Memories ...

I meant to blog about this earlier. When I was in the Air Force, I passed through Clark AB in the Philippines several times. My esteemed colleague over at The Practical Press, The Fat Lady Sings, was a Navy wife stationed at Subic Bay. She posted an essay the other day that brought back many memories, fond and not so fond. I urge you to read it.

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This was P. I. – Subic Bay. It made Bangkok look like Vegas on family night. Have any of you seen the HBO series Deadwood? OK – now you have some idea of what I’m talking about (sans the carnivorous pigs). Why in hell have wives there at all, you may ask? Oh please! Didn’t you know the Navy was a family institution? Reagan was president, God Damn It! There had to at least be a veneer of respectability. I mean, what would mom and pop back at the old homestead think if they knew junior was getting his roto routered in some dingy bar by a skinny 13 year old girl with hopeless eyes? Not to mention being strung out on crystal meth or amyl nitrate, as well. So the powers that be made a point of shipping families in – by the plane load. Most MAC flights would cost $10; but P. I. – P. I. was free. A garden paradise, they said. Lovely blue ocean. Marvelous shopping. Not one word about poverty, hookers and filth. Then there were the snakes and bugs. Big fuckers – eat you alive in a heartbeat. And the humidity! Jesus H. Sebastian Christ! You know – P. I. is the only place I’ve ever been where it rained out of a clear blue sky. No lie – hot rain too; it got so humid, the air would have to shed water. Imagine 100 degrees with 110% humidity. Like living inside a pressure cooker.

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