Sattahip Navy Base
C
ommander Habu Scoggins was just finishing dinner at the officer’s club when a senior officer approached. The man wore the shoulder boards of a Vice Admiral and the room hushed as he nodded to a few acquaintances and then headed directly for the table Scoggins was occupying in the corner of the room. He was a bit rotund and very bald, looking as if Ho Tai, the laughing Buddha, had arrived in Sattahip wearing a Royal Thai Marine Corps uniform. Out of habit and shock, Scoggins sprang to attention. The officer smiled and waved for him to sit.
Scoggins recognized Vice Admiral Sangkorn Pongsiri from photos in local papers and a few TV interviews the Commandant of the Thai Marines had given, but he’d never met the man in person. As they sat across from each other, Scoggins
