HI_11

Tom had a lot of friends in the army but he also had enemies. He still wasn't following the rules. He actually got in fights in the mess hall. One day his sergeant came to our apartment to talk to him "off the record."

I was right there about two feet away from them and I could hear every word. The man told him, he looked right at me when he said this, that all his problems were because he had married me. I never understood how my being there and married to him had anything to do with him getting in fights in the mess hall kitchen. I would think that had nothing at all to do with me. It wasn't like they were fighting over me. They fought over real stupid things, like who was going to use what knife first or who used which table.

Tom tried to tell me afterward that the guy thought he was being funny but I could tell by the look on his face he really meant it.

I wanted to come to Hawaii but I didn't insist on it. Both of us knew if we wanted a kid it had to be now. I wasn't getting any younger. He would be in Hawaii two years. I was thirty four when I got there. I didn't know how many years I had left to use my eggs. We had lived together for almost a year in Colorado and I hadn't gotten pregnant there. It was Tom's decision to bring me to Hawaii.

I signed into the Hawaii National Guard here. My "friends" contacted me and said it was no problem my being here, that it was a good thing. I was assigned to an Intelligence unit. I think it fit right in with their plans. I was also signed up for more "courses."

In the guards I was being trained not only in computer stuff but I was also being trained to look at aerial photographs and decide if that was a school or a hospital or a fuel dump. I would be one of those folks who told them where to bomb, just in case. Sometimes I worried about the responsibility of this. I didn't know if when the time came I could handle it emotionally.

I was sure that if I were attacked face to face or if someone else was and I could stop them with a bullet, I wouldn't hesitate. But to even think about looking at a blurry photo and trying to decide if innocents would die if I picked the wrong spot gave me nightmares. Thankfully, I never had to put it to the test.

I was also trained in a more advanced course of mine warfare. I could recognize at the time certain mines and differentiate them from others. Today, I barely remember any of these features except that some "mines" were round and you'd better not step on one. I knew that before, but now I could see by the charts I had to memorize which wires went where and which you stood a chance of defusing.

Another mine was a Claymore mine. That was a newer one. All are deadly and I didn't ever want to put that knowledge to work either. Unless you are in a backward country most of these mines would not even be used today. Most of the stuff I ever got to even handle was very outdated stuff.

I got the feeling that I wasn't being really trained. It was more like I was a guinea pig being tested to see if I, as a female, could be trained to do these things.

The next course they put me on was even weirder. It sounded to me like they were preparing for a war with a Pacific nation or maybe an island one. I was told that these were just normal courses and nothing to "worry your pretty little head about."

Some of my instructors acted like they really didn't want to be there with a female.

I was taught a lot about rubber plantations. Up until then, I'd never thought much about rubber. Now I knew how they gathered the sap and what happened to it after that.

Part of this next "education" was also a bit of training and a lot of book learning, too. I learned how to go into a country and do it in a way that I wasn't detected. Somehow, I thought I would stand out anywhere with my pale skin. I also couldn't understand why they wanted to train a female for this.

At one time we went out in to a wooded area. I had to figure out how to get by him, AKA the guard, without being caught. After a number of tries I did manage. Today? There would be no chance.

You would think back in those days that men would have been the only ones even considered for something like this. I asked once, "Wouldn't it make more sense to send a man in to do this?" My instructor replied, "That's what the enemy would be expecting." with a slight smile on his face. He also told me that in a war every citizen, no matter the age or sex is important to the outcome. Well, that made sense.

I was told it would be my job to infiltrate and organize the guerillas. Me, who couldn't organize her sock drawer, if I had one. You probably know what I'm going to say next. I sucked it up and did the courses and learned, all the time praying I'd never be in a situation where I'd have to put that to the test, either.

Tom would find one of books laying around or see it arrive in the mail. He'd ask me about it. I said it was just something the guards wanted me to learn. He didn't seem to care. Thankfully, I never had to do anything with this knowledge except for a few games in the Hawaii jungles which weren't all that much on Oahu.

Two or three weeks before I found out I was pregnant, I received a notice to prepare for a journey to Australia. Well, that sounded like fun. At the same time my guards unit was preparing to go to Korea in five months for war games. I wondered what that meant and was told it was just a matter of them going there and "you show me yours and I'll show you mine." Boys will be boys, not matter what country they are from.

