He wasn’t the kind to duck responsibility, and if the colonel had demanded that he meet with the delegation, Shake would have done as directed. Fortunately, the MAU commander, a solid officer that Shake had served with a number of times before Beirut, was wise enough to know his STA Platoon leader was working on a very short fuse. One too many inane questions or requests for opinion to support preconceived notions and there would be a detonation. The colonel admired honesty and plain speaking but he wanted it delivered by someone with a little more patience and tact than Gunner Shake Davis.
The helicopter settled neatly on the flight deck of the USS Iwo Jima (LPH-2) and Shake waited patiently until the crew chief gave him the nod to disembark through the after cargo ramp. A flight deck Bo
