.jpg)
One More Crazy Night By Rick "The kooky Catman" Kingston
It was the dead of winter. The midnight sky was ever so clear, you could see all the stars just glistering, it was like God was giving a free planetarium star show this evening.It was very cold , in the twenties, I could see my breath in the air, yet there was no snow, on the medieval old cobble stone streets of Heidelberg, West Germany.*Heidelberg is a tourist trap town on the Neckar River in southwestern Germany. It is the Home of Heidelberg University, founded in the 14th century. Gothic Heiliggeistkirche church towers over the cafe-lined Marktplatz, a town square in the Altstadt (Old Town). The red-sandstone ruins of Heidelberg Castle.
The beer, woman and song are incredible.I fall in love with Heidelberg the first time I set foot in the old city by the Neckar River.
Old Heidelberg was spared bombing during WW 11.
The West Germany’s winter were cruelly harsh. One could freeze to death if one passed out, outside.
Heavy insane drinking of German beer and the dead of Winter, did not mix for many GI’s station in West Germany during the height of the Cold War ,in the early Eighties, especially for me.
I was only 20 , and I thought I was nine foot tall and bullet proof . I was on top of the World. It was Saturday night, a punk like me from the 10th Ward of Rochester, NY was out for an evening of utter debauchery, with my Army buddy, Eric, and we were partying it up in Heidelberg , West Germany.
I was station in Mannheim, so was Eric. A stone throws away from Heidelberg. I was assigned to the 377th Transportation Unit, Heavy Truckers. Our company hauled all the heavy equipment through out West Germany, M-60’s Tanks, APC’s , M-1 Tanks and more.
My job, so I thought was to party , stay out of the Stockage at Coleman Barracks, and give all my beloved Sergeants more gray hair and heartburn than one person could ever give them, as they had to deal with my mad daily adventures.
Since day one , I always wanted to be a good soldier , I had heart. I tried and then another alcohol related instance came up and I just kept on breaking rules, regulations, and direct orders.
I already reported for two Article 15’s, which is military justice, when you break the rules.
One for wearing an Alice Cooper black concert T-Shirt while on duty, while returning my M-16 and gas mask , we just came out of the field and another time for falling asleep in a truck in the motor pool, while I was hung over, the Captain of our unit woke me up.
I was likeable in some sort of demented way, that is why the older Sergeants, who served in Vietnam, saw something in me and never Chapter me out the services. It did help that I only signed up for two years, which meant the 377th was my first and only duty station.
Eric I meet at Lake Vogelstang, in the summer of 82 , He was a reporter for the Stars and Stripes, the military official newspaper. He was an All Army Wrestler, Eric tried out for the Olympic team but dropped out cause the coach did not let him party .
He was only 5 foot five , he weighed 125 pounds, I nick named him, Bam Bam , from the Flintstones, his upper body was just one muscular massive V , Eric was a blue eyed blond from Jersey .
He had Bam Bam’s super strength and Eric looked like him to, and when he punch me in the chest, it felt like he was breaking my ribs, we both love to fight, he as a wrestler and myself as a former boxer, these skills we possessed and a little bit of true grit are the only reason why we survived this particular night of madness.
We had one rule this evening, we will drive to Heidelberg from Mannheim, in Eric’s beat up white Mercedes Benz , we will party and then sleep in his car ,in our Army issued, sleeping bags, and drive home in the morning.
We were celebrating tonight, I just made Private First Class,
What could go wrong??????
Chapter Two.
As we walked the narrow cobblestone streets , which were older than America ,to get to our destination, we were venturing into new territory into a GI Bar, we never been too, called Tegettays,.
Most German Towns with a population of American Soldiers always had a GI Bar.
It was hard to get into the German Night Club or even some restaurants, widespread discrimination was practice with a vengeance against American GI’s. I know what is was like to be told “NO” you cannot come in here, there are no tables for you , and the restaurant was half way full.
Deep down inside, it sucked and yet I could not blame these German proprietors, of these establishments, I knew firsthand what a handful of drunken GI’s could do to a bar, restaurant and night club in a matter of a few minutes.
You knew your place and where to go and where not go if you any German street sense, about you. It was just a fact of life, for GI’s in West Germany, in the early Eighties.
Who was I going to complain to The Inspector General? What was my complaint going to be?
Conrad The German , AKA “ Rad “, will not let me in his Night Club or Restaurant , so I can try to pick up a German fraulein, mostly likely his girlfriend or daughter, get drunk and tear up his bar, and start a good old American fist fight and then chase away all his German paying clients.
So Eric and I went to a lot of GI’s bars in our travels in the bigger cities.
As we walked into the smoked filled bar, the warmth of the heat rose over our cold skin, I quickly grasp my hands together and blew into them, trying to warm them up.
As I survey the crowd, it was loaded with many drunken GI’s and lots of pretty German girls who were wearing to much make up , dancing away to the music of Boy George. We quickly found a table against the wall. This is where we would hold court and drink German mead until closing.
The night was rocking, round after round of beer was delivered to the table.
I was chain smoking like a fiend.
Eric was in his own little world this evening. Just drinking and dancing with one German fraulein after another.I did not get insanely drunk, I could still walk and talk which was huge for me, no German fraulein caught my eye, this evening. Yet an attractive girl who was Asian American did.
I went up to her, started to chat, found out her name was Lynn and she was a Military Brat, her Dad was station in Heidelberg. Her hobbies included partying, partying and more partying.
We danced a few dances, now as far as my dance skills went, I had none, I looked like an old man going through an epileptic seizure while marching. I always wonder, when my dance partner was smiling at me, was it because she thought I was cute, or she felt sorry for me or was embarrassed for the both of us or was she just crawling out of her skin, waiting for the song to be over.
After the last dance was over, I thought this brief encounter was going somewhere, her boyfriend showed up in the lobby.
Sucks to be me , I thought to myself, it was around closing time anyway. The music will stop soon and the lights will come on and it will be time to go back outside, to the cobblestone streets of Olde Heidelberg.
I went back to our table and Eric struck out with every fraulein he danced with and it look like it was going to be a night of sleeping in Eric’s Mercedes down by the Nectar River.
As I was drinking the last of my mead, the music stopped, and the lights came on.The night was over, so I thought, yet it was just beginning.
We both got up and Eric headed for the door and out into the streets.
I was saying goodbye to Lynn in the lobby, suddenly, I was violently shoved by a GI.I turned to Lynn and she said “That dude is after you “!
I said who is he, she said his, His name is Martinez, he is in a Tank Battalion at Sullivan Barracks , in Mannheim. She then said, he comes in with his buddies and they start fist fights and they like to jump GI’s after closing. They are like a pack of wolves, be careful.
As I walked out the door, I notice that the moon was full, the moon beams were shining off the grey cobble stones. I had to find Eric and tell him what just happened.
As I told him, he looked me in the eyes and said, calmly “Rickey go kick his ass “.
I turned around and saw Martinez who just violently shove me, I knew if I was being set up outside for a beating, I had to act first, coming from the 10th Ward and being in over 180 sparing matches ,20 street fights and five boxing matches, combined , I never talked crap , pushed or shoved, I just knew how to throw down first. I always try to draw first blood on the streets. It always gave me the upper hand when I flurried on someone’s nose and it just splattered blood, all over the place and then, game over.
That always seemed to work but not on this evening.I was up on the sidewalk Martinez was standing four inches below me on the cobble stone street.
We quickly exchanged words, I knew I had to act fast, I put my hands on both sides of shoulder and twisted him to the ground. I heard his body making a thud sound against the cold grey cobblestone street and quickly I looked right, his buddy was coming straight at me, full force.
It was clobbering time. I quickly got in my boxer stance, up on my feet and as soon as he got in my arms reach, I let him have it, left right ,left right, left right, I flurry like I was Sugar Ray Leonard just as I was trained to do ,at St Martin’s Boxing Club and Aquinas, while training for the Mission Bouts, his nose just shattered, blood flew everywhere.
My boxing training paid off, once again. I must have hit him around twelve times., in a matter of seconds, I had him back up to the other side of the small German street, he dodged one of my rights and quickly threw a wild round house hook, which connected violently against my mouth and threw me off balanced.
As he split my lip wide open, with one of his rings his was wearing, blood began to flow, I thought I needed stitches at this point and I lost my balance and fell backwards into the building on the other side of the street, I ended up sitting on the sidewalk with my back up against the wall, he was rushing me at full speed and I quickly bounced up and threw my feet in front of me and landed them right in his stomach, he hit the ground , I could see I knocked the wind out of him, and I was up on my feet.
James Bond would have been proud of that move.
I looked at Eric and he looked at me and he said,” Run “.
We started to run and right behind us two more GI’s were chasing us.We were like jack rabbits running away for the wolves.
We made it a block down and I was looking for a weapon along the way.
That was the 10th Ward way of fighting, look around before the fighting started , had to have a weapon, to hit them upside their heads with, especially if there was more than one foe, yet now I was running, desperately looking for one
As we were running past an ancient mediaeval alley way, I saw a long wooden board by a pile of rubbish, I went into the alley, I grabbed it and put it up against the trash can and raised my leg and it came crashing down upon it and broke it in two.
I picked it up and carried it with two hands to the doorway of the Alley.
When I tried to come out of the alley, it was blocked by two more of Martinez’s friends.
Lynn was right they were like a pack of wolves, yet I was not going out of this alley in a body bag.
At this point I was in the fight of my life, I never been so close to death, as this fight progressed and all my years of boxing training , taken bloody beating at times, down in the Aquinas basement, being the only white boy at St Martin’s Boxing Club, it was beaten in me, always keep your cool, never get angry, if you do, you give your opponent the upper hand. Any mistakes at this point will cost me my lifeI was trapped in the Alley, so I thought.
