Face Your Worst Memories - You Will Feel Better

I understand that in order to get over traumatic experiences, it is sometimes better to talk about them. This is probably better than storing the frightening memory in the back of your mind and having it resurface at some inopportune moment. With this in mind, I wanted to share one of the scariest moments of my life. The following is true and I will endeavor to recount it to the best of my recollection.

This story takes place in 1987. I was 21 years old and had been separated from my first wife for over 6 months. I was in the Navy and had received orders to my next duty station, Adak. For those of you that wonder where Hell is…it is a small island in the Aleutian chain of the coast of Alaska. It is like the third island from the end. It proves the point that Hell does indeed freeze over.

So as not to tarnish the story, I will share with you only what I knew about Adak before I arrived there. First, I was told that there are basically only three things to do in Adak. Hunt, fish and drink. I was never a hunter and rarely ever fished so that just left drinking for me. That was OK with me as I was pretty much only drinking at that time in my life anyway.

I was also told that there were no civilians on the island, basically. There was no city or town. The island contained four navel stations and a wild game preserve. I was also told that the command where I was going was the remotest of the four commands, only housing about 500 of the 6000 people on the island.

I was happy with these orders as one of my friends, we called him the Dancin Bear, from my last command and boot camp also got orders there and reported one week before me. Always makes it easier knowing someone in your new command, especially if they are one of your best friends.

That is all I knew.

It was a Wednesday. I reported to the island and was picked up at the air station by my first class (supervisor for you non Navy types) and DB. All seemed normal. I went back and they assigned me a room in the barracks, I had two roommates. I met a few people and I began to notice the severe lack of ladies in my command. It turns out this was a problem on the whole island, not just my small personal Hell. DB told me there were about 500 guys in the command and around 50 women. Some of them married, but their spouses were not on the island or they would not have been in the barracks with us.

So, I began the arduous task of checking into a command. You have to report to a bunch of places, including the medical and dental facilities. Some of these places were on the naval air station side of the island which was 10 miles over a rather treacherous road. I basically did this for the first two days.

Now, I had been introduced to one of the girls in the barracks my first day on the island. I will call her WAP. She was nice enough, had a smoking body, but was not what you would call attractive. As a matter of fact, I am sure that her name and attractive were never used in the same sentence. Well, I kept running into her and me being me…I spoke to her and flirted a little as I did with most girls back then. I did not really mean anything by it, I was just being friendly. It seemed that everywhere I went, I would run into WAP. I was always friendly and jokingly stated things like “what are you doing, stalking me.” She would laugh and I thought nothing of it.

Friday, a day I will always remember. It was early in the evening, maybe 7:30. I was heading to the bar, located within our barracks by the way. I did not get two steps into the bar when WAP cut me off. The ensuing conversation went something like this:

“Blue944 can I talk with you?”
I looked and I could see my roomies and the DB sitting at a table grinning. “Sure.”
We moved over to a bench by the door.
“What’s up,” I said.
“I wanted to ask you something?”
“OK”
Well I am not sure how to say this, so I am going to just quote a line from my favorite movie and you just react any way you want.”
“OK,” fearfully.
“Take me to bed or lose me forever.” (For those of you who have lived in a cave for the last 25 years…from Top Gun. I still can’t watch the movie for fear of a bad flashback.)

Terror took over…Time just seemed to stand still…my initial thought was to laugh. Now all you haters out there back off. Try to remember that I was young, arrogant and obnoxious. A deadly combination. I am not young anymore.

I did not know what to say, but I this conversation went on in my mind.

“Oh my god…Oh my God…THINK…what are you going to say? Come up with something. Think this out. Well, you could laugh, but then what if she is like really popular on this island? You won’t get laid for the rest of the time you are here – 18 MONTHS! No, no don’t do that…Well you could sleep with her, but wait. What if she is like a really big slut on the island and all the girls hate her. You won’t get laid the rest of the time you are here…SHIT! Come up with something. You have got to get out of this without looking like an asshole.”

Now for me this conversation in my head seemed to go on forever, but in reality, it was just a few seconds. However, the look on my face must have been enough for her to draw her own conclusion. The conversation continued:

“Why do I get the feeling you are going to turn me down?”
“Well, because I am.” At that moment, the DJ decided to switch to a slow song.
“Dance with me then.”
“OK,” the walk to the dance floor provided critically seconds for me to come up with something to tell this girl.
While we were dancing, I told her, “Look, I just got here and I basically just got out of two relationships and I am not really over either of them. I am not looking to get into another relationship right now, and I just don’t believe in casual sex.” This was all true – minus the casual sex part.
I held my breath waiting to see how she was going to respond.
“Oooh, that is so sweet.”
In my mind I yelled “SAFE!”

The dance ended and I walked her back to her friends and proceeded to go and join my friends at their table. When I got there they were all laughing. They new what was happening and not one of them clued me in beforehand. Bastards.

Now as a side note to the story. I soon found out that WAP was affectionately known on the island as the “Welcome Aboard Package,” so my decision not to sleep with her was a very smart one. You can not take a chance when the odds are that bad for hooking up…10 to 1, guy to girl. BTW, I actually lived in Hell for 2 ½ years.

Wow, I do feel better now that I have faced that memory. I don’t think I have ever experienced terror like I did the moment she said “take me to bed or lose me forever.” Shiver…Nope not over it.

The military closed Adak some years ago and it is a civilian community now. At one time it was the 6th largest city in Alaska with 6000 people. Their population is now 300. Here are some interesting facts about the island in case you are thinking about moving to Hell.
• Nickname – Birthplace of the Winds
• Length 28 miles
• Land area 280 square miles
• Water area 4.9 square miles
• There are no trees on the island
• Highest point, Mt. Moffett elevation 3,924 feet
• Temperatures range from 11° F to 65°F
• Snowfall 41 inches annually
• Total precipitation 21 inches annually
• Southern most city in Alaska
• Air miles from Anchorage 1300 – about 3 hour plane ride