FALSE BLOOD!
The Fable of “Sergeant Major Larry E. Gugle, (USMC, Retired)"
(Betrayal and Treachery at the hand of a friend.)
By
Doug Todd
The Games he Played
He came to us with (we thought) the hand of friendship extended – he came to us as a Brother – he came as a Fellow marine who had been where we had been, had fought where we had fought – as one who had shared the triumphs and the tragedies that had shaped our lives and had made us who and what we are; he came as one of that little Fraternity known as “The Walking Dead”. He came as a Leader of Men, a Sergeant Major of Marines and a Decorated Combat Veteran of Vietnam.
We accepted him for what he claimed to be. We offered him a place to rest among friends. We gave him respect, admiration and honor. We elected him to a position of great trust. A heroic account of his supposed life was published in a book about Vietnam.
Too late we knew that we had been taken in by a con man – by a thief and a liar whose stock in trade was treachery and betrayal! Too late we learned that not only was he not the hero he had led us to believe he was but that he was not a Vietnam Veteran and had never been a Sergeant Major! He was like an attention-seeking child playing soldier and trying to impress his Mom with a smear of ketchup on his face, ( “Look Ma! It’s Blood! Look at me!”)
The battles he never fought, the medals he never won, the trails he never walked – it is almost incomprehensible that he made us believe!
For some who tried to just “put it behind” and took years to reach the point of admitting what they had lived through – it is difficult to understand why one who was never there would brag that he had been! We don’t have to understand – just “put it behind” with all the other incomprehensible things that have plagued our existence.
Brothers – the pain from the knife in your back is made worse by the knowledge that it was sharpened and shoved there by the hand you once grasped in friendship – I know, too, that it is increased by the treacherous smile that never quite faded – the glib “Did that hurt? Oh! Sorry buddy!” (Look Ma! Real blood this time! Look at me! Look, Ma! Look! Look!)
Let’s give it no more importance than it deserves. It is a painful disappointment but we can take it! We walked through the fire together and sustained each other through the cold of the great darkness that covered the homecoming that never happened – this is nothing in comparison!
(It don't mean nuthin' -- drive on!)
