oldier of Fortune Says Goodbye

ome time ago Baron Von Lodge was the head of a small country near Switzerland known as Lilliland.

The Baron’s chief advisor was Professor Hamblin who was always available to the Baron for important decisions.

Reggie Wold was a very young school buddy of the Baron’s in England. They became close friends and always kept in contact until one day Reggie informed the Baron that his life’s career was going to be as a soldier of fortune. He had always been a good marksman with a rifle and loved outdoor camping and exploring. He needed a job and this seemed well suited for his skills. He loved fighting and traveling around the world.

Reggie hoped that the Baron would be accepting regarding his career choice. The Baron could not have been more disappointed and advised Reggie to rethink his decision toward a more meaningful line of work. Reggie ignored the Baron and the long friendship ended for the most part.

The Baron discussed Reggie’s decision to become a soldier of fortune with Professor Hamblin. The Professor said that Reggie’s decision had a certain amount of adventure and would be exciting but he was becoming just a hired gun for the side that paid him the most money. The moral issue was always on Reggie’s side after he received the money from one side or the other.

The Baron kept Lilliland like Switzerland as a neutral country in that he did not believe that countries could solve their differences my diplomacy at the highest levels. Eighteen-year-old soldiers on a battle front trying to kill each other serves very little purpose, as world history has reminded us again and again.

Lilliland does not have a military army but it does have a police security force to turn people away at the borders when they would attempt to bring firearms and ammunition into the country.

Several times the Baron received gifts from Reggie that were acquired through plundering some village or stronghold. The Baron returned the gifts with a no-thank-you-Reggie note. As long as Reggie was a soldier of fortune he would have to live with that ill-fated decision.

Several years passed and there was an absence of notes from Reggie. Then one day a note came from a friend of Reggie’s in Paris. The note was addressed to the Baron, which said that Reggie was saying goodbye by jumping off a bridge in Paris to end his life. The dreams of the killings he was involved in were too much for him and too late in life he realized that killing for money was immoral. The adventure soon became anguish, the human suffering became too sorrowful and he could not undo the pain he had inflicted on humanity, signed, “Reggie, Soldier of Fortune that should never have been.”

The Baron and Professor Hamblin were very sad about the tragic news. They both agreed that Reggie’s decision early in life to be a career soldier of fortune was one that should never have been made.