In The Basement

It really wasn’t a basement, per say but more like a lower level shelter. In fact, it was probably built for something such as that. It was more like cinder blocked hallways with pipes and plumbing exposed on the ceiling. The tiled floor was the only thing that kept the area from looking like a semi-finished space. It was very dimly lit which certainly didn’t add to any sense of a homey ambiance but made it all the more like a dungeon. There were doorways that lead to offices, storage, etc but they were kept locked and I never went into any of them or even glanced a peak inside.

It was here just at the bottom of the stairs that we’d gather to sing, talk, and relax. Those that weren’t singing with us would gather at the other end of the hall. Sometimes not everyone in our little singing group would show up because they had duty or needed to study (Study? Imagine that!) or whatever ---I was sort of the leader of our group because I had organized it but I wasn’t leading us in singing. We had picked a guy to lead our group –he had pretty good pitch so he could hum us a note to jump-off with.

One night as we were all making our way back upstairs trying to beat “lights out”, a particular Sergeant was walking behind me. I knew him, we talked on several occasions and he was always in the basement and just hanging around. Even on nights I didn’t make it down there myself (duty or whatever) I’d see him around the next day and he’d say something like, “Hey, I didn’t see you downstairs last night.” Okay well, didn’t know you were taking attendance. I mostly talked to him because he talked to me –I was trying to be nice and polite but I really didn’t like the guy –he was kind of creepy, if you ask me. In the course of our conversations he did tell me he was married and had three small children. That’s about all I knew about the guy.

So we’re walking up the stairs, creepy Sergeant Guy right behind me, and he grabs me –uh you know, grabs my back behind. I stopped dead in my tracks, spun around and said, “WHAT ARE YOU DOING?” He’s laughing and thinks its funny –me? Not so much. Then he acts like I’m making a big deal out of nothing, “Oh, it was nothing. I’m just playing around –it just a friendly tap.” I told him it was neither friendly nor ‘just a tap’ and I told him to keep his hands off of me. He apologized but was still laughing –it infuriated me!

But what was I going to do? Tell my roommates? Go to my Instructors? Storm into the Commandant’s office again? I felt like I just needed to handle this myself and the last thing I wanted to do was complain again or act like I couldn’t cut it being a female soldier.

So I just left it at that –and assumed that would be the last of it.

I was wrong.