CHAPTER FOUR - HALFWAY HOME

Rob made it through boot camp and was scheduled to graduate in May. We made plans to be there for the graduation ceremony. I don't know if it was because of the Vietnam war but I didn't have a graduation ceremony when I graduated from Air Force basic training. I have always wondered why we didn't. Other Air Force basic training units did but we didn't. We packed up the kids and Courtney who was about a year and a half old and headed for Illinois. Somewhere in Illinois I was waved over by a State Trooper who was standing on the side of the road. A helicopter had clocked me speeding. Illinois is so flat that I was doing ninety before I even knew it.

  I loved all the pomp and ceremony of Robbie's graduation and it was an experience. Rob's fiance Jody flew up to Chicago where I picked her up at O'Hare International airport just before the ceremony. Even though it was May it was freezing cold and the ceremony was held inside a big hangar. Afterwards we went to a nearby theme park that was a lot of fun but we were freezing. Unbelievably the park was operating the water rides and people were actually riding them. The next morning I looked out the window of our motel room and it was snowing. The flakes were as big as quarters. After we left to go back home Rob remained behind to finish his A school at Great Lakes. He was being trained to be an Operation Specialist, which I think is a ships navigator.  

 Later in the summer my Air Guard Security Police unit was assigned to Charleston AFB for our two week summer camp. I was in hog heaven because Debbie and I had gone there for a day when our summer camp was in Savannah back in 1979. I loved it then but now I had two weeks to explore Charleston. The family couldn't go with me that year and I had Charleston all to myself. When I wasn't training I was walking the streets and touring old houses, churches, cemeteries and reading historical markers. Myself and some of my friends toured the aircraft carrier Yorktown and I was able to go out to Ft. Sumter for the 2nd time. 

 A few days before I left Charleston Debbie told me that Robbie was being assigned to the USS Wainwright and it was docked at Charleston Naval Base. I drove there and found the Wainwright which was a guided missile cruiser. After taking a few pictures of the ship I boasted to Rob that I got to see it before he did. This was in July and Rob didn't arrive in Charleston until Monday September 18, 1989. A category 4 hurricane named Hugo was headed directly at Charleston. The Wainwright, and all the ships based in Charleston were ordered out to sea in order to ride out the storm. The storm hit Charleston on Thursday September 21st and damaged much of the city and virtually destroying the barrier Islands like Folly Island, Isle of Palms, and Sullivan's Island where it first made landfall. Rob had never been on a ship in his life and was seasick for three days as the ship rode out the storm. The crew was confined below deck the whole time. 

 The following is from Wikipedia. (It, (Hurricane Hugo) formed over the eastern Atlantic near the Cape Verde Islands on September 9, 1989. Hugo moved thousands of miles across the Atlantic, rapidly strengthening to briefly attain category 5 hurricane strength on its journey. It later crossed over Guadeloupe and St. Croix on September 17 and 18 as a category 4 hurricane. Weakening slightly more, it passed over Puerto Rico as a strong category 3 hurricane. Further weakening occurred several hours after re-emerging into the Atlantic, becoming downgraded to a category 2 hurricane. However, it re-strengthened into a category 4 hurricane before making landfall just slightly north of Charleston, on Sullivans Island September 21 with 140 mph sustained winds (gusts to more than 160 mph). It had devolved to a remnant low near Lake Erie by the next day. As of 2016, Hurricane Hugo is the most intense tropical hurricane to strike the East Coast north of Florida since 1900. Hurricane Hugo caused 34 fatalities (most by electrocution or drowning) in the Caribbean and 27 in South Carolina. It left nearly 100,000 people homeless, and resulted in $10 billion in damage overall, making it the most damaging hurricane ever recorded. Of this total, $7 billion was from the United States and Puerto Rico, ranking it as the costliest storm to impact the country at the time. Since 1989, however; it has been surpassed by multiple storms and now ranks as the eleventh costliest in the United States.)Later that year Robbie would go on a Med cruise for six months. 

