European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - January 17, 1981, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 8 the stars and stripes january 1981 seven marines find no discos Story and photo by Ann Keays staff writer Nepal the Himalayan kingdom of Nepal can boast of the worlds highest a tropical Valley that produces bananas and unusual animals like the Yak and seven the servicemen Are stationed at the american embassy Here and find their in a but there Are Ameri cans Are very Well liked said Marine Joseph the nepalese even asked us to help them sacrifice animals to their gods on one of their Nepal is considered a hardship said of Floral As Coic of the Marine guard detachment Collins will serve a two year the six Lowe ranking marines Are serving 15month recreation is a said theres not much to do every thing closes up about 7 and there Are no this place is chimed in Scott pointing his thumb Earth but we occasionally go to the Casi no for a Little Roulette or animal sacrifice Nepal has Many deep rooted religious its 13 million population is composed of about 80 percent hindus and 20 percent animals Are sacrificed to the 35 million gods and goddesses worshipped by the on one nepali the marines were asked to join in the religious Cele we helped them chop off the goats said at first we said no because it is a very symbolic the ceremony is important to the if you do the least Little thing it causes bad Luck they Are but they encouraged and told us what to so we took its the third you said Eugene of Orange living Here it makes you appreciate what youve got or and you have to be careful what you its not the sanitary conditions youre used embassy guard duty is a temporary additional Job for a Cunningham is ordinarily a computer of Coos is a machine gun Ner ground he said that at he is the youngest Here and has been dubbed the baby in the All of the marines Are a prerequisite for duty they receive an extra monthly As foreign duty Shangrila Collins has a House to provided by the state the remaining six share a cottage dubbed where each has his own the embassy employs about 65 Ameri cans and there Are also about 140 peace corps personnel in the embassy provides services to citizens it handles emergency evacuations and health and mediates prob lems with the local and if government dignitaries we run Security for said on embassy duties can be a bit Brandon and Cunningham told of an american priest who been living in Katmandu and died they detailed to pack his body for shipment Back to though the marines Are far from Home and they return in on Christmas Collins went shopping for Holiday dinner ingredients at a Small Christmas was traditional mashed Corn just like he no Mac nights the americans receive supplies by com Mercial there Are no Mac flights into no one tried to go Home for said it costs round trip to the or wed have to go to the Philippines to catch a military mail comes through the state depart ment Pouch its a month turn said with 10 to 15 Days for a letter to go one the marines said they have buddies among the nepalese military famous for its gurkha a traditional unit of the Indian and British we get along Well with the locals be cause were not were More Down to said one others stationed with the embassy m Nepal Are Robert Schaffer of Kenneth Bransky of Charles Barnes of Grove Ohio and Joseph Tomazic from Nepal Book tells of experiences in Vietnam Scott Brandon left and Eugene Cunningham guard the embassy in desire to see truth printed turned go into author in by John Bunker staff writer Germany troubled by flowery painted me Dia hype and movies on David Wesseler just wanted the soldiers View he wrote a a platoon sergeant with the 1st 30th inf authored half a world away for reasons different from most writers my objective was seeing the truth the native with no concern for Royalty i returned from Vietnam in 69 to demonstrators protesting the War and heard bad feelings about soldiers who fought i  believe i Laid my life on the line for this one firsthand experience occurred in the Philadelphia he a Flower girl and five male companions tried to set me she spit on my uniform and i dropped her in one breaking her and then dealt with her i left the army that year and began but found i was still too emotion ally close to my experiences to i decided to so i set the Book i was Back in the army by i found i didst fit in a civilian society that generalized and fantasized something As realistic As said As it turned it was eight years be fore he Felt capable of translating his experiences and feelings into a both As a civilian and i had overheard and had Many people Tell me about come to find the so called experts haunt been they watched to and hearing their misunderstandings prompted me to get the truth published even at that Point it took one month to finish the sometime later a Friend asked if i had cleared the manuscript through the department of the army unaware of that i contacted the publisher and asked them to hold printing for a they Wesseler submitted the manuscript to a in january 1979 and after a few months checked to see what the Holdup he found it had been cleared in february and was told it was lost in the a apologized and sent the approval the Book was finally published in a gust Wesseler said the publisher has notified him of possible movie contracts and he has begun writing his second the american dream the human time but he said his first priority is his responsibility As a platoon David Wesseler autographs a copy of his photo by Rick Wasser