Chapter FourTHE MONSOON RAGED. The summer months had been brutal and unrepentant, and everybody prayed for the monsoon to come early. When the monsoon arrived, the deluge turned the red clay into a quagmire and the mud snapped at their boots like rabid dogs, tugged at them like shackles on the legs of prisoners. There were two seasons in Nam and both were merciless.
Captain Mordecai “Mawk” Pell arose at 0500 as he had each and every morning of his 24 years in the Marine Corps. He finished his isometrics, showered and shaved, and headed for the ISO office. There, he started a pot of coffee and sat behind his desk and peeled an orange.
He was annoyed by MSgt. Grover’s blow-up with Roark, and he was doubly vexed that he had to call him on it in front of the troops. Critique in private, prai