 The first weekend of April 1990 we were scheduled for a field exercise in Smyrna. A cold front came through that weekend and it was colder than normal, especially for April. After setting up our base camp we fought mock battles all day with the Vanderbilt ROTC unit. At one point we almost burned down Smyrna when we accidentally set dry grass on fire with smoke grenades. We all stopped playing war long enough to fight the fire. It was touch and go for a while. After a very long day in the cold and very late Saturday night we were allowed to go to bed. I was freezing when I went climbed into my sleeping bag because we were not allowed to have fires to warm up. Thinking I would be warmer if I left my uniform on I wore it to bed. No matter what I tried I never could get comfortable but I did finally finally drift off to sleep. About 0100 I woke up shaking violently from the cold. It scared me because I thought I was getting hypothermia. I was shaking so bad that I could barely get my boots on. 

 My tent mate was our NCOIC of security, Sergeant Nicholson. Very carefully I was able to get out of the tent without waking him up. I hadn't been that cold in a long time and everything was covered with frost. The camp was totally quiet and I was the only one that was up. An idea suddenly occurred to me. I only lived six miles from where we were camped. The walk home would warm me up and I could get my car and drive it to a place just out of sight of the camp. There I could leave the heater on in the car until just before sunrise. Before daylight I could sneak back into the camp before anyone was the wiser. It was risky, but I hate being cold. I drove my car and parked next to Stewarts Creek near the camp. Just before dawn, warm and toasty, I sneaked back into my tent and into my sleeping bag without being discovered.

Rob's ship was scheduled to return around the middle of April 1990. We were able to drive down and see his ship as it arrived in Charleston. Debbie's sister Judy and her kids, along with Debbie, the kids Rob's girlfriend Jody, and myself were all waiting at dockside as the USS Wainwright pulled up. The ships crew were all wearing their summer white uniforms and lining the rails. It was a sight to behold and I swelled with pride. We were as excited to see Robbie as he was to see us. Rob was able to get some leave time and we were able to tour Charleston. We all rode the tour boat out to Ft. Sumter, which was my third trip. Later we drove out to Sullivan's Island and Isle of Palms. I was shocked to see the devastation caused by the hurricane. Especially on the Isle of Palms because most everything had been destroyed and debris was piled up everywhere. I was unable to recognize hardly anything.

Later that Spring I brought the video of Rob's ship docking at Charleston to a guard drill. I was naturally proud of Rob and wanted to share the video with some of my friends at the guard. On a Sunday during drill, and after a meeting in the ready room, I put the video into the VCR. Most of the men who had attended the meeting were still there and we were all watching it together. About this time someone stuck their head in the doorway and told me that I had a phone call in the office. I can't remember who was on the phone but on my way back to the ready room I was hearing loud cheering. Unknown to me Debbie had filmed Misty getting ready for prom and she was in her bra. It was a short segment but they were running it back and forth. I was horrified when I realized what they were doing and I ran toward the VCR trying to snatch it out of the machine. They held me back and I was struggling to get to the VCR. It was a heck of a fight but I managed to stop the video and take it out of the machine. These guys loved to bust my chops any chance they got. Anytime Misty came around after that they would good naturedly pick at her. 

 While Robbie was stationed in Charleston he and a friend would drive home many times on a weekend pass. It took anywhere from seven to eight hours to drive from Charleston to Murfreesboro. They would usually stay at our house to the very last minute before leaving to go back to Charleston. Many times one of them would show up to answer for both at roll call while one parked the car, cutting it too close for comfort. As was my usual routine I got up at 4:30 in the morning one day for work at 6:00 A.M. As I walked out of the bathroom, in a very dark house, Rob jumped at me shouting boo. He scared the bejesus out of me and I thought I was going to have a heart attack. Rob had come home on a weekend pass and had been sitting in our den waiting for me to get out of bed. He heard me go into the restroom and waited outside the door. Rob can be a real brat sometimes but we still laugh about that one.