Career and Life Ascension
Copyright© 2026 by Wojtek
Chapter 7
I was up early, and it appeared so was Cpl Rosario.
He advised me that we would be off for the next three days and warned me not to get in trouble.
After a run and breakfast, I drove over to the house.
The first order of business was to wash all the damp clothing I had before going out to grab a few groceries. During the trip I was able to purchase three twenty-four-ounce mason jars at the store. I remembered that the vacuum sealer came with a jar attachment. Once I did that, I’d seal them in a bag just for added security.
Sameulu was deep in a project when I walked into the shop. An idea came to me, and I wanted to see if he could do it. Plus, I needed to see if he could help me with my other idea.
“Look what the cat dragged in. You can go mow the lawn since I’m now off the hook.”
“I’m glad my return could benefit you. Though I have a couple of questions. Do you know a seamstress?
The other thing is do you have time for a project in the forge?”
“Jacinta can take care of your sewing needs. Just how big of a project are you talking about?”
We sat and talked for a while. It seemed that Jacinta wasn’t going to be able to do what I was looking for, though she might know someone who could. My idea for a project was a go. He would have most of the materials by tomorrow, although one item would have to be ordered, and he’d make sure that it arrived on time.
I returned to the house and started on the lawn. I had to police up all the overripe fruit before I could mow the lawn and was putting the mower away when Samuelu came into the garage. I was told to get my spearfishing gear as we were going out.
As I was putting the gear in the car, Samuelu came over and handed me the speargun I’d bought.
“It’s time to take a step up.”
We went out for a few hours. I was given basic instructions on how to use the spear gun. I wasn’t near any skill level, as out of about forty shots, I hit once. We went back to the house with five fish. Mine might make one meal. After I got cleaned up, the phone rang. I was invited over to Samuelu’s for dinner.
Dinner was good and then we had a conversation about what I needed. Jacinta gave me the name and address of a lady that should be able to help me. She told me to go see her tomorrow.
When I got back to the house, I called Kiku, hoping that I could catch her. We talked for about fifteen minutes before she went to a study group. We talked about when we would see each other, and that I
thought I might have an idea. I just needed to do some research.
I needed to get back to some semblance of a routine after the last two weeks. So I took a trip to the gym.
After a shower, I went through the mail.
Checking my Leave and Earnings Statement (LES), both my Foreign Language pay, and uniform allowance hit my account. That caused me to hit the pawn shop on the way to the seamstress. The pawnbroker had another Garand and a 03 Springfield.
Both had really great bores. If the interior of a rifle’s barrel is shiny, smooth, and has sharp, well-defined rifling (helical grooves) that have not been worn down or damaged by rust or excessive use, it will be more accurate. They went underneath the blanket in the back of the car. I stopped by a lock and safe
company to see about getting a cheap gun locker. It was way more expensive than I thought. Guess that shipping stuff to Hawaii added so much to the price.
They said it should come in a few weeks.
When I walked up to the shop, the business sign was mostly in Korean. The only thing in English is Seamstress and Alterations. Walking inside, there was an older Asian couple behind the counter. It was the gentleman who spoke up.
“Can we help you?”
“I was referred by Jacinta Alovili to have something created.”
The old lady’s face reacted with a smile when I said Jacinta’s name. Then the old man translated what I said. Then there was a back and forth between them.
“My name is Hwan Joo-Eun, and this is my wife, Mae. She is curious as to what you want to have done. She does not do much work for men.”
“I would like to have two pieces of clothing combined in a specific manner.”
They asked if I had them with me, and I told them I’d go get them out of the car. I returned with a BDU blouse and an issue OD green undershirt. They both looked at me like they didn’t know what to do with the items. Mr. Joo-Eun translated as I showed them what I wanted. The sleeves and the shoulder were to be removed from the BDU blouse and then attached to the undershirt. I also wanted the breast pockets removed from the blouse and attached to the upper part of the sleeves. Basically, I was creating the combat shirt about ten years earlier than in the first go-around.
I need to talk to Bob and Mr. Roth to see if I could patent the idea. I realized that I didn’t have the
ability to manufacture the finished product. That didn’t mean that I couldn’t profit from licensing it though. There was one other thing I needed to check on. I wanted to see if there was some sort of material that was available that was sweat wicking like would be a common place in the near future.
They said that the work that I wanted wouldn’t be an issue and left it to Mae to figure it out. The only thing I requested was what they were put together to be as heavy-duty and durable as possible. They said that wouldn’t be a problem. I left feeling good with the timeline and the cost.
During the return to the house, I stopped and purchased some fruit for after dinner. After starting to cook, I called Bob. It was an illuminating conversation. They wouldn’t be able to handle the patent application. That type of law was its own specialty. I would need a patent lawyer, and they would give me a list in a couple of weeks of possibilities.
They also told me that I’d need to protect myself and the patent. The best way to go about that was to start an LLC. I told them that I was going to be in Georgia in September and we could sit down and discuss everything then. Things should be clearer at that point anyways. That’s when Bob asked why I was going to be in Georgia. I explained about going to Airborne school. That required me to tell Bob the whole story. He laughed and then told me I needed to stop being an idiot, making too many stupid decisions.
I went to bed with even more on my mind than before. Bob told me to see if there was a Fashion course at one of the universities near me. They would be able to give me info on how to improve my design.
After going for my morning run and getting cleaned up, I was sitting at the table eating when Sameulu came in.
The power hammer was finished. Everything was rebuilt, cleaned, and refinished. Sameulu had the whole thing done in red and blue with five stars. It was a Samoan flag motif. There weren’t a lot of problems putting it together. It was running like a dream when we called it a night.
He went over the project again and he said that everything was in order. The special twist was on order and should be here on time. The only problem was that it was costing a pretty penny due to it being a rush job, and the expedited shipping.
I was then informed that I was going to be helping considerably on the project this next weekend. We were going to have everything ready so that way all Sameulu would need to do is assemble it next week.
I left for my meeting with Lalo. We met at a restaurant of his choosing, and we had a nice chat over dinner and then concluded our business for the cable box. I headed to the barracks and started getting prepared for the rest of the week.
We had PT as a platoon and then had a quiet duty day. Once we were released, I ate at the mess hall and then drove to kickboxing. Master Chutimant had me help a couple of guys who were going to be having their first pro kick-boxing fight.
The time was spent sparring, and I was used to let them to figure out how to get in on someone with a reach advantage. I did everything that was asked of me as I wanted to be a good partner.
It was a good session and was more of a workout for me than anything.
I spent the end of the night going over a sheet that Gunny Owens had given me about the Lance Corporal Seminar. It just gave an overview of what would be covered in the three sessions. The first meeting was going to be a discussion on ethics in leadership.
We spent the morning before chow in the gym working out. By the time we were done, we were all shuffling around like zombies when it was all over.