A Marine Story

A solitary Marine crosses the dry California terrain on foot, her pack on her back. She's heading home after leaving the service involuntarily. In A MARINE STORY Alex is a lean fighting machine and a top-notch career officer from a military family. But when her commanding officer heard that she harbored lesbian tendencies, she was let go. Alex is a victim of the nation's “Don't Ask, Don't Tell” policy-repealed last December after 17 years and 13,500 discharges. Separated now from the institution that represents her whole world, Alex settles uneasily back into civilian life. She goes drinking in one of her old haunts, is taunted by some rednecks, and holds her own in a brawl. When Alex accosts some punks robbing a store, her training kicks in and she subdues them. One is a sullen young woman named Saffron who has been in trouble before. Now a judge gives her an ultimatum: jail or the military. When Saffron submits to being trained by Alex for boot camp, she gains a new identity-as one of the few and the proud. – B.B.