JASON CHAPTER 7

Good Bye and So Long
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There is an old saying a sailor has a girl in every port but this sailor only has a girl in this port and I'm leaving and don't know if she is leaving with me.

I packed all my gear and headed to the air field for the flight to my next assignment.  I hadn't heard from Carme and figured that was the end to that.

Apparently her family had overruled my feelings for her and that was final. I don't know what their plans for her future were or if they had even thought about it beyond that she would stay with them and didn't need a husband.

In any case I boarded my flight and in a couple of hours I was getting settled into my new place.  It looked like I would spend the rest of my time in the service at a desk which suited me for I had all the action I wanted.

Every time I thought about going back to where the action was my wounds would begin to act up, and I would be reminded of what that had been like.

After a couple of months I had met some women at the base and had dated two or three of them.

There was one nice girl named Lauren who was very pleasant and soft spoken which I favored over the others.  She was one of the civilian workers and lived off base in her own apartment.  As time went by we were together more often, just being together and not considering it to be dating.

She was a very good cook and I would eat at her place at least once a week. We would shop at the commissary and take it home to her place and cook it. There was no stress in being with her and I enjoyed her company.

As I thought back at my time with Carme there was always a tenseness you could never get away from.  I had thought if we were married and away from her parents influence perhaps we could get by that.

Navy Ensign
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I was offered the opportunity to go to officers' training school and decided to accept the chance to move up in rank. This was more of a challenge than I thought, but with a lot of study I managed to master it.  After becoming an Ensign and I was told I would be stationed permanently where I am.

       
It was then that Lauren and I decided to get married.

I had never considered making the Navy a lifetime occupation but now I had reconsidered and decided this was a good move.  It took a little getting used to being saluted to where in times past I would initiate the salute.

My job consisted of accelerating the delivery of goods and equipment to the men that needed it. There were many things that could delay the movement of goods where they were needed which translated to me in lost lives; Such as red tape and paperwork just sitting on someone's desk and being ignored.

It appeared that I wasn't going to be popular with some of the people who were dragging their feet.  

I finally got the brass to convene a meeting where I explained the problems I was having, and I expected them to cooperate with me to solve these difficulties.

The last thing I said was, “If we don't perform quickly and smoothly we will be killing our own men by our neglect of our duties.

I suggest if you can't see the urgency of what I'm talking about then I think you need to serve on the front line with the men who are there, and are waiting on us to provide them with what they need.

I have been there and I will call out anyone who I see not doing their duty to those who are doing the fighting.”

To be Continued