FEARLESS FRIDAY
Please welcome my guest Stan Hampton back to Fearless Friday for another life altering segment of his life.
Hello!
So
here we are again, Fearless Friday.
As
I said before, people like a safe and known routine; most are not likely to do
anything that requires a leap of faith to plunge into an unknown even though
the rewards may be great.
Believe
it or not, my decision to join the Army National Guard at the ripe old age of
52 was something I had to think long and hard about. I served in the Army from
1974-1985, attaining the rank of Staff Sergeant. Then I served in the Army
Reserve from 1985-1995, attaining the rank of Sergeant First Class, as well as
being mobilized for the Persian Gulf War (I never left the country; I spent the
brief war stateside writing photojournalism articles). In 1995 I left the Army
Reserve.
The
idea of military service did not come up as a real possibility until the fall
of 2004.
By
then I had left Colorado Springs for Las Vegas, lived briefly in Arizona a
couple of times, reconciled with my ex-wife (meaning that I decided not to hate
her or the world and everyone in it anymore—I had spent most of my life
consumed by anger) and saw an engagement fall apart. And there was 9/11. Just
like the beginning of the Persian Gulf War, my Army was going to war without
me.
In
the fall of 2004 I was researching the Army National Guard as background for a
story I was writing, and it came to my attention that I was eligible to enlist
in the Guard. Before I knew it, I was speaking with a recruiter.
So,
at age 52, unemployed, and living in a Las Vegas weekly (cross between a motel
and an apartment), the idea of returning to military service dangled before me.
I could come back as a Staff Sergeant, but upon retirement (if I stayed in the
Guard), I would retire at my previous rank of Sergeant First Class. I would also
retrain as a Human Resources NCO. My commitment would be one weekend a month,
and two weeks during the summer.
As
“dead end” as my current life appeared to be, it was still a known routine,
perhaps even one I was, unfortunately, comfortable with. Yet, after visiting
with a friend who I considered to be smart and to have a good head on her
shoulders, I decided to enlist. I had always missed the military, and especially
the camaraderie; it is a camaraderie that one may only find among the police
and firemen.
While
working for a temporary employment agency in support of a convention in Las
Vegas, I enlisted in October 2004; the owner of the agency and my immediate
supervisor were present to watch my swearing in.
Three
weeks later I received orders mobilizing me for active duty with my Guard
Cavalry squadron at Fort Irwin, California (they were mobilized for active duty
in August 2004). Yes, I was nervous, and I had second thoughts. As I packed, I
wondered why I enlisted.
On
Thanksgiving Day I was doing morning Physical Training (PT) with my unit—the
first time I did PT since 1985, and it was painful. Before PT ended, the Troop
Commander had us gather in a circle, and the Squadron Chaplain spoke to us. That
cold morning as the sun peeked over the horizon, the Chaplain reminded us that
we were out there in uniform, on Thanksgiving morning, doing our job, serving
our country, so that the rest of our fellow citizens could enjoy the holiday
with their families.
Rhetorically,
I wondered how many men my age were in uniform doing PT on Thanksgiving morning
instead of being at home with their families. I felt a burst of pride in
serving with my fellow Soldiers.
At
that moment my remaining doubts disappeared.
THE GATES OF MOSES
BLURB: An engineer dedicated
to saving Venice
from the rising seas, fails in his task. As a severe storm and high tides
threaten to burst through the flood walls, he resolves to remain in Venice with a ghostly
lover who claimed his heart years before. A woman from his staff who loves him,
does not evacuate, but remains to battle his ghostly lover before he dies in a
sinking Venice…
EXCERPT: The dull booms, like
the measured beats of a primeval heart, echoed through the gray drizzling
afternoon. Each boom was a countdown to a finely predicted cataclysm that man,
through his mistaken notion that he could control nature, had finally admitted
that he was powerless to hold back.
Dr. Gregorio Romano, tall, with dark brown hair and
watchful hazel eyes, stood before the open tall narrow window of his corner
office in the ornate, gilded Ducal Palace of the once La Serenissima Repubblica
di Venezia, the Most Serene Republic of Venice, and peered into the gray
drizzle toward the unseen barrier islands. The almost submerged islands of Lido
and Pellestrina, with their channels opening onto the Adriatic
Sea, formed the southeastern perimeter of the timeless Venetian
lagoon. He listened to the echoing booms of the rising, stormy Adriatic, and
thought of a mythical, prehistoric mother who gave birth to an imaginative
species that dreamed of the impossible and often made it happen. And now the
mother was ready to take back one of the greatest dreams of her children, ready
to clasp it deep within her bosom.
“Gregorio?”
“Yes,” he replied as he gazed at the gray choppy waters
of the lagoon.
“Have you reconsidered? Are you ready to evacuate?”
“Not yet.” Gregorio tilted his head slightly as a sleek
dark gondola glided effortlessly across frothy, white-capped waters and halted
before the flooded wharf, the Riva degli Schiavoni, in front of the Palace.
Patrizia Celentano, the first and last female gondolier
of Venice,
looked up at him and gave a friendly wave. He raised a hand in return. Her
gondola was a traditionally built and shaped boat, but rather than the
traditional black as required by law, she painted it a dark wine color. Though
she offered to erect a shelter to protect Gregorio from the elements, he always
preferred to ride in the open.
“We can evacuate you by force if necessary.”
“You won’t,” Gregorio smiled as he turned to face his
computer on the polished wooden desk. The broad, bearded face of his boss, Dr.
Niccolo Ricci, nodded in agreement. “There’s no need, and a helicopter is
scheduled to pick me up from the roof of my home tomorrow morning at 0600
hours.”
“The calculations might be incorrect. The gates could
break tonight...”
www.melange-books.com/authors/sshampton/GatesofMoses.html
SS Hampton, Sr. is a
full-blood Choctaw of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma, a divorced grandfather to
13 wonderful grandchildren, a published photographer and photojournalist, and a
member of the Military Writers Society of America. He retired on 1 July 2013
from the Army National Guard with the rank of Sergeant First Class; he
previously served in the active duty Army (1974-1985), the Army Individual Ready
Reserve (1985-1995) (mobilized for the Persian Gulf War), and enlisted in the
Army National Guard in October 2004, after which he was mobilized for Federal active
duty for almost three years. Hampton is a veteran of Operations Noble Eagle
(2004-2006) and Iraqi Freedom (2006-2007). His writings have appeared as
stand-alone stories and in anthologies from Dark Opus Press, Edge Science
Fiction & Fantasy, Melange Books, Musa Publishing, MuseItUp Publishing, Ravenous
Romance, and as stand-alone stories in Horror Bound Magazine, The Harrow, and
River Walk Journal, among others. Second-career goals include becoming a
painter and studying for a degree in photography and anthropology—hopefully to
someday work in and photograph underwater archaeology. After 12 years of brown desert
in the Southwest and overseas, he misses the Rocky
Mountains, yellow aspens in the fall, running rivers, and a warm
fireplace during snowy winters. As of December 2011 in Las
Vegas, Nevada, Hampton officially became a homeless Iraq War
veteran.
Melange Books
Musa Publishing
MuseItUp Publishing
Amazon.com Author Page
Amazon.com. UK Author Page
Goodreads Author Page
