Tension in the Marine House

Then there were occasional times of tension for those in the Marine house but for the most part we all stuck together. We had the Marines in common and respect for each other. However we had our moments which turned ugly like the night I was standing at the kitchen sink chopping up some carrots with a knife.
Then out of nowhere a blunt object was being pressing into my back and instantly I turned around and stuck my knife at the throat of a fellow Marine Sergeant who thought he would come up behind me and scare the crap out of me. As we stared at each other he backed off and said, “if you ever…… ( hesitation) do that again I’ll kill you!!!”. What was I to do? I was irritated at his response and his stupidity, ignorance, aggression, arrogance, and pride!!! . As I continued preparing food he came up to me again and as he went through a reenactment I too had the same response. Only this time, he tried to stab me in the back. As I turned around he caught the back of my arm and laid it wide open with a k-bar Knife which caused me to bleed like a stuck pig!!
That night I ended up in the home of an Arab doctor who stitched me up without numbing my wound. The Marine could have gone to the brig but he apologized and I decided to cover up the incident by saying that I fell down the basement steps and got cut on a mason jar. After that I gained his respect and we left each other alone.

Naturally young Marines have lots of energy and need an outlet for all of the training which had been acquired. As a past time some Marines drank, smoked and hung out with the local hookers in white veils that hid their faces until they got into the Marine house.
As for me I would hop in a cab and ride to the market place and intermingle with the Arab merchants. I tried out my Arabic words that Mohammad and Moktar taught me as I bartered and bought Rugs, brass, and various collectables to send back home in Indiana.