At each turn I faced a test. The only clue I had was the code word `faith and trust.' "You're at a portal," my friend burly Sergeant Abby Meyers told me as we sat in a deuce-n-half at the service entrance to St Stephen Martyr Hospital Center (SSM), "where one thing becomes another. Whether you should pass depends on you. The test is one of integrity. There is little I can do to prepare you for the challenge -- except to accompany you on the exercise." Seconds later, Meyers, after a hug and a soulful kiss, jumped from the cab of the deuce -- n -- half to escort Rejects we brought from the Induction Center for physical evaluation. When Meyers didn't return to the vehicle, I entered the Hospital to find her.
How did the code `faith and trust' work? It was easy to say as Meyers had so gingerly exclaimed, "The entire Corps works upon the twin pillars of mutual trust and absolute faith." Exactly what did that mean? My husband Jerry, returned to the Marine Corps when he was caught up with me in the call -- up to National Service designed to cure youthful unemployment, used to compose cute little ditties as memory devices. How did the one about codes go, "A code is expedient, on the surface seeming, perfectly innocent, while concealing, a hidden message."
In the fairy tale, the code word that opened the magic door was `open sez -- a -- me.' My magic word was `faith and trust.'
Looking out the window at the ground 60 feet below, I wondered just how would the words `faith and trust' open a magic portal to escape the sixth floor of St Stephen Martyr Hospital Center where I found myself? I had two weeks to accomplish what seemed to be a monumental task, locate my Sergeant, recover property belonging to the Induction Center and make good my escape. All I had to unlock the puzzle was the code word `faith and trust.'
How did my husband Jerry talk of `faith and trust' in terms of the Marine Corps? "It's more than an oath we swore // it's a seduction // by an all-embracing institution // a new religion we adore."
Now, I was following Dr Eda Velour on her rounds at SSM. Dr Velour, my former boss in civilian life, was now Commandant of the National Service Section of St Stephen Martyr Hospital Center. Colonel's silver leafs bounced on the shoulder boards of her white lab coat.
Before the economic crisis, I had worked for Dr Velour at her private fertility clinic. Indeed, I made it to the top salary rung when I was showcased naked on stage paraded before Dr Velour's wealthy clientele with other women as potential surrogate mothers. What would I have done if I found myself pregnant with someone else's kid in my belly when Dr Velour bailed out and the clinic closed in the recessionary economy?
What did Dr Velour do for or to whom to merit such an august position?
Just a day ago, I was Amy Warbler Serial number AW -- 2029 -- ST -- F -- 49651an Assistant Clerical Specialist assigned to the Induction Center which processed inductees into the four branches of Mandatory National Service. My Sergeant, 'Gunny' Abby Meyers, a squat, muscular bulldog marine, and I were counting down the days to REFRAD, release from active duty, `getting short.' Sergeant Abby Meyers and I had two weeks left before release from Mandatory Service to return to school.
Yesterday morning on the drive from home over to the Induction Center, Meyers acquainted me with the by -- words. `faith and trust.' "The Corps rests on two articles, your husband may have told you: trust in each other and faith in the Corps."
Without warning, yesterday morning I was put to the first test. When Sergeant Meyers and I reported for work at the Induction Center, Meyers abruptly ordered me to strip and shower, secure my tan service support uniform and new black boots. As I disrobed under Sergeant Meyer's watchful eyes, I quipped, "Didn't you have enough fun in the shower at home?"
With a warning glance, "On duty," Meyers whacked my bare ass as I handed over my neatly folded tan utility uniform, "it's Gunnery Sergeant Meyers and my word is law; at home it's Abby, but it's still advisable to do what I say; in bed, you better be good. You get the idea. Today, you owe the Center a PT Test. You know the rules."
Placed to wait, without explanation, naked behind the cyclone fencing where female Inductees where held pending classification, should I fear, I might have wondered, reclassification into Humanitarian Services -- to provide in the high -- sounding hype of the era necessary human services? That was a euphemism for Humanitarian Service`s real function to serve as cheap help emptying bed pans and cleaning floors in hospitals and nursing homes.
Noticing me shivering, a cute blond named Sally invited me to cuddle with her under her blanket. After taking and passing the PT Test, Meyers returned my tan Service Support uniform and shiny black boots with the reminder "Faith in the corps and Trust in your comrades." Feeling the soft khaki in my hands how could I have anticipated that such was the first of many tests?
By contrast to my comfortable khaki service support uniform, the material in the White Humanitarian Services Frock I was given on capture yesterday was rough. I felt a little strange as my boobs bounced around under my loose white frock as I followed Dr Velour, a Medical Corps Colonel, on her rounds through the wards where a few of the Rejects, personnel confined naked on the 6th floor of St Stephen Martyr's Hospital (SSM) were participating in mandatory physical training under the half -- hearted direction of white frocked Health and Humanitarian Services (HHS) personnel.
"The HHS personnel are a motley of Certified Physical Therapists, eh -- Health Care Associates and even a RN or two. Looking at them, you can see why," Dr Velour explained, "I need a good drill sergeant like your Sergeant Meyers to whip these people into some kind of shape."
I nodded stupidly, resisting the temptation touch my nipples rubbed raw by contact with the cheap abrasive fabric of the frock. Even at home with my husband Jerry before the call -- ups, I either wore a bra or went topless in our rooms. While at the Induction Center pending classification, I was held naked with other female inductees behind a cyclone fence. After classification in Support Services, I returned home and wore my own undies under my khaki Service Support Uniform.
The underclothes, along with my tan Service Support Uniform, I wore when I passed through the portal in the basement of SSM and was taken prisoner were confiscated. Issued an Health and Humanitarian Services Uniform which included as undergarments only a pair of men's boxers, I was informed, "It's a uni -- sex uniform which serves multiple gender identities."
"Hmm," I quipped, "A politically correct compromise. Top for women; bottom for me."
"To obtain feminine undergarments," I was told, "you have to buy them."
Thus, in the interest of equality of the sexes, only a few minutes into my duties of the day, I felt my nipples irritated by the coarse cloth of the frock. I couldn't wait to chuck the frock.
"When formality of attachment to my command is effected, you will retain your rank -- Assistant Clerical Specialist." Dr Velour indicated, "Until further notice you are restricted to this floor and other locations on hospital grounds, I may send you to. Is that clear?"
Restriction was the least of my problems. At the moment, I was caught in a conundrum between two rival bureaucratic empires. Whether I was a prisoner or on a mission was a matter of perspective. Taken prisoner by Humanitarian Services scrounging for trained personnel, I was on a Survival, Escape and evasion mission assigned me by the Induction Center where I was assigned. The danger is, warned burly Gunnery Sergeant Meyers beforehand when she volunteered to accompany me on the exercise, "the `aggressors,' the people who take you won't know it's a game. Expect resistance that may not be playful."