Essay Nineteen, Age 22, 1968 U.S, M.C. Kansas City, Independence, Missouri, the News Years Party in the snow

I was sent from Pendleton Base to Kansas City, to be a part of a personnel division working in an underground facility. The place was a mass of wide concrete tunnels, through which electric vehicles sped from one office to another. The hours there were long, about 14 to 16 hours each day. We processed personnel and pay records, and because of the information we routinely accessed on military personnel, we had secret security clearances. I was one of a group of women marines who worked in the unit. Little time was available at home to even keep my laundry done at times. It was a good thing I was not married; there would not have been much time for sex even if I had not been too tired for it. My friends at this time were Bernice Moore, a beautiful young woman with dark brown hair and sparkling dark brown eyes. One of the sargeants was completely in love with her and hung around all the time with a lovesick look. She was not serious about him and eventually she broke off with him. Then there was Sharon and a young woman from New Jersey. Three of us shared an apartment for awhile, then I found my own one bedroom place in a fourplex, on the top floor. The apartment below me was occupied by a young couple who were both morticians. They attended the same morticians college. I wish now that I had talked with them more about the career they shared; it would have been fascinating. During the time I was in Missouri, I became quite a heavy sleeper, and had to have two alarm clocks to ensure that I would wake up. A bomb could have gone off next door and I would not have woken. It got dreadfully cold there in the winter, well below zero temperatures. It was so cold, but it was a dry cold. The snow was so dry it blew like sand, and you could be outside in it with just a thin sweater on and not feel the intense cold, because it was so dry it did not penetrate you much. Nevertheless, you would have frozen to death if you were out all night in it with no covering or protection. At Christmas time we had no money, so we wrapped empty boxes like presents with big bows and put them under the tree to give the place some cheer. Then on New Years Eve we all went to a big party at a local restaurant. We did the bunny hop and danced all evening. After midnight, when we had all yelled Happy New Year ! we drove home huddled in Bernice's little Volkswagen Beetle. The snow was coming down and we had all had too much drink. The car swerved and off we went into a ditch by the side of the road. The car was leaning on its side, with us all piled on one another, laughing. No one was hurt and it was the end of the year. What did we care? It was an adventure. We got out and somehow a rescue vehicle came to help us get on the road again. Sharon was so drunk that when we got home, she sat on the edge of the bed and then kind of oozed off it to the floor, as if she were made of molasses melting onto the floor. She was completely limp. It was hilarious. She slept it off and we all then watched the New Years Day television celebrations. It was some time before I got so tired of the long work days that I came up with the idea of applying to officers candidate school, just to get a transfer out of there. I knew that even if I did not complete the candidate program, it was unlikely they would send me back to the Missouri facility. So I applied and was accepted.