He joined the UN Inspector Corps at eighteen, in 1978. The international cops wore green berets, high buttonless boots, and bush jackets. They were very special men.

For the first time in his life, his father said something about his ambitions.

"Don't you like America, Harry? Do you want to be without a country? This is the best country in the world. All my life I've made a good living. Haven't you had everything you ever wanted? I've been a king compared to people overseas. Why, you stay here and go to trade school and in two years you'll be living just like me."

"I don't want that," Read said.

"What do you mean, you don't want that?"

"You could join the American Army," his mother said. "That's as good as a trade school. If you have to be a soldier."

"I want to be a UN man. I've already enlisted. I'm in! What do you care what I do?"

The UN Inspector Corps had been founded to enforce the Nuclear Disarmament Treaty of 1966. Through the years, it had acquired other jobs. UN men no longer went unarmed. Trained to use small arms and gas weapons, they guarded certain borders, bodyguarded diplomats and UN officials, even put down riots that threatened international peace. As the UN evolved into a strong world government, the UN Inspector Corps steadily acquired new powers.

Read went through six months of training on Madagascar.

Twice he nearly got expelled for picking fights with smaller men. Rather than resign, he accepted punishment that assigned him to weeks of dull, filthy extra labor. He hated the restrictions and the iron fence of regulations. He hated boredom, loneliness, and isolation.

And yet he responded with enthusiasm. They had given him a job. A job many people considered important.

He took his turn guarding the still disputed borders of Korea. He served on the rescue teams that patrol the busy Polar routes. He mounted guard at the 1980 World's Fair in Rangoon.

"I liked Rangoon," he even told a friend. "I even liked Korea. But I think I liked the Pole job 

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