorate was in Materials Science, and he had a very heavy math background. He mentioned the two patents and several papers he’d been a co-author of.
With the general’s agreement, Major Barnes took over. She explained that he’d be vetted by the university. They would be on base next Monday and would want to go over his qualifications. There would be two representatives, Dr. Roger Remington who was in charge of assembling faculty and a Dr. Angela Martin who had her PhD in applied mathematics. After a few more questions, Mike said he’d have his curriculum vitae to Major Barnes late the next day. He also let them know that he’d get some recommendations from his profs at MIT. With that he took his leave.
After he left the General leaned back in his chair and smiled. “Well that prick Remington can put that in his pipe and smoke it. He’s been a pain in our ass since he took the job. By the way Tom” looking at the Battalion CO, “he’s clearly a brain. What kind of combat officer is he?”
“Good, he got his feet under him pretty quickly. Until he did, he listened to his Sargent and the other officers. He asked questions. He’s cool in a combat situation, thinks on his feet and has a good tactical sense. He’d have a good career if he stayed in, which of course he won’t. He’ll do his four and go back and do research.”
“Well” answered the general “that’s good to hear. But I guess I’d have to ask why he’s in the Marines?”
“His father was in the World Trade Center on 9/11. He got out. Family friends didn’t. His brother is the Ops officer for one the hornet squadrons at Oceana. From what I hear, he at least has eagles in his future if not a star. His father was in the brown water navy in NAM, retired as a Captain in the reserves. The family has a lot of military in it. He wanted do something and this is it.”
“Makes sense.” Turning to Major Barnes the general asked. “You see any issues with this, Brenda?”
The major shook her head. To herself she thought that this whole thing was going to be a lot of fun. Some pay back to Roger Remington, who’d been an ass every chance he got. He’d even heard him call her a dyke behind her back. Well a PhD from MIT ought to shut him up.
After leaving Mike started to ask around. Being as subtle as he could be. Having observed academia up close he was aware of the highly political nature of the game. And the large number of inflated egos that tended to inhabit the space. What he found out didn’t really surprise him. Remington was an arrogant, pompous ass. He had a position of power and used it. A couple of people put him down because he was gay. Mike didn’t get into the gay or not thing as he didn’t care about people’s sexual orientation and he was pretty sure at least one of his people was gay. The guy was a good troop and could be counted on to have your back in a fight. That caught him a lot of slack with the other men in the platoon who overlooked his ‘peculiarities’. Mike was well aware that in the conservative Marine Corp that wasn’t the way people may have felt privately. But the official line was ‘Don’t ask don’t tell’. That went double for a combat unit, especially if ‘the don’t ask’ person was carrying their load.
Given, that information he pulled out his address book and started making calls. His first was to Dave Lee, who he could tell the whole truth to. Between them they came up with a few names that Mike could call. Dave was going to let some other people know that Mike was going to be teaching at Lejeune for the University of North Carolina. In the hierarchical world of academia, UNC was very good but not MIT. UNC Wilmington wasn’t in the discussion. Once Mike and Dave were done, there was little doubt that there would be some phone calls from Cambridge to Chapel Hill. Everybody understood the game. The message would be clear. Mike was top notch, don’t treat him any other way.
Later the next day Mike walked into headquarters and found Major Barnes office. After knocking he entered and gave her his CV. He also mentioned that he was working on getting some recommendations. Major Barnes let him know that his interview would be the las
t, at around 1400 hours in the conference room next to her office. Mike assured her that he’d be there in plenty of time. Brenda Barnes was not a dumb woman. She realized that Mike must have done some research and reached out to MIT to for some support. That was going to make Remington unhappy.
Monday was a clear day. After lunch Mike got some paperwork out of the way. He cleaned up a bit and headed over to the headquarters building for his meeting. He had to wait until almost 1500 until he was called. As he walked into the room, he saw three people sitting down one side of the conference room table, Major Barnes, a man he took to be Dr. Remington and a smaller woman who he assumed was Dr. Martin. There was a chair on the other side of the table. Before, seating he acknowledged Major Barnes and then shook Dr. Remington’s hand. “Dr. Remington it’s very nice to meet you, I’m Dr. Mulvaney.” This was academia and he was going in as an academic, not a Marine. He then turned and shook Dr. Martin. Smiling at her and once again using his academic title. Dr. Martin smiled back at him. “Please call me Angela.”
