Chapter 25

It was 0600 when I got up and went for a run that I decided to stretch out. I made it out to the main road and ran for two hours before heading back to the house.

Grabbing the keys to the station wagon, it was time to make my way over to KBay. I did make a pit stop on the way for breakfast even though it was a few minutes out of the way. It was a place that grandfather had mentioned a couple of times to me, and I decided to see if it was as good as advertised.

The place was pretty busy when I walked in, but I was quickly seated and given a menu. My order was put in quickly and the food was out pretty fast. Two dip eggs, spam and rice with a short stack of pancakes. Figured it would be a good idea to start eating like a local, and spam was high on the food chain in Hawaii.

The food was pretty good, though I’d forgotten how salty spam was. It was about another fifteen-minute drive to the main gate from the restaurant. The PFC at the guard shack looked at the vehicle sticker and then at me a couple of times before making me pull over to the side.

“What’s your business on Marine Corps Base Hawaii?”

“Getting the layout of the base before I report in tomorrow.”

“Your ID.”

I already had it out, so I handed it to him.

“Why are you in a car with an Officer Installation sticker on it Lance Corporal?”

“It’s my grandfather’s car, I’m just borrowing it for the day.”

“Pull over to that building to get a Visitors Pass.”

“No problem.”

I pulled over to the Visitor’s Center and filled out the forms and got my Visitor Pass. They had a base map with a building directory, and they informed me I needed to check in with my unit before heading over to the Installation Personnel Administration Center or IPAC.

After being told where those two buildings were, I drove around to find where things were. The Base Exchange and Commissary were bigger than I’d seen before. It looked almost like a mini mall. I also drove past two different barracks buildings.

I decided to check out the beaches that were marked on the map. There were quite a few of them and it was a pretty nice bonus to be stationed here. I’d have somewhere to fish and maybe go spearfish once I learned how.

I found exactly where the Third Battalion, Third Marines HQ was and then the IPAC building. I had to be there by 0800 but planned to be early. After driving around for a bit more I made my way back to the house.

When I got back it was time to make sure that I would be completely ready for tomorrow. Finding the ironing board, iron and a spray bottle, I went to work. Looking over the uniform, I noticed a dry cleaner’s tag. It seemed Kiku had snuck some of my stuff out and got it dry cleaned, so I only had to fix a couple of things and get my barracks cover put together.

Once everything was hung it was time to get some dinner. Grabbing the keys, I drove to a restaurant that I’d noticed when we were here for vacation. Sekiya’s Restaurant and Delicatessen seemed like a nice little restaurant, and they actually had a Koi Pond outside.

Sitting down and looking at the menu, there were a lot of new things for me to try. I was really going to enjoy being here for this duty station as there were just so many different types of restaurants to choose from.

I noticed looking at the menu that most of it was Japanese cuisine. It was an opportune time to get familiar so I could impress Kiku. When the waitress came back, I asked about one dish, Unagi Donburi, which turned out to be a rice bowl with grilled eel. Sounded like a winner to me, so I paired that with a small Saimin, maki rolls and a tomato/cucumber salad. As I began eating, it became obvious that there was something that I needed to work on, using chopsticks to eat rice. More practice eating rice this way was needed. I didn’t have an issue with anything else on the table.

The food was excellent, with the eel having some sort of glaze on it that was really tasty. I made my way back to the house and walked up to Samuelu’s house. After being let in, I was handed a beer and waved out the back door.

About five minutes into our conversation Samuelu asked me something that had me concerned. It made me aware that I’d overlooked something.

“So how are you getting to the base tomorrow?”

Taking the station wagon wasn’t an option. The car wasn’t registered, and on top of that I had no way to get it back to the grandparents’ house. After a few minutes of contemplation, Samuelu put me out of my misery.

“I can drop you off tomorrow. What time do you need to be there?”

“At seven thirty.”

“Not a problem, as I have a few errands to run in the morning. I’ll be at the house at seven sharp.”

We had another beer before I called it a night and went back to the house. Grabbing a glass of water, I was accosted making my way to the room.

“Where the hell have you been?”

Turning around, I saw Mariana walking in the back door. It was confusing what her problem was.

