Rapelling Into The Past

27 March 2006, Camp Lemonier, Horn of Africa

It's how funny fate can twist and weave itself into a ball only to be tossed back into the empty and darkened recesses of our forever-long memories. There are instances of sheer nirvana - where being and nothingness collide like star-crossed lovers gazing from opposite sides of a busy avenue, wanting and longing for a chance to meet.

Such is the animal called "coincidence" - I had to come half-way around the Earth to come back into contact with several "brothers-in-arms" whom I've not heard from in awhile. Sheer coincidence or planned fate? I could not even begin to fathom the length, width and height of that philosophical mountain - to do so would be an act of sheer and blinding masochism! The pain of the climb would be delightful, but the heights would be too great to even bear! Rapelling into the past? Now that is something quite different altogether...

There is something special about finding solace in the recesses of our past memories. They are welcomed spirits and shadows from days long gone that still have a firm grasp upon the pulse and glow of our character and being. There are moments of great strength and powerful weakness - times of compassion and moments of despair. There are many moments etched into the granite exterior that has become "me" - I look back from time to time and catch a glimpse of ghost-like memories and frozen moments stuck within an "Ice Age" that has been growing within my being. The many behemoths stuck frozen in time - eyes shining, but coats dull and solid frozen - they are moments where sense took a back seat and impulse forged onward in some strange egomanical, Quixote-esque charge into eternity and glory!

Anyhow, waxing upon the poetic would do the memories no justice what so ever! So, I guess I'll skip the long, wind-aided diatribe and get right to the matter at hand - a meeting with friends past!

I had chance to stumble upon an article which discussed the growing popularity of "blogging" in a News Max magazine from June 2005, and much to my wondering eyes, what do I see? I see a familiar person smiling back at me. The caption below the photo reading, "Sean Dustman, Marine Corps medic..."kind of thrust that little dagger of fate a we bit further into my brain!

I located his online blog, dropped him an email, and just like that - 10 years of non-contact eradicated in an electronic nanosecond! God bless the electronic age!

To discuss Sean is something altogether different - for he is such a genuine character! This is the very same "kid" who enticed this "old man" to try rappelling for the first time off the top of the 6 story Marine Corps barracks building in Iwakuni, Japan...

The very same Sean that got me to try Rollerhockey and later "extreme rollerblading" down some very steep and winding hills on the Kadena Air Force Base...

Some of our infamous moments frozen within the sepia-toned photo album of my minds-eye include:

The Viking Club in Guam and the "open-air" accommodations the Air Force afforded us for the evening with the "Condemned" signs still attached to the bulkheads...

The first day in Iwakuni - out seeing the town while everyone else slept...

The days we'd knock-off work in Darwin at 1430, be at the pool by 1500 and at the first open bar with a frosty Victoria Bitter by 1700!...

The "Jumping Croc" tour and the infamous Caribou flight over Three Falls in Kakadu National Park where I puked on the plane ride about 10 times!...

The Beach volleyball tornament in Darwin and how the Aussies hated that the "yanks" had won the trophy...

"Danger - Saltwater Crocodiles - Swim At Your Own Risk"

The time we walked to work from the barracks in a thundering downpour and laughed the entire time...

Our first "typhoon party" and the hangover afterward...(ugh!)

The many weekends spent ordering pizza and watching, "So, I Married An Axe Murderer" with Gunny Singer until we knew every word of that blasated movie despite the large amounts of beer ingested...

The infamous Island Snorkeling/Diving trips with the MWR bus...

The day the Marines "took the beach" and raised hell at the beach club in Okinawa - cutting loose the pontoon platform and using it for a personal "surfboard" for 10 Marines - finally getting kicked-out of the club for having a stolen salt-shaker!

That summer of 1994 spent with the likes of Chief Delizo, Doc Tarantino and the fine Marines of VMFA-242 was our "Endless Summer" brother! It was a summer of great heights, and one that I have never forgotten.

Your son Colin is 12 (I think) and his pictures are unfamiliar to me. The last time I saw the little "bug-a-boo" as you called him, was 11 years ago! I don't remember ever saying good-bye to you on the day I decided to leave the Navy and move on to civilian pursuits back in November of 1995. I remember Senior Chief Rhine and HM1 Hernandez trying to convince me that the military was my "calling" and against my better judgment, without a job lined-up and in the throes of a fledgling marriage, I spurned military life and a life less ordinary for the grueling "rat race" that is everyday existence.

4 years later, I realized that someone had moved my cheese.

Looking back a few years ago, I might have thought that it was a mistake to get away from my first mistress - The Navy - for she had always been good to me. She kept me focused on the six-inches in front of my face. She was always a warm, happy, and healthy mate to have around. My pockets were hardly worse for the wear. My stomach was never empty. I could come and go from post as I pleased and the distractions around the bases were often good ones such as taking college classes, seeing a movie around town, eating out, or taking in a sporting event with the crew! Her intuition was that of a long-time lover. She knew when to stroke my ego, when to correct a course of non-action and was always armed with the keen sense of knowing when to add the spice of travel and budding adventure!

I remember Sean mentioning that he too had gotten a bit side-tracked with his career in the services - admitting to having a three year break in service - pretty similar to mine. We may be two very different people, but we both share a common instance and space in the voluminous archives known as "time."

Well bro, it looks like we are back on the same track again - me, here in Djibouti and you soon to be out and about at the Airbase at Al-Asad and the wide-open "beaches" of Iraq! I wish you safe passage, God-speed and smooth sailing all the days of your short excursion. When you get back to San Diego, we'll have to play "catch-up" while watching "So, I Married An Axe Murderer" with a vegetarian pizza and a cold "VB"

Cheers, mate and good-on-ya!

Originally published 27 March 2006 on the blog "Totum dependeat (Let it all hang out!)"