Sneak Peek

I've decided to have my dad narrate his life story. I'm just writing pretty much whatever he says. Here is a preview of what's in store:

My orders were to go to Denver, Colorado, I think it was. While at home, they changed and sent me to Okinawa. When I arrived in Okinawa, there was supposed to be someone there to meet me; but there was no one. I took a cab to the base, and asked where the AFCS was. I went in to see the 1st sergeant. No one was there. It was about 11:30 at night. I asked the officer on duty where my room was. He looked and found an empty room where I went to sleep.

No one came to talk to me for 4 days. I took my papers to the pay center and got my pay. I hadn’t done anything yet. I decided to venture into town. I went to a bar that had pinball machines that you could win money on.

Went back to base and still couldn’t find my first sergeant. I hired this hiree to clean my room, do my clothes, do all this stuff. I kept going to town every night, and after like 3 months I just got bored: go to town, go to bed, and get cinnamon toast from the night stand.

Then they gave me a roommate. He asked what I do here and I said, “I don’t know.” He told me he was here for tech control. I didn’t tell him I was here for the same thing because I wanted to see what would happen. So, he gets up the next morning and goes to work. Meanwhile, I’d been swimming, snorkeling, skin-diving, doing nothing.

While I’m walking down the hall one day, the first sergeant who’s supposed to control everything sees me. He says, “I see you all the time. What do you do?” I said, “I don’t know.” He asked when I got here and I told him, “Three months ago.” I explained that I signed in, got my pay records done, and I’ve been waiting for my sponsor to come and get me.

He says, “Who is your sponsor?” I said, “Sergeant Dufus... That was his name, I swear!” The next day, I met Sergeant Dufus, and he was. So they took me to tech control and showed me the base ops—the airport terminal. They just swept everything else under the table because it was a stupid mistake, but I enjoyed it.