Friends ( chapter 2)

Friends were a necessity when so far away from home. They were family when family was only there via letters and phone calls. They became the brothers and sisters we could not longer fight and argue with, the best friends we had grown up with, but could no longer confide in and the parents we needed to help rationalize difficult situations and to try and help keep our heads on straight and give us some sense of sanity. They also were the ones who seemed to get us into everything we had never experienced before and introduced us to new cultures, new religions, and new ways of doing old things differently. My friends were the best. I had been with most of them since my training in Florida and since that lasted nearly a year I felt that I knew most of them rather well. We had been through a lot together already and had grown close. In a year we probably knew more about each other than some of us knew about ourselves; scary perhaps, but truthful. We all did not work the same shift so when we could get time to get together we took advantage of the situation. With any of these situations and with any twenty year old drinking seemed to be the main focal point of our night. We usually began at the base club. At the club everyone met up, danced, threw darts for a bit, played some pool and drank at relatively low prices until the club closed around 2 am. It was a great time. I honestly do not remember anyone that walked through the doors not having fun or meeting a stranger. Everyone knew everyone, as well as the bartenders. The bartenders also knew what you wanted to drink after just visiting the bar a couple of times. They usually had your drink waiting for you before you could even get your order out of your mouth. Service we could depend on, and that we did; all too often. After closing down the base club more times than I care to admit and count, we walked to the base gate, since cabs were not permitted on our base; for security concerns, and caught a taxi to downtown Bad Aibling or Rosenheim. Bad Aibling was the closer of the towns, but also smaller, but the clubs were open until 4 or 5 am and there was never a dull moment. There were clubs which offered techno, disco, pop and hard rock. So whatever your taste in music you were sure to find something to suit your taste, although by the time 2 am rolled around, music was not really what was on our mind and are main concern was the fact that they served alcohol. The serving of us and the fact we were still considered underage according to the laws of the U.S. was not an issue, because if you know anything about Germany you know there is no drinking age and you can be served beer at McDonalds. I will never forget walking into Mickey D’s and thinking how lucky are these kids to get a beer with their happy meal. Although I am not sure anyone ever ordered it that way.

We normally bar hopped when we went “downtown.” Starting at one club, in which we would drink, dance, and mingle amongst the locals then moving onto the next one to do the same. I can remember dancing on stages, sliding down poles, and pretending to speak and understand a language in which I had no idea of. We would order drinks in glasses which were trimmed in gold just so we could start a collection of various beer glasses back at the barracks, so finding ways of sneaking them out became a new game for the night. Soon big purses were brought out for the night or pants with large pockets were worn and used as transportation devices.

Now one would think after starting this ritual of drinking and dancing at 4 pm and it being 5 am that we would be ready to collapse and call it a night, or morning, but as the clubs closed we began to devise ways of continuing our camaraderie. So on the ride back to the base we would tally up who had what liquor in their rooms and who had the largest room and where the party would be held. It would be in the largest room. Here we would drink and party until the booze was gone. This ritualbecame a common occurrence;, on shift rotations, and days off you could find any number of people going through the same thing, no one really gave it a second thought or glance or considered it odd or unusual behavior. Were we alcoholics and being abusive? We did not think so; no one had ever addressed it or brought it to our attention. We always made it to work, to formation and our duties were always performed. We just liked to have fun. We were all single, serving our country and had no one else to account for or to answer to(at least not yet). What harm were we doing?

Even though he had become my work supervisor SGT Air-force and I had continued to steal moments together when we could. I thoroughly enjoyed his company and to my knowledge he did mine as well. I had a neighbor in the barracks who I had befriended as she was from my home state of Ohio. It always gave people a bond when they found someone who was from “back home.” It did not matter if you were from hundreds of miles away in the same state you were still from “back home” and you immediately bonded. She and I had become close upon my arrival in December of '87 and our friendship continued to grow even though we ended up on different shifts. We did occasionally end up with a day or two off together and used it to our full advantage which usually meant shopping then going out and hitting the clubs. She liked to go to the club on base most of the time as she had a crush on one of the bartenders there. His name was Manny. He was a German who has been cleared to work on the base and had been given a work permit and had been there about 6-7 years. His English was very well as he had picked up bar talk and learned to converse with his customers.

On one of our weekends at the club my friend from Ohio wanted me to ask Manny out for her. She had this illusion that he had been giving me the “eye” and that was a sign that he would be more accommodating to tell me yes for her. I did not agree with her reasoning, but after a few fuzzy navels with vodka I was in no position to argue or to disagree with her. I am sure I would have been in agreement with nearly anything at that moment.