Then I heard it. The sound of death. That woosh and click sound of an Italian Stiletto switchblade.Switchblades were not illegal in German; anyone could buy them. If you ever owned one, that noise that they make when you hit the button, is unforgettable. The shiny silver blade is long and slender and is made for one thing - killing.
I quickly saw the silver blade shining in the moonlight, I had the board in my hand and I made a split decision that could have cost me my life yet it saved my life, I threw down the blood soaked board, with my blood, dripping from my mouth and lip and said.
’ You Do Not Want To Cut Me, Man – You Do Not Want To Cut Me’.
The GI with the switch blade screamed , You messed up our friend”
Unknown to me when I threw Martinez on the ground ,Eric jumped on him and started to ground pound his face, breaking cheek bones, knocking out teeth. Eric gave him a savage beating.
Then I heard that click of the silver blade being put back, in a spilt second the second GI that was blocking the door way, also, rushed me, he was around 6 foot 2 , 220 pounds, he was a monster of man.
He connected with me like a NFL Linebacker, He picked me up and we landed five feet inside the alley and he took my head and bashed it against the stone wall, as my bloody head was bouncing back and coming forward ,he opened up his mouth like a rabid wolf and he started to try to bite my nose off, as his teeth was sinking into my cartridge , blood was going everywhere , from my nose now and mouth, in a split second, I took my thumb and put it right in his left eye, holding his head back, I started gouging his eye out , the next thing I know he was on the ground and I was on top of him , my whole thumb was deep in his eye socket, he was screaming , helpless, and his feet were kicking up and down like a baby ,as my thumb went deeper and deeper into his eye socket, I knew that a flip of my thumb would have dislodged his eye for good, I did not want to do that.
The next thing I heard was Polizei is coming , Polizei is coming.
I was terrified of the German Police; they could break your legs, and nobody could do nothing about it. There was no such thing as police brutality when it came to an American GI.
They will beat you first and asked questions latter.
What I was going through did not terrify me as a encounter will Poliezza would have.
It was time to run again into the cold streets of Heidelberg , it was time to release the wolf, just before I got off of him, I told him if you come after us, I will kill you. Those words are often spoken in the heat of the moment yet with me being covered in my own blood , and all the adrenaline flowing through every vein in my body and the fight or flight respond was in full gear, and almost getting stab to death, at this point if I was attacked again, I would have taken a life that night , it would have been a battle to the end with these pack of wolves. It would have been survival of the fitness.
I pulled my thumb out of his eye socket, it was badly sprained with all the pushing and shoving inside his skull.
I made it out of the alley alive and saw Eric, we both started to run.
The wolf stayed down where he was.
I was covered in my own blood; it was a blood bath under the full moon.
I was pretty messed up, I was bleeding from my lip , my nose and the back of my head.
I was lucky to be alive, yet at the moment I never felt so alive.
There were no toughs guys or Billy bad asses, this evening, just two drunken GI’s . just two friends who barely made it out of Heidelberg alive.
CHAPTER THREE
I was bleeding so bad that I knew I needed medical attention yet I wanted to see how bad the wounds were, so we head to another GI Bar, Carnaby’s down by the Nectar River.We headed into the bar and as soon as Eric and I walked in, all eyes were on us. We headed straight to the bathroom and as soon as I looked into the mirror, I knew I was in trouble, I said to Eric, you have to take me to the Hospital.
He said Ok, lets go without a second thought.
We got into the car and headed to the Military Hospital, Heidelberg Hospital.This is the Hospital that General George Patton died in from the wounds he sustained in a jeep accident, while out hunting, in Manheim.
As we walked into the Emergency Room, we went up to the front desk, blood was pouring out of me like a leaky garden hose. The Nurse gave me a huge bandage to soak up some of the blood.
The burly male nurse than asked me ‘ What Happened “?
I quickly told him that we were coming out of the bar and I asked two Germans for a light for my cigarette and they jumped me.Great cover up , story I thought, I was proud of my 10th Ward BS maker, when it came to talking to authorities.
The next words that came out of his mouth made my jaw dropped to the floor.
He said dryly “Gee that is so funny cause we just had a Soldier come in on the Ambulance,he was severely beaten, I grasped and said those bastards, those Germans must have got him too.
The nurse looked at me with those come on, come up with a better story than this, eyes.He said nope, eyewitnesses said two GI’s did this to him.I knew than the jig was up.
I was quickly escorted back in to the ER, they gave me a gunnery to sit on, as my feet was dangling over the gunnery , I heard a loud voice, screaming, “ When I catch them they are dead, I’m going to kill them, and on and on”.
I looked over to my right, and there he was, Martinez , he did not recognize me, he could hardly see with slates for eyes now, remember when I said, unknown to me when I threw Martinez on the ground Eric jumped on him and started to ground pound his face, breaking cheek bones, knocking out teeth. Eric gave him a savage beating.
“ Unknown to me “meant right up to this point in the ER, I did not know Eric gave him a wicked beating, to an inch of his life.Martinez face was bloodied, bloated, broken and he was toothless.
The nurse closed the curtain between us.
They started to work on my face and told me , I needed stitches yet we cannot give you any for the nose, because with a human bite it is one of the worst bites one can have, with the mouth being a petri dish for every germ a human can have. If we give you stiches it will most likely become infected.
The Nurse told me that I will have a battle scar and I carry it with me till this day. They managed to stop the bleeding from my lip and back of the head, as they were finishing up , I asked when can I leave.
A nurse started to laugh , you cannot leave, the MP’s are picking you up , they already have your buddy, you are going down to the Heidelberg MP Police station for questioning, you know that GI that was next to you, we just brought him up to the ICU, you better pray that he makes it.
Chapter Four
On the way to the MP Station I knew what to do, don’t say a word.
I did not speak , not even small talk, I knew better, there will be a time to speak, and in the MP Vehicle with two MP’s around my age ,was not the time and place, to say a word.It was around four in the morning when we arrived at the Heidelberg Police Station.
When I walked in, the front desked was to the right, to the left they had the holding cell and Eric was in it. It was full of drunken GI’s, lucky for me. They told me to grab a seat, right beside the cell, in the lobby.
I sat down in a green chair that has seen better days, and that is when the door flung wide open and the cold winter air filled the room and in walks in this young overzealous MP, with the wooden board that I broke in the alley , he held up in the air and looked at me in dead in the eyes and said , look what we have here and its covered in blood, looks like someone is going to Fort Leavenworth for a three year bid for aggravated assault with a weapon.
I looked at him and every MP in the room and said I did not hit anyone with that board, that blood is mine, test it and you see it is mine, the funny thing was DNA testing was unknown at the time and all they could test it for was for blood type.
Then the MP just smirk at me, he gave me a looked that he had me dead to rights ,as he walked away , my mind started to race for the best course of action that I shall take.At this moment, I knew I did not have anything to hide and everything to lose and the truth will set me free and out of a three-year bid in Fort Leavenworth. If they believed me.
In the early eighties Fort Leavenworth Prison was like a third world prison, I knew I would not have survived.
As I sat there in massive pain, my nose was throbbing, I told myself to stay calm, just to stay calm.
Five minutes later, an older gentleman called me into one of the rooms, the integration room, , he was overweight, wearing a white button down shirt , come to find out he name was Captain Henderson he, was an Army plain clothes detective, he did not have to adhere to the military dress and or hair code, otherwise known as CID.
His fingers were yellow from cigarettes, he light up a cigarette and I asked him if I could smoke and said ‘yes” as long as you tell me what happened and no bullshit, you understand, PFC Kingston.I looked him directly in the eyes and said “ OK”.
I told him everything that I did, Eric was not even in the equation. I did not see what Eric did to Martinez.I told him that. I only know what I did and what I did not do. I did not hit anyone with that board, I told him to test my blood which the board was covered in.I admit to it all, my freedom was on the line if they thought they could get an aggravated assault convection.
I was in the interrogation room for almost an hour. His hand started to cramp up from all the writing he was doing.
Then it was over, he slid the confession across the table and told me to read it and signed it.I read it over and he got what I said 100% right. I signed it and I asked him. Now what.He said, ‘We called your unit and your Sergeant, Sergeant Tomlin is driving from Mannheim to pick you up and take you back to your unit. What about Eric, he said, his Sargent picked him up already.
I asked him, I’m being charged, he told me that will be determine when the investigation is over.I asked how is Martinez. He said, he is not out of the woods, he still in ICU.
You will be the first to know if he takes a turn for the worst and if he does we will throw the book at you.
I than said, I will be saying my prayers, he then said PFC Kingston , “ I never want to see you again under these circumstances yet I have a dreaded feeling ,we will meet again. “ I than said, “ Let’s hope not’.
Sgt Tomlin was not a happy camper when he saw me, he had that expression my father did when I messed up bad, it was seven O’clock in the morning and I was ready to be picked up at 6am. I asked him what took him so long to get me.He told me as he took a drag on his cigarette and said “ Iwas not getting my ass out of a nice warm bed at 5am in the morning to pick you dumb ass up, Kingston.
I said, fair enough.
As I was sitting in the back seat of his car, I knew that look in his eye , he wanted to backhand me for being an entitled dumbass. I respected the hell of Tomlin, he was a combat Vietnam vet, he was in one of Life Magazine famous pictures, he was a Marine when he was in Vietnam. He was a Southern Good Old boy and I was a Yankee from Rochester NY.
I always reminded the Southern Boys that they lost the Civil war and that will make for another chapter.
He was on the downhill in the Army, he had only around four years to go till his 20 year retirement.
