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The author describes his family's relationship with Captain Bob, a retired U.S. Army logistics officer. He provides background information about Captain Bob's upbringing, his military service, marriage and children, as well as his loyalty to the Catholic Church and semblance of faith. He also gives details of how Captain Bob treated his children like family. He tells about Captain Bob's move into assisted living and the refusal of his children to hold a Catholic service for him when he died.

A literary criticism of the book "The Good Earth" by Pearl S. Buck is presented. Topics include the portrayal of peasants in pre-revolutionary China, and family life in a Chinese village in the early 20th century; and the realistic depiction of the farmer Wang Lung and his family who helped prepare Americans of the 1930s to consider Chinese as allies.

The article reports on the plight of the inmates at the International Detention Center (IDC) in Bangkok, Thailand, particularly of a Christian family that fled Pakistan to escape persecution at the hands of Muslim extremists and eventually landing at IDC. The Catholic family languished at IDC for eight long months.