One moment in time I'll always remember is joining the Navy. We had flown in from all over the country. It was my first time on an airplane and I was scared to death.  It was January 23, 1982 and I had left Upstate New York, they had just finished having a snow storm the night before. It was 28 degrees when I boarded. The plane was large and looked quite intimidating. I didn't  quite know what to make of it. I was all the way in the back. I was a smoker and in 1982 you could still smoke, but only in the last ten rows. I reflect back, I now understand why they don't allow it anymore. As if sitting in the back kept the smoke from getting to the front of the aircraft.

 

I had partied the night before with my mother and aunt. I was nursing a hangover and a little scared of what I had gotten myself into. I reflected on the ride how my life was going to change. It had to improve from small town Watertown N.Y.  It's not so small present day 2024. It was in 1982 and I found my life on a one-way train to nowhere. I had told my mother I wanted to join the military and since I was still 17 she had to come with me.  We walked into the recruiting office building and I had my mind set on joining the Army. It appeared that wasn't going to be a choice that day. The only recruiter in their office was the Navy. I walked in there and told the recruiter I wanted to join. He had me take the ASVAB (Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery) this basically lets the recruiter know what job to match you up with in the military, and I did really well in the medical field. I could have been a corpsman (Navy, medical person) had I not revealed some trouble I'd been in previousy. Later in life I learned that my youthful offender record was sealed and I was the only one who could see it. Alas, I let the recruiter talk me into joining as undesignated. All that really means is you're at the mercy of the Navy as to what you would become. The recruiter talked a good game. I guess that's what he's paid to do. The aircraft was descending and I brought my mind back to the present.

 

We arrived in Orlando, Fl and pulled up to the gate. It took forever to get to the front of the plane. I finally deplaned the aircraft. I walked down the jetway and the temperture felt balmy. I was wearing a large winter jacket and it made me sweat. I stopped and took it off and stuck it in my backpack. Once inside the airport I looked around. There were what seemed like a 100 people walking to their destination. Heads down not looking at anyone. It was 1982 and cell phones weren't a thing. I wondered where they were going. "Were they going to somewhere tropical or on their way home to visit family?" I shook the images out of my mind and focused on the task ahead and that was finding this USO place. Not sure what I was looking for, I found an airport employee who directed me to the USO. We were told to go the USO area and wait for someone to get us. What that looked like I had no idea. I walked into the room where there were about 70 or 80 other women lounging around. Most of them weren't talking and like me, none of them had any idea what we had gotten ourselves into.

 

We all had our own reason for joining the Navy. Mine was to get away from an abusive ex-boyfriend who wouldn't leave me alone. Joining the Navy seemed like the thing to do, at least it was an effective escape. I was thousands of miles away and he wouldn't be able to get me. However, little did I know what a culture shock I'd experience. A female in a white Navy uniform came walking in and started yelling at us to line up single file. We all looked at each other like, "What the fuck?" Shocked and overwhelmed we were ordered to get on the bus for a ride into the unknown. We were bussed from the airport to our processing station. The bus was relatively quiet as we rode into our future of becoming proud Sailors. We were all nervous, afraid, and excited at the same time. The unknown would soon be revealed.

 

Walking off the bus the temperature was 80 degrees. A stark difference to the temperature I left behind in New York. There was a sweet fragrance in the air and it permeated my surroundings. The smell was intoxicating. I would later find out the sweet fragrance was orange blossoms. Getting my mind back on the task of this new adventure I left the sweet smell behind and walked into a dark building. It had a dank smell and seven foot walls that were gray, better know as, "haze gray." This expression came from the fleet sailors saying, "Haze gray and underway." The color of all the Navy ships are gray and as well of all the walls in the hanger. I would learn to despise that color. The floor consisted of white tiles that shimmered like a star in the dark sky.

 

We filed one by one into the processing station. We were ordered to be quiet and line up along the wall, it was 10 pm. You could smell the fear. It smelt like sweat and alcohol, as some of us went out the night before arriving. I happened to be one of those dumb party girls. Regretting that decision now. Man, "I had a hangover from hell." The smell was so overwhelming I started to gag uncontrollably. Everyone was gagging and two girls in from of me, which I would find out later that evening, their names were Kim and Kathy started laughing hysterically. I joined right in. Little did we know that laughing would be the beginning of a friendship. It was the only way we knew how to deal with our stress.

