S was another interesting character I had come to know. She was very nice and went out of her way to invite me places and talk to me. I appreciated that however; S and I had very little in common. I really did like her but I am struggling a little bit to explain her.
Let's see . . . . she was drunk A LOT (probably more than Tom) and hung out with guys A LOT --she was ALWAYS upstairs on the male floor, always. If you want to read in between the lines as to why she was always on the male floor, your assumptions would probably be correct. When she drank which again, was quite often, she had the foulest language but when she was sober she was quite different. Guys used her a lot and that made me very sad because I think deep down inside she was just a little girl longing for love and attention --pure love, the kind that lasts. I think she joined the Army right out of high school so she was young. Like Tom, despite S's faults and the divide in our differences, I really did like her. As far as being a medic goes, she was 100% incompetent. In fact, I probably wouldn't have trusted her to so much as dispense Tylenol to me. But here again, I was learning how to look beyond those things and see a person for their core. The created being they were. There were many things I found I liked about S, her sense of humor being one of them.
Back in the 80's AIDS entered the picture in a big way. The Army had mandated every soldier be tested for AIDS. Since this was quite a huge undertaking, for our division we had to go to a big gym on Katterbach where medic stations were set up to draw our blood. It was in a very cattle-like fashion where we were all just ushered into the gym and stood in line to get our blood drawn. All of the medics in the division were called in to help, S being no exception. Those of us from Hindenburg had been bused over to Katterbach --soldiers were arriving in droves. The lines were crazy long & the gym was crazy hot. Each medic had a field table set up with supplies and one by one, soldiers were getting their blood drawn. S's station was empty. Not one person was standing in her line. None of us were dumb enough to let her stick a needle in our vein! I think it made her feel bad because S came over to us and said, "Come on you guys, come over to my line. How come no one wants to get into my line?" When a Sergeant noticed her line was empty he came over and told some of us to get into her line and we all just stood there. Then our First Sergeant came over to us and told us to get into S's line. Again, we all just stood there. The first and only time I ever out right said no to a senior ranking person in the Army was this time. I looked at my 1SG and told him I didn't want to go to S's line. He stood there for a second and then ordered me to go. I just looked at him, scared as I was but still, I wasn't getting in S's line, and said, "First Sergeant, I'm not going to let S put a needle in my arm."
By this time S had gotten some victims --er, I mean --patients in her line. Poor unsuspecting soldiers from other units that did not know her were only too happy to get to the front of a line and spare the long hot wait. I think had no one still yet been in her line, my 1SG might have pressed the issue and then I have no idea what I would have done. But as it was, he looked over and saw a line forming at her table so he let the rest of us off the hook.
One Friday night per her usual, S was upstairs hanging with the guys and getting drunk. I was in my room with my roommates watching a movie and just hanging out. We suddenly heard all this commotion outside of our window so we looked out and saw S lying lifeless on the sidewalk with a huge pool of blood forming around her head. In her drunken stupidity, she had fallen out of the third story window onto the concrete below. I really thought she was dead. It was quite a disturbing and frightening scene. It wasn't long before a bunch of guys gathered around her, each one also stupidly drunk. From our room we could hear more commotion going on outside in the hallway and people were yelling, "Call the medics, call the medics!" So I knew help was on its way. The stupid drunken guys were freaking out and the pool of blood pouring from S's head was getting bigger and bigger. It wasn't long before S was taken away by military ambulance.
We didn't hear anything else until the next day when we saw S walking around the barracks with a big bandage wrapped around her head. She suffered a pretty big head wound but other than that, she was fine. I wish I could write the sound of her voice in because it was so characteristic of her --just kind of crazy. Almost with a hint of pride in her voice she said to us, "Hey you guys, did you hear I fell out the window?"
S eventually married one of the soldiers in our company and no one, not one of us understood why he did. But it was kind of common soldiers married to escape living in the barracks and live high on the hog with that BAQ money coming in (insert sarcasm here). We all suspected this was the motivation behind this odd union as the pair really had not dated, they were as different as night and day. Once married, we saw much less of S and though I think she was probably still drinking quite heavily, it was most likely in the privacy of her German apartment she shared with her newly wed husband. I just hope it wasn't on the third floor.
