Marine Corps Stories: Grace and Strength

Winter’s bite was strong. Snow piled up along the highways thanks to the salt and clearing trucks. In the country, the Marines waited for the cycle to end. They had six more months left. December in this mountainous region of the world seemed as bitter as ever. What could warm Marines more than a few singers and comics from the American Entertainment Organization? The AEO flew in about two dozen entertainers to lift the morale of the battle hardened Leathernecks. First Sergeant Paul Denny had enjoyed the shows ever since he first enlisted and experienced a combat zone. This was no different. Only the names and faces changed. He sat at a makeshift SNCO bar where the barkeep cranked the heat up to eleven. No other SNCOs populated the place. It was about two am.

Just down the way, he saw a woman walk in wearing a black coat and a red dress. At the door, two giant security men stood with their left hand over their right. Retired Marines? Denny asked himself. He was thirty seven with light skin, the kind of skin people call “light bright” or “high yellow.” He was divorced twice with three children. He took hold of a Brandy Alexander, sipped, and shot glances over at the woman. He wasn’t wearing cocktail goggles. This woman was gorgeous. In her early thirties, she possessed cinnamon brown skin and flowing brown hair. Denny got up from his seat and approached the woman. The guards started to make their way towards him. The woman sipped a martini. She looked out of the corner of her eye and glimpsed the man in cammies coming towards her. She noticed her bodyguards. She signaled for them to fall back into their original positions. They threw up their hands and returned to the door.

“You’re Calia,” Denny said. His lips curled into a smile.

“Yes, I am,” Calia said. “And you are...” Calia looked at Denny’s uniform. “First Sergeant Denny.”

“You can call me Paul.”

“Okay...Paul.”

“You’ve done your homework.”

“I come from a military family. My parents were Airmen, my sister was in the Army and I have two cousins who are officers in the Coast Guard.”

“If you shook your family tree, a bunch of ribbons and awards and rank insignia would fall out, huh?”

Calia giggled.

“You were great out there. I mean my daughters love listening to your music. I love listening to your music.”

More giggles. “Thank you so much. And thank you for all that you do. Like I said, I know what it’s like when family members aren’t home, especially for the holidays. So that’s why I hooked up with AEO. They’re wonderful. They really care.”

“My Marines enjoy the comics, and the magicians, and those dancers the most. It’s good for the younger guys, the PFCs and lance corporals, to get a taste of home before they go outside of the wire again. You’ve provided that.”

“Awww,” Calia said and then smiled. “A lot of people call it ‘giving back.’ I refuse to call it that. I’m trading my time and more lucrative gigs not out of sacrifice but to offer an excellent show for deserving individuals. I’ve never taken anything from anyone. Why should I give back or give up a greater value for a lesser one?”

Denny smiled. “I feel the same way. I put on this uniform not out of a sense of duty, but to project a sense of safeguarding my own life and the lives of my Marines for a wonderful country such as America. They’re all worth the fight. Even you,” Denny grinned and sipped from his drink. “How did you get in here anyway?”

“I was directed to go to the Officer’s lounge but they were hosting a sit down with a few comedians. So I said, ‘Staff Noncommissioned Officers club? why not?’”

“Okay. So those boys back there at the door...would they be upset if I asked you to dance?”

Calia gave a motion to her bodyguards again showing that the first sergeant posed no threat.

Denny offered his hand to the young songstress. The both of them strode out to the dance floor and moved slowly and close together with grace and strength.