WELCOME TO SAN DIEGO
Sunday, November 26.
After 17 hours on two different plane rides, Rick Storm had finally arrived at San Diego International Airport on the Sunday evening after Thanksgiving holiday. He had never been to San Diego before and was excited for the new duty station assignment.
Storm is a U.S. Marine and had been stationed in Okinawa, Japan for the last 12 months. While he had enjoyed his time and experiences in Japan, he was glad to be back on American soil. Having just re-enlisted for another four years of service, he would now be in San Diego for the next three years. He had requested to be assigned to MCRD San Diego, and by being granted his request he would now be in charge of one of the supply warehouses at the base.
Monday, November 27
On Monday morning, Storm went to the supply admin office to check in with his new commanding officer and meet the other Marines that he would be working with. He walked into the admin office and went up to a female Lance Corporal seated at a desk and introduced himself.
"Good morning. I'm Corporal Storm. I'm here to see Lieutenant Swanson."
The Lance Corporal looked at him and introduced herself, "Hi. I'm LCpl Wilson. The LT is not here, but Gunny Ramos is. I'll show you to his office."
As she walked in front of him he couldn't help but notice her body. Even in her camouflage uniform you could make out she was in great shape. She was very pretty, tiny, approximately 5'2", with blonde hair and blue eyes. She looked and sounded very much like a Midwestern girl; maybe a farmer's daughter that probably joined the Marines to get out of Nebraska or Missouri and get some excitement in her life.
"Gunny, there's someone here to see you." she said as she walked through an office door.
"Good morning, Gunny. I'm Cpl Storm." Storm added as he extended his hand towards the Gunnery Sergeant. Gunny Ramos was a short, stocky man with salt and pepper hair.
"Good morning, Corporal. Glad you've made it. We've heard a lot about you. Have you settled into the barracks?" the Gunny asked while shaking Storm's hand.
"Yes, I have. I'm really happy to be here. I'm looking forward to getting to work." Storm replied.
"Good. Let me introduce you around."
The Gunny led him out of his office and introduced him to other Marines in the admin area.
"This is LCpl Diaz. He's only been here about six months. PFC White here just arrived last month and he was just promoted to PFC. Sergeant Caldwell isn't here yet, but I'll make sure she goes and introduces herself when she arrives. She's a short-timer. She'll be deploying to Okinawa in January, so maybe you can fill her in on what to expect when she gets there. The ladies in the other offices in this building are putting together a little birthday, slash farewell party for her in a couple of weeks
(Dec 15)
. There are several civilian workers in this building, so you'll see them around every day. You've already met LCpl Wilson. She's been here for a little over a year and hopefully getting promoted soon. Right, Wilson?" he directed towards her with a smile.
"I hope so, sir!" she replied.
"Don't call me 'sir'. I work for a living." Both the Gunny and Wilson said at the same time while she had a big smile on her face.
"Lastly," the Gunny continued, "the C.O., Lt. Swanson, has been called to Parris Island for a couple of weeks and then goes on leave until January. So, you have some time before having to deal with some brass."
The Gunny continued talking as he walked Storm out of the admin building and across the street towards the warehouse where he would be working. "You'll be at the Property Control warehouse. It's where we store gear for the recruits going through basic training. You'll provide new recruits their gear when they first arrive for basic... utility belt, harness, canteens, ponchos... all that shit. Once they finish third phase of training, they will come back to return all the gear. The team is then responsible to inspect and redistribute the gear for incoming recruits if it's still in good working order."
Storm noticed that the warehouse was small, especially in comparison to the warehouse he worked at in Okinawa. All the warehouses at the base are small and look almost identical; tin metal walls, dull-yellow in color, with peaked rooftops that had solar panels on them.
As soon as they arrive at the warehouse the Gunny introduces all the other Marines. Sergeant Collins was the NCO in charge; Storm would be reporting to him. Then there were the three R's; LCpl Rollins, LCpl Rosario, and LCpl Roberts. The expectation would be that Storm would take over as NCO in charge when Sgt. Collins reported to his next duty station in March. The Gunny left and Collins gave Storm a tour of the warehouse, repeated what they did there and told him the schedule for distributions and collections. He then proceeded to tell him about the three R's. Rollins and Roberts were hard workers but needed more guidance. Both came from Texas and loved to drink on a daily basis. Rosario was really close with Wilson as they were roommates in the barracks. They were complete opposites. While Wilson was a blonde, blue eyed, white girl from the Midwest, Rosario was a Puerto Rican from the northeast with tan skin, black hair and big brown eyes. Storm had also noticed that Rosario's body rivaled that of Wilson's. Collins noticed Storm looking at Rosario and told him that the C.O. was very much against fraternization. Storm got the message loud and clear.
