Author: Ira Paine

The Saga of Miles Forrest

by Ira Paine, Posted on
Anything else you can tell me about the man?” I asked, hoping that the livery man might be more amiable since the marshal had left.
     He shook his head.  “Like I said, I don’t pay much attention to those who come and go.”
     “Do you remember if he was shot?”
     “Marshal, from my recollection, no person came into the livery bleeding.  I would have noticed that, but again, I don’t pay much attention.”
     I gave him a little wave indicating that he could go back to his work, whatever that might be.  There were three hotels in town and I could check their registers, or if it was my man he might be seeking a doctor.  I started back up the street to find something for supper thinking about that marshal.  He sure didn’t make the town feel like home.  “Lyles Hampton,” I muttered on my walk.  The name sounded familiar.  I would go ahead and eat, then maybe check the other hotels.  The man was carrying my bullet, maybe that would be a persuader to quit his evil ways and get on the straight and narrow.
     Shots were fired a distance away.  I took a couple of quick steps towards the sound, but caught myself–old habits die hard.  Not my town, and I wasn’t going to make it my jurisdiction.  Now, I told myself as I stepped upon the boardwalk leading into a cocina, that doesn’t mean if I don’t see a wrong being committed I wouldn’t step in, we all have that responsibility, but I wouldn’t interfere with the town marshal.  Hampton, I shook my head.
 
     I made that cocina my place to eat while I was in Taos trying different things that I could tell Molly when I got home.  They had good food, not any better than Emelda’s, but they had one thing they called a chili relleno that caught my fancy.  Three days later I was back in Durango.  I’d wait a couple of days before confronting Martin.  Maybe he would make a slip and give himself away.  I was not worrying for by now Agatha and Javier would be settled in.
     It was good to be home.  Charlie was out investigating some cattle rustling.  Seemed a small herd headed for Telluride had been stolen.  That meant no fresh meat for the people and miners there, but also some small rancher was out of his money.  That was the nice thing about sheriffing–helping others.  Not that I didn’t think I did as a U.S. Marshal, it was just different for often I did not see those against whom the crime was committed, I just went after the miscreants.
     Molly had baked me a butterscotch pie when I returned and I was sitting at my regular spot in the diner, by the stove as it was still cool in the mornings.  The coffee was always there, and I was enjoying the company with my wife.  Doc Jones was up the canyon delivering a baby.  So we were sitting alone.  Maybe after I finished my pie, I’d go up and see Mateo and Lucas at the jail.
     “What’s wrong, Miles?” The question caught me off guard.  “You were just staring off into space looking over the rim of your cup.”
     I took a quick sip, I hadn’t realized what I was doing.  “Nothin’, at least nothin’ that I know of.”
     “You were off somewhere’s, I was just wondering,” remarked Molly.
     Honestly I couldn’t remember what I had been thinking about, so I gave her a blank stare telling her so.  I scratched my head, then pulled at my moustache after which I got up to get a refill.  Grabbing the pot I made a motion if Molly wanted her cup warmed up, then I filled mine.
     Upon taking my place at the table again, I told her that nothing was going through my head, I was just staring.  For that I received a smirk.  “There is one thing, however,” I started, “I met the marshal in Taos, and his name keeps going through my mind like I should know it.  I know I have never met the man before, but still…”
     A couple of customers came in and Lola, Marta’s niece, went over to wait on them.  With the baby, Marta hadn’t been working as much and Lola was doing a good job.  She had a great demeanor about her, and was always friendly with the customers.
     “Molly, have you ever seen the ruins?” I asked abruptly.  The thought came out of nowhere, and before she could answer I added, “We could take a week, pack up and I could take you to see them.  Two-Bits needs some work, I don’t know the last time she’s seen a saddle.”
     She gave me a look.  “What brought that on?”
     I took a deep sip, “I don’t know, it just hit me.  We haven’t been anyplace in a while.  I don’t care to take you up to Silverton, and I know you don’t like Denver, so we could go out to the ruins.  It’s not too hot yet, and the streams should have plenty of water.”
     “Plus, I need some time alone, in God’s great cathedral to think and ponder, and want you with me.  Time is passin’ us by and we need to see some things together before we get too old to sit in the saddle.”
     That brought a chuckle.  “You mean before I get too old to ride.”
     I didn’t mean that at all, but decided that I should now take another bite of pie.  “Let’s plan on leaving next week, I do want to see Amos Martin.  The man who died had a name on his lips as he was dyin’ that sounded like Martin.  I want to confront him with it.”
     “I don’t know why he, or anyone else is like that,” uttered Molly.
     I shook my head in answer, then Mateo stepped through the doorway…

