A bootleg beautician in her hometown, Cherilyn Adams is the only black girl in her class of new recruits at the Bainbridge Maryland Naval Training Station. She's patriotic, loves the military, but has problems taking orders. She is determined to be the best she can be while training to become a Navy Wave.

Cheri and the eighty-six other women from all walks of life and from all parts of the United States are forced to work, play, and live together under the same roof twenty-four-seven. During both the trials and tribulations of military life, the young women learn to rely on each other while enjoying freedom, for the first time in their young lives, from parental supervision. Sharing their shenanigans, romantic dalliances, and heartaches, this group of strangers becomes lifelong friends.

Wave Barrack 232 follows Cheri as she blossoms into a young lady and comes of age in the military during the Kennedy era and the Cuban Missile Crisis. A blend of history, romance, and humor, this novel portrays the world of these young women as they live their lives while staying poised as Waves.

Wave Barracks 232

By B.J. Murray

Trafford Publishing

Copyright © 2010 B.J. Murray
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4269-2213-8

Contents

Chapter One Boot Camp....................................1Chapter Two Wave Barracks 232.............................22Chapter Three The Enlisted Men's Club.....................31Chapter Four The Typing Pool..............................37Chapter Five Barracks Chief...............................44Chapter Six Bid Whist Bitches.............................60Subchapter 6.1 Nora.......................................64Subchapter 6.2 Cadie......................................67Subchapter 6.3 Tammy......................................74Subchapter 6.4 Laura......................................78Subchapter 6.5 Dora.......................................82Subchapter 6.6 May........................................89Subchapter 6.7 Angela.....................................92Subchapter 6.8 Lois.......................................97Chapter 7 Beatrice........................................102Chapter 8 Mia.............................................106Chapter 9 Fanny...........................................115Chapter 10 Travis Air Force Base..........................124Chapter 11 Noah...........................................129Chapter 12 Lars...........................................140Chapter 13 Vance..........................................146

Chapter One

Boot Camp

Bainbridge Maryland Naval Training Station boot camp was totally not what Cheri had been expecting. The walls were barren, the floors were washed out plain wooden planks everything was grayish in color. The room was full of small iron double bunk beds with exposed coiled springs each held a wafer thin mattress' that was rolled up at the foot of them. There was a multitude of black ominous looking metal lockers placed about the room and they were all six feet tall.

The room was quite shaded on this late fall afternoon because it was very cloudy outside, and it was chilly in the building; after all it was the end of October and the heat had not been turned on yet. There were several small windows in the large room but they were placed up high and close to the ceiling, you would be able to see what the weather was by looking at the sky, but you would not be able to see what was happening at the ground level. Cheri thought this placed looked and felt like what prison probably was like: lonely and cold. The Wave in charge of indoctrination of new recruits told them to put their suitcase on a bed, just pick one any one, because the one you pick is yours for the next thirteen weeks, and then she told them to assemble in the Day Room.

The Day Room was a large room filled with leather couches and chairs which held females of all shapes and sizes and they were all white, except for Cheri whom they chose to ignore like she was invisible. The girls were chattering nervously amongst themselves asking each other where they were from making small talk and giggling nervously. Cheri was tired and hungry and irritable after riding the train for a day and a half it had been a long tiresome trip, so she didn't care if they talked to her or not since most of them from what she could see were homely looking anyway.

When they had finally arrived at the train station in Maryland were they had to disembark from the old train they were glad to get off of it, it had been culture shock to go from the sleek train they had originally rode on. When Cheri and the other two girls she had left the city with heading to Bainbridge Maryland they had ridden on a sleek shiny silver train called the Zephyr, they had their own individual compartments and a porter had brought their meals to their compartment and had come back later in the evening to turn the seats down into a bed. But the next morning they were told that they would have to transfer to another train to get to their final destination. The train they transferred to was an old rusty train with a pot belly stove in the center of the car where they were seated. The seats were very hard made of some kind of basket weave material, what happened to the luxury?

Cheri and the other two girls that had been sworn in with her at the Navy Department the day before then had to stand around outside the train station and wait for another hour for the base bus to come and pick them up and take them to the Naval Training Station.

Cherilyn Adams had left home feeling proud like she was somebody, now she only felt dread of what was to come. Had she made the right decision to join the military? Here she was in this unfamiliar place with all these strange young women and nobody knew anybody. They had all come from different parts of the country, and no two people were from the exact same place; they had come from the same state but different cities and towns in the state. Cheri decided then and there that she would do what she had to do and be the best she could be to survive this messed up situation.