He liked me in his sick and twisted way, I think I reminded him and the other Vietnam Vets of themselves back in there wild days, he covered for me a lot, Sgt Tomlin and I had many encounters due to my bad behavior and crazy antics , like that time when I snuck my German girlfriend , Gaby, in the barracks, I hide her in my wall locker , just before he came in our room for morning pre inspection, yet I was caught by him as I was sneaking Gaby down the stairs and he just looked at me and said “Kingston you going to jail”. Yet he never rat on me, thank God I had a charming likeability to me, at times.
As he pulled his POV, ( Personality Own Vehicle ) up to, the barracks, I got out and said, I will see you in formation on Monday and Tomlin said ’ OK’.
I got out of vehicle into the cold winter Sunday morning and I went up the stairs to my room and hit the rack, I slept until 5pm and when I woke up, I cracked open a Eichbaum beer and ponder my fate.
Chapter 5
I heard the 45, the MP just locked and loaded on Eric, Eric was running as fast as he could, he was running for his life through the streets of Heidelberg .
I started to scream, do not shoot my friend, do not shoot my friend. I was running along the MP, The MP shouted out to Eric, stop running, let me see your hands. Eric stopped. As he cuffed Eric, all I could think to myself, here we go again……
Two Weeks Earlier
The Military Police report was finally in. Two weeks have passed since, since Eric’s and mine escapades in Heidelberg
On this sunny afternoon I had to talked to one of my Sergeants, to view the charges and see if I was going to Military Prison, Fort Leavenworth for three years for aggravated assault.
Sgt Tomlin was knocking on my door and he said “Open up Kingston”As he walked into my barracks room, he had that look on his face. I hated that look. That look you gave a bad puppy for peeing on your shoes. That was the look Sgt Tomlin was giving, me. I was his bad puppy.
He threw the report down in front of me, it landed with a smack on my desk, which was a common area desk, he told me to pick it up and said that was my copy to bring to J.A.G .He look at me and said you got lucky boy, since Martinez got out of the ICU last week, with some dentures , he will be fine .
I breathed a sign of relief, for a whole week Martinez laid up in the Hospital. The worst always came to my mind. What happen if he dies ?
The fear ate me up inside. I never wanted to hurt another human being as we did Martinez that night.
I understood now the ramifications of fighting. It is not like in the movies, when everyone is fine afterwards, it is not like a movie fight. In real street fighting, bones break, flesh rips and tears, teeth are ripped out of the gums and are broken, eyes sockets are fractured and yes, people do die at the end.
Sometimes it not a happy ending for either party, long prison terms, a lost of life, a brother , a son is gone forever.
Eric and I got lucky, with a pair denture, Martinez will look all right, yet what he went through emotionally can never be undone. His wild ways almost cost him his life, when he and his boys went after Eric and I. Half of me , the tough guy me, tried to stuff down the feeling of remorse yet I truly was sorry for my actions on that night. We all were lucky that night it did not ended up worst for all of us.
I was very grateful as Sargent Tomlin was talking, he said,You and you buddy are very lucky they he did not take a turn for the worst, with the beating that your buddy gave him. You may not be so lucky the next time, someone might wind up dead and that someone might be you.
My suggestion is for you to lay off that firewater Kingston. It will do you some good.
Now enough of me preaching to you , you are going do want you want, as usual but I’m giving you some more good news; they did not charge you with aggravated assault for almost using that wooden board on the GI with the switchblade. They believed you.
Now here is the bad news, Kingston, You are being charged with “Breach of The Peace and Simple Assault, for first hitting , Pvt Leaks’, I said who, Tomlin than said Pvt Leaks is the guy who pulled the switchblade on you. I said OK.
I asked him now what , Tomlin looked at me and said the good news is that you not going to prison, they will not be kicking you out of the Military, you will be getting a Company Grade Article 15, you will be getting busted to Pvt E-2, from your current rank of PFC, E-3, and you will be confined to barracks for a week and forfeit a month’s pay, over a three month period.
I said, is there anything I can do, he looked at me and said they got you by the balls, with your confession, all you can do is go down to J.A.G , and see what they say, yet I doubt it will help.
You can go next week. Now PFC Kingston, let’s see if you can stay out of trouble.
He then turned out and said “ One more thing Kingston , you will be an eye witness at PFC Downs Court Martial , I asked him who was that and why, he said he was the Tanker, that you tried gorge out his eye and who tried to bite off your nose, that night , they are bringing him up on charges, yours and one more for a different incident , Tomlin went on and said, appears to me this Downs fellow is not to stable, he is also charged with firing off his AR 15, the three rounds in his clip, while on Guard duty you have to wear your class A’s to the Court Martial and it will be on a upcoming Monday ,that you have to report to JAG. For his Military trial. We will let you know.
As he left the room once again, I began to Ponder my fate.
ONE WEEK LATTER
As I open up the door to the Jag building for my legal advice in how to fight the charges , I walked into the huge lobby with a winding staircase.
I went up to the staircase and saw the Nazi’s notorious swastika engraved in the steel handrail.
Most of the barracks and buildings in the Mannheim Military community were old Nazi barracks.
Up at the top of the stairs were two young military officers, I asked them where do I go for legal advice, on an Article 15, they told me second door to the left. I thanked them and headed that way, as I was leaving I overheard one office say to the other one, “Did you take a look at that suckers nose ?,That did not make me feel very good about myself, my nose was still healing from the bite that I received from PFC Downs.
I walked into the room and the military receptionist told me to grab a seat, five minute latter I was in front of Captain Sanchez. He was of Spanish Descent and looked like he belonged in Hollywood, instead of a Lawyer for the Us Army. Captain Sanchez had an easy disposition about him. As he was reading the Military Police report, I asked him straight out, is there any way that I can get out of this, what is the best course of action for my case.
He looked at me and said ‘ PFC Kingston you were very lucky that more serious charges were not filed against you , the best bet for you is to take the Company Grade Article 15 and count your blessings that you were not Court Material and thrown in prison for a spell.
He then said, sorry I could not help you yet your confession seal your fate and at the same time it kept you out of prison, so do yourself a favor and take the Article 15 . PFC Kingston you are dismissed.
As I was walking back to Spinelli Barracks, I thought to myself, it sucks to be me.
A week had passed since I went to see JAG, it was time to pay the piper, as my Father used to say.
All I could think of before I walked into the our Company Commander office for my third Article 15 was here we go again, I never faced such serve punishment as the loss of my rank.
It was time, I went into Captain Martin’s office, I saluted him and said Pfc Kingston reporting in for my Article 15, Sir.
He read the charges against me, you are charged with Breach of the Peace, and Simple Assault, then he said PFC Kingston your punishment is, you will lose one rank in grade, from PFC E-3. you are now PVT E-2 in grade and Kingston, you will be confined to barracks for a week and forfeit a month’s pay, over a three-month period.
Than Captain Martin told me that I have to report to JAG at 8am for PFC Downs Court Martial next Monday Moring , wearing my Class A’s and then he said, try to stay out of troubleand he dismissed me
As I left Captain Martin’s office, I felt …...sadness for the first time in a long time. Then just as quickly as I felt sad, I shoved it down inside and turned around and threw my middle finger up in the air as I was walking down the hallway of the barracks and screamed “ FTA “ ( *&^% ) The Army !!!
CHAPTER SIX
A week past fast, it was Sunday night and I called Eric on the Army’s landline phone, we made plans to go back to Heidelberg to party , one more time together, since it was his last day in Germany. He had to be at Frankfurt Airport at 6am. He was getting out of Germany. Eric was being resigned. He was heading back to the World.
On the ride up to Heidelberg in his old Mercedes ,I told him what happened , how I was now a E-2, I asked him ,what happened to him, did he get busted, Eric said ,he went in front of his Battalion Commander and his Battalion Commander asked Eric ,did he have anything to say about the report and he told him “ My Boy Rickey could fight and we kicked assed.” His Battalion Commander smiled and said that will be all.
He did not give Eric any punishment since he was on The Army’s Wrestling Team and a reporter for The Stars and Stripes, it was nice to receive special privileges being a jock, in the Army. My bread always fell the butter side down, yet I always eat it after I picked the hairs of life out it.
We decided to have a couple beers at Carbanony’s, another GI bar down by the Nectar River, as we walked in, we order two German beers at first, it was A Sunday night and it was pretty dead.
The music was playing in the background, the dance floor was empty, a few GI’s and their girlfriend were enjoying their drinks at the bar.
The evening was all about reminiscing about Eric’s and I, mad adventures throughout Europe . We travel to Italy, Austria, Switzerland and all over West Germany.
Our motto Was, “ American refuges stranded in West Germany 82-83 “.
Now this evening was the last goodbye. I was getting a good buzz on and so was Eric.
As we were talking , A GI came up to our table and looked at Eric and said’ You were the A-Hole who knock a tray of drinks of Helga Hands a few weeks ago , you owe her for those drinks.
I asked Eric if it was true and he said , yes, he bumped into her and a whole tray of drinks went flying.
He than said, I just left and went down to Freak street to drink.
I said “ OK” and that’s when the GI slapped Eric in the head. We both got up and the GI said, I’m going to beat your ass, I looked at Eric and he said lets go, I have a plane to catch.
We walked outside into the cobblestone streets of Heidelberg once more, and the GI followed us.he tried to go after Eric and I stepped in between, I told him , this was not going down.
He screamed your buddy owes Helga for those drinks, I said forget about it, he than ran around me and shoved Eric, normally we would have been throwing this guy a beating yet Eric had to be in Frankfurt at 6am. Eric kept saying ,I’m not going to fight you and the GI kept screaming and trying to go after Eric, and I kept on getting in between the two, and the next thing I know, a MP Vehicle pulled up.
Two young MP’s got out of the vehicle and came up to me and asked me, what is going on.
