Tony S.
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Everything posted by Tony S.
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Our first patrol stepped off before sunrise. By 0430, the base was already awake. Generators droned steadily behind the Hesco barriers while Marines moved through the darkness beneath the glow of red-lensed flashlights, checking rifles one last time, tightening straps, topping off canteens. Nobody spoke unless they needed to. There was no ceremony. No speech reminding us of the importance of the mission. Just another checklist, another accountability report, and another order to m
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For a straight guy, Lawrence is way too gay for Bastien and I'm not complaining 🤪
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The company didn't change overnight. It changed by degrees. The morning after the announcement, nobody woke up any earlier than usual. Nobody ran faster during PT. Nobody suddenly became more serious. From a distance, everything looked exactly the same. Only the conversations had changed. The jokes still came. They simply ended a little sooner. Everywhere I looked, Marines had begun making quiet preparations. Some hurried to call home one last time. Others packed family photographs int
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People imagined military life as a string of extraordinary moments—explosions, gunfire, impossible acts of courage carried out under a hail of bullets. Movies had taught them to expect constant action, as though every day in uniform was another battle waiting to happen. The truth was much quieter than that. Most of military life was built on repetition: waking before sunrise, running until your lungs burned, training until your muscles ached, cleaning weapons that were already clean, then traini
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The fleet was nothing like I expected. Boot camp had taught us discipline. The School of Infantry had taught us the basics of surviving a battlefield. The fleet taught us how to live. The first morning, a staff sergeant met us outside the company office, glanced down at the paperwork in his hands, then looked up at the six of us standing in formation. "So these are the new boots." Nobody answered. He smirked. "You'll get used to that word." He wasn't wrong
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Thank you everyone! This is another slow burn story so be patient until the real romance gets into the story! I promise it will be worth it.
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Training at the School of Infantry settled into a rhythm much faster than boot camp ever had. The days were longer in some ways and shorter in others. We spent less time learning how to be Marines and more time learning how Marines actually worked. Patrol formations replaced close-order drill. Land navigation replaced memorizing procedures. The instructors still expected perfection, but they no longer hovered over every decision. They handed us a problem and expected us to solve it before t
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Home smelled exactly the same. The moment I stepped through the front door, I was greeted by garlic, soy sauce, and whatever my mother had decided needed another hour on the stove despite already being cooked. The familiar scent wrapped around me so suddenly that, for a second, Parris Island disappeared. The shouting. The sand. The smell of gun oil that had settled into my hands no matter how many times I washed them. All of it gave way to home. "Kent." Mom cro
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By the ninth week, boot camp had stopped feeling temporary. When I first arrived at Parris Island, I'd measured time in Sundays. Every Sunday meant another letter to Ken. Another page filled with whatever I was allowed to say and everything I wasn't. I'd write about blisters instead of exhaustion, rifle ranges instead of fear, funny stories instead of the nights I wondered whether I'd made the biggest mistake of my life. Somehow, the letters changed before I noticed I was changing.
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Looking back now, I couldn't tell you what happened on the twenty-third day of boot camp. Or the thirty-seventh. Or the fiftieth. People who had never been through it always imagined boot camp as one unforgettable moment after another—obstacle courses, rifle ranges, drill instructors inches from your face. They pictured every day as something dramatic. The truth was stranger than that. Most days were almost indistinguishable from the ones before them. We woke before
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It's not mainstream. But this will be a proper military novel. I tried to do my research. Hope it comes out OK. 😜
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By the time Ken pulled into the parking lot at MEPS, there wasn't much left to say. We'd spent the drive talking about everything except where we were going. He'd complained about the traffic. I'd made fun of his driving. We argued over whether the diner coffee had been strong enough to dissolve a spoon. He'd told me to write every week. Even if it was only three words. Still alive, dumbass. Then he'd smiled that crooked smile of his and told me to go be the best of myse
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Lawrence is head over heels. And in such a short time too.
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Thank you so much!
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The house sounded different the morning after I told Ken. Not quieter. Just... careful. Mom was already in the kitchen by the time I came downstairs, humming along to the old radio she insisted still sounded better than anything digital. The smell of bacon drifted through the house, followed by pancakes and coffee strong enough to wake the neighbors. Dad sat at the dining table with the newspaper spread open in front of him, reading over the top of his glasses instead of thro
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From now on it will be a slow burn story of Kent's journey in the military camp. I won't say much about what is going to happen but I hope you will enjoy the ride.
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Thank you guys. I was really reluctant whether to do this story at first. It will be a really long story this time as we learn about Kent's life in the military service and also the root causes of his trauma.
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I had already signed the enlistment papers before I told Ken. For a while, I tried to make that sound braver than it was. I told myself I had done it because I needed the decision to be mine before anyone else got a hand on it. I told myself waiting until afterward was practical, maybe even merciful. But the truth was simpler. If I had looked my brother in the eye before signing, I might not have signed at all. The folder sat inside my backpack while I watched the last footba
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Full Synopsis At eighteen, Kent Nakamura leaves home and enlists in the United States Marine Corps, believing that distance is the only way to protect the people he loves. Over the next thirteen years, war, brotherhood, sacrifice, and unexpected relationships shape him into a respected Marine leader—but the battlefield leaves behind wounds that no one else can see. As Kent struggles to find his place beyond the uniform, he must confront the invisible scars of combat, the weight of forb
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Kent Nakamura enlists in the United States Marine Corps, believing distance is the only way to protect the person he loves. Over the next thirteen years, war, brotherhood, sacrifice, and forbidden love shape him into a respected Marine leader, while the battlefield leaves behind wounds no one can see. As he struggles to find his place beyond the uniform, Kent must confront the invisible scars of war and discover what it truly means to keep living. Safe Distance is a prequel to Still Alive, Dumbass, but can be enjoyed as a standalone novel.
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Damn this is harsh.
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As I mentioned that it's based on my real life experience. Tommy may not have the proper closure but he has to move on keeping the memories of him and Brian with him forever. The ending might upset some of you guys but that's the reality. If I changed something, it'd have been a complete fiction and that's not what I wanted this story to be.
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Tommy almost didn’t go. The invitation had sat unopened for days before he finally clicked on it, more out of habit than intention, and even then he had stared at the screen longer than necessary, as if the act of acknowledging it might pull him backward into something he had spent years learning how to live without. High school reunions belonged to people who carried their pasts lightly, who could revisit them without feeling the weight of everything that had been left unresolved. Thi
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It had been three years by then. Long enough for the edges of memory to soften, though not enough for them to disappear. Tommy had learned how to live around it, how to let the past settle into something that no longer demanded constant attention. It existed the way certain things always do—quietly, persistently, woven into the shape of his thoughts without interrupting them. He knew Brian wanted to be “normal,” so he did not expect to hear Brian’s voice again. Which was why, when
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