After an hour of milling around in that room it was announced over the Public Address System that effective immediately all Wave Recruits were on a diet. What did that mean? This was unbelievable! Cheri only weighed 109 lbs and she felt she would probably get thinner than she already was. Then they were told to "Muster on the Grinder" in 10 minutes for lunch. To "Muster on the Grinder" meant going outside and lining up by height to walk over to the Mess Hall for lunch. Once they went outside the barracks they had to line up as best they could and that was when they noticed there was about fifteen to twenty other companies of girls lined up as far as the eyes could see to their left, dressed in gray uniforms and carrying flags, the shortest girls in front and the line graduated back to the tallest girls bringing up the rear. The new girls found out soon enough that you ate by seniority, not by who got to the door first and since they were the last Company to come in for training for another two weeks, they were considered the "Baby Company" and to wait and do everything last.

In Boot Camp the "Baby Company" had to wait until all the other companies had entered the Mess Hall and had eaten their meal and come out before they could go in to eat they were always last. Some days they had to stand outside for over an hour, waiting to go in to eat. After standing outside in the chilly fading sun they finally got to go inside the Mess Hall; this is where they would have all their meals during their thirteen weeks of training.

The Mess Hall was a huge one story building with a long line of steam tables situated in the center of the room, you took a metal tray and some silverware at the door and walked down the line of steam tables just holding your tray out in front of you for what you wanted, and you didn't ask for anything and you did not speak to the men dishing out the food. The room was equipped with rows and rows of picnic style tables with the benches attached so you had to step over into them to sit down. They were forced to eat that awful bland meal which was totally devoid of any butter or seasoning, because the waves were on a diet. The men dishing out the food had been given instruction of what to give the women, so they got a very limited amount of food and no deserts.

The mess hall was flooded with roaches, there were so many of them they were literally falling from the ceiling as they sat there and tried to eat. Cheri felt the food was not fit to eat and she didn't want it. If they had these many roaches visibly how many were cooked in the food? Cheri just drank some cold milk and ate a plain dinner roll, she had lost her appetite from the appearance of this place; she couldn't eat in there, she wasn't use to eating in this kind of environment.

After the horrendous experience in the mess hall they were herded back to the Day Room, were they were each given a stencil and a white and black marking pen. They were told to stencil their names into the clothes they had brought and to keep the pencils safe, because they would have to use them on their uniforms when they got them. They had been told to bring five white slips, five pairs of white panties, five white brassieres, two garter belts, two pairs of pajamas, a robe, and a pair of house slippers, also a weeks change of clothes, two pairs of shoes and their cosmetics; stenciling their clothes kept them busy for a while.

The wave in charge gave them a set of rough cotton sheets and a thin cotton bedspread and told them to make up their beds. Cheri had opted for the top bunk she didn't want anybody sleeping over her, those mattress were so thin that if the person had a bed wetting problem you would surely catch it. After struggling to make up their beds they were told that the beds had to be taut enough for a quarter to bounce off of it, and the corners were to be squared and that was to be expected from them for the next thirteen weeks. So the girls started working together as a team since it would take two people to pull those sheets and bedspreads tight enough for a quarter to bounce off it.

The girls had also noticed that some of the companies carried flags in front of their platoons when they marched. So they asked the wave in charge about it and were told that only the "Smartest Companies" on the base got to carry the flags everywhere they went because they had proven themselves superior to everybody else by earning the flags.

There were three flags they could earn; the "I", and the "C" and the "A".

The flags represented, "I" for intelligence, your company got this flag for passing the weekly tests with high scores, the "C" flag was for cleanliness, if your company passed inspections every week and the "A" flag was for all around excellence in everything, so in order to really shine your company had to study hard and get high marks on all the test they would be taking every week, pass all inspections and just be the best of the best which meant tight team work, so the strong would have to help the weak in-order for their company to qualify for flags, this taught them self discipline and teamwork which comes in handy in life.

It didn't matter what the weather was you dressed in what you were told to wear over the PA system first thing in the morning, when they shouted Reveille to wake them up. Since waves do not carry umbrellas; and you could only wear what the uniform of the day was there was a lot of chaos those first few days. If it was raining, snowing or hot as hell you wore what you were told, not what you wanted to or what you felt like you should wear. If the uniform of the day was gray dresses and sweaters that's what you wore even if it was snowing outside, this was to teach them self discipline. If it was pouring down raining and they didn't announce "raincoats" you didn't wear one you just got wet, they pulled these stunts on them until the girls got the hang of doing what they were told. Since Cheri's group was the "Baby Company" they felt self conscious because they had to wear their civilian clothes for a whole week and a half. The babies stuck out like a sore thumb on the base in the different styles and colors of their clothing, they had not been uniformed yet, and being fitted for your uniforms would take a week or more. It was rough trying to march in heels and looking so rag tag.