Then Collins continued, "Besides, there are so many hot women in San Diego that you won't even think about hooking up with any WM's." Storm smiled to himself as he thought about how he had not had any issues hooking up with women Marines (WM's) while he was in Japan.
Collins left Storm alone with the rest of the team so that he can get to know them. They asked him questions regarding his years of service. The typical questions a lot of young Marines ask when they first meet another Marine. Had he seen any action? Where did he go for boot camp? What battalion he had graduated with? And lastly, what was Okinawa like?
"Looks like I got here at the right time. I definitely need to hear the answer to that one," said a female voice from behind him.
Storm turned around to see Sgt. Caldwell. His mind went blank for a second. She was not what he was expecting. She spoke with a hint of an accent. She was about 5'7", tan skin, light brown hair, hazel eyes, and absolutely stunning. She was incredibly well put together. Her hair was pulled back tight and her uniform was perfect as she stood by the bay door of the warehouse. She seemed completely professional even as she smiled waiting for him to talk about Okinawa.
Storm finally spoke, "Okinawa was okay. It was interesting to see a different culture, but I'm glad to be back in the U.S."
"That's it? I was hoping to hear more than that." Caldwell said with a disappointed look on her face. "That doesn't get me excited about going there at all."
Collins, having heard Caldwell's voice came out of his office to see her. He'd had a bit of a crush on her since first meeting her.
"Hey, C!" he greeted her loudly with a big smile on his face.
"Hey, C." she replied, smiling back at Collins.
"What brings you to the warehouse?" he asked.
"I came to introduce myself to our new Corporal. Hi, I'm Sgt. Caldwell." she said as she extended her hand towards Storm.
"Cpl Storm. Nice to meet you." he said as he shook her hand.
"I'm looking forward to working with you," she replied. "Maybe I can pick your brain about Okinawa. I'm heading there in January."
"Sure. Any time you want."
With that, Sgt. Caldwell said goodbye to everyone and started heading towards the admin office. Storm couldn't help but watch her as she walked away.
For the next couple of weeks, Storm would get to know San Diego and his warehouse team. He bought a used Jeep Wrangler and met other Marines in the barracks to hang out with. Everyone showed him around to all the places they figured he'd like... Mission Bay, Ocean Beach, Old Town, Balboa Park, the Gaslamp Quarter... In just a couple weeks he had fallen in love with his new home, and Collins had been right, there were a lot of beautiful women in San Diego.
Friday, December 8
As luck would have it, Storm was assigned barracks guard duty on his second Friday in San Diego. Luckily he got the first watch so he would be on guard duty from 6pm until midnight, rather than from midnight until 6am.
Guard duty was very uneventful, no one came to visit anyone, there weren't any calls from the local police about Marines getting arrested, and there weren't any emergencies. It's the kind of night you want during guard duty, but pretty boring.
At approximate 11:30pm the phone in the guard room rang. Immediately, Storm's mind figured it was the local police.
Storm answered the phone, "You've reached the MCRD barracks, Cpl Storm on duty. How may I help you?"
"Hi, I'm looking for LCpl Marquez," said the female voice on the other end.
"Have you tried calling his cell phone?" Storm asked.
"He doesn't have one yet. But I know he's in room 302, could you please get him?"
"This is not what we're supposed to do, but hold on. I'll see if he's there." Storm figured he might as well since there was nothing else going on.
Storm went to room 302 and knocked on the door but there was no answer. He returned to the guard room and picked up the phone, "There was no one in room 302. He and his roommate are probably out for the night."
"Ugh... figures. Can I leave him a message?" she asked.
"Absolutely not, that's not what the guard on duty does," he replied with a little bit of sarcasm.
The voice on the phone laughed then continued, "I'm sorry. He's my cousin and I've been trying to meet up with him since he got here on Monday and can't seem to get a hold of him."
"He's your cousin, really? Hmm...This sounds more like a booty call to me."
"Oh my God, gross!" the caller laughed. "I'm serious, my name is Rosanna Marquez. His dad and my dad are brothers. He's a few years younger than me but he's one of my favorite cousins. My uncle told me that he had been stationed here and I've been trying to get a hold of him since Wednesday."
"Are you sure?" Storm asked as he laughed.