I said this douche bag is trying to start a fight with my Buddy. The MP’s looked at Eric and said come here and Eric looked at him and said, nothing , in a split second Eric took off running, I guess in his mind , nothing was going to stop him from catching his plane.
The chase was on, Eric took off like a bat out of hell, and the MP gave chase and I was running alongside the MP as Eric was gaining a wide birth , through the old medieval streets.
Eric ran about three blocks and the MP had no chance of catching up and the next thing I know , I heard the 45, the MP just locked and loaded on Eric, Eric was running as fast as he could, he was running for his life through the streets of Heidelberg .
I started to scream, you do not want to shoot my friend, you do not want to shoot my friend, Eric ran another two blocks and then stooped dead in his tracks.
Thank God, Eric stopped, and it ended the way it did, the MP could have blasted Eric dead and then turn around and killed me.
He was a young newbie to the force. Anything could have gone wrong. Thank God nothing happened.
They always say, God looks out for drunks and fools and God was always on double duty when Eric and I were together.The MP talked to us , he calmed us down and told us we were going to the Military Police Station for questioning . As we walked back to his Military Police vehicle, he said he would not cuff me, as long as I cooperate. Eric was still cuffed when the MP put him in the back seat. I got in and off we went.
The MP Vehicle took off across the most famous bridge in Heidelberg, going over the Neckar River, off to the Heidelberg Military Police Station once more.
CHAPTER 7
As we walked into the Heidelberg Military Police Station, the front desk Captain started to lay into the young newbie MP about giving purist to Eric , he said he had no business in chasing Eric alone, he said never give chase alone.
At this point I looked at the newbie MP right in his eyes and he knew we had him , if we open up our mouths about being locked and loaded on.
I decided and Eric thought the same way, to shut our mouths about being locked and loaded on.It was like a street thing to do, and even tho he was a MP, I did not want to see him , get in serious trouble for his actions. So we keep quiet about it, also we wanted to get out custody as soon as possible.
The Desk Sergeant told me to grab a seat because an old friend needs to speak with you two.I said, we do not have any friend here, the Desk Sergeant said , you two are very popular here with that street fight you stared last month, and now you are back, so your new best friend Captain Henderson is coming in on his evening off , to talked to you , to try to figure this all out ,in went down this evening.
Captain Henderson was an Army plain clothes detective, he did not have to adhere to the military dress and or hair code, otherwise known as CID. He took down my confusion on that fateful night.
They threw Eric in the cage and I waited in the lobby once more time for Captain Henderson to arrive.
As the door to the lobby flew open , in walked a very unhappy Captain Henderson, he looked at Eric and I and said, its you two again.
He went up to the front desk Sergeant and was debrief in what happen and than he looked at us and then and said ‘Let Them Go “.
He then points at me and says, Kingston has to go PFC Downs Court Martial In the morning and the other one is catching a plane back to the world.
He than looked and me and said , stay the $%$# out of trouble, if you can Kingston, now get the hell out of here.
CHAPTER SEVEN
As we arrived at Spinelli barracks front gates., it was time to say goodbye, the Mad Adventures of Rick and Eric were finally over. We have been all over German and Europe partying and creating mayhem.
We were not barracks rats , every weekend we were on the Autobann or taking a train, to a wine fest or beer fest, or going to Italy, Austria and or Switzerland.Now in the darkest of the night we said our final Goodbye.
As Eric drove away, I knew in my heart that was the last time I will ever see him.We were too dangerous to hang out together.
Goodbye my dear violent friend.
Chapter Eight
Monday Morning.
As I was laying on the bench in my Class A’s , totally hung over and in agony , all eyes were on me.Everyone else was seating on the long green bench waiting to go into the Court Martial, I thought it was nap time to sleep off this hang over I had, from Heidelberg last night.
Lucky for me no one, told me to sit up.The Court Martial of PFC Downs was in full swing and I was there key witness of the assault charges they brought him up on, it was my nose he was trying to bite off.
PFC Downs was facing another charge, firing his AR 15, while on Guard duty.
As I was just falling asleep in the hallway, I heard my name called and I got up.I looked at my uniform and it looked like I just took a tumble through a dryer, my Class A;s were wrinkled as hell from trying to sleep on the bench.
I walked into the Court Room, the Judge was on my right and behind me against the far wall, it was loaded with High School kids, from Mannheim High School, attending the Court Martial for one of their High School classes
I was instructed to sit in the witness stand, I sat down and saw a familiar face, it was Captain Sanchez.,The Army Lawyer who I went to see about my charges, I said. Hi Captain, and immediately , the Judge interjected and ask me right away, how do I know Captain Sanchez, in a split second , I turned into Gommer Pyle, I told the judge that , Captain Sanchez was defending me , and giving me legal advise about my charges, of Breach of the Peace and Simple Assault.
The judge than angrily said, PVT Kingston we have an military dilemma here, Captain Sanchez is the Prosecutor and he was your defense lawyer, as is stands PVT Kingston, you do not have to testified.
There has been a huge legal mistake.I thought about it for a while, and said, I will testify. I thought screw it, we have gone this far and why quit now. I wanted to see where this will go.
Deep in my heart, I did not see why the Army brought charges against PFC Downs, I was the one who started the fight, I was the one who had the wooden board in my hands. I was the reason Martinez was in the Hospital for a week.
Captain Sanchez than asked me, what happened the night. I started to testify from the beginning of that crazy night to the end, not missing all the bloody details. As I was testifying, I looked into the eyes of the High School Students across from me, one cute blond in particular, she was mortified by me, all I could feel was shame, for what I did and I was embarrassed, and felt less than, my feelings effected my testimony. I felt like Gommer Pyle, trying to explain the night away. I felt stupid, I felt dumb, and it was evident.
Eighteen months earlier I was a High School student and now I made a mess of my life and others around me. I was not an innocent teenager anymore; I took that away from myself, by my insane drinking and violent tendencies. Here I was 20 years old and I had the fate of another human being in my hands, so I thought.
When I was testifying about my part of the fights, I kept repeating, that everything I was saying was in my confession.
I kept the focused on myself and said truly little about PFC Downs.
When I was done, Captain Sanchez , thank me and told me to wait in the Hallway with the others ,presumably for the verdict.
When I got up to leave, my eyes meet the cute blond for the last time and she quickly looked away.
I felt lower than whale poop and being hung over did not help.I went back into the hallway and found the bench to sit down on. An hour had passed and the Court Martial was over. A Staff Sergeant came out and announced that PFC Down was found guilty on the charge of firing his weapon while on Guard duty. He was found non guilty of the charge of assault on me.
PFC Downs will be dishonorably discharged from the Army and will serve time in the brig. I asked the Sergeant how long, he said around a year.
A flash of gratitude came over me, that could have been me. I could have been kicked out of the service and did time. I got lucky, yet as I was walking down the hallway to leave the JAG building, I thought to myself, how long will my luck hold out.Chapter Nine.
It been a month since PFC Down’s Court Martial and Eric left, West Germany I was on my own now. I loved going up to Heidelberg on the weekend. Now the only different was, I was going up there by myself.
I knew in the back in my mind that I could get jumped by Martinez and his boys minus Downs, if I ever meet them again. It was scary every time, When I walked into a GL bar and I had to scoop the room, to see if he was inside the bar partying with his buddies.
It was an uneasy feeling in having to be on the lookout for pay back when I was out and about by myself.Yet I never stopped going out on the weekends and I never stopped looking behind my back.
Time was flying and Spring was in the air, I decided on this particular weekend, that I would go to the Mannheim Beer Fest. I still did not hit bottom and partying was still running through my veins.
As I was walking around the giant beer tent with a big German stein filled with frothy beer in my hands, the German band on stage was playing the Chicken Dance , I was still tensed about partying by myself and knowing that I could get thrown a beating if I ran into Martinez and his boys.
I was on guard. I keep looking at all the GI’s at the orange tables. Then out of the corner of my eye, to my right, there he was, with his boys. He had a beer in front of him, a cigarette hanging out of his mouth. At first, I thought to myself loud mouth Tankers.
He was missing quite a few teeth. Eric and I really did mess him up. I felt bad for him.
At this point most people would have turned around and left.
Without a second thought I walked up to his table and stopped dead in my tracks. As I was hovering over Martinez, I looked him dead in his eyes and said, I want to apologize to you.
As soon as those words left my mouth, dead silent came over his table., all eyes were on me.
I felt no fear at this point. I said I’m the one that threw you on the ground up in Heidelberg , my buddy Eric than jumped on top of you.
I want to apologize to you for my actions, I ‘m sorry for any harm I caused you.
He looked me in the eyes and said OK.
Then I said OK. As quick as the conversation started, it was over
No one at his table was moving, no one was going to make a move on me.
It was final, closure was at hand for the both of us.
A mutual respect was earned on both of our parts.I was walking tall as I was walking away.
I thought to myself, this chapter of my life just came to an end.
It was over, in what I started and then I thought what my father told me,
He said Rick, God watches out for drunks and fools.I walked out of the Beer Tent, I took the last swig of my German beer and then looked up to the heavenly stars and said, Thank you. God, please keep watching over me because this chapter of my life is over yet my journey has just begun.
THE END
*Reference: Wikipedia
Rick Kingston grew up in the Log Cabin House on Lake Ave in Rochester, NY.He lived in Greece NY in his Twenties.
He is writing these short stories of back in the day from real experiences with a touch of fiction thrown in.
During these ever changing times Rick wishes to bring back everyone who is reading these short stories to a time and place where we can all relate and look back and say" Those Were The Days My Friend " - " I remember That".
Rick lives in Englewood ,Florida since 1996 with his wife of 22 years and their kitties.
Rick has been clean and sober since January 14th, 1984.36 Years at a day at time.
