Marine Corps Story, Lost My Wheels
CHEAP CAR
When I was on active duty in the US Marine Corps, I was stationed in Okinawa, Japan on Camp Kinser. My first barracks (dormitory) room was on the second floor of a four-story building off a coastal road adjacent to the west side of the island, about 200 meters from the shore of the East China Sea. The building was on the inland side of the street. My room was on the second floor, also facing the inland side, nothing fancy. I was a Private First Class (E2). About six months later we were all relocated to the freshly remodeled four-story building across the street on the seaside. My new room was on the fourth floor facing the sea. As a low-ranking Marine, life in that room was akin to resort living with the sun setting outside my window everyday except for during typhoons when the sun was concealed behind the fast-moving clouds of the storms. Nonetheless, those living conditions were some of the greatest I have known to this very day. I was to be there for another 18 months, or something like that anyway.
In Okinawa, traffic and vehicles were such that driving was on the other side of the car and the other side of the street, a total reversal of what Americans had been accustomed to. Additionally, the fast-driving life back home was hampered by the slower moving speeds of kilometers per hour. Even so, the speedometer held us to proper speeds along the roads and highways, except for those times when testicular swelling added extra pressure to the accelerator.
Chronology aside, I got my Okinawa driver license and bought a car for $50. Had to spend another $450 on new tires and minor improvements; it was worth it. Had a lot of good times with that Nissan car. The car was a brighter, burnt-orange, four door sedan.
My roommates and I, other service-members from different branches of service, and college classmates did a lot of fun things over the next several months. We went on island tours brought to us by an organization, MWR (Morale, Welfare and Recreation). We learned about snakes and caves, cities and towns, and participated in Okinawa ceremonies, drum circles and cultural dances. We visited restaurants, played darts in bars, and occasionally (always) drank to much, designated drivers notwithstanding. We gathered scuba gear and hit the banks, the shores and the beaches around the island snorkeling as far as just beyond the rock where the salty, sea-buried cliffs dropped off into the abyss. Never donned the caution of potentially encountering a shark or any other people-eating sea creatures.
Remember that car I paid $50 for? Yeah. Remember that reference I made to testicular swelling? Well, it got me. It got a Japanese police officer jumping out from the bushes, flagging me to pull over, and giving me a ticket for speeding. I was doing 90 in a 50. I thought for sure I would be dished a felony conviction and a life sentence of manual laboring in an Okinawa prison camp, pushing around a rice grinder and eating fish heads and drinking dirty water for the rest of my days; I guess I've watched too many movies in my time. I was fortunate to only have to pay a fine equivalent to $350 and lost my license. Thank goodness for MWR busses. And bicycles!
FIGHTING FIRE
One of my favorite, personal experiences was meeting Kinjo Sanetaka, Sane for short (pronounced sah' nay). Sane was an Okinawan national who was a firefighter at the base fire department. One day I was to open the doors and meet with fire department personnel at one of the empty warehouses on base so they could conduct a regularly scheduled fire inspection of the premises. Sane and the fire chief were the ones who came.
Sane did not speak very much English, and I, despite having attended a Japanese language college class, did not speak the language fluently, but the little I learned about their language gained the fire fighters' attention of me displaying my interest and attempts to learn more about the Okinawan people and their language. The fire chief could speak a reasonable amount of basic English, enough that we understood each other. That was to become an opportunity I would be forever immeasurably grateful for.
After we finished our business, the fire chief, respecting my desire to learn the language, invited me to the fire station on my off time to help teach basic English to the local firemen. What an exciting and rewarding experience that was to become! One of my leading Staff Sergeants(that's you Ricki C.) also came along a few times to help.
Over the next few months, I gained more confidence in speaking the Japanese language as well as teaching as much as I could to the other firefighters and fire chiefs, a group of about 15 firemen. They were a very hospitable group of men. I had the privilege of enjoying many a meal cooked by all of the firemen on several visits. They made grilled cheeses, too, just not the same way and with different ingredients than I knew. Soon, I would have many, wonderful field trips, meal and sake sips with this fine breed of courageous fire warriors on their off time. We went to local restaurants and bars, sporting events and beaches as well as a few other places that aren't really fit to discuss here.
We had a lot of great times, made a lot of great memories. Sane invited me to his home and also to his wedding. I had the privilege of watching and participating with the firemen during their training sessions, teaching them important words and phrases pertinent to their professions, such as, "Vacate the building immediately," and others. I got to wear firefighter gear and play along. Like I said earlier, immeasurable gratitude and thoughts of important contributions that may very well have lead to savings lives.
FREE MOUNTAIN BIKE!
One day at work, my Sergeant told me to repair the broken bench on the aluminum picnic table inside the entry of our warehouse. There was also a bank of cluttered wall lockers, junk lockers, next to picnic table. I assessed the repairs and went back to my sergeant as asked where I could get the funds so I could go to the local hardware store for parts. He laughed and said, "Go through those wall lockers and find whatever you need from inside and fix the table, and while you're at it, clean out those lockers."
An important lesson was to be learned: sometimes you have to just use what you have, adapt and overcome, and get the job done. As I was clearing out the lockers and rummaging and scavenging for anything I could to complete my given task and repair the table, I began sorting everything into piles for later organization. While sorting, I realizing I was making a pile of disassembled bike parts most likely to be heading to the trash bin. Instead of trashing those parts, I asked my sergeant if I could have them; he said yes. So, on my off time, I came back to the warehouse and began attempting to reassemble those parts.
Never did that before. Didn't have an instruction manual on how to assemble bicycles and certainly didn't have a cell phone or access to YouTube videos, instructional and tutorials. YouTube wasn't even a thing (oh snap, I'm getting old). Low and behold, before I knew it, it assembled a pile of garage into a perfectly good, functional, quality mountain bike. The frame been sprayed a light blue and silver, with flat spray paint, which I was later to learn why. One of the other Marines who worked with me in the warehouse also had a mountain bike. We set off on many awesome bicycle excursions right to far and interesting places throughout the island of Okinawa, Japan.
By the way, remember that light blue and silver spray paint? Apparently someone made an attempt to disguise a wrongfully-acquired piece of property that did not belong to them, some time before I was employed at the location. One day, another Marine in my unit approached me and asked where I got the bike. He said he thought, actually knew, the bike was his and it had been stolen from the bike rack outside the barracks. He was genuinely certain the bike was his and I believed him. Knowing the right thing to do, I ask him if I could use the bike for a little while longer and give the bike back to him at a little later time. He obliged and granted me the the use. A few weeks later I gave him the bike and he was truly grateful, and I was grateful, too.