As the crewman of the C-2 Greyhound went over the safety spiel I thought about the last year and a half of my life. Joining the Navy, getting married, and watching my pregnant wife wave goodbye from pier 12 as I went off on cruise. My mind snapped back to the present as he patted my back and went back to the cabin of the huge cargo plane. I was sitting in the third row from the back in seats that were facing the back of the plane. After seeing so many planes launched from the deck of the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower I was going to get to feel what it was like. I heard the two tuboprops begin to wind up and I got into the launching position with my chin to my chest and my arms crossed holding my shoulders. Then boom we were off, as the plane raced along the flight deck I could feel it bounce slightly. When we reached the end of the flight deck the plane dropped a few feet then began to climb slowly. I knew I had quite awhile before we reached Crete so I relaxed as much as I could and began to think back.

My father had been in the Navy all my life so I knew what military life was like. When I walked into the Navy recruiter’s office I told him I wanted to join the Navy. After a three month wait I was on a plane to Chicago. Boot Camp was a breeze for me but quite a few others had problems with it. After 6 weeks of training I was on security watch in our barracks which held 3 divisions an ambulance drove up. The drivers rushed to me asking where another division in our barracks was. I ran to show them the way. I found the division Commander in the bathroom holding a boy’s legs up. The boy had hung himself and the Commander was trying to keep him breathing. In my dreams I still see that boy’s face and I see the Commander trying to hold him up.

After graduation I went across the street to the Great Lakes Naval Training Command and went through my Airman training. I graduated second out of my class disappointed that I had not made it to first. Going home I realized that I had changed in Boot Camp and maybe I had changed for the better.

I had a month off before I had to report to my duty station which was the USS Eisenhower CVN-69 which was in Norfolk, VA. I tried catching up with friends and family but most were to busy so I mainly got drunk. I met back up with an ex-girlfriend from High School and we began to date again.

I reported to my duty station and got put into the fuels division which dealt with all of the jet fuel on the carrier. Two weeks later the ship was off on a work-up cruise which meant it was a warm up for the big one, a six month cruise to the Med and back. We sailed to the Virgin Islands and stopped off at St. Thomas and turned around and headed home. I decided to ask my girlfriend to marry me when I got back.

To me it seemed my life was finally on track this is where I was supposed to be.

The night before I was to marry my fiancée I stopped at an ATM machine to check to make sure I had gotten paid. I withdrew fifty dollars and started to my car. A guy getting out of his car asked me what time it was, I looked at my watch and looked up and he had a gun in my face. He cycled the chamber which ejected a bullet into my lap.

‘Gimme your money’ he said.

I handed him the money staring at the gun the whole time.

‘Now gimme your wallet’ he said.

‘No I don’t want to give up my wallet’ I protested.

He hit me with the gun and cursed at me. After getting hit everything is a blur until I found myself sitting in my car alone. I called the cops and after 2 hours of questioning me they let me go home. The police caught them less than two blocks from my house.

The wedding still went on with me in my summer whites and her in her wedding dress. The honeymoon was short but evidently productive 9 months later my daughter was born while I was on the six month cruise. I first heard her cry on a phone in Israel. My wife begged me to come home but I could not. I told her I would be home soon and I hung up.

I got called to the division office which is never a good thing. I wondered who had died or what I had done all the way there. I sat with Senior Chief Wollet as he hemmed and hawed while holding a message in his hands. All I could see was my daughters name on the message. My wife tried to commit suicide and no one could locate my daughter.

‘Senior, get me home’ is all I said as I walked out the door. I called everyone I knew trying to locate my daughter to no avail. The hospital refused to let me talk to my wife. Sitting on the smoke deck trying to sort my feelings a Lieutenant from legal handed me some papers. My wife had filed for divorce.

Three weeks later here I am strapped into a Greyhound. And I am going home.