Godspeed to us all.
It was the dead of winter. The midnight sky was ever so clear, you could see all the stars just glistering, it was like God was giving a free planetarium star show this evening.It was very cold , in the twenties, I could see my breath in the air, yet there was no snow, on the medieval old cobble stone streets of Heidelberg, West Germany.*Heidelberg is a tourist trap town on the Neckar River in southwestern Germany. It is the Home of Heidelberg University, founded in the 14th century. Gothic Heiliggeistkirche church towers over the cafe-lined Marktplatz, a town square in the Altstadt (Old Town). The red-sandstone ruins of Heidelberg Castle.
The beer, woman and song are incredible.I fall in love with Heidelberg the first time I set foot in the old city by the Neckar River.
Old Heidelberg was spared bombing during WW 11.
The West Germany’s winter were cruelly harsh. One could freeze to death if one passed out, outside.
Heavy insane drinking of German beer and the dead of Winter, did not mix for many GI’s station in West Germany during the height of the Cold War ,in the early Eighties, especially for me.
I was only 20 , and I thought I was nine foot tall and bullet proof . I was on top of the World. It was Saturday night, a punk like me from the 10th Ward of Rochester, NY was out for an evening of utter debauchery, with my Army buddy, Eric, and we were partying it up in Heidelberg , West Germany.
I was station in Mannheim, so was Eric. A stone throws away from Heidelberg. I was assigned to the 377th Transportation Unit, Heavy Truckers. Our company hauled all the heavy equipment through out West Germany, M-60’s Tanks, APC’s , M-1 Tanks and more.
My job, so I thought was to party , stay out of the Stockage at Coleman Barracks, and give all my beloved Sergeants more gray hair and heartburn than one person could ever give them, as they had to deal with my mad daily adventures.
Since day one , I always wanted to be a good soldier , I had heart. I tried and then another alcohol related instance came up and I just kept on breaking rules, regulations, and direct orders.
I already reported for two Article 15’s, which is military justice, when you break the rules.
One for wearing an Alice Cooper black concert T-Shirt while on duty, while returning my M-16 and gas mask , we just came out of the field and another time for falling asleep in a truck in the motor pool, while I was hung over, the Captain of our unit woke me up.
I was likeable in some sort of demented way, that is why the older Sergeants, who served in Vietnam, saw something in me and never Chapter me out the services. It did help that I only signed up for two years, which meant the 377th was my first and only duty station.
Eric I meet at Lake Vogelstang, in the summer of 82 , He was a reporter for the Stars and Stripes, the military official newspaper. He was an All Army Wrestler, Eric tried out for the Olympic team but dropped out cause the coach did not let him party .
He was only 5 foot five , he weighed 125 pounds, I nick named him, Bam Bam , from the Flintstones, his upper body was just one muscular massive V , Eric was a blue eyed blond from Jersey .
He had Bam Bam’s super strength and Eric looked like him to, and when he punch me in the chest, it felt like he was breaking my ribs, we both love to fight, he as a wrestler and myself as a former boxer, these skills we possessed and a little bit of true grit are the only reason why we survived this particular night of madness.
We had one rule this evening, we will drive to Heidelberg from Mannheim, in Eric’s beat up white Mercedes Benz , we will party and then sleep in his car ,in our Army issued, sleeping bags, and drive home in the morning.
We were celebrating tonight, I just made Private First Class,
What could go wrong??????
Chapter Two.
As we walked the narrow cobblestone streets , which were older than America ,to get to our destination, we were venturing into new territory into a GI Bar, we never been too, called Tegettays,.
Most German Towns with a population of American Soldiers always had a GI Bar.
It was hard to get into the German Night Club or even some restaurants, widespread discrimination was practice with a vengeance against American GI’s. I know what is was like to be told “NO” you cannot come in here, there are no tables for you , and the restaurant was half way full.
Deep down inside, it sucked and yet I could not blame these German proprietors, of these establishments, I knew firsthand what a handful of drunken GI’s could do to a bar, restaurant and night club in a matter of a few minutes.
You knew your place and where to go and where not go if you any German street sense, about you. It was just a fact of life, for GI’s in West Germany, in the early Eighties.
Who was I going to complain to The Inspector General? What was my complaint going to be?
Conrad The German , AKA “ Rad “, will not let me in his Night Club or Restaurant , so I can try to pick up a German fraulein, mostly likely his girlfriend or daughter, get drunk and tear up his bar, and start a good old American fist fight and then chase away all his German paying clients.
So Eric and I went to a lot of GI’s bars in our travels in the bigger cities.
As we walked into the smoked filled bar, the warmth of the heat rose over our cold skin, I quickly grasp my hands together and blew into them, trying to warm them up.
As I survey the crowd, it was loaded with many drunken GI’s and lots of pretty German girls who were wearing to much make up , dancing away to the music of Boy George. We quickly found a table against the wall. This is where we would hold court and drink German mead until closing.
The night was rocking, round after round of beer was delivered to the table.
I was chain smoking like a fiend.
Eric was in his own little world this evening. Just drinking and dancing with one German fraulein after another.I did not get insanely drunk, I could still walk and talk which was huge for me, no German fraulein caught my eye, this evening. Yet an attractive girl who was Asian American did.
I went up to her, started to chat, found out her name was Lynn and she was a Military Brat, her Dad was station in Heidelberg. Her hobbies included partying, partying and more partying.
We danced a few dances, now as far as my dance skills went, I had none, I looked like an old man going through an epileptic seizure while marching. I always wonder, when my dance partner was smiling at me, was it because she thought I was cute, or she felt sorry for me or was embarrassed for the both of us or was she just crawling out of her skin, waiting for the song to be over.
After the last dance was over, I thought this brief encounter was going somewhere, her boyfriend showed up in the lobby.
Sucks to be me , I thought to myself, it was around closing time anyway. The music will stop soon and the lights will come on and it will be time to go back outside, to the cobblestone streets of Olde Heidelberg.
I went back to our table and Eric struck out with every fraulein he danced with and it look like it was going to be a night of sleeping in Eric’s Mercedes down by the Nectar River.
As I was drinking the last of my mead, the music stopped, and the lights came on.The night was over, so I thought, yet it was just beginning.
We both got up and Eric headed for the door and out into the streets.
I was saying goodbye to Lynn in the lobby, suddenly, I was violently shoved by a GI.I turned to Lynn and she said “That dude is after you “!
I said who is he, she said his, His name is Martinez, he is in a Tank Battalion at Sullivan Barracks , in Mannheim. She then said, he comes in with his buddies and they start fist fights and they like to jump GI’s after closing. They are like a pack of wolves, be careful.
As I walked out the door, I notice that the moon was full, the moon beams were shining off the grey cobble stones. I had to find Eric and tell him what just happened.
As I told him, he looked me in the eyes and said, calmly “Rickey go kick his ass “.
I turned around and saw Martinez who just violently shove me, I knew if I was being set up outside for a beating, I had to act first, coming from the 10th Ward and being in over 180 sparing matches ,20 street fights and five boxing matches, combined , I never talked crap , pushed or shoved, I just knew how to throw down first. I always try to draw first blood on the streets. It always gave me the upper hand when I flurried on someone’s nose and it just splattered blood, all over the place and then, game over.
That always seemed to work but not on this evening.I was up on the sidewalk Martinez was standing four inches below me on the cobble stone street.
We quickly exchanged words, I knew I had to act fast, I put my hands on both sides of shoulder and twisted him to the ground. I heard his body making a thud sound against the cold grey cobblestone street and quickly I looked right, his buddy was coming straight at me, full force.
It was clobbering time. I quickly got in my boxer stance, up on my feet and as soon as he got in my arms reach, I let him have it, left right ,left right, left right, I flurry like I was Sugar Ray Leonard just as I was trained to do ,at St Martin’s Boxing Club and Aquinas, while training for the Mission Bouts, his nose just shattered, blood flew everywhere.
My boxing training paid off, once again. I must have hit him around twelve times., in a matter of seconds, I had him back up to the other side of the small German street, he dodged one of my rights and quickly threw a wild round house hook, which connected violently against my mouth and threw me off balanced.
As he split my lip wide open, with one of his rings his was wearing, blood began to flow, I thought I needed stitches at this point and I lost my balance and fell backwards into the building on the other side of the street, I ended up sitting on the sidewalk with my back up against the wall, he was rushing me at full speed and I quickly bounced up and threw my feet in front of me and landed them right in his stomach, he hit the ground , I could see I knocked the wind out of him, and I was up on my feet.
James Bond would have been proud of that move.
I looked at Eric and he looked at me and he said,” Run “.
We started to run and right behind us two more GI’s were chasing us.We were like jack rabbits running away for the wolves.
We made it a block down and I was looking for a weapon along the way.
That was the 10th Ward way of fighting, look around before the fighting started , had to have a weapon, to hit them upside their heads with, especially if there was more than one foe, yet now I was running, desperately looking for one
As we were running past an ancient mediaeval alley way, I saw a long wooden board by a pile of rubbish, I went into the alley, I grabbed it and put it up against the trash can and raised my leg and it came crashing down upon it and broke it in two.
I picked it up and carried it with two hands to the doorway of the Alley.
When I tried to come out of the alley, it was blocked by two more of Martinez’s friends.
Lynn was right they were like a pack of wolves, yet I was not going out of this alley in a body bag.
At this point I was in the fight of my life, I never been so close to death, as this fight progressed and all my years of boxing training , taken bloody beating at times, down in the Aquinas basement, being the only white boy at St Martin’s Boxing Club, it was beaten in me, always keep your cool, never get angry, if you do, you give your opponent the upper hand. Any mistakes at this point will cost me my lifeI was trapped in the Alley, so I thought.