Cheri couldn't wait to get her uniforms and put on the gray seersucker dress with the black necktie and garrison cap just so she would fit in. She thought the gray stripe seersucker dresses looked terrific, they buttoned up the front and had short sleeves and they were snug in the waist with an A-line skirt, compared to the civilian clothes they were wearing. Some girls had on low cut blouses, all kinds of colorful skirts, high heel shoes; some of the girls including Cheri, had been thinking and had brought flat shoes along with their other clothing. The clothing they had brought was stylish for the time, but it was stuff that would have been more appropriate in civilian life. So here on a military base were everybody else was in uniform they looked totally out of place and they stuck out like a bunch of country bumpkins. Even though everybody here had gone through the same process they still couldn't help feeling awkward like they didn't really belong, they felt like the ugly duckling before it was transformed into a beautiful swan.

That first week was filled with all kinds of orientations, going for medical and dental examinations. The hardest part of military life that took the most getting use to was the lights being turned off at 2200 hrs (10:00 pm) by a recording of taps, and then being awaken with somebody shouting Reveille over the PA system every morning at 6:00am. The baby company was being fitted for their uniforms by this loudmouthed older wave that was over the clothing department. She was short and stubby and her hair looked like a brillo pad. She had a big mole on her jaw with hairs in it and she wore wire rim glasses. She had a very gruff and rough demeanor and was down right homely to look at. She would ask them what size they wore and then she would hand them sets of clothing two sizes to big, telling them they would grow into them.

Some of the girls realized the best way to deal with her was not to argue with her, just do a lot of swapping among themselves when they got back to the barracks. Some of the girls would break down and cry because their clothes were way too big, and their shoes were either too big or too small. It was like she was outfitting them for the circus to work as clowns, and was getting a personal kick out of making them look and feel bad. This senior wave would referred to them as "Queenie" when they didn't move or act fast enough for her, but at the end of the thirteen weeks of training they realized she had been an angel in disguise. She was a nice, sweet, caring person who was extra hard on them to make them shape up and be the best that they could be. After they started shaping up she let them know she was a real person with feelings and a bright smile.

They were told they would have to hem their gray seersucker dresses themselves, and they were to stencil their names in all of their new uniforms. That's when the crying really started and did not let up. Some of those girls could not sew, and they had never sewn in their lives. Cheri made a lot of money hemming their seersucker dresses, even though the stitches were more than an inch long. That first week more than eight girls left to go back home, they couldn't take all that rough living and bad treatment, they said they were homesick so the Navy sent them back home; but Cheri was not a quitter she wasn't going anywhere she was here for the long haul. The uniform department was responsible for hemming their dress blue serge uniforms, so in order to make their skirts fit properly, they wouldn't button the skirt at the waist, they would then pull the waist down as low as they could get it on their hips while the seamstress was pinning up the hem.

They did this so that when she finished hemming their skirts they would fall just below their knees and would not be hanging half way down their legs like an old lady. The crafty girls learned quick how to circumvent the system, especially since it was stacked against them so they did what they had to do to survive because they refused to be at the mercy of the Navy.

Chief Kaiser was assigned to oversee the training of Cheri's company which was Company 35, she decided on her own to assign this big burly, red headed, blue eyed, cankle legged, corn fed girl from Iowa to be her mouth piece, unbeknown to the rest of the company. This girl was suppose to oversee them and make sure they did what they were suppose to do and go where they were suppose to go on time. The reason for her choosing this particular girl was because of her size, she was the biggest one of the group; and to take some of the pressure of training the girl's off of the Chief. Basically the girl was the sheep herder and they were the sheep, being herded from place to place all day long.

Cheri who was always conscious of her appearance, and always took the extra time she needed to make sure everything on her was in its proper place before going outside to muster and face her public. Cheri had to make sure her hair was pinned up just so and her makeup was put on properly, so she was always the last one to come out of the Barracks for muster in the morning, she wasn't late just always last. On the morning of the third day at boot camp here comes "Corn Fed", stomping down the wooden plank floor passing all the rows of empty made up bunk beds until she got to Cheri's bunk

Which was located in the back of the room; then she stopped and flashed her big blue eyes at Cheri and shouted as loud as she could "get outside" NOW! Cheri turned from looking into her small compact mirror which she had propped up against the bed railing and the pillow; so she could see herself while grooming and said in a low steady voice "get out of my face, you don't tell me what to do", "Corn Fed" dropped her eyes turned on her heels and retreated from the area.

After they had their breakfast that day the Chief sent for Cheri to come to her office. When Cheri arrived; the Chief told her to take a seat which was across the desk from her, of which Cheri did. Then the Chief leaned half over her desk and stared menacingly at Cheri and said I was told that you did not obey a direct order today. Cheri looked that woman square in her eyes and said what order? The Chief said one of my aides asked you to go outside to muster and you refused why? Cheri said that "girl" does not tell me what to do, we got here at the same time, on the same day, and she has the same "rank" that I do, which is "recruit". The Chief was taken aback and quite surprised with Cheri's answer, (most new recruits were so afraid of authority of any kind that they would take orders from a mouse).

(Continues...)

Excerpted from Wave Barracks 232by B.J. Murray Copyright © 2010 by B.J. Murray. Excerpted by permission.
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