Remington was a thin man of average height with a receding hairline who dressed in some sort of an approximation of an English academic. Mike took him for an arrogant ass, who had a very high opinion of himself. Dr. Martin, or Angela as she wanted to be called was no more than thirty. Thin with brown hair and big glasses. You could call her mousey, but she wasn’t. She had too much spark to be called that. She was plain, but attractively dressed. He thought he could easily work with her, although first impressions can be deceiving. Remington on the other hand was someone, the less he saw of, the better he'd liked it.
The interview started and Dr Remington kept referring to him as Lieutenant. He was deliberately ignoring his academic title. Angela kept calling him Dr. Mulvaney. Mike could see that Remington would love to downgrade his qualifications, but simply couldn’t. His credentials were good enough that the main UNC campus would take him as an assistance professor on track for tenure in heartbeat and Remington knew it. He then turned the questioning over Dr. Martin. After about 20 minutes of going over various Mathematical theorems she stopped.
‘I’m satisfied that Dr. Mulvaney can easily teach the two classes we have in mind, Introduction to College Math and Introduction to Calculus. Don’t you agree Dr. Remington.”
Remington was caught, Mike could see it, Major Barnes could see it, and so could Angela. In fact, the woman looked very pleased with herself. “Yes, I agree Angela, the Lieutenant should be able to handle the classes. I would like more teaching experience. You will be sure to provide proper guidance won’t you Angela?” Remington looked like he’d just eaten something unpleasant. “Well I think we’re done here. Angela if you would be so kind as to handle all of the arrangements.” With that Remington got up and left the room without any further interaction with anybody.
“Well that was interesting. I was sure that he almost said more teaching experience at some place with a more rigorous academic reputation. That’s one of his lines. But that would have made him look even more of an ass.” After saying that Angela beamed. “Mike, I hope we can be on a first name basis.” Mike nodded his head and smiled. “Here’s my card, it has my office number and I’ve put my personal cell number on the back. I’m wondering if you could give me your cell?” Mike wrote his number on the card she handed him. “Great, if you have any questions don’t hesitate to call me. No problem contacting me at home. I live partway between here and Wilmington. Here’s the textbooks we’ll be using.” As she handed two books to Mike. “I’ll be in class the first week to help in any way I can. The course schedule is Monday and Wednesday for an hour and a half for each class. They start at 1700 and run consecutively. That means a late diner. I know a place where we can get something to eat and go over everything. Does that sound alright to you?”
Mike agreed with this and said that he’d go over the texts and write a course outline and start on lecture notes. He’d also review some of the student profiles and make sure he pitches the courses to them correctly. He promised to call Angela if he had any questions. With that he made his farewells and left.
Brenda Barnes had noticed the predatory glint in Angela’s eyes. She known the woman for over a year and had quickly revised her opinion of her. At first impression she appeared to be a somewhat mousey intellectual. She was very smart, maybe not as smart as the Lieutenant but still up there. She was also very personable and determined. And in her own way, very feminine. She knew that Angela had her sights set on Lieutenant Mulvaney as at least a sexual partner. She wouldn’t bet against Angela having him in her bed shortly. Barnes knew that her report to the general would make him happy. She wouldn’t share her suspicions about Angela’s intentions to the general. She would share them with her husband though. That would probably up his libido and she had every intention of taking advantage of that.
Angela looked at Brenda with a sparkle in her eyes. “He’ll do very nicely, very nicely indeed.” Brenda smiled back and the Angela left.
The Mouse that roared
Mike shared a house with two other bachelor junior officers. It gave them a break from the military, something that they needed after tension filled deployments. He was invited to join them before he returned from his first deployment as one of the roommates had gotten married and transferred. The house was about 15 minutes from the base. It had three bedrooms and two bathrooms, so each of them had a bedroom and only had to share a bath. They’d hired a cleaning service to come in once a week and give the place a good going over. Being Marines neatness had been drilled into them. So, the place was never really a mess, but this saved them the trouble of having to really clean up.