Then I heard it. The sound of death. That woosh and click sound of an Italian Stiletto switchblade.Switchblades were not illegal in German; anyone could buy them. If you ever owned one, that noise that they make when you hit the button, is unforgettable. The shiny silver blade is long and slender and is made for one thing - killing.
I quickly saw the silver blade shining in the moonlight, I had the board in my hand and I made a split decision that could have cost me my life yet it saved my life, I threw down the blood soaked board, with my blood, dripping from my mouth and lip and said.
’ You Do Not Want To Cut Me, Man – You Do Not Want To Cut Me’.
The GI with the switch blade screamed , You messed up our friend”
Unknown to me when I threw Martinez on the ground ,Eric jumped on him and started to ground pound his face, breaking cheek bones, knocking out teeth. Eric gave him a savage beating.
Then I heard that click of the silver blade being put back, in a spilt second the second GI that was blocking the door way, also, rushed me, he was around 6 foot 2 , 220 pounds, he was a monster of man.
He connected with me like a NFL Linebacker, He picked me up and we landed five feet inside the alley and he took my head and bashed it against the stone wall, as my bloody head was bouncing back and coming forward ,he opened up his mouth like a rabid wolf and he started to try to bite my nose off, as his teeth was sinking into my cartridge , blood was going everywhere , from my nose now and mouth, in a split second, I took my thumb and put it right in his left eye, holding his head back, I started gouging his eye out , the next thing I know he was on the ground and I was on top of him , my whole thumb was deep in his eye socket, he was screaming , helpless, and his feet were kicking up and down like a baby ,as my thumb went deeper and deeper into his eye socket, I knew that a flip of my thumb would have dislodged his eye for good, I did not want to do that.
The next thing I heard was Polizei is coming , Polizei is coming.
I was terrified of the German Police; they could break your legs, and nobody could do nothing about it. There was no such thing as police brutality when it came to an American GI.
They will beat you first and asked questions latter.
What I was going through did not terrify me as a encounter will Poliezza would have.
It was time to run again into the cold streets of Heidelberg , it was time to release the wolf, just before I got off of him, I told him if you come after us, I will kill you. Those words are often spoken in the heat of the moment yet with me being covered in my own blood , and all the adrenaline flowing through every vein in my body and the fight or flight respond was in full gear, and almost getting stab to death, at this point if I was attacked again, I would have taken a life that night , it would have been a battle to the end with these pack of wolves. It would have been survival of the fitness.
I pulled my thumb out of his eye socket, it was badly sprained with all the pushing and shoving inside his skull.
I made it out of the alley alive and saw Eric, we both started to run.
The wolf stayed down where he was.
I was covered in my own blood; it was a blood bath under the full moon.
I was pretty messed up, I was bleeding from my lip , my nose and the back of my head.
I was lucky to be alive, yet at the moment I never felt so alive.
There were no toughs guys or Billy bad asses, this evening, just two drunken GI’s . just two friends who barely made it out of Heidelberg alive.
CHAPTER THREE
I was bleeding so bad that I knew I needed medical attention yet I wanted to see how bad the wounds were, so we head to another GI Bar, Carnaby’s down by the Nectar River.We headed into the bar and as soon as Eric and I walked in, all eyes were on us. We headed straight to the bathroom and as soon as I looked into the mirror, I knew I was in trouble, I said to Eric, you have to take me to the Hospital.
He said Ok, lets go without a second thought.
We got into the car and headed to the Military Hospital, Heidelberg Hospital.This is the Hospital that General George Patton died in from the wounds he sustained in a jeep accident, while out hunting, in Manheim.
As we walked into the Emergency Room, we went up to the front desk, blood was pouring out of me like a leaky garden hose. The Nurse gave me a huge bandage to soak up some of the blood.
The burly male nurse than asked me ‘ What Happened “?
I quickly told him that we were coming out of the bar and I asked two Germans for a light for my cigarette and they jumped me.Great cover up , story I thought, I was proud of my 10th Ward BS maker, when it came to talking to authorities.
The next words that came out of his mouth made my jaw dropped to the floor.
He said dryly “Gee that is so funny cause we just had a Soldier come in on the Ambulance,he was severely beaten, I grasped and said those bastards, those Germans must have got him too.
The nurse looked at me with those come on, come up with a better story than this, eyes.He said nope, eyewitnesses said two GI’s did this to him.I knew than the jig was up.
I was quickly escorted back in to the ER, they gave me a gunnery to sit on, as my feet was dangling over the gunnery , I heard a loud voice, screaming, “ When I catch them they are dead, I’m going to kill them, and on and on”.
I looked over to my right, and there he was, Martinez , he did not recognize me, he could hardly see with slates for eyes now, remember when I said, unknown to me when I threw Martinez on the ground Eric jumped on him and started to ground pound his face, breaking cheek bones, knocking out teeth. Eric gave him a savage beating.
“ Unknown to me “meant right up to this point in the ER, I did not know Eric gave him a wicked beating, to an inch of his life.Martinez face was bloodied, bloated, broken and he was toothless.
The nurse closed the curtain between us.
They started to work on my face and told me , I needed stitches yet we cannot give you any for the nose, because with a human bite it is one of the worst bites one can have, with the mouth being a petri dish for every germ a human can have. If we give you stiches it will most likely become infected.
The Nurse told me that I will have a battle scar and I carry it with me till this day. They managed to stop the bleeding from my lip and back of the head, as they were finishing up , I asked when can I leave.
A nurse started to laugh , you cannot leave, the MP’s are picking you up , they already have your buddy, you are going down to the Heidelberg MP Police station for questioning, you know that GI that was next to you, we just brought him up to the ICU, you better pray that he makes it.
Chapter Four
On the way to the MP Station I knew what to do, don’t say a word.
I did not speak , not even small talk, I knew better, there will be a time to speak, and in the MP Vehicle with two MP’s around my age ,was not the time and place, to say a word.It was around four in the morning when we arrived at the Heidelberg Police Station.
When I walked in, the front desked was to the right, to the left they had the holding cell and Eric was in it. It was full of drunken GI’s, lucky for me. They told me to grab a seat, right beside the cell, in the lobby.
I sat down in a green chair that has seen better days, and that is when the door flung wide open and the cold winter air filled the room and in walks in this young overzealous MP, with the wooden board that I broke in the alley , he held up in the air and looked at me in dead in the eyes and said , look what we have here and its covered in blood, looks like someone is going to Fort Leavenworth for a three year bid for aggravated assault with a weapon.
I looked at him and every MP in the room and said I did not hit anyone with that board, that blood is mine, test it and you see it is mine, the funny thing was DNA testing was unknown at the time and all they could test it for was for blood type.
Then the MP just smirk at me, he gave me a looked that he had me dead to rights ,as he walked away , my mind started to race for the best course of action that I shall take.At this moment, I knew I did not have anything to hide and everything to lose and the truth will set me free and out of a three-year bid in Fort Leavenworth. If they believed me.
In the early eighties Fort Leavenworth Prison was like a third world prison, I knew I would not have survived.
As I sat there in massive pain, my nose was throbbing, I told myself to stay calm, just to stay calm.
Five minutes later, an older gentleman called me into one of the rooms, the integration room, , he was overweight, wearing a white button down shirt , come to find out he name was Captain Henderson he, was an Army plain clothes detective, he did not have to adhere to the military dress and or hair code, otherwise known as CID.
His fingers were yellow from cigarettes, he light up a cigarette and I asked him if I could smoke and said ‘yes” as long as you tell me what happened and no bullshit, you understand, PFC Kingston.I looked him directly in the eyes and said “ OK”.
I told him everything that I did, Eric was not even in the equation. I did not see what Eric did to Martinez.I told him that. I only know what I did and what I did not do. I did not hit anyone with that board, I told him to test my blood which the board was covered in.I admit to it all, my freedom was on the line if they thought they could get an aggravated assault convection.
I was in the interrogation room for almost an hour. His hand started to cramp up from all the writing he was doing.
Then it was over, he slid the confession across the table and told me to read it and signed it.I read it over and he got what I said 100% right. I signed it and I asked him. Now what.He said, ‘We called your unit and your Sergeant, Sergeant Tomlin is driving from Mannheim to pick you up and take you back to your unit. What about Eric, he said, his Sargent picked him up already.
I asked him, I’m being charged, he told me that will be determine when the investigation is over.I asked how is Martinez. He said, he is not out of the woods, he still in ICU.
You will be the first to know if he takes a turn for the worst and if he does we will throw the book at you.
I than said, I will be saying my prayers, he then said PFC Kingston , “ I never want to see you again under these circumstances yet I have a dreaded feeling ,we will meet again. “ I than said, “ Let’s hope not’.
Sgt Tomlin was not a happy camper when he saw me, he had that expression my father did when I messed up bad, it was seven O’clock in the morning and I was ready to be picked up at 6am. I asked him what took him so long to get me.He told me as he took a drag on his cigarette and said “ Iwas not getting my ass out of a nice warm bed at 5am in the morning to pick you dumb ass up, Kingston.
I said, fair enough.
As I was sitting in the back seat of his car, I knew that look in his eye , he wanted to backhand me for being an entitled dumbass. I respected the hell of Tomlin, he was a combat Vietnam vet, he was in one of Life Magazine famous pictures, he was a Marine when he was in Vietnam. He was a Southern Good Old boy and I was a Yankee from Rochester NY.
I always reminded the Southern Boys that they lost the Civil war and that will make for another chapter.
He was on the downhill in the Army, he had only around four years to go till his 20 year retirement.
