My name is Archie Pelago. Seems I have a lifetime of stuff to write about but most of it seems pretty dull. Sure didn't feel that way when I was toddling along from one screwup to the next. Of course, I felt mine was a significant life. Yeah, don't we all. And to me it sure seemed that way—if not now then sure as heck sometime in the future. However, the passing years have shown me I'm not much different than anybody, though I've been told I tie my shoes wrong. Don't know if that makes me a one of a kind, I'll let you decide. Anyhow, it's my intention to pass on a few of my moments as best as I can recall and try not to rosy-up the picture too much.
Already wrote four books. They called for a lot of hours and not a lot of talent. I liked them all but my opinion might be a little one-sided. Two of them spoke of my Army days so maybe that's a good place to start.
I walked off the plane in sandals, Hang-Ten t-shirt and gray bell bottoms. Soldier no more. 'Course that's a lie. Been a soldier since the day I took the oath but wouldn't admit it, even to myself. In my college days I wore a fatigue shirt and combat boots to classes every day. Seein' as how I'd paid for them with two years of my life and a spell in combat, why not? Just my way of saying, "I've been there for better or worse and it sucked to high heaven." Also dreamt about those days for years on end. I guess it's easier to make a mistake than to forget one.
A couple of years earlier when I'd dropped out of school my spoken intention was a degree in Political Science. That I'd found all of the classes and assigned reading to be sleeping pills should have been a clue I was headed in the wrong direction. But I was a clueless man always a few years behind the awareness curve.
