monk and the marines
By: Philip Kingry.
Series: A Bantam book
Publisher: Bantam Books
Published: 1974
Place of publication: New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 182
First sentence: The Winter is cold and its two fifteen in the morning, long before dawn....you are lying there and its cold in your Cell. The bed is hard. Its is a blue muslin sack stuffed with straw and laid on boards on cement blocks. You have one thin blanket and no pillow. Your Cell measures six by nine feet and is made of Cement. There is a Crucifix on the Wall.

LISTEN!!
hear the Bell in the tower begin its slow long toll?
It is time to Rise.
Description: I wrote this book about forty years ago. Its a case study in a novelized form of what changes a man goes through in Combat. I never was a very good monk. And I wrote the book as therapy after I got out of the service. It reflects accurately what I really was like back that many years ago. I stayed alive, and I learned a lot about what I am like when my life is under mortal stress. I still maintain my contacts with the Monks of my monastery...I am an "Associate" of the Order. I live near the place. By now most of my friends there are all dead of old age. And there havent been a lot of new Novices. But then there arent a lot of men who want to live the life even under the best of circumstances. I still Pray. I take the study of prayer seriously. I know a bit more about Prayer now after 40 years...but I still am the same man...and I am just a very smart Thug who puts up a good front. People underestimate me, I encourage that. It allows me to get in closer.

The book is not great Literature...but its accurate for the man and the times. I preferred to keep men alive but I wasnt always successful and I have blood on my Conscience which I will have to answer for eventually. I would like to say I am a better man after forty years...but I would be lying to you. The man in the book died alone. I probably will also. I dont expect God will be impressed by me. And its almost certain  I will get exactly what I deserve.
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