It was my turn as Sergeant Of The Guard at my division replacement depot in Korea. The replacement depot would hold back some new soldiers to pull guard duty, until the next group of replacement soldiers came in from the states. Then we would let the old bunch go to their new organizations. They were always replaced with fresh soldiers from the new shipment of troops.

The phone rang in the guard tent. It was about 8 PM, so I picked up the phone and said "Sergeant of the Guard". On the other end of the phone was one of the guards. This cute little stud was on guard duty at our front gate. He told me that he had heard some gunfire. I was the old veteran, so I told him that during the night there was a lot of shooting going on. Just ignore it!

He called back in a couple of minutes and again said he had heard more shooting. This shooting would go on all night at times. But something told me that this guard was scared. So big hearted me, I told him I would walk up to the gate and talk with him.

I walked down the well-lit road, to the front gate's guard shack. There I found the guard and he was very scared, almost shaking. I was talking to him, when I thought someone had just thrown a string of firecrackers at my feet. I could see the dust jumping up and hear the crack. That was enough for me. I jumped into the large drainage ditch for protection.

Still standing up was the guard. I reach for his pant leg and gave him a big jerk. This guard came tumbling down on top of me. I told him that we were being shot at. Then with the butt of his rifle, I was able to knock the phone off of its hook and the phone came tumbling down to me. I called the Officer Of The Day to tell him we were under fire. He told us to return fire.

I returned fire as this young and very scared guard just hung onto me. It was over just as soon as it began. The shooters were gone! When things calmed down, I felt that the guard was melting into my body. It felt nice to have this cute little guy, hanging onto me and crying softly. We were still in the drainage ditch. I, without thinking, just held him in my arms and kissed the tears away as I told him that everything was over and we were safe.

The Officer Of The Guard and I, along with a few soldiers, went across the road to look for the shooters. (I was sure hoping that we would not find them.) We never did know who was shooting at us. It was all over but I had my thoughts on this cute guard. He was gorgeous!

After his shift was over and he was free, I took this cute guy for a walk among the empty tents. He was so thankful that he had survived his first combat. (That was not combat of course, but to him it was.) He thanked me for looking out for him and holding him. I asked him if he was still scared, and he told me no, since I was with him.

I was terrible. I took this young stud into an empty tent. Then I just held him again in my arms and again kissed his face.