I was supposed to do two weeks of training in Australia while Tom was doing his army training in New Zealand. My training would start about a week and a half after he left. I had no clue how they would explain to him why his wife wasn't home waiting for him.

It was all a lot of worry for nothing because fate had another plan for me but I'm getting ahead here and I forgot about Christmas.

The first Christmas here began OK. I say OK because we couldn't afford a tree. We didn't have anything to put on it anyway. A tree, a real tree cost over a hundred bucks for a small one. They, of course, all had to be shipped in as well. They didn't grow them on the island. We gave up on that.

I bought a tiny little ceramic tree at Woolworths. There was a big Woolworths in the middle of Wahiawa. It was one of the few places I could afford to shop.

Sometimes we did our grocery shopping at the commissary. Its true the prices were better but if I didn't have someone willing to give me a lift home it was pointless. I couldn't afford a cab from there. We got most of the stuff we wanted in town where I could push the cart home, lug it up the stairs and then push the cart back to the store. They knew what I was doing and as long as I brought the cart back they didn't mind.

I know it wasn't his fault but it would seem that most times, Tom was not around for the heavy stuff. It's something you get used to in the military.

I don't remember what Tom got me for Christmas. I found a letter I wrote to our mom back in New York a few days after Christmas. He got me a camera like the one Sue had at the time. Neither Sue nor I can remember what those camera's were. I got him a Joan Jett album. I liked shopping for Christmas presents. I liked surprising people. This Christmas he was allowed a few minutes off for the morning at least.

The day before they had worked their butts off in the mess hall preparing all sorts of stuff for a massive feast. They were also drinking a lot of alcohol all day. I was hoping no one got in a fight.

At Thanksgiving Tom had got in a fight with another cook over who was going to use the table first or some other such nonsense. It ended with Tom getting slashed with a knife over his eye. He was damn lucky. I didn't want to see a repeat.

Its not fun to have your husband delivered home by MP's. They were quick to tell me how innocent he was but I still didn't want to see a repeat.

I was hoping Christmas could be a normal one even though I wasn't sure what a normal one was anymore. We got up and yes, we were both naked. I gave him his present which he started to open. He started shaking. I really didn't have a clue what was going on but suddenly he was on the floor and twitching and jerking. I knew something was wrong. I'd never seen him like this.

Still naked, I dashed out my door to the next door apartment and banged on the door. The black lady came to the door and saw me. I quickly told her something was wrong with Tom and I needed help. She was a nurse, at least she had told us she was.

She called for an ambulance and came over to try to help. She took a big wooden spoon I had there and shoved it between his teeth. She said he was having a seizure. I was terrified still. I'd never seen anyone do that. I threw some clothes on quick and grabbed some for him. I think they wouldn't let me in the ambulance with him but I got there somehow. Maybe the neighbor got me there.

We were there a few hours when they talked to me. They told me he'd had a seizure but he was all right now. They were keeping him for a few days to be sure and get him on some meds. They also told me that woman from next door should never have done that. If you know someone is about to go into a seizure you can try that but you risk breaking a tooth and the person could then swallow it and suck it into his lungs causing a whole lot more damage.

I'm going to put here a bit of what I wrote to Mom in the letter.

(Tom worked Christmas Eve from 8:00 at night till 4:40 the next morning. Then he went to sleep. I got up at eight AM and started the turkey. - That means he would have had to have had a way home from the base so he wouldn't have gotten to bed before 5:30 at the earliest making it about five hours of sleep at the most)

I got home somehow and salvaged dinner. I stuck most of what I'd already cooked into the fridge. I had cooked a turkey in the night. When it was cool I would clean it all off the bones and stick parts of it in the freezer for later meals. Luckily, I got to it before the roaches dared the heat of the oven.

So Tom was in Tripler about a week with his buddies visiting him.

Oh my God! He was impersonating Miley Cyrus before she'd even been born. I never realized that till I'd put this image up here.

Ken is on the left, again I have no clue who the guy in the middle was.

These were both taken in the hospital.