The Secret Society of The Great Pumpkin Read online

The Secret Society of the Great Pumpkin

  at Texas A&M University

  Van Allen

  Copyright 2016 Van Allen

  The Secret Society of the Great Pumpkin

  at Texas A&M University

  Van Allen

  Copyright 2016 Van Allen

  The Secret Society of the Great Pumpkin

  at Texas A&M University

  www.VanAllenFiction.com

  [email protected]

  Follow me on Twitter @GrProject43X

  Follow me on Facebook/VanAllen

  This book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This book may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you are reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to your favorite book retailer and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without prior written permission of the author/publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in reviews.

  All characters in this book have no existence outside the imagination of the author and have no relation to anyone bearing the same name or names. Any resemblance to individuals known or unknown to the author are purely coincidental. This is entirely a work of fiction.

  Cataloguing Information:

  Allen, Van

  The Secret Society of the Great Pumpkin at Texas A&M University/Van Allen

  FIC030000 FICTION / Thrillers / Suspense

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Licensing Information

  Introduction

  Chapter 1 – My Arrival

  Chapter 2 – The Investigation

  Chapter 3 – Health and Welfare

  Chapter 4 – Snoopy Detail

  Chapter 5 – Report

  Chapter 6 – The Pumpkin Patch

  Chapter 7 – Closing In

  Chapter 8 – All Hallows’ Eve

  Prologue

  Tribute

  About the Author

  Introduction

  This year, 2016, commemorates the 50th anniversary of the airing of Charles M. Schulz’s It’s The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown on TV in 1966. I am a huge fan.

  Disclaimer: My story is laced with gobs of profanity. My heavy use of swear words is very likely to be offensive to meemaws, church ladies, and a bunch of men too.

  While it’s true that US Marines commonly spoke with profanities 20 years ago, I have a sense they use profanity less so today. Also, 20 years ago profanity was reserved for talking with excitement and spiciness amongst Enlisted Marines. We never used profanity to talk to Marine Officers, civilians, our spouses, our kids, recruits, cadets, or anyone else except other Enlisted Marines. Today’s Marine Corps is more polished and professional and I applaud the upgrades.

  I’m writing this with all the profanities that were common of Enlisted Marines in the mid ‘90s. So sit back, continue reading, and fucking enjoy.

  The United States Marines Corps selects a certain number of Enlisted Marines yearly to go through the long processes of becoming Officers of Marines. The Marine Corps loves to promote from within and over the years, a healthy number of prior Enlisted Marines have always proven themselves a goldmine of talent, experience, and leadership added to USMC Officer ranks (USMC Enlisted Commissioning Programs).

  “One of the most common programs Enlisted Marines use to transition from enlisted to officer is the Marine Corps Enlisted Commissioning Education Program (MECEP). MECEP offers qualified Marines the chance to go to a four-year college full-time, while maintaining active duty status and pay. MECEP is open to all active duty Marines and Marines in the Active Reserve (AR) program who meet the eligibility requirements. Selection is based on an individual's potential for commissioned service as demonstrated by their service record, previous academic record, and evidence of career and academic self-improvement.”

  After my selection to the MECEP (Mee-Sep) program, the Marine Corps reassigned me to Texas A&M as a Corps of Cadet Military Staff Instructor. The platoon of USMC instructors assigned to the University were also full time college students carrying a full time load of college classes while at the same time required to teach a variety of military prep classes to cadets and other students who were interested in becoming Marine Officers. I taught combat swimming, marksmanship (shooting guns), small unit infantry combat tactics, field survival, leadership, drill (marching), obstacle course, fitness, and military history.

  The Marines on the instructor staff gave me the call-sign “Mustafa the African God of War” or often Mustafa for short. I had a particular flare for teaching combat tactics and teaching lessons learned from famous military battles, while using historical references. I had a reputation for teaching the classes you did not want to miss. I always tried to teach my classes by being overly dramatic and by being just a little bit scary and in your face. I liked to teach as if I was Rambo in front of fresh young undisciplined maggots…a God of War.

  The Secret Society of the Great Pumpkin is a real and secret society of the Corps of Cadets at Texas A&M University. You will never find one former cadet or student or faculty who will admit they’ve ever heard of it or they know anything about it. To talk about it is to bring forth the curse of The Great Pumpkin and find yourself haunted and ostracized by Aggies for the rest of your life. No Aggie would want that.

  I’m telling the story because it is one of the most amazing things among many amazing and strange things I saw while I attended Texas A&M and because I am a story-telling writer and I like to write and tell stories. I’m not worried about Aggies haunting and ostracizing me. I wasn’t a kid when I attended Texas A&M University. As an entering freshman student, I was already 27 years old, a decorated combat veteran, and a single father.

  As a combat tactics instructor, I tried to make war stories come to life. That’s what I do. I’ll tell you this story and teach you everything I know, everything you need to know about The Secret Society of The Great Pumpkin at Texas A&M university.

  Thank you for reading my book. Leave a review when you can. Follow me for more of my stories on Twitter and Facebook. Gig’em!

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