“Excuse me?”

“I made dinner and you never showed up.”

I had no idea what she was playing at.

“Let’s see. When I showed up Sunday you were all snarky about me being here. Now today you’re all worried about me not being here.”

She just kind of looked at me with her mouth hanging open.

“So, you can breathe easy. As of tomorrow, I won’t be staying at the house but a weekend here and there. Tell my grandparents whatever you want.”

I walked into the front room, sat down and called Kiku. Turned out that they also had unlimited long distance on their phone plan. We talked for about forty minutes or so. It seemed that I was a big topic of discussion at her study group. Seems the two girls I met were talking me up to everyone. We also talked about how our day went. She was impressed by my choice of dinner. I was told to keep practicing for my meeting with her parents.

I made sure everything was packed up and ready to go for the morning. I left a couple of things in the dresser, the main one being my Rolex. I didn’t want it to go missing from the barracks.

I went through my morning routine and made sure that I had everything ready for the day. I was standing outside when Samuelu showed up. Putting my bags into the car, we got going and we pulled up to the gate with about ten minutes before my time frame.

After an ID check, we drove over to the Third Marine Regiment HQ. I found where the S-2 (Manpower/Administration & Personnel) office was and found a seat outside the office then proceeded to wait.

It wasn’t until 0810 when a Staff Sergeant came in and opened the office. I got up to move into the office and got stopped.

“I’ll call you in when we’re ready.”

“Aye, Aye Staff Sergeant.”

I went and sat back down. A few minutes later, a stream of Marines began coming into the office. There were a couple more guys showing up to report in. I was surprised by a voice at the door.

“Alright, you come on in.”

He was pointing at me. I got up and smoothed out my uniform, grabbed my stuff. The name on the door said it was Captain Watkins. Setting everything but my paperwork outside the hatch, I made my way into the office and reported in.

The Captain looked at my paperwork and I was then sent out to see my next stop in the process. This was the office of a female Gunnery Sergeant. It turned out I was the only person reporting in that was going to a Weapons Platoon, and as such, I was being placed in India Company which was the only Weapons Platoon that was undermanned. It seemed that I was also the only one going to India Company and was passed off to a Corporal.

The Corporal was going to drive me over to the Company offices. I was reporting in to Lieutenant Vera the Company XO (Executive Officer). He welcomed me to the Company and gave me a standard speech about the Company. We were going to be the best Company in the Battalion, Regiment, and Division. It was a speech that I’d hear over and over with few changes. As soon as he saw I was headed to the Weapons Platoon, his demeanor changed.

“I hope you aren’t like the rest of that platoon?”

“I have no idea what you are talking about Sir.”

“I expect you to be a Model Marine. Don’t let peer pressure corrupt you. “,”AYE AYE SIR.”

I was dismissed and made my way over to the Weapons Platoon’s Office and directed to the Platoon Sergeant, Gunnery Sergeant Owens.

I stood at attention while he went over my SRB. After a few moments, I was told to stand at ease. I was being measured and it seemed like the Gunny was looking right through me.

“Son, ever since I found out we were finally getting the replacement we’ve been asking for; I began to research who it was and what type of person they were.”

Here we go. He was going to tell me all the things I’d done wrong and how I needed to be on my best behavior.

“Badzinski, everything I’ve heard about you has been positive. I need you to keep that up. I’m counting on you to be a good influence in the Assault Section. I don’t need you getting caught up in the shenanigans those guys get up to.”

“I’ll do my best to live up to your expectations Gunny.”

“That’s all I can ask for, and I’ll bring the pain down unto you if you don’t. Let’s get going. It’s time to get you over to the barracks and squared away.”

“Aye Gunny.”

“Let’s get moving.”

We walked out to the parking lot and over to a white Dodge minivan.

“Get in, we have to get you settled into the madhouse.” Like that didn’t sound ominous.

We drove over to the Barracks building that I had seen on my drive around the base yesterday. It was actually two buildings next to each other. Gunny Owens had me follow him around the backside of the building on the right. As we rounded the building on the right side, I noticed a smell; it wasn’t super strong, just persistent.

