In The Navy (FT “C” School), Part 12

Breakfast out after drinking all night was always an adventure (even when Dyke and Joey were around). You never knew what was going to happen, but it was a given that someone would cause a commotion and that “someone” seemed to rotate between us. More than once we were asked to leave the place. We always tipped good if the service was good though.

One time, it would be hitting on the waitress. The next would be a food stunt that was always messy for the stuntman, but funny. There were often incursions into another group of people at the restaurant; those sometimes lead to almost a fight. It was always an adventure and you never knew if it would be you playing the entertainer on any given night. It would just happen.

Sometimes we would play really stupid music on the table Juke Box (a system you never see any more). It was great to see the looks on people’s faces as they tried to figure out who played that crap. All of the tables had to hear whatever was queued up. It was funny to us.

I did mention before that Dennis was a charmer, which always made breakfast interesting. He would immediately start flirting with the waitress, no matter what she looked like. He could be condescending with a smile and if the girl was not hot he would just talk and smile as if she was pretty. I never saw it pay off for him much, while we were in the Navy anyway. I wound up working with Dennis for a while after we were both out of the Navy and he hadn’t changed a bit. Except now out of the Navy, he seemed to always have a pretty younger girl on his arm. Smarmy…

As “C” school was nearly drawing to a close, I arrived one day to have everyone I ran into, telling me to go to the school’s Commanding Officers (CO) office. What the hell did I do now? I went into the classroom to drop my books first and the teacher was there (uncharacteristically) to sweep me off to the CO’s office. I walked through the door of the office and had a phone handle put into my hand. Everyone else left the room.

I have to give the Navy credit for being really good about getting major family news to their sailors.

My Dad was on the other end of the line; he said hi and then told me my brother had died. He had taken his own life, deep in depression, I found out later. I didn’t go to class that day or out drinking later, even though my friends wanted me to. I walked alone and crying back to the barracks and shut myself in my room. I could have gone home for the funeral and it was probably a mistake that I didn’t.

I decided since this was my second time through this school and it was almost done, that I didn’t want to have to take a break now and risk having to start over yet again. At least that is what I tell myself, even today. In reality, I suppose I just ran away from the situation. Don’t get me wrong, I loved my brother and had more in common with him than my other siblings, which I think made it harder. I understood his choice to do what he did, even thought I didn’t know the circumstance. It still tore at me.

For a few days, everything was difficult. I had to excuse myself from class from time to time. For a few weeks, I avoided my friends and would go out alone to the one bar everyone hated, because I could be alone in the crowd. I would typically down several dry Martinis and head back to my room before they fully kicked in, then pass out. Denial, you think?

Eventually I returned to normal, as much as I could and finished school. The day after our last test we all piled into class and sat for a long time waiting for the instructor to come in. He did and just silently walked in, no greeting, with a piece of paper in hand. He walked straight to the chalk board and started writing….