My second posting was at the American Embassy in Bangkok, Thailand. I was stationed there from July 4th 1984 until November 25, 1985. The Marines had three posts to man during the week: Post 1 was inside at the front of the Embassy and Post 2 was a roving patrol around the embassy compound as well as escorts. During the mids shift, Post 2 would "rove" to 11 outlying U.S. government agency buildings such as USAID. Post 3 was located in the Consular Section of the Embassy (during week days only). I can remember, as clear as if it were yesterday, at night while on Post 2 mids coming back from checking 10 of the 11 places I had to check. The last place was the Ambassador's residence. The ambassador's residence consisted of the main residence and a 2 story visitor’s cottage towards the front gate.

Usually this visitor’s cottage was always dark while on my routine patrols on Post 2 mids. This night, however, the house was very bright. It was 0330. Literally, all the lights were on in the cottage. Thinking this was highly unusual, I stopped to check to ensure everything was okay. I went through the entire first floor, which consisted of 4-5 rooms. All the rooms were unlocked and empty. I preceded upstairs and checked 2 of the 3 rooms that were located on that floor; both had been unlocked and were empty. I proceeded to go into the third and final room, but the door was locked. I knocked on the door, but the room was silent. I waited a few seconds and knocked on the door again. I heard a quite groggy voice of a man say "Who is it?" I answered back, "Marine Guard, sir. May I please see some identification?" He answered back "Just a second". When he answered the door, I again said, "I'm sorry to bother you at this hour sir, but the house is usually dark and tonight the lights are all on. I wanted to ensure everything is alright." He handed me his State Department identification and said, "It's alright, I know you're just doing your job." I handed him back his ID and said thank you and goodnight to him. I finished my patrol and returned to the embassy.