He liked me in his sick and twisted way, I think I reminded him and the other Vietnam Vets of themselves back in there wild days, he covered for me a lot, Sgt Tomlin and I had many encounters due to my bad behavior and crazy antics , like that time when I snuck my German girlfriend , Gaby, in the barracks, I hide her in my wall locker , just before he came in our room for morning pre inspection, yet I was caught by him as I was sneaking Gaby down the stairs and he just looked at me and said “Kingston you going to jail”. Yet he never rat on me, thank God I had a charming likeability to me, at times.
As he pulled his POV, ( Personality Own Vehicle ) up to, the barracks, I got out and said, I will see you in formation on Monday and Tomlin said ’ OK’.
I got out of vehicle into the cold winter Sunday morning and I went up the stairs to my room and hit the rack, I slept until 5pm and when I woke up, I cracked open a Eichbaum beer and ponder my fate.
Chapter 5
I heard the 45, the MP just locked and loaded on Eric, Eric was running as fast as he could, he was running for his life through the streets of Heidelberg .
I started to scream, do not shoot my friend, do not shoot my friend. I was running along the MP, The MP shouted out to Eric, stop running, let me see your hands. Eric stopped. As he cuffed Eric, all I could think to myself, here we go again……
Two Weeks Earlier
The Military Police report was finally in. Two weeks have passed since, since Eric’s and mine escapades in Heidelberg
On this sunny afternoon I had to talked to one of my Sergeants, to view the charges and see if I was going to Military Prison, Fort Leavenworth for three years for aggravated assault.
Sgt Tomlin was knocking on my door and he said “Open up Kingston”As he walked into my barracks room, he had that look on his face. I hated that look. That look you gave a bad puppy for peeing on your shoes. That was the look Sgt Tomlin was giving, me. I was his bad puppy.
He threw the report down in front of me, it landed with a smack on my desk, which was a common area desk, he told me to pick it up and said that was my copy to bring to J.A.G .He look at me and said you got lucky boy, since Martinez got out of the ICU last week, with some dentures , he will be fine .
I breathed a sign of relief, for a whole week Martinez laid up in the Hospital. The worst always came to my mind. What happen if he dies ?
The fear ate me up inside. I never wanted to hurt another human being as we did Martinez that night.
I understood now the ramifications of fighting. It is not like in the movies, when everyone is fine afterwards, it is not like a movie fight. In real street fighting, bones break, flesh rips and tears, teeth are ripped out of the gums and are broken, eyes sockets are fractured and yes, people do die at the end.
Sometimes it not a happy ending for either party, long prison terms, a lost of life, a brother , a son is gone forever.
Eric and I got lucky, with a pair denture, Martinez will look all right, yet what he went through emotionally can never be undone. His wild ways almost cost him his life, when he and his boys went after Eric and I. Half of me , the tough guy me, tried to stuff down the feeling of remorse yet I truly was sorry for my actions on that night. We all were lucky that night it did not ended up worst for all of us.
I was very grateful as Sargent Tomlin was talking, he said,You and you buddy are very lucky they he did not take a turn for the worst, with the beating that your buddy gave him. You may not be so lucky the next time, someone might wind up dead and that someone might be you.
My suggestion is for you to lay off that firewater Kingston. It will do you some good.
Now enough of me preaching to you , you are going do want you want, as usual but I’m giving you some more good news; they did not charge you with aggravated assault for almost using that wooden board on the GI with the switchblade. They believed you.
Now here is the bad news, Kingston, You are being charged with “Breach of The Peace and Simple Assault, for first hitting , Pvt Leaks’, I said who, Tomlin than said Pvt Leaks is the guy who pulled the switchblade on you. I said OK.
I asked him now what , Tomlin looked at me and said the good news is that you not going to prison, they will not be kicking you out of the Military, you will be getting a Company Grade Article 15, you will be getting busted to Pvt E-2, from your current rank of PFC, E-3, and you will be confined to barracks for a week and forfeit a month’s pay, over a three month period.
I said, is there anything I can do, he looked at me and said they got you by the balls, with your confession, all you can do is go down to J.A.G , and see what they say, yet I doubt it will help.
You can go next week. Now PFC Kingston, let’s see if you can stay out of trouble.
He then turned out and said “ One more thing Kingston , you will be an eye witness at PFC Downs Court Martial , I asked him who was that and why, he said he was the Tanker, that you tried gorge out his eye and who tried to bite off your nose, that night , they are bringing him up on charges, yours and one more for a different incident , Tomlin went on and said, appears to me this Downs fellow is not to stable, he is also charged with firing off his AR 15, the three rounds in his clip, while on Guard duty you have to wear your class A’s to the Court Martial and it will be on a upcoming Monday ,that you have to report to JAG. For his Military trial. We will let you know.
As he left the room once again, I began to Ponder my fate.
ONE WEEK LATTER
As I open up the door to the Jag building for my legal advice in how to fight the charges , I walked into the huge lobby with a winding staircase.
I went up to the staircase and saw the Nazi’s notorious swastika engraved in the steel handrail.
Most of the barracks and buildings in the Mannheim Military community were old Nazi barracks.
Up at the top of the stairs were two young military officers, I asked them where do I go for legal advice, on an Article 15, they told me second door to the left. I thanked them and headed that way, as I was leaving I overheard one office say to the other one, “Did you take a look at that suckers nose ?,That did not make me feel very good about myself, my nose was still healing from the bite that I received from PFC Downs.
I walked into the room and the military receptionist told me to grab a seat, five minute latter I was in front of Captain Sanchez. He was of Spanish Descent and looked like he belonged in Hollywood, instead of a Lawyer for the Us Army. Captain Sanchez had an easy disposition about him. As he was reading the Military Police report, I asked him straight out, is there any way that I can get out of this, what is the best course of action for my case.
He looked at me and said ‘ PFC Kingston you were very lucky that more serious charges were not filed against you , the best bet for you is to take the Company Grade Article 15 and count your blessings that you were not Court Material and thrown in prison for a spell.
He then said, sorry I could not help you yet your confession seal your fate and at the same time it kept you out of prison, so do yourself a favor and take the Article 15 . PFC Kingston you are dismissed.
As I was walking back to Spinelli Barracks, I thought to myself, it sucks to be me.
A week had passed since I went to see JAG, it was time to pay the piper, as my Father used to say.
All I could think of before I walked into the our Company Commander office for my third Article 15 was here we go again, I never faced such serve punishment as the loss of my rank.
It was time, I went into Captain Martin’s office, I saluted him and said Pfc Kingston reporting in for my Article 15, Sir.
He read the charges against me, you are charged with Breach of the Peace, and Simple Assault, then he said PFC Kingston your punishment is, you will lose one rank in grade, from PFC E-3. you are now PVT E-2 in grade and Kingston, you will be confined to barracks for a week and forfeit a month’s pay, over a three-month period.
Than Captain Martin told me that I have to report to JAG at 8am for PFC Downs Court Martial next Monday Moring , wearing my Class A’s and then he said, try to stay out of troubleand he dismissed me
As I left Captain Martin’s office, I felt …...sadness for the first time in a long time. Then just as quickly as I felt sad, I shoved it down inside and turned around and threw my middle finger up in the air as I was walking down the hallway of the barracks and screamed “ FTA “ ( *&^% ) The Army !!!
CHAPTER SIX
A week past fast, it was Sunday night and I called Eric on the Army’s landline phone, we made plans to go back to Heidelberg to party , one more time together, since it was his last day in Germany. He had to be at Frankfurt Airport at 6am. He was getting out of Germany. Eric was being resigned. He was heading back to the World.
On the ride up to Heidelberg in his old Mercedes ,I told him what happened , how I was now a E-2, I asked him ,what happened to him, did he get busted, Eric said ,he went in front of his Battalion Commander and his Battalion Commander asked Eric ,did he have anything to say about the report and he told him “ My Boy Rickey could fight and we kicked assed.” His Battalion Commander smiled and said that will be all.
He did not give Eric any punishment since he was on The Army’s Wrestling Team and a reporter for The Stars and Stripes, it was nice to receive special privileges being a jock, in the Army. My bread always fell the butter side down, yet I always eat it after I picked the hairs of life out it.
We decided to have a couple beers at Carbanony’s, another GI bar down by the Nectar River, as we walked in, we order two German beers at first, it was A Sunday night and it was pretty dead.
The music was playing in the background, the dance floor was empty, a few GI’s and their girlfriend were enjoying their drinks at the bar.
The evening was all about reminiscing about Eric’s and I, mad adventures throughout Europe . We travel to Italy, Austria, Switzerland and all over West Germany.
Our motto Was, “ American refuges stranded in West Germany 82-83 “.
Now this evening was the last goodbye. I was getting a good buzz on and so was Eric.
As we were talking , A GI came up to our table and looked at Eric and said’ You were the A-Hole who knock a tray of drinks of Helga Hands a few weeks ago , you owe her for those drinks.
I asked Eric if it was true and he said , yes, he bumped into her and a whole tray of drinks went flying.
He than said, I just left and went down to Freak street to drink.
I said “ OK” and that’s when the GI slapped Eric in the head. We both got up and the GI said, I’m going to beat your ass, I looked at Eric and he said lets go, I have a plane to catch.
We walked outside into the cobblestone streets of Heidelberg once more, and the GI followed us.he tried to go after Eric and I stepped in between, I told him , this was not going down.
He screamed your buddy owes Helga for those drinks, I said forget about it, he than ran around me and shoved Eric, normally we would have been throwing this guy a beating yet Eric had to be in Frankfurt at 6am. Eric kept saying ,I’m not going to fight you and the GI kept screaming and trying to go after Eric, and I kept on getting in between the two, and the next thing I know, a MP Vehicle pulled up.
Two young MP’s got out of the vehicle and came up to me and asked me, what is going on.
