Dedication

This piece is dedicated to the guys and their families but also our friend Bulldog, a retired US Marine who died in 2011. His health was deteriorating, so we all joined him in-game to mark that year’s Memorial Day, which he hugely appreciated. It was to be his last, and theirs.

I had met the guys after several of them joined us both in a game lobby: they were snowbound following storms just after Christmas 2010. They were pretty madcap, Bulldog was definitely not, and it was highly amusing. After the holidays, we stayed in touch.

Speaking like the former Senior Staff NCO he was, he once told me we would “report them to their Command” if they ever caused me grief. Bulldog, consider the report submitted.

At this point, if this was a traditional memoir, the response would be, “I have the watch”, or something like. But that’s not me. As the waitresses say, “not my table.” But maybe it is yours. So, remaining true (always) to the Fifth General Order for Sentries of the United States Marine Corps, let me quit this post properly, by offering a heart-felt benediction:

“Wrap up warm, don’t eat junk, and if you can, please, call your mum.”

Kirsten Bayes
Reading, UK
2 February, 2026

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