"One recent weekend Barney Williams and his wife Jackie were delighted that their daughter Ellie had come to visit them in Coronado. With Ellie was her husband Steven, who happened to be the son of Barney’s long-time close friend Martin Shielbrock. For years Steven had been after Barney to tell him some of the stories about his father, about their young days together and their adventures before and then in the navy. After some urging by Steven and with support from Jackie, Barney agrees to tell some, but not all, of the activities of Steven’s father.As the family sits on the patio Barney tells a series of stories about Steven’s father and Jackie contributes some interesting information about Steven’s mother. The stories include war, baseball, romance and politics; conflict involving middle east intrigue and high level Washington machinations. The stories describe naval activities in the Indian Ocean and include interesting characters with unique motivations such as Moses Farscian.From the tales told by Barney and Jackie we learn about Martin Shielbrock and his wife; their lives, loves, coflicts and drama. We learn aboout Shellback."