The Enlisted Men's Club

The Enlisted Men’s Club is the first of a trilogy of stories about military life by the late Gary Reilly, based on his experiences in Vietnam. Private Palmer is stationed at San Francisco’s army base at The Presidio, awaiting orders. He’s trying to find his place in the ranks. And trying to avoid work. While he’s been trained as a Military Policeman, he has no idea what’s next. Palmer keeps a low profile by day and seeks escape in the bars at night. The trick to survival, he decides, is not to care about anything during his time in the Army. To his surprise, that’s the most difficult challenge of all.

About the author: Gary Reilly, who died in 2011, left behind 25 novels. Five have been published posthumously—all featuring bohemian cab driver, Brendan Murphy, a.k.a. “Murph,” Those five books are The Asphalt Warrior, Ticket to Hollywood, The Heart of Darkness Club, Home for the Holidays and Doctor Lovebeads. All reached The Denver Post best-seller list. Ticket to Hollywood and Doctor Lovebeads were finalists for the Colorado Book Award (in 2013 and 2014, respectively). Six more “Murph” adventures remain unpublished. During his lifetime, Gary saw only one short story in print. “The Biography Man” appeared in the Iowa Review in 1978 and was later included in the Pushcart Prize IV, an anthology of small-press fiction.