When he got home, he found his two roommates in the living room watching TV. They wanted to know how it went. Mike gave them a blow by blow description of the whole thing. Including how having to certify him to teach courses really stuck in Remington’s craw. They both said, “Way to go Mike.” As they stood to exchange high fives. “Time for a couple of brewskis to celebrate this.” As they all headed for the kitchen to get some Coronas out of the fridge.
As they sat drinking his two roommates were down on Remington because of his sexuality. “Hey guys, Remington may be gay, but he’d be an egotistical asshole whether he was gay or straight.” Mike saw his roommates starting to voice an objection, so he continued. “Remember Eddie Albert from Green Acres that comedy with Zsa Zsa Gabor. I think Eddie was a little light in the shoes if you know what I mean. But did you know he was a coxswain at Bloody Tarawa and pulled a bunch of Marines off some sandbar or something and saved their lives. And it wasn’t like it was a walk in the park for him either. Also, you all know we’ve got some gay Marines in the company. We don’t go looking for them. But do you really care if a guy can be counted on when there are bullets flying all over the place, if he’s gay or not?”
“Damn it, Mike, why did you go and ruin a perfectly good rant about gays with all these facts?” Asked Steve.
Looking around Pete said. “Now that we’ve gone all politically correct about gays and had our arguments shoved down our throats by Mike. Let’s talk about Mike’s chances with the good Dr. Martin. I can see it all now. Two lonely geeks thrown together while surrounded by knuckle dragging Marines. They find each other and murmur sweet algorithms to each other, all the while going over quadratic equations on the blackboard. Ah sweet Love.”
Both Pete and Steve high fived.
“Fuck, I didn’t know that you knuckle dragging Academy grads knew what an algorithm was, let alone quadratic equations.” Was Mike’s reply.
The next night Mike started getting ready for class. The first thing he did was to go over the introductory text. Introductory math was not something that was part of the MIT curriculum. It was more of a high school plus course for people who needed more math than they had gotten in high school or needed to brush up on moribund math skills. That’s the way he approached it. He laid out what he thought would be a good progression. What he needed was someone to calibrate his idea
s against. His two roommates were Academy graduates and they had a pretty solid mathematical foundation. That left his platoon sergeant. The next day he asked him if he and a couple of other senior enlisted would look at his take on this and give him solid feedback. He knew they wouldn’t sugar coat it,
He knew he could handle introductory calculus on his own. That didn’t take nearly as much time. A course outline with what chapters would be covered when, when the tests would be and what they would cover. He also had lecture notes and assignments to get him through the first six classes.
The next day was Friday and towards the end of the workday, Sergeant Riley, his platoon sergeant, let him know that he and some of the other senior enlisted had gone over the items he’d given them, and would he have time for feedback. Ten minutes later four other senior enlisted, including the Sergeant Major took up seats around Mike’s desk. They laid out their suggestions. Mike asked questions and listened carefully to their responses. He made notes and corrections on his copy of what he’d given them. He told them that it would be very helpful, and he really appreciated their effort.
Then the Sergeant Major spoke up. “Sir, it’s getting near time for the SAT and ACT tests. We’ve got prep classes going in high school on Tuesday evenings and Sunday nights. I was wondering if you had any suggestions.”
Mike instantly picked up on the unstated request that he help prepare the high schoolers for the test. The school was very important to everyone on the base. It was a place where all the kids were under the same sort of stresses. Parents being away on dangerous assignments and not at home. Moving and having to re-establish yourself. All things pretty stressful to a child and especially a teenager. While he didn’t exactly have the same experiences as these kids did, Mike did have a very different childhood and teenage years than the normal person. It was only through the hard work of his parents, siblings and friends that he came out of it as well as he did. It didn’t take him more than a second to decide. He let them know he’d be glad to help in any way he could. He’d make sure he was there for tutoring and if he there was a group stuck on something, he’d teach a mini class. There smiles all around and the men left. Mike felt pretty good about it. He left to polish his notes and finish up his preparations for the introductory course.
Through the Gate: The Chronicles of Cornu Book 1 Page 29