Let's see . . . . she was drunk A LOT (probably more than Tom) and hung out with guys A LOT --she was ALWAYS upstairs on the male floor, always. If you want to read in between the lines as to why she was always on the male floor, your assumptions would probably be correct. When she drank which again, was quite often, she had the foulest language but when she was sober she was quite different. Guys used her a lot and that made me very sad because I think deep down inside she was just a little girl longing for love and attention --pure love, the kind that lasts. I think she joined the Army right out of high school so she was young. Like Tom, despite S's faults and the divide in our differences, I really did like her. As far as being a medic goes, she was 100% incompetent. In fact, I probably wouldn't have trusted her to so much as dispense Tylenol to me. But here again, I was learning how to look beyond those things and see a person for their core. The created being they were. There were many things I found I liked about S, her sense of humor being one of them.
Back in the 80's AIDS entered the picture in a big way. The Army had mandated every soldier be tested for AIDS. Since this was quite a huge undertaking, for our division we had to go to a big gym on Katterbach where medic stations were set up to draw our blood. It was in a very cattle-like fashion where we were all just ushered into the gym and stood in line to get our blood drawn. All of the medics in the division were called in to help, S being no exception. Those of us from Hindenburg had been bused over to Katterbach --soldiers were arriving in droves. The lines were crazy long & the gym was crazy hot. Each medic had a field table set up with supplies and one by one, soldiers were getting their blood drawn. S's station was empty. Not one person was standing in her line. None of us were dumb enough to let her stick a needle in our vein! I think it made her feel bad because S came over to us and said, "Come on you guys, come over to my line. How come no one wants to get into my line?" When a Sergeant noticed her line was empty he came over and told some of us to get into her line and we all just stood there. Then our First Sergeant came over to us and told us to get into S's line. Again, we all just stood there. The first and only time I ever out right said no to a senior ranking person in the Army was this time. I looked at my 1SG and told him I didn't want to go to S's line. He stood there for a second and then ordered me to go. I just looked at him, scared as I was but still, I wasn't getting in S's line, and said, "First Sergeant, I'm not going to let S put a needle in my arm."
By this time S had gotten some victims --er, I mean --patients in her line. Poor unsuspecting soldiers from other units that did not know her were only too happy to get to the front of a line and spare the long hot wait. I think had no one still yet been in her line, my 1SG might have pressed the issue and then I have no idea what I would have done. But as it was, he looked over and saw a line forming at her table so he let the rest of us off the hook.
One Friday night per her usual, S was upstairs hanging with the guys and getting drunk. I was in my room with my roommates watching a movie and just hanging out. We suddenly heard all this commotion outside of our window so we looked out and saw S lying lifeless on the sidewalk with a huge pool of blood forming around her head. In her drunken stupidity, she had fallen out of the third story window onto the concrete below. I really thought she was dead. It was quite a disturbing and frightening scene. It wasn't long before a bunch of guys gathered around her, each one also stupidly drunk. From our room we could hear more commotion going on outside in the hallway and people were yelling, "Call the medics, call the medics!" So I knew help was on its way. The stupid drunken guys were freaking out and the pool of blood pouring from S's head was getting bigger and bigger. It wasn't long before S was taken away by military ambulance.
We didn't hear anything else until the next day when we saw S walking around the barracks with a big bandage wrapped around her head. She suffered a pretty big head wound but other than that, she was fine. I wish I could write the sound of her voice in because it was so characteristic of her --just kind of crazy. Almost with a hint of pride in her voice she said to us, "Hey you guys, did you hear I fell out the window?"
S eventually married one of the soldiers in our company and no one, not one of us understood why he did. But it was kind of common soldiers married to escape living in the barracks and live high on the hog with that BAQ money coming in (insert sarcasm here). We all suspected this was the motivation behind this odd union as the pair really had not dated, they were as different as night and day. Once married, we saw much less of S and though I think she was probably still drinking quite heavily, it was most likely in the privacy of her German apartment she shared with her newly wed husband. I just hope it wasn't on the third floor.
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