Atlanta, GA.
Got up early, and my Beautiful Bride dropped me off at Marta. Neither of us are big on long goodbyes. MASSIVE line through security. The line went from the metal detectors, through the maze, back up through the atrium in ATL, the wrapped around past the baggage claim to the Delta desks. I have NEVER seen the lines so long. I opted to unlock my bags instead of hauling them all the way to the special metal detectors. Besides, they are waiting for me in West Palm.
West Palm Beach, FL.
After all the work ahead to get to the reserve center with as much done as possible, I roll in to find NO ONE THERE. The Marines are all gone, and I could only find one Navy guy. They turned what was supposed to be a quick evolution (one hour, sir. Two at the most) into a six hour festival of pain. Form. After form. After form. And it wasn’t like they were waiting for me
with a pile of paperwork. It was like pulling teeth.
“What else can I do?”
“Nothing, sir.”
“Nothing?”
“No, sir. Nothing.”
“Nothing…?”
“Well, I suppose you could fill out this form XYX.”
[grinding teeth]
The Navy has not changed in ten years. And now I recall how much I loathe the admin.
With less than 1.5 hours until departure, the corpsman finally rolled in, and gave me a signoff on my medial records. At least he gave me a ride to the airport.
Camp Lejeune, NC.
Miraculously, my bag managed to make it with me all the way to Jacksonville, NC. And the van was waiting. I am amazed…. There were approximately 15 other reservists also going to Camp Lejeune, except they were going to demobilize, having returned from Iraq after seven to twelve months. They said it sucked, which depressed me. They weren’t spinning ghoulish tales of horror to rag on the new guy just on his way over. It seemed to be so unfun that it was not worth it.
I only thought I was depressed until I saw the berthing. I am a 37 year old Lieutenant Commander, staying in squad style berthing abandoned by junior enlisted Marines. This is berthing as it is depicted in movies: long squad bays with bunk beds and lockers. Jesus…
“Pick a bunk. Chow hall is closed. Formation is at 0730.”
I love the military.