Skipper Gould is a reporter for a small newspaper.
For several years in the early to mid-60's, just out of college, Gould joined the Navy with the singleminded intent to become a trained SEAL, becoming so just a few years after the formation of that elite force. He was one of the first to be stationed in Southeast Asia as America began its ramp-up of military action there. Gould and his fellow special forces sailors were attached to the ARVN, doing superbly any mission that came his way. Many of these missions were sponsored by and done with the CIA and usually meant hunting down and killing targets deep in the lush jungles. Then a face-to-face with an old man whose eyes just stared at him as Gould killed him changed that. He swore that he would never take another life and he quit.
Fifteen years later, having worked as a reporter for several news organization which included a long stint back in Thailand, Gould has managed to keep that promise. Now living in Maine and running a small weekly newspaper, happily married with a young daughter, he is quite content to keep things as they are. But life sometimes doesn't let you and he is drawn back into his old life.
But his determination to not kill remains. When others around you are not so peace loving, though, keeping such a commitment can prove a problem. But whether it is in the jungles of Cambodia, the streets of Boston, or rolling hills of the Berkshires, the survival skills taught to Gould two decades before remain strong in him. And Gould relearns that you don't have to kill to get your point across. Sometimes just looking like you could is enough.