The building had four decks and was laid out like an old school motel. The doors to the rooms were on the outside walkway. Turned out my room was on the first deck, room one fifteen. Going inside It wasn’t completely horrible, but it was dirtier than I expected. It sure as hell wasn’t the Taj Mahal, but it would be alright. Gunny gave me a key and told me not to turn out like the other animals in Mackie Hall, then he was gone.

I would be sharing the room with my squad mates, PFC Norbert and PFC Mutellip. Gunny had informed me on the drive over that my squad mates would be back tomorrow as they were in the field at the moment.

I looked around and there was a single bed on one side and a bunk bed on the other side. The single bed and bottom bunk were made sloppily, so they were already taken. Seems I was left with the top bunk. There were two wall lockers in the main room and on the outside of the head. This area had a wall locker, a linen closet and a vanity. Taking a right, there was a shower stall and the sitter.

The two lockers in the main room had my squad mates’ names on them, so I was left with the rear wall locker. There was one thing I noticed in the head, nowhere to hang a towel. That would have to be remedied. They had a tiny dorm fridge that might be able to hold a twelve pack in it. It was making all kinds of noise as it was running, and opening it, the thing was barely cooler than the room. That’s something else I’d need to address. Hopefully there was a Goodwill somewhere around.

I had to dig in the closet next to my wall locker to find the linen for my bed. There was even a PASGT helmet in there of all things. The bed got made and then all my shit got squared away and there were a few things that I’d need to get from the Exchange. The issued pillows were complete shit.

After getting changed into BDUs, it was a walk around Mackie Hall. The laundry room in our building was fucking horrible. They had ten washers and driers but only three washers and four driers were operable.

I walked over to the Marine Corps Exchange to find out some prices, so I could compare. It was maybe a mile and I noticed on my way back that the Mess Hall was literally across the street from the barracks. Almost back to the barracks, I heard my name being shouted.

It was Gunny Owens, he wanted to know what the fuck I was doing and was then directed to get my ass in the van. Pulling back up to the barracks, I was told to put my bag up and then get back in the van.

As soon as I got back in the van, he said, “We’re going to get your meal card and then eat. After we’re done, it’s time to get your Deuce Gear issued. There should be time for us to go get your rifle issued. If not, I’ll come get you in the morning to take care of it.” Deuce Gear includes the pack, canteen, poncho, ammo pouch, etc. used when we’re in the field. It’s also sometimes referred to as 782 Gear because of the DD Form signed when the gear is issued.

Turned out it was called Anderson Mess Hall. We went through the process to get my meal card and I’d have to go through this process every month. It was a decent burger and fries. We went over to supply to get my Deuce Gear issued.

I signed for everything after being reminded multiple times that I was financially responsible for everything. We pulled into the Mackie Hall parking lot at 1700.

“We’ll get your rifle issued tomorrow. Be at the Platoon Office at 0730. You’re on your own till then. Don’t do anything stupid.”

I got kicked out of the van with all my gear. I hadn’t been paying attention when I’d walked around the first time. This time I noticed there was a basketball court and baseball field. That odd smell was still there.

I got my personal stuff and Deuce Gear put into my wall locker. It was a tight fit, and everything just barely fit. I opened my bag from the Exchange where I had gotten two pillows, along with two bath towels, a reading light and a power strip. Pulling out a black marker from my personal stuff, I tagged all my shit as I had no clue as to what the guys I was going to be living with were like.

I went to the Mess Hall around 1900, it was really good. The best Mess Hall food I’d had to date. Looking for a table to sit at, I noticed that I was being ignored as I would get near a table. Guess it was like being in High School again. Though when my platoon got back, that might change.

I was resigned to be sitting by myself when a lifeline was thrown.

“Hey big dude. Come sit over here.”

Looking towards the voice, there were two guys sitting off by themselves.

“Yeah, I’m talking to you.”

Well, I guess unknown company was better than no company. I’d have to start getting to know people on base sooner or later. I sat down, looking across the table. After introducing myself, they did the same. SSGT Nicodemus Gest, call me Nick and CPL Oscar Evans.

