To continue.....
I land in San Diego for boot camp and enter a whole different world from anything I have ever experienced before. It was the first major challenge I've had in my life and there were times I didn't think I could make it....but I did....and I emerged in the best shape of my entire life. Clean in body and mind. Man, I was at my peak I'll skip ahead with boot camp and the training schools to go right into my duty assignment on my first naval vessel.
Big ass ship. Very big.
I was just a hick who had never been on much more than a fishing boat. I was awestruck by this huge gray monster that was to be my home. Naval bases were easy. There are maps and all the buildings have names on them. The ship was an alien world. I got myself on board and wandered around the maze of gangways, hatches, pipes, and people who all seemed to know where they were going and what to do. After lots of searching and asking, I finally found my rack and threw my gear on top. I took a moment to catch my breath when a hand clamped down on my shoulder. I spun around to see four rather serious looking guys who asked "do you get high?"
Before I could get so much as a grunt out they grabbed and goose marched me topside, pinned me against a bulkhead, fired up a joint and stuck it in my mouth. Their reasoning was that if I was a narc, I wouldn't be able to toke on the joint. I was to prove I was somebody that they could trust not to rat them out in the future. If I couldn't do that, the least that would happen would be threats of getting the shit beaten out of me and the worse.....well....at sea it's a terrible tragedy to "accidentally" fall overboard. In order to preserve my safety, I took a very long drag....a couple actually. They all then smiled and laughed and fired up another joint, said I was cool, and started telling me all the ins and outs of the ship and our department. I had friends. I really needed them because I had never felt so lost and alone. I had friends because of dope so, in a tangential way, dope was my friend too. At least that is how I was starting to view my developing relationship with drugs .
....to be continued
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