 

Echoes From the Campfire

by Ira Paine, Posted on

I am the harvest of man’s stupidity. I am the fruit of the holocaust. I prayed like you to survive, but look at me now. It is over for us who are dead, but you must struggle, and will carry the memories all your life. People back home will wonder why you can’t forget.”

                    –E. B Sledge  (With the Old Breed)

       “With every prayer and request, pray at all times in the Spirit, and stay alert in this, with all perseverance and intercession for all the saints.”
                    –Ephesians 6:18(HCSB)
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I argued with myself regarding today’s Echo, especially since I wrote about Memorial Day last Friday.  I won the argument.  In today’s society I don’t think we can say too much regarding the sacrifices of those who have gone before.  Much, way too many, walk along today with their hands out and their noses pointed into their phones.  Sacrifice?  What is that?  Security?  Why is that something we need, I have all I want, well, maybe not…?
     I don’t know if there’s any rhyme to what I’m saying but there is reason.  George Washington said many years ago, “The willingness with which our young people are likely to serve in any war, no matter how justified, shall be directly proportional as to how they perceive the veterans of earlier wars were Treated and Appreciated by their nation.”  If we do not appreciate and understand the sacrifice of previous generations and if it is not taught to the following generations what is left?  We have done a pretty good job, oh, until the war in Vietnam.  There is so much nonsense and verbariage spoken and written regarding that war, and yes, it was a war, but it was then that we ceased to honor our servicemen.  There was a reprisal with 9/11/01, but it has been short-lived, especially now with the attacks on our military by Wokeism, socialism, and progressivism.  Our military is being cut apart from within; dismantling itself.
     Remove the monument, and not only those that are statues, but those in the textbooks.  Tear down the men and women, put in their place weaklings, ne’er-do-wells, and a host of other ill-reputable ideologies.  Sacrifice may be required, the ultimate sacrifice may be among them.  How can the man or woman in the military respond to that without the concept of a higher moral base.  In fact, Stephen Mansfield wrote that the creed a soldier is to live by “asks for moral conduct and sacrifice that isn’t usually possible for human beings without some higher truth in their lives.”  Higher truth–certainly not man’s then, but God’s.  Washington said in his Farewell Address, “Let us with caution indulge the supposition that morality can be maintained without religion.”  
     This Memorial Day, take time to reflect, but also to think about what is happening and what could happen if we should weaken our military, physically, mentally, and morally.  Yes, the standards have been lowered, of that I am convinced and have seen practical evidence of that.  But ponder the words I write below.  They may be regarding veterans, but if the standards are not maintained, if the veteran is not honored, what kind of sacrifice is to be made?  The sacrifice of our country as we know and love it.

     “It was life rather than death that faded into the distance, as I grew into a state of not thinking, not feeling, not seeing.  I moved past trees, past other things; men passed by me, carrying other men, some crying, some cursing, some silent.  They were all unreal.  Balanced uneasily on the knife-edge between utter oblivion and this temporary not-knowing, it seemed little matter whether I were…to go forward to death or to come back to life.”  –Captain Wyn Griffith (1916)

