The Riot

Sometimes a 'vacation' is full of events and activities, but only a few standout and are memorable. Such would be the case in I visited Sicily. Sadly, much of my interest and focus in these days of my youth and worldly travels as always about the party. Though I regret now not seeing more of the country and all that it held, much of my time in Sicily was spent 'in town' and on the bases. Yes there were two bases in Sicily, an operations base and an administrative base.

There are not a lot of memories of my time in Sicily, just a lot of drinking and partying. One evening, I ended up touring the streets of Sigonella, in search of one party place to another. It was in Sigonella, that I saw my first transvestites, at least that I was aware of. Many of the streets there brick lane, winding among shops and apartments. The fleet was in town and the girls and gurls were out in 'force.' The party scene wasn't the same as it was is in many locations so after one night of 'touring,' our focus centered on the EM [enlisted mens] club.

The EM Club was located on the Administrative base and we were on the Operations side, so a bus ride was required from one base to the next. No worries, it was a military shuttle, so we just hopped on board and made our way to the EM Club for the evening. At the time, the EM Club, though not necessarily the desire location was good for cheap drinks which lent itself to the purpose ~ copious amounts of alcohol. Another 'plus' begin amid other military persons, you were 'pretty safe.' Now one unique thing about the Sigonella bases at the time, the consisted not only of shore sailors [Sea Bees – slang for CB or Construction Battalion], but also marines, and at this time at least fleet sailors.

Believe it or not, and with all due respect to all members of the military, there is a big rivalry between fleet sailors and shore sailors and marines. And whether people like to admit it or not, the Marine Corp is a Division of the Navy – there is no Department of the Marine Corps, and the Corp 'sits' below and with the Department of the Navy. Hence the saying a marine is often times only a 'seagoing bellhop.' Again, no disrespect meant at all, I have a great respect and love for all military members, even the Air Force.

So we 'piled' onboard the bus, fleet sailors, shore sailors [Cbs] and marines during which the love was felt among the mix. Swapping tales and making comparisons on the way, all of us thirsty and with the final destination and what it mean in mind. Memories of the EM after arrived are lost, other than the memory of vast quantities of alcohol and BS, and that we did see the inside of the club until closing time.

It was on the bus ride back to the Ops base that things got interesting. All of us, tanked and feeling our 'oats,' the atmosphere changed from the ride over and the BS and rivalry began and rose. My shipmate and I were sitting in the front seat of the bus near the door and he and I were probably two of the loudest, slinging 'insults' and stabs the whole way back! When we reached the Ops base, the bus began making stops letting people off the bus.

The first stop was the marine barracks. All of us riled and slinging our slights and jabs for 30 or 45 minutes had only fueled the emotions, which was fueled by the copious amounts of alcohol. As the marines lined up and filed to the door to depart, the 'dings and BS' reached an all time high and the last marine off the bus, turned the verbal assault physical! With moi' being closest, I took a slap which grazed my eye. The marine's finger nail raking across my eyeball. Along with the alcohol and emotions all ready high, the physical 'assault' only fueled me on and made a retaliatory return mandatory. After all, I had to 'uphold' the honor of fleet sailors. As I was sitting down, the logical thing to do was kick and I did, landing square in the marines crotch! This fired the marine up who was ready for more! The bus driver, a foreign national was pushing the marine out the door as he screamed for him to get off the bus. The marine gets off the bus, the driver closes the door and proceeds to his next stop. End of story right? LOL Actually just the beginning!

When we reached the final stop, the gymnasium where we were staying, my shipmate and I being in the front row, were the first to exit the bus. Laughing and joking, we ended up in the arms of shore patrol! Taken by surprise, we boisterously asked 'what the hell?' The funny thing, the Shore Patrol was accompanied by an officer – not unheard of in all occasions, but that was most often seen in the streets, not on base. Well after we all 'calmed down,' we were told we were no under arrest, more so they were they for our protection and pointed out the battalion of marines marching toward us! Seems the marine who last exited the bus had 'riled up the troops' and they were coming to finish what was started!

So my shipmate and I were 'encouraged' to grab our things from the gym and accompany them. Seems we were to be put up in 'five star' accommodations for the night. Actually, more than just five star, it was an empty EM apartment. So we 'gladly' accompanied' them to avoid the coming tide. So we 'checked in' with explicit instructions we were not to leave quarters without an escort, where we were to remain until transportation back to the ship was arranged. Oh yeah, we were in Sigonella, because we had missed ship's movement previously, another story for another time.

So everything looked to be cool and that we would only be 'locked up' for one night, the helicopter was scheduled to deliver us to the ship the next morning. Next morning 0500, the phone is ringing and I awake and answer the phone to talk to the OOD [Officer of the Deck – or duty officer], the helo developed mechanical issues and our flight out was OOC [out of commission], we would not be going anywhere, for another day or two. Before we hung up, he reminded us of the 'deal' and that we were not to leave the room without and escort, call SP when we were ready for chow [breakfast].

Awake now, might as well stay up and face the day of 'confinement.' A short time later we called for our escort to the chow hall. Wow! What an experience breakfast was, nothing like on the ship! It was basically request to order 'whatever' you wanted! Definitely a change I could get used to! So after a 'nice' breakfast, we were escorted back to our quarters to wait out the rest of the day. During which time, we did get a call to inform us we would be leaving the next morning, but not to go to our ship but a tender that was going to rendezvous with our ship in a day or two for refueling.

As the day wore on, the taste of a beer lingered and the 'need' for alcohol grew in my shipmate and me. On the Ops base there was a gedunk [a snack bar or canteen on a naval ship or naval base]. So I placed a call to the OOD [Officer of the Day] explained our situation and our thirst and need for a beer to quench our thirst. After a little convincing, he acquiesced to allow us to visit the gedunk [which also has a bar] for a couple of hours, with an escort. Well worth it for the end result.

A short time later there is a knock at the door and upon answering it, we are not surprised to see Short Patrol standing there, ready to escort us to the gedunk. A short while later we are walking through the doors. Low and behold what is the first thing I see upon opening the door? Well apparently he saw me at the same moment, as I saw this 'blur' headed towards me! While a night of sleep had pretty much all but erased the memory of the previous night from most people's mind ~ or at least the need to release frustration.

This obviously was not the deal with the marine I had kicked the night before! The quick reactions of one of the Shore Patrol saved me from being hit, by a 'freight train!,' as he pulled me out of the path! Letting go of my arm the two SP's formed a 'shield' between me and the marine and with a few words of 'advice' were able to get him to 'cool his engines.' That done, SP turned to my shipmate and I, pointing to the door to indicate it was time for us to depart. Out the door we went, voicing our thoughts, feelings and disgust at not being able to quench our thirst, we headed back to the room.

Reporting to the flight deck the next morning at 0500, we were soon loaded aboard the helicopter to ferry us to our next stop on the 'road' to catch up with our ship! Thirsty and no alcohol in sight for several days!