It turned out they were in the Marine Corps Reserves; they both had been on active duty. The interesting thing was when I looked at their uniforms. The Marine Corps, unlike the Army doesn’t have unit patches on their uniform, so it’s difficult to tell by looking what unit a Marine is with. They had uniform devices over their left breast pocket that spoke volumes. The first was a pair of jump wings, and the other was a dive helmet. This told me they were more than likely Recon.

“What unit are you guys with?”

“We’re with the Fourth Force Recon Company. What you see here is part of the Force Recon Detachment here at MCB Hawaii.”

We ate and talked; they invited me to join them for PT in the morning. I agreed and we went our different ways. I went back to the barracks and read for a bit before hitting the rack.

It was about 0500 when I rolled out of the rack. Getting into PT gear, I was waiting in front of the barracks when they came driving up.

“Get in the car.”

“This is how a lot of people die in movies.”

“Shut up and get in the car.”

I got into the backseat of an 80’s Crown Vic. We drove over to the largest beach at the base, it was about a mile or so long. After warming up, we did a series of circuits. Starting at one end, it was a brisk jog to the other end. When we stopped it was push-ups, burpees and then another run down the beach. This went on for an hour, after about four miles and countless pushups and burpees I was a sweaty mess. Finally, we did a cool down walk back to the car.

As we drove back, they were commenting on how I did pretty good. After a shower I got dressed and made my way over to the Platoon Office. Sitting in the same chair as the day before, Gunny Owens came walking in.

“Badzinski, how long have you been sitting there?”

“About ten minutes or so Gunny.”

“Get up and follow me.”

“AYE AYE Gunny.”

We walked out to the parking lot.

“Get in the van.”

“AYE AYE Gunny.”

We drove out of the Armory where I filled out the Ordnance Custody Receipt for my M16A2 and another one for a SMAW. They would stay in the Armory unless we were at the range or in the field.

We stopped by the Marine Mart so Gunny Owens could pick up a couple of Mountain Dews. It was then back to the Platoon Office. I was standing in front of his desk as he cracked open a soda.

“You’re going to be my gopher today.”

“Aye Gunny.”

I spent hours moving, sorting and stacking boxes of files. I was stacking boxes when I heard a noise behind me. Turning around Gunny Owens was standing in the doorway.

“Go to lunch and be back in forty-five minutes.”

“Aye Aye Gunny.”

Lunch was OK, and I made it back with a couple of minutes to spare. No more moving and sorting file boxes. It seemed the Platoon Commander, Lieutenant Wallace decided he wanted new office furniture, so now I was a furniture mover. There was another Lance Corporal and a PFC helping. We moved everything out to a box truck and drove over to a supply warehouse. There was a set of very nice office furniture waiting for us.

We unloaded the truck and then loaded the new furniture. It was going on 1700 when we finally got the furniture into a configuration that the Lieutenant liked. I went back to Gunny’s office to see what he had for me. He was on the phone and held his hand up for me to wait.

A few minutes later he hung up the phone and looked at me.

“Call it a day Badzinski. I’ve got nothing else for you today. Your roommate should be back in the next few hours. Don’t let those misfits hold any sway over you.”

“AYE, AYE Gunny.”

“Now get out of here.”

I figured that an early dinner was in order and went over to the Mess Hall. The Recon guys were nowhere in sight, so I ended up eating by myself. The Mess Hall seemed a bit more packed tonight. Guess that was due to the units coming out of the field. That meant my roommates would be back really soon, hell they could be in the Mess Hall right now.

After getting chow, I grabbed a couple of bottles of water and made my way back to the barracks. I made sure that I got my stuff put away and hopped in the rack to relax and read. I was probably about ten chapters from finishing the third and final Dragon Lance the Chronicles book when I heard the door.

The door was barely cracked when I heard a voice.

“I told you not to leave the damn lights on.”

That’s when the door opened, and they stood there in the doorway looking at me. It took a minute for them to snap out of it.

“Who the hell are you? Mutellip, go get the Corporal.” The smaller of the two guys dropped his gear and went running off.

“Now I asked you who the hell are you?”

“Well, I know who I am. Though I have no clue as to who the hell you are.”

“I’m ... waiting a minute. Enough of this bullshit. Who the hell are you?”