     I can remember, way back when I was in grade school being taught those famous words given by Nathan Hale, “I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country.”  Is this still being taught?  I doubt it.  The words can be googled, but the courage and tenacity behind those words cannot.  Stand firm in defense of our country, yet we see hundreds of college students crying in favor of fascism and socialism.  And let me say this, from my studies, fascism is not dead.  It was not eradicated with World War II.  It now has cloaked itself with new names, new lies, and the closest I can see that resembles fascism is the tyrannical governments proposed by Hamas, ISIS, Hezbollah and the like.  Radical Islam, study it, reeks of fascism.  Be ready, Paul wrote to the Corinthians, “For if the trumpet makes an uncertain sound, who will prepare for battle?” (1 Corinthians 14:8, NKJV)
     One of the core values of the Air Force states, “Integrity is a character trait.  It is the willingness to do what is right even when no one is looking.  It is the ‘moral compass’ the inner voice; the voice of self-control; the basis for the trust imperative in today’s military.”  With so many changes taking place in our military I wonder if this is still one of the core values.  The Marines are dropping Drill Instructor (D.I.) to Drill Sergeant–big deal you say–yes, a beginning.  The Air Force, formally T.I., technical instructors are now Military Training Instructors (MTI).  It is to soften the image of the old D.I.  The man who was in charge of taking snot-nosed kids and making them into men.
     I’ll close my ramblings today with the words from Shakespeare.  The Feast of Crispian and King Henry V made a speech.  It would do us well to reflect upon his words.  Few out there today can relate to it.  They see movies, i.e., Band of Brothers, but they cannot know the impact.  They may look up from their phones, but they do not understand nor do most of them want to.  Ponder the speech, and have a wonderful Memorial Day.

          “That he which hath no stomach to this fight, let him depart; his passport shall be made, and crowns for convoy put into his purse; we would not die in that man’s company that fears his fellowship to die with us.  This day is call’d the feast of Crispian.  He that outlives this day, and come safe home, will stand a tip-toe when this day is nam’d, and rouse him at the name of Crispian.  He that shall live this day, and see old age, will yearly on the vigil feast his neighbours, and say ‘To-morrow is Saint Crispian.’  Then will he strip his sleeve and show his scars, and say ‘These wounds I had on Crispin’s day.’  Old men forget; yet all shall be forgot, but he’ll remember, with advantages what feats he did that day…  
          This story shall the good man teach his son; and Crispin Crispian shall ne’er go by, from this day to the ending of the world, but we in it shall be remembered–we few, we happy few, we band of brothers; for he to-day that sheds his blood with me shall be my brother; be he ne’er so vile, this day shall gentle his condition; and gentlemen in England now abed shall think themselves accurs’d they were not here…”

“This is why you must take up the full armor of God, so that you may be able to resist in the evil day, and have prepared everything, to take your stand.”  –Ephesians 6:13, HCSB

 

Coffee Percs

by Ira Paine, Posted on

I heated up a canteen cup of coffee with a sterno tablet. I had to hover over it to keep the rain from drowning it out.”
                    –E.B. Sledge

Yippi-ki-yay, Pard, it’s Saturday.  Just wanted to let out a hoot ’cause the Lord done blessed us with another day together, and that the coffee is ready, hot, and ready to be guzzled.  I was readin’ ol’ Sledge’s quotation.  I’ve made coffee a few times over sterno, but more often over hexamine tablets.  I had a little tripod with a center disc large enough for a tablet.  My cup would fit nicely over it, and I could get one cup hot enough with one tablet.  I was just reading that they were banned last October.  Another good thing done away with ’cause of the fools out there.  Next they’ll be takin’ matches, ’cause they start fires.  “Course these modern matches, the light everywhere kind, don’t light everywhere.  Probably not enough phos’rus on the tip.
     Heard that the blueberries are ripe and ready for the pickin’.  Now if’n I could just go get the daughter and girls to pick me some, maybe even send the Missus to help, I could have me a blueberry pie, or blueberry muffins, or blueberry cake–well, yuh get the picture.  When I was a teenager, ‘back in the sixties blueberry pie was my favorite.  Mmmm, imagine that with a cup of this brew.  Wouldn’t that make the gizzard sit up with delight; might even get a howl from it.
     On a more serious note, I want to share something with yuh.  Maybe it’s more of a comical, stupid, foolish note, but behind it sits the lies of the pit.  The pope, in all his splendor and pseudo-glory has made a proclamation.  He said this on 60 Minutes, “We are all fundamentally good.  Yes, there are some rogues and sinners, but the heart itself is good.”  My, my, is he self-deluded or not?  The prophet of old, Jeremiah, said this, “The heart is deceitful above all things, And desperately wicked; Who can know it?” (Jeremiah 17:9)  Perhaps he should also take a look at Proverbs where the heart is described as foolish, perverse, wicked, proud, haughty, evil, and other such things.  Why even the sage Paul recognized that “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”

