Marine Barracks, Washington D.C.
31 AUG 2025
11:45 hours local
Danny Reagan looked around his spartan quarters for the last time.
This had been his final home in the Marine Corps.
"35 years" he mused to himself as he threw his duffle bag over his shoulder before lifting his carry on.
He had spent the previous weekend packing up the remainder of his personal possessions that he booked into a storage unit a few miles away.
It was 11:45 a.m. and only 15 minutes remained in his military career for at the stroke of noon, 52-year-old Sergeant Major of the Marine Corps Daniel Fitzgerald Reagan would become Danny Reagan, civilian.
He thought back to his first day at Marine Corps Recruit Depot, Parris Island and to the events that had led to his enlistment in the world's most revered fighting force.
For the first time since he could remember, Danny felt his eyes tear up as he realized that while he would never be a man without a country, at the present, he was a man without a family, and that included more than the Marine Corps.
Squaring himself away, Danny executed a sharp nod and exited into the garish sunlight of the nation's capital.
He began his walk toward the front gate on the 8th Street side of the Barracks, arriving at 11:59 a.m. He would have made the walk in less time had he not stopped several times to return the salute of his troops who had formed an honor guard to mark the mustering out of the Corps' most senior ranked enlisted man.
No words had been spoken for none were required. Each Marine knew what the Sergeant Major was feeling and Danny in turn knew what each Marine was thinking, besides, Marines did not display emotion, nor did they like long goodbyes.
Danny arrived at the gate one minute before noon, at which time the Staff Sergeant on duty began to open it.
"Snap to" Danny ordered.
"Yes Sergeant Major" the Staff Sergeant replied as he froze in his tracks and came to full attention.
"What is your major malfunction Staff Sergeant?" Danny bellowed.
"I don't understand the Sergeant Major's question" he replied.
"Then I will rephrase. What are you doing Staff Sergeant?" Danny inquired.
"Opening the gate so that the Sergeant Major of the Marine Corps may depart the Barracks Sergeant Major." He replied.
"What time is it Staff Sergeant?" Danny asked.
"Eleven Fifty-Nine hours Sergeant Major." He replied.
"Correct, which means for the next sixty seconds I am on active duty and were I to cross the threshold of the gate prior to Twelve Hundred Hours, I would be AWOL, and that will not be my final act as a United States Marine, do you read me Staff Sergeant" Danny yelled loud enough to be heard not only throughout the Barracks, but halfway across the District and into parts of Maryland and Virginia.
"Yes Sergeant Major, the Staff Sergeant reads you loud and clear" he replied.
Danny had been so preoccupied with his walk to the gate and the subsequent dressing down of the Staff Sergeant, that he had failed to notice a car that had pulled up and parked against the curb next to the gate.
The occupant alighted from the driver's side, leaned his arm onto the roof, and looked over at the older Marine screaming at the younger one. And smiled.
"Hey Staff Sergeant, in one minute, you can tell the old grunt to shove it up his ass and there will be nothing that he can do about it" The man shouted which instantly drew Danny's trademark death glare.
"Twelve Hundred Hours, Sergeant Major. You are relieved of duty" The Staff Sergeant stated as he executed a crisp salute as Danny quickly directed his attention back to the Staff Sergeant.
"I stand relieved." Danny replied executing an even crisper salute before turning 180 degrees about and saluting the Barracks. "God Bless the United States of America, and the United States Marine Corps. Ooh Rah."
Danny then spun around ready to give the driver of the car a piece of his mind when he realized who it was.
"Joe?" Danny haltingly inquired.
"Hello big brother" Joe smiled as Danny walked out onto 8th Street, the gate closing behind him.
Danny held out his right hand to shake Joe's but instead was enveloped in a bear hug by the younger, yet much larger man.
While the brothers had traded letters, email, holiday cards, and the occasional photograph over the past 35 years, they had only seen one another one time and that was at Joe's wedding 25 years eariler when Danny had served as a groomsman.
"Damn Joe, you're as big as I remember Dad to be" Danny exclaimed.