“OK. I’m Lance Corporal Badzinski. I just reported in yesterday.”

“What?”

“Ok, I’ll say it slow this time so you can understand me. I’m Lance Corporal Badzinski. I reported into Weapons Platoon, India Company, Third Battalion, Third Marine Division.”

“NO, NO, NO. We didn’t ask for another squadmate.”

There was something off about this guy and the way he was protesting, I just couldn’t figure out exactly what it was at that moment. I’d need to keep an eye out to see if I could figure it out. I got down out of the rack standing in the middle of the room. There was a look of surprise on his face.

“Though I know you’re aware, but I’ll remind you. The Marine Corps doesn’t really give a shit what your feelings about having another squadmate are.”

“NO, NO, NO. I DON “T CARE! GET OUT OF OUR ROOM!”

“What the fuck are you yelling about Norbert?”

Two new players arrived to join our game. I saw a tall skinny guy who looked to be in his late twenties.

“MON DIEU. Gunny Owens was right. You are a big fucker.”

I could see the guy Norbert was getting the idea that things weren’t going to go his way. His bitching kept going on, this time I caught something weird with his hands, though I still couldn’t figure it out. I’d need to keep an eye on that one.

The tall skinny guy turned to me.

“Badzinski, I’m Sergeant Le Pesant. I’m the Assault Section NCO. The Marine next to me is Corporal Rosario, he’s your Squad Leader.” A short Hispanic guy stepped forwards. Sgt Le Pesant looked at everybody shaking his head.

“Corporal, I’ll leave you to it. Square away your Marines.” With that he left, and Cpl Rosario was looking at the three of us.

“Badzinski, You’re an unknown quantity at this time. Though based on your SRB, you should be a good Marine. Norbert, Mutellip, he looks like he could eat both of you for lunch. I expect the three of you to behave. We have PT in the morning so get some rest.”

I looked at the two of them and then at the Corporal.

“Aye Corporal.”

The other two didn’t say a word and followed the Corporal out the door. I got back into my rack and went back to reading. It was a few minutes later when they came back in.

There was only one sentence said to me that whole night. Norbert looked at me after they came back in.

“Don’t touch my fucking stuff.”

“Not a problem.”

After finishing the book, I called it a night. It took me probably about an hour to fall asleep. My two roommates decided to stay up and be loud the whole time.

It was just after 0530 when I got up. There was almost no one stirring as I made my way out to the baseball field behind the barracks. I started to go through my stretching routine, the stink was pretty strong. I figured out where it was coming from, the creek/river that was running alongside the barracks. Guess it was something to just get used to.

I’d been stretching for about ten minutes when four Marines came over and went to my room and the two next to it. I could tell two of them were Sgt Le Pesant and Cpl. Rosario. My best guess was they were the other two Squad Leaders.

The two unknown Marines went to the two rooms to the left of mine. I could hear them pounding on the doors while I continued stretching. Then all of a sudden, they were yelling, though I couldn’t hear what was said. This went on for a few minutes before one of the doors opened up.

The other doors opened up not long after. From the body language I could tell that the NCOs were a bit upset. This went on for a few minutes. After a couple minutes I walked back after finishing my stretching. Sgt Le Pesant caught sight of me as I came back up to the rooms.

“HEY! Where the hell have you been Badzinski?”

Pointing back to the baseball field, I said “Stretching and warming for PT.”

“What are you serious?”

“Yeah, I wanted to be warmed up for PT.”

He stood there looking at me, then everything started. Sgt Le Pesant started yelling at everyone to get out to the baseball field. The twelve of us were standing there in a loose group. They were all standing there wondering what was going on when I got called up front.

“This is Lance Corporal Badzinski. He’s the newest member of the platoon and the Assistant Squad Leader of Third squad. Seeing as he’s already warmed up for PT, he’s going to lead the platoon in stretching.”

Great now I was being put front and center in the spotlight. I did the only thing I could, we went through my stretching routine. I put as much description as I could into the instructions. There were a few times when guys had no clue what we were doing, so I took a minute to show them how to do it right. The response to that was a mixture of wanting to do it right and not wanting to show they didn’t know how to do the exercise.