 

Our names were called alphabetically and they wanted us to urinate in a cup for a drug screen. Those of us who were unable to donate to the cause were sent back to sit along the wall. We weren't able to go to bed until we accomplished the deed. You could see the fatigue in everyone's face like an old wrinkled woman. The droopy eyes and the slumped bodies along the wall. All we wanted to do was lay down and dream happy thoughts, however that wasn't an option until we urinated in that cup. The hours ticked by slowly, it seemed. We were all exhausted and just wanted to go to bed. Not the Navy way, you'll do what you're told. You had no rights of your own for the next eight weeks they would tell you what to think and what to do. What a concept, "that's not what the recruiter said." "Big surprise, NOT!"

 

That evening while slumped against the wall I made two friends, Kim and Kathy and we became good friends throughout the next eight weeks of boot camp. We talked quietly while we waited for our badders to fill up. Finally, around 4 am we were able to pee and go to bed. However, unknown to us we would only get two hours of sleep before we'd be back up. I guess beggars couldn't be choosers, we'd take what we could get. The sound of a blaring trumpet could be heard from deep in the recesses of my brain. I wasn't sure what it was. I slowly woke myself up and blinded by lights I realized it was someone making an awful noise. The horn blared on as the trumpeter continued to play something called Reveille. We would learn this was something the military did to wake up the troops. The blaring sound of the horn woke most of us up. The sound continued to blare and I literally jumped up and smacked my head on the top bunk. "Great, what a way to start my day." I got up and went to the wall with the rest of the girls. My friend Kathy didn't seem to be fazed by the noise and lights, she didn't budge.

 

Ordered to line up single file against the wall. "Always the wall." We stood groggily and exhausted along the wall waiting for everyone to get up and get in line. My friend Kathy was the only one still in bed. Little did any of us know, things were about to rock her world. The company commander picked up a metal trash can and sent it flying down the aisle. It hit the ground and made a loud bang, reverberating around us and causing ringing in our ears. Kathy jumped up startled, hit her head on the top of the bed and rolled to the floor. Kim and I started laughing so hard we couldn't control it even as we tried. Kathy slowly walked to the wall and asked, "what's so funny?" Laughing as hard as we could we tried to get the words out, but we couldn't. Finally, I managed to tell her "You!" She just looked at us like we were stupid and started laughing with us. The company commander didn't find any humor in the situation like we did. She walked over to us and got in our faces and screamed, "Shut up!" We instantly stopped laughing, I think that the company commander knew that we would be trouble for the next eight weeks.

 

The company commander or (CC) ordered us to line up into two lines and we obeyed her order. Everyone was looking at each other, wondering what came next. We walked, because you couldn't call it marching at this point, in two lines to what we would learn to call it, "The Chow Hall." The chow hall had 50 tables lined up to accommodate 20 people. There was a long counter were they served the food. It consisted of grits, gooey oatmeal, rubbery eggs, and soggy toast. It all looked gross to me, but I had some toast and a glass of milk. I didn't eat a lot during boot camp, because I was a picky eater. However, there were jars of peanut butter on all the tables. So, my favorite go to was an apple with peanut butter and a cup of coffee. The coffee would be a big part of my Navy life for the next 16 1/2 years. We killed the jars in one sitting every day. When the last person sat down at the table someone would come over to the table and proceeded to tell us, "You have 20 minutes and 20 minutes only to eat your fine Navy chow. They'd write the time on the table when the last person sat down. Needless to say, you learned to gobble the food down as fast as you could. It was a race of time, depending on when you sat down. 

 

That first day, Kim, Kathy and I became the three musketeers. We went everywhere together, and always hung out whenever we could throughout the next eight weeks. We had the best of times and the worst of times. We were in it together and the camaraderie we shared was the glue that kept us together. That friendship would last for years. They were dental techs and would be sent to San Diego, CA and I would stay in Orlando, Fl for my training. I would eventually end up in San Diego myself. Young and broke, without a car or a license it was hard to get over to the base they were currently stationed at. We were able to to see each other a few times. However, life got busy and we were young female sailors in a man's world. We lost touch eventually and that was a sad thing, but that was the Navy way. Those two girls will always be part of my fond memories of the Navy. That was a hilarious first night and I will never forget it.