     Yelp, Pard, false prophets and deceivers are out there, don’t yuh be caught up in their sayin’s.  An’ the more they rattle an’ spout, the more they believe themselves.  These are those whom the Lord sends a strong delusion to.  Ahhh, sure nothin’ delutin’ ’bout this coffee, that’s for sure.  Pure deee—light!  Pard, yuh watch out for them fakers, seers, an’ the like.  They’ll try to steal the truth from yuh.  An’ don’t go ridin’ off without checkin’ yur cinch first–that’s another way yuh can be deluded, by fallin’ on yur noggin’.
         Vaya con Dios.

 

Echoes From the Campfire

by Ira Paine, Posted on
Soldiers who really care for each other don’t shrug their shoulders and walk away from a situation that needs attention.”
                    –Chuck Holton

       “Then the Lord said to Cain, ‘Where is Abel your brother?’ And he said, ‘I do not know. Am I my brother’s keeper?'”
                    –Genesis 4:9 (NASB)
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               ALL GAVE SOME
               SOME GAVE ALL!

This coming Monday is a day we celebrate Memorial Day.  Yes, I used the term “celebrate,” though some think that is improper, because we can celebrate our freedom because of the sacrifice of those who have gone on before.  Memorial Day is a day to remember those who sacrificed for our liberty, some giving the ultimate sacrifice–their life.  Is it all right to remember veterans on Memorial Day?  Yes.  Is it all right to remember those currently serving in the military?  Yes.  But the day was set aside as a memorial for those who gave their all.
     I had two in my family who gave their all.  A cousin, whom I never met, obviously, who died on the shores of Normandy during the invasion of D-Day, and my Uncle who died in Vietnam in 1966.  I want to share some verses that were written to me by a friend (C.J. Landry) who served in Vietnam as a Marine.

           “We do not want you to be uniformed, brothers, about the hardships we suffered in the province of Asia.  We were under great pressure, far beyond the ability to endure, so that we despaired even of life.  Indeed, in our hearts, we felt the sentence of death.  But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead.”
                         –2 Corinthians 1:8-9 (NIV)

We should not, must not be ignorant of their sacrifices.  That’s why it is so disheartening to see what is happening to our military today, to our country in general.  Students whining about debt repayment and are holding socialism and fascism in high esteem are doubtlessly clueless as to the sacrifice that went before them.  Men, like my cousin, who stormed the beaches to die, to give their life blood to stop the tyrannical rule of Hitler.  Korea, Vietnam, and other places where the flow of communism was stopped.  (Did it work?  How many communist countries are there today?  Five, if you count Cuba and Venezuela, seven).
     Those who sacrificed, soldiers/warriors, were the “men of the in-between”  This person “with mind and heart committed to righteous principle, he offers himself to shield others.” (Stu Weber).  This is a Biblical principle.  Think of David, of Gideon, Ehud, and other Judges.  Men who faced evil knowing the possibility of the consequences, but doing it anyway.  And let me notify you–victory comes at a price!  There are several places in Scripture where God said to erect a memorial, not to worship, but to remember.  Remember those who sacrificed.  Remember the day this took place.  Remember from whence you came.  Several times God said to Moses and Joshua to make a memorial or this shall be a memorial.  
     Then my mind goes to those I read about in Hebrews–heroes of the faith.  Memorial Day is to remember the fallen, but how about the fallen men and women of the faith?   Their names are not mentioned, but in heaven’s halls they are listed.  “Some men were tortured, not accepting release, so that they might gain a better resurrection, and others experienced mockings and scourgings, as well as bonds and imprisonment.  They were stoned, they were sawed in two, they died by the sword, they wandered about in sheepskins, in goatskins, destitute, afflicted, and mistreated.  The world was not worthy of them.  They wandered in deserts, mountains, caves, and holes in the ground.”  (Hebrews 11:35-38, HCSB)  Not only these, but those who lived on proclaiming Christ from after the time of the apostles unto this day.
     Yes, celebrate Memorial Day — but do not forget!  Remember, remember, remember…