As soon as we finished it, we were directed into a loose platoon run. You could see that a bunch of guys were just not into running this morning. It was constant bitching and moaning during the whole run. We did about five miles, I guess. As we made our way back behind the barracks, we went straight into a PT session.

PT finished, and everyone started heading over to the barracks. Sgt Le Pesant’s voice rang out.

“Where the hell do you idiots from Third squad think you’re going. Get your crack head asses back over here.”

“Aye Aye Sergeant.”

I caught a bunch of “Boot” being muttered behind me.

“Good to hear Badzinski. You’re now a part of Third squad, so you take the same repercussions for the fucking retards in the squad pulling their idiocy.”

We spent ten minutes playing fuck fuck games before Sgt Le Pesant started his diatribe.

“I can’t believe that you idiots pulled the shit you did in front of the other Sergeants of the company. I was almost ready to send you fucking retards to a Captain’s Mast.”

There was a string of cussing as he moved around. The ideas of retribution that were bandied about were from the mundane to the outrageous, though his final idea was not that bad but also horrible at the same time.

“You idiots will have Barracks Duty for the next two months. And just so you don’t think I’m going soft on you fucking retards, you’ll have the 1600 to 0000 watch Friday, Saturday and Sunday.”

He kept abusing us for another fifteen minutes before giving his parting shot.

“I don’t care how you two idiots break up the watches. Badzinski, seeing as you weren’t actually part of the idiocy, you get Sunday watch. Now you dumb fuckers go get chow before I decide to keep you here for a couple more hours.”

We got up and made our way back to the room. I grabbed my shit and got in the shower. I heard grumbling about it, when I came out the two of them were bitching and moaning about having barracks duty.

“Look, I don’t want to hear any more of the bullshit from you two. I’ve no clue what you two fuckers did to warrant being punished. Hell, I wasn’t even there, and I’m now caught up in it. So quit your fucking whining and take your punishment like a man.

They both looked like they wanted to say something. I wasn’t going to get into this bullshit right now. My stomach reminded me it was time to eat.

Sitting by myself with a large tray of food, there was a cough behind me. When I turned around to look it was Cpl Rosario.

“Mind if I join you?”

“Nope, it’s a free country.”

He sat down across from me. We ate for a bit before he started his pitch.

“Badzinski, I have no clue about you other than what I got from your SRB. I don’t know and don’t care what you’ve done or who you’ve pissed off in the Corps to this point. How you carry yourself and do your job is my concern right now. By virtue of being put into Third squad, you now have an extra job. It’s your job to help me polish those two turds into halfway decent Marines.”

Great, I was now a babysitter and teacher on top of my own concerns.

“I’ll do my best Corporal.”

“Good, I’m glad you’re on board.”

We went back to eating, it was a few minutes before the silence was broken.

“Badzinski, you dumb polack.”

Turning it was Gest and Morris walking over. Normally I wouldn’t let that comment slide but being new I’d need to go about it with tact. Without missing a beat, they sat down and started eating. Cpl Rosario gave me a look like how the hell do these guys know your name.

“How you doing Staff Sergeant?”

“Good, we didn’t see you at chow last night. We were wondering if you were going to join us for PT again?”

“I ate early last night. My platoon came in from the field last night, so I had to see what was going on this morning.”

“Ah, well. Anytime you see us, just say something. You’re more than welcome to join us anytime.”

Cpl Rosario was staring at me the whole time. I finished eating and grabbed my tray and started to get up. SSgt Gest grabbed me by the arm.

“So, what are you doing tomorrow afternoon and evening after the duty day is done?”

“Nothing that I know of.”

“Well, the guys and I are having a cookout on the beach. If you’re free, join us. It’s over where we did PT the other day, it’ll start around 1800.”

“If I can make it, I’ll be there.”

Cpl Rosario cut in at that point.

“Badzinski, the platoon is going to be in the range all day after morning PT. Then there’s a barracks inspection.”

It was SSgt Gest’s turn.

“No matter, show up when you want Badzinski.”

I got up and made my way back to the barracks. I’d made it across the street when Cpl Rosario yelled at me to wait for him.