Interview

Greetings from Williamsburg, Virginia! We are away for a little rest/spring break. I'll be here off and on.

I have been interviewed, recently by Lawyer Mama... here is how it went:

1. How old were you when you learned to shoot a gun and who taught you?

The first time I fired a gun was when I was 12 years old, at Boy Scout camp. I was decent at it... it wasn't difficult to do since we were only using a bolt-action .22

I really learned my trade after I entered the Marine Corps at age 17... I was terrified of the sergeants, and did EVERYthing exactly as I was told. I guess they told me right. They told me that I was "a natural" I guess they were right.

2. If you had to choose another century in which to live your life, which one would you choose?

If I HAD to go back in time, not that I would want to... I guess I would have to pick the 17th century. Being a black man in America hadn't quite come to mean what it would mean in the 18th and 19th centuries, after cotton became King.

3. Who was/is your most memorable role model?

I learned to be a man from the characters in the books I read as a kid, and from emulating Captain James T. Kirk, of the Starship Enterprise. Go ahead, laugh, but it's true. My parents divorced when I was 5. My dad was a career soldier, he wasn't around much. I was also heavily influenced by two of my Sergeants when I was a young Marine (I enlisted when I was 17) Staff Sergeant Ralph Andrews and Master Sergeant Mike Wosika. They taught me to be punctual, to be proud of a job well-done, and how to lead.

4. How often (if ever) would you say that you experience racism?

Rarely. We live in a very diverse area. Occasionally a white woman passing me in the mall will clutch her purse to her side as I pass... not that it would really help her if I wanted her purse, mind you... I'm not a small guy.

This question reminds me of an incident that took place about 14 years ago... I was meeting Mrs Gunfighter for a drink after work. It was a beautiful late spring afternoon, and a white woman at the same crosswalk as me clutched her purse as we waited to cross the street. I told her to relax, and that I wasn't going to steal her purse. She seemed both relieved and embarrassed that I called her on it.

5. Is what they say about what men wear under kilts true? LOL!

Yes... as a matter of fact, it is!