I said this douche bag is trying to start a fight with my Buddy. The MP’s looked at Eric and said come here and Eric looked at him and said, nothing , in a split second Eric took off running, I guess in his mind , nothing was going to stop him from catching his plane.
The chase was on, Eric took off like a bat out of hell, and the MP gave chase and I was running alongside the MP as Eric was gaining a wide birth , through the old medieval streets.
Eric ran about three blocks and the MP had no chance of catching up and the next thing I know , I heard the 45, the MP just locked and loaded on Eric, Eric was running as fast as he could, he was running for his life through the streets of Heidelberg .
I started to scream, you do not want to shoot my friend, you do not want to shoot my friend, Eric ran another two blocks and then stooped dead in his tracks.
Thank God, Eric stopped, and it ended the way it did, the MP could have blasted Eric dead and then turn around and killed me.
He was a young newbie to the force. Anything could have gone wrong. Thank God nothing happened.
They always say, God looks out for drunks and fools and God was always on double duty when Eric and I were together.The MP talked to us , he calmed us down and told us we were going to the Military Police Station for questioning . As we walked back to his Military Police vehicle, he said he would not cuff me, as long as I cooperate. Eric was still cuffed when the MP put him in the back seat. I got in and off we went.
The MP Vehicle took off across the most famous bridge in Heidelberg, going over the Neckar River, off to the Heidelberg Military Police Station once more.
CHAPTER 7
As we walked into the Heidelberg Military Police Station, the front desk Captain started to lay into the young newbie MP about giving purist to Eric , he said he had no business in chasing Eric alone, he said never give chase alone.
At this point I looked at the newbie MP right in his eyes and he knew we had him , if we open up our mouths about being locked and loaded on.
I decided and Eric thought the same way, to shut our mouths about being locked and loaded on.It was like a street thing to do, and even tho he was a MP, I did not want to see him , get in serious trouble for his actions. So we keep quiet about it, also we wanted to get out custody as soon as possible.
The Desk Sergeant told me to grab a seat because an old friend needs to speak with you two.I said, we do not have any friend here, the Desk Sergeant said , you two are very popular here with that street fight you stared last month, and now you are back, so your new best friend Captain Henderson is coming in on his evening off , to talked to you , to try to figure this all out ,in went down this evening.
Captain Henderson was an Army plain clothes detective, he did not have to adhere to the military dress and or hair code, otherwise known as CID. He took down my confusion on that fateful night.
They threw Eric in the cage and I waited in the lobby once more time for Captain Henderson to arrive.
As the door to the lobby flew open , in walked a very unhappy Captain Henderson, he looked at Eric and I and said, its you two again.
He went up to the front desk Sergeant and was debrief in what happen and than he looked at us and then and said ‘Let Them Go “.
He then points at me and says, Kingston has to go PFC Downs Court Martial In the morning and the other one is catching a plane back to the world.
He than looked and me and said , stay the $%$# out of trouble, if you can Kingston, now get the hell out of here.
CHAPTER SEVEN
As we arrived at Spinelli barracks front gates., it was time to say goodbye, the Mad Adventures of Rick and Eric were finally over. We have been all over German and Europe partying and creating mayhem.
We were not barracks rats , every weekend we were on the Autobann or taking a train, to a wine fest or beer fest, or going to Italy, Austria and or Switzerland.Now in the darkest of the night we said our final Goodbye.
As Eric drove away, I knew in my heart that was the last time I will ever see him.We were too dangerous to hang out together.
Goodbye my dear violent friend.
Chapter Eight
Monday Morning.
As I was laying on the bench in my Class A’s , totally hung over and in agony , all eyes were on me.Everyone else was seating on the long green bench waiting to go into the Court Martial, I thought it was nap time to sleep off this hang over I had, from Heidelberg last night.
Lucky for me no one, told me to sit up.The Court Martial of PFC Downs was in full swing and I was there key witness of the assault charges they brought him up on, it was my nose he was trying to bite off.
PFC Downs was facing another charge, firing his AR 15, while on Guard duty.
As I was just falling asleep in the hallway, I heard my name called and I got up.I looked at my uniform and it looked like I just took a tumble through a dryer, my Class A;s were wrinkled as hell from trying to sleep on the bench.
I walked into the Court Room, the Judge was on my right and behind me against the far wall, it was loaded with High School kids, from Mannheim High School, attending the Court Martial for one of their High School classes
I was instructed to sit in the witness stand, I sat down and saw a familiar face, it was Captain Sanchez.,The Army Lawyer who I went to see about my charges, I said. Hi Captain, and immediately , the Judge interjected and ask me right away, how do I know Captain Sanchez, in a split second , I turned into Gommer Pyle, I told the judge that , Captain Sanchez was defending me , and giving me legal advise about my charges, of Breach of the Peace and Simple Assault.
The judge than angrily said, PVT Kingston we have an military dilemma here, Captain Sanchez is the Prosecutor and he was your defense lawyer, as is stands PVT Kingston, you do not have to testified.
There has been a huge legal mistake.I thought about it for a while, and said, I will testify. I thought screw it, we have gone this far and why quit now. I wanted to see where this will go.
Deep in my heart, I did not see why the Army brought charges against PFC Downs, I was the one who started the fight, I was the one who had the wooden board in my hands. I was the reason Martinez was in the Hospital for a week.
Captain Sanchez than asked me, what happened the night. I started to testify from the beginning of that crazy night to the end, not missing all the bloody details. As I was testifying, I looked into the eyes of the High School Students across from me, one cute blond in particular, she was mortified by me, all I could feel was shame, for what I did and I was embarrassed, and felt less than, my feelings effected my testimony. I felt like Gommer Pyle, trying to explain the night away. I felt stupid, I felt dumb, and it was evident.
Eighteen months earlier I was a High School student and now I made a mess of my life and others around me. I was not an innocent teenager anymore; I took that away from myself, by my insane drinking and violent tendencies. Here I was 20 years old and I had the fate of another human being in my hands, so I thought.
When I was testifying about my part of the fights, I kept repeating, that everything I was saying was in my confession.
I kept the focused on myself and said truly little about PFC Downs.
When I was done, Captain Sanchez , thank me and told me to wait in the Hallway with the others ,presumably for the verdict.
When I got up to leave, my eyes meet the cute blond for the last time and she quickly looked away.
I felt lower than whale poop and being hung over did not help.I went back into the hallway and found the bench to sit down on. An hour had passed and the Court Martial was over. A Staff Sergeant came out and announced that PFC Down was found guilty on the charge of firing his weapon while on Guard duty. He was found non guilty of the charge of assault on me.
PFC Downs will be dishonorably discharged from the Army and will serve time in the brig. I asked the Sergeant how long, he said around a year.
A flash of gratitude came over me, that could have been me. I could have been kicked out of the service and did time. I got lucky, yet as I was walking down the hallway to leave the JAG building, I thought to myself, how long will my luck hold out.Chapter Nine.
It been a month since PFC Down’s Court Martial and Eric left, West Germany I was on my own now. I loved going up to Heidelberg on the weekend. Now the only different was, I was going up there by myself.
I knew in the back in my mind that I could get jumped by Martinez and his boys minus Downs, if I ever meet them again. It was scary every time, When I walked into a GL bar and I had to scoop the room, to see if he was inside the bar partying with his buddies.
It was an uneasy feeling in having to be on the lookout for pay back when I was out and about by myself.Yet I never stopped going out on the weekends and I never stopped looking behind my back.
Time was flying and Spring was in the air, I decided on this particular weekend, that I would go to the Mannheim Beer Fest. I still did not hit bottom and partying was still running through my veins.
As I was walking around the giant beer tent with a big German stein filled with frothy beer in my hands, the German band on stage was playing the Chicken Dance , I was still tensed about partying by myself and knowing that I could get thrown a beating if I ran into Martinez and his boys.
I was on guard. I keep looking at all the GI’s at the orange tables. Then out of the corner of my eye, to my right, there he was, with his boys. He had a beer in front of him, a cigarette hanging out of his mouth. At first, I thought to myself loud mouth Tankers.
He was missing quite a few teeth. Eric and I really did mess him up. I felt bad for him.
At this point most people would have turned around and left.
Without a second thought I walked up to his table and stopped dead in my tracks. As I was hovering over Martinez, I looked him dead in his eyes and said, I want to apologize to you.
As soon as those words left my mouth, dead silent came over his table., all eyes were on me.
I felt no fear at this point. I said I’m the one that threw you on the ground up in Heidelberg , my buddy Eric than jumped on top of you.
I want to apologize to you for my actions, I ‘m sorry for any harm I caused you.
He looked me in the eyes and said OK.
Then I said OK. As quick as the conversation started, it was over
No one at his table was moving, no one was going to make a move on me.
It was final, closure was at hand for the both of us.
A mutual respect was earned on both of our parts.I was walking tall as I was walking away.
I thought to myself, this chapter of my life just came to an end.
It was over, in what I started and then I thought what my father told me,
He said Rick, God watches out for drunks and fools.I walked out of the Beer Tent, I took the last swig of my German beer and then looked up to the heavenly stars and said, Thank you. God, please keep watching over me because this chapter of my life is over yet my journey has just begun.
THE END
*Reference: Wikipedia
Rick Kingston grew up in the Log Cabin House on Lake Ave in Rochester, NY.He lived in Greece NY in his Twenties.
He is writing these short stories of back in the day from real experiences with a touch of fiction thrown in.
During these ever changing times Rick wishes to bring back everyone who is reading these short stories to a time and place where we can all relate and look back and say" Those Were The Days My Friend " - " I remember That".
Rick lives in Englewood ,Florida since 1996 with his wife of 22 years and their kitties.
Rick has been clean and sober since January 14th, 1984.36 Years at a day at time.
Godspeed to us all.