EpilogueDespite the upbeat messages of hope carried by the churchmen, politicians, and generals who attended the memorial services at the Marine Corps base in North Carolina from which the Marines that served in Beirut were launched toward the Middle East, it was a maudlin affair. Gunnery Sergeant Barlow attended only to ensure the color detail and the squad firing the traditional rifle salute to the dead didn’t screw it up. It was the least he could do in his last few days of active service after 22 years as a United States Marine.
Colonel Skaggs stood quietly beside him in the last row of the survivors’ section at the ceremony. He was an odds-on favorite for the chopping block now that Congress was outraged and screaming for answers from everyone with an opinion about what the hell happ