"I'm an inch taller" Joe grinned as he inspected Danny.
"And you are one squared away Marine" Joe complimented.
"I was one squared away Marine until a minute ago" Danny dejectedly replied.
Joe hooked his thumb at the car. "Let's get out of here, time for you to make some new memories".
Danny placed his duffle and bag into the back seat before hopping in the passenger seat to join Joe.
"How's Angie and the kids?" Danny inquired.
"Angie is fantastic and your niece and nephews have all grown up. We booted the last one out of the house a year ago" Joe stated.
"The twins are what, 22 so Alexa must be 19" Danny posited.
"She is in her second year at Columbia. Frank is at Yale Law, and Daniel is at Harvard's Med school".
"You and Angie must be so proud" Danny exclaimed to his brother's delight.
"How about Nicky?" Danny inquired regarding Erin's daughter.
"28, serious boyfriend, and a hot and coming young prosecutor with the Manhattan DA's office".
"Just like her mother was at that age". Danny noted recalling the letters that Erin and Joe had sent him a quarter century ago. He'd have to inspect this so-called boyfriend for himself.
Joe looked over to Danny knowing full well what he was thinking. "Don't even think of terrorizing the poor boy" Joe warned.
"Terrorize? No. Maybe just a little Marine Corps hazing" Danny smirked. How's Erin doing?"
Managing partner at one of the largest New York City law firms".
"She seeing anyone?" Danny asked.
"Keep your famous temper in check when I tell you that she's back with Boyle" Joe cautiously replied.
Joe looked over to see his brother's face immediately transform into that of a stone-cold killer but to his credit, Danny never uttered a word. Joe knew that only Danny's Marine discipline was keeping his brother in check.
"How's Pops doing?" Danny asked with more concern regarding his 92-year-old grandfather.
"Put your uniform on him and he could be the Marine Corps' General Patton" Joe chuckled.
Danny smiled for the first time. "That old tank could outperform many a platoon of Marines that I encountered over the years, show them what it was like to have served in his day, none of this P.C. shit".
Danny had been required to make more than a few adjustments over his 35 years in the Corps due to the prevailing political winds, and he honestly believed that the Marine Corps was a weaker unit now than it was on the day that he was inducted.
"You are a chip off your grandfather's block Danny boy" Joe teased.
"Damned proud of it too" Danny nodded before inquiring. "And Dad?"
"Slowing down, I mean he is 70 now".
"And still running the NYPD with an iron fist I'll bet" Danny opined.
"Best decision that I ever made was not following that foot path" Joe noted.
"Dr. Joseph Conor Reagan, Psychiatrist" Danny admiringly stated before directing Joe to the motel that he had rented for the night.
"Call and cancel it, you're coming home with me to New York" Joe replied as they headed north towards the Baltimore-Washington Parkway.
"No way Joe" Danny objected.
"Stow it Marine, you're outranked here. The kids came home to meet their Uncle Danny. Angie can't wait to see you again and Erin and Nicky haven't shut up since I told them I was coming down here to corral you".
"And Dad and Pops?" Danny asked.
"Pops is 20 years younger since I told him. Dad, let's just say that he hasn't forgiven himself for why you left in the first place and I think it's going to take some time for both of you to adjust to one another, but he is grateful that you are alive and coming home. After all, you are not only his son, you are his first born" Joe answered.
Danny pressed his lips together and nodded. He expected that one day he would have to deal with his father and the many old wounds between them.
The next 20 miles went by in silence as Joe waited for a question that never came. Finally, he decided to break the ice.
"There's one family member that you haven't asked about" Joe commented as he stared straight ahead.
Danny remained silent not taking the bait.
Finally, Joe couldn't contain himself. "He's your brother too".
Danny turned to face Joe. "Which is why I spent the past 35 years in the Marine Corps" Danny icily replied as he did his best to wipe Jamison Reagan from his mind.
Joe nodded and refocused his thoughts. Even with all his psychiatric training and experience, it was going to take a miracle to bring some element of closure to Danny Reagan's War.