Non Semper Fidelis

by Sam Foster

Set during the Vietnam War era, this short novel takes place at the Officer Candidate School in Quantico, Virginia. The story follows the progress of Private Jack Kendrick as he learns about the chain of military authority. He and his fellow soldiers must learn to stand up straight, at attention, before their designated superiors and show respect for hierarchy. Also it shows how our hero and his companions dare to stand up straight before their superiors and respectfully protest the edicts of authority.

The chain of authority is challenged when Kendrick's black friend Corporal William Buck is on leave in Memphis, visiting his mother. Martin Luther King, Jr. is shot dead and the city erupts in a race riot. Corporal Buck chooses to remain AWOL rather than leave his mother in the urban war zone. When he eventually returns to Quantico he is willing to face discipline, but unwilling to tolerate the hateful taunts of a racist sergeant.

This is a novel charged with emotion and moral quandary. How will Jack Kendrick, who has a mind of his own, survive the authoritarian code of the military career he has chosen?

144 pages, Paperback

Published November 7, 2016

About the author

My ancestral home is a dying little port on the Illinois River. But my father was, as the ‘80s country song tells, “The next of kin to the wayward wind.” One result being that until I came to Los Angeles for college, I’d never lived for more than two years in the same place in my entire life. That was in 1962. My intention at the time was to become a vet, to drive around country roads in a pick-up truck and do for farm animals what the farmers could not do themselves. But my inability to pass organic chemistry and my draft boards clear statement that I had only 8 semesters of deferment before “going into the pool” changed my major to history.
When I was graduated I, like every other man who was graduated that year, had a choice for my graduation trip - Canada or Vietnam. My antipathy to cold weather and a little of Socrates wisdom picked up in college caused me to select the latter. So, my first job out of college was with the U.S.M.C. A few years later I was honorably discharged after 5 months in a Naval Hospital but body and spirit mostly intact.
I’ve always been a story teller, but at 24 I was not willing to “starve for art” and wanted disparately to find stability. So, I married, moved back to Los Angeles and dove into corporate America. It wasn’t until I was in my mid-forties and a divorced father of two with a house and a little money that I was brave enough to indulge my creative impulses. I’m not entirely my father’s son. I’ve got the “wayward wind” gene but mine is recessive. Aside from a year in Washington DC and a few years in New York City I’ve lived at the beach in Los Angeles my entire life. That “wayward wind” gene I inherited just makes me travel a lot, not pick up and move.
The stories I’ve always liked best have more than a plot and a couple of memorable characters, they also introduce me to an entire world I do not know. I write about things I know just so I can show you worlds you may not. My first book was about a business hustle and set in Los Angeles. My second was about the U.S.M.C. during the Vietnam era. (It is more about race in America in the 60s than killing Vietnamese.) But this story, the one that led you open this webpage and bio, is about the American I grew up with and know well, whose history I understand perhaps better than it’s present, and whom I will love until I die.
I had a friend who died a few years ago, one whose name you may have heard. It was Al Sparlis. Al was U.C.L.A.’s first football All American. He was 185# center on the 1941-42 & ‘45 teams. Al flew in three American wars. He flew with Chennault in China; he flew in Korea and was one of only 7 pilots in his squadron to come back alive; when he volunteered again during Vietnam, they told him he was to old. Al could be very forceful. They gave in and let him fly soldiers back and forth to Hawaii – live ones going over and dead ones coming back. I tell you about Al because he once said something that struck me as so profound, I’ve never forgotten it. “The measure of a man is the things he’s willing to die for.”
My stories are about the things in America men, and women, are, if not willing to die for, at very least risk all for.

Reviews

[Nancy Rossman · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have known the author, Sam Foster, through business for over 25 years. It is always interesting to see a person (you thought you knew) through another lens. For example, I knew nothing about Sam's USMC experience. Now... this is a novel, not memoir, but the author was in the military during the tumultuous Vietnam days. And you might think that he chose to describe (ad nauseam) another battle or all of that. But this is simply a graphic portrayal through his flushed out characters... of what the military is like. And the things in that hierarchy that can be right, or not.
Not having any connection to military but only what I've seen in movies and with the opening pages, I was immediately invested. I had to see what happened with Kendrick, with the asshole officers, with some who were humane, and the rest.
Well written and had me turning pages until the end. Great tension, and interesting even to a chick. ha. Good job, Sam. Recommended.

[Maxine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Non-Semper Fidelis by author Sam Foster takes place during the Vietnam War although the war itself plays little role in the book. The story is ostensibly that of Private Jack Kendrick stationed at Officer Candidate School at Quantico but much of it is devoted to other people both on and off the base. This is a very short book and, in many ways reads like a series of short stories, the most interesting being that of Black corporal William Buck.

With very little time left in service, Buck returns to his home in Memphis to visit his mother and to apply for a job once he reenters civilian life. However, just before his leave ends, Dr Martin Luther King is assassinated, precipitating violent riots in the city. Buck makes the choice to be found AWOL rather than leave his mother unprotected.

I don't read a lot of books about military life and I wasn't sure what to expect but the blurb on this one intrigued me so I decided to take a chance. Too often, it seems, these books, especially about US Marines, are just right wing action packed with plenty of USA USA with little or no nuance. Not so this book. It's deals with the chain of command and how too many officers use it for petty reasons and punishments; about the racism that Black marines had to face as well as their limitations within the ranks; and about how, at least in this book, non coms were willing to stand up against these abuses,

Overall, I found Non-Semper Fidelis well-written. interesting and compelling. I liked most of the characters especially Kendrick and Buck. And therein lies my criticism of the book and why 3.5 stars instead of a full 4. I would have liked more background on these characters, more fleshing out, as well as more interconnection between the events.

Still, this novel gives the reader a nuanced and insightful look at what life was like for Marines during the Vietnam era and I recommend it highly to anyone who is interested in reading a military story that go beyond the simplicity of a recruiting poster.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review

3.5