Marine stories from my past

       What set me off was a story about the proposed high tolls to cross a bridge into NYC.

            Well, during my second time in Okinawa, Japan (mid-1980's), a new super highway was constructed, and it was a toll road. The tolls were so high, that we poor Americans generally chose to use the free older and curvier old roads on this rugged terrain island. This idea applied to me at another time in mainland Japan, too. What got my attention, too, was that the speed limit on this super highway was 80 KPH (50 mph), later raised to 85 KPH (roughly 55 mph).

            I also remember the average speed limit was 40 KPH (25 mph). Well most Americans didn't like the slow speed at first, but generally liked it as they got used to it. And I co-owned a car with another guy, at the time.  Well, I swore to myself I would maintain this slowed down speed when I returned to the USA, but reverted within a short time.  I particularly remember later driving on the "wrong" side of the road in an Atlanta post office parking lot, and scaring myself as well as others.

            I was in Okinawa when political control reverted back to the Japanese (circa 1972). Part of that included switching from driving on one side of the road one day, and the other side of the road the next day.  Well it all went pretty well, but then I could not afford a car then, so my USMC driver in a jeep did pretty well when I drove with him.

            From my time in Desert Storm, I figured out I did not want to be a woman in Saudi Arabia. Also the idea that desert is always hot was a misnomer in January. There was ice in my canteen in the morning when I woke up.

            From my time in Turkey, I was taught that one did not get divorced, since the women had few other options than marriage and kids.  Also the draft for Kurds always had them deployed away from their native areas.

            I was there for the liberation of Kuwait City, and liked the experience, except for one time being diverted into a Palestinian neighborhood. I took my pistol out and laid it on my lap, just in case. There were a lot of AK-47s being shot into the air, and what goes up, does come down, and that idea disturbed me, too. I kept my helmet on my head.

            From my time in Jutland, Denmark, I learned that Americans are not always the "ugly American";  there are plenty others from other countries, too. Now I had images of nubile topless girls in the Tivoli in Copenhagen when I learned I was to be deployed to Karup, Denmark.  Well what I found was corn fed farm girls, a GaTech term, by the way, referring to Penn State girls when we played Penn State in football (circa 1966).

            I learned in the Mohave Desert in California how cold it got when the sun went down; even though it was hot under the daylight sun.

            I remember where I lived at Camp Hauge in Okinawa  (circa 1972) I understood we were giving it back to the Japanese, so basic maintenance was not really done.  One obvious impact I remember was poop popping up out of the shower drain, and that was when we scrounged pallets and used shower shoes to shower above the water line. And along that line, the first typhoon I went through was there, and the cables holding down my Quonset hut I sure hoped would hold. In the meantime, the gecko lizards shaking and chirping and falling on my rack would usually keep me awake.

            I remember a Marine who was guilty as heck (he had killed a Korean woman) got hard time credit for living in tent better than what I lived in. I am still peeved about that.

            And last in this post, I remember seeing a kid steal a watch off some American's wrist, and the local constabulary in the Philippines just shot him down, and I was a shaken witness. Well nobody cared, and business and life returned to normal pretty quickly.

            Now I could go on with more personal stories, but choose to stop right now.  And all in all, we have a good deal in the new world USA, or at least I think so, to include learning so. Said another way, we have something worth fighting for, if it comes to that.