The fence

The Fence

I had finally been caught. It had taken 3 years 3 weeks and 2 days for me to get in to possibly the biggest shit I’ve ever been in. In the moment nothing was stopping me, I felt I had to do it to save myself and my friends from the bitter cold and being stranded. 

My name is Ray. Ray Walters. I’ve been in the Navy for a little over 4 years now and up until about a year ago I was stationed in Japan. Due to some medical problems I was shipped back to the states and I was told I’d most likely never get sent over seas again. There was an accident on the starboard bridge-wing while we were underway which resulted in a knife plunging into my leg and slightly grazing my femoral artery. I lost two liters of blood and had to be taken ashore on a small boat. I was in the Japanese hospital for a month and underwent a surgery in order for the doctors to put a stint in my artery. Japan was amazing. The people, the food, the culture, and at the time, I never wanted to leave. Fast forward 6 months, I’m back stateside and I had just received new orders to a ship in Virginia. I didn’t know anybody there but once you’re in the service it gets easy to get a long with people and fall into a routine. So I did just that. 

Everyday I drove to the ship which was on base and completed the daily mundane tasks of painting, priming, and other various maintenance related tasks. Our ship was undergoing some evaluations and evolutions to enter the ship yards for it had just returned from a long deployment. One of these said evolutions was an ammunition offload on a base up the coast. We were only supposed to be there for two days, and after working hours we were aloud to go off ship and have dinner and drink a couple beers at this little diner just outside the gate. The first night we went out we had a great time. Drinks and burgers for a couple hours then shuffled our way back down the pier to the ship. The next night however, we decided to go way off base to a restaurant. The night was a disaster from the start. The buddy that had driven us to our destination lent his car to another friend for the night. We were without a ride. There was three of us. Whitey, Joey, and me. 

So we started drinking. First it was a couple beers then a couple shots, until we were pretty buzzed. We called an Uber which would’ve been fine, if at least one of us had been on this base before. We didn’t know where to direct the driver to get on base. We were driving for about 30 minutes when all of a sudden we were on a road that seemed to have no end, and as I looked to the left I could see our ship. “Hey is that our ship?” I blurted out loud. “Oh yeah I think so” says Joey. The driver stopped the car. “Hey what the hell?” Whitey exclaimed, “you guys said that was your ship! I’ve been driving for 30 minutes with no gate in site, you see your ship so go to it!”

Ultimately dumbfounded by being kicked out of this dudes car to be left in the cold and very high winds, we all looked at each other in shock. “We’ll, what do we do now?” Joey asked, “I’m trying to get another Uber “ says whitey, “but it doesn’t look like any are available.” I’m still standing in the street looking around for anything resembling a gate or lights, but all I can see is a fence on either side of this back road, a tunnel right below us that led to our ship, and the lights illuminating our ship in the distance. My buzz had completely wore off and the cold and wind sobered me right up. To make matters worse my phone was dead and Joey and Whitey’s phones didn’t have much life left either. So I started walking towards the fence. 

The fence was a slightly rusted chain link with three rows of barbed wire over the top. It seemed very quiet aside from the wind and waves along the shore and I hadn’t seen anyone drive or walk through the tunnel for about 10 minutes. I had jumped fences before. Didn’t really matter how high I could usually climb it. So I confessed my plan to Joey and Whitey. “ I don’t think anyone else is coming through and the guys on watch can’t see us from here” “ Ok, so what do you want to do?” Joey asked. “ well there’s a fence”, as I pointed to it, “and if we’re quick we could just climb over and sneak in. “ “ yeah but if we get caught we’re screwed “ says Whitey. “ true but if we miss ships movement tomorrow we’re screwed anyway “ i replied. It was 1AM at this point. They nodded their heads and we slowly made our way down the hill towards the fence. Joey fell and was scraped up pretty bad from some thorn bushes, but he said he was alright. We took one last look before attempting to climb the fence. I decided to go for it and Joey and Whitey quickly followed my lead. I was swift and climbed up, grabbed a flat spot in the top line of barbed wire and hurled myself over. 

Joey and Whitey were still trying to climb over. As soon as my feet hit the ground I heard tires on the pavement and a man yell “Stop! Who are you?!” Joey and Whitey climbed down from the fence. We were now on opposite sides of the fence. “ What the hell are you guys doing?” Asked the security officer. I explained our story and he promptly told Joey and Whitey to climb the fence as well. I was relieved. He was going to let us go. Or so I thought. A second vehicle pulled up and if Joe Navy was a person, it was this dude. Uniform was in excellent condition and you could tell he ironed and pressed every part of his shirt, blouse, and pants. His boots were shined, very clean cut and I knew, he’d never let us go. The first officer explained our situation and the second officer ordered him to escort me back to the ship while Joey and Whitey were to wait for a military van to pick them up. I was in shock. I couldn’t breathe, or think. But I knew we were definitely screwed. When I got to the ship the quarterdeck was notified and the van sent out. I didn’t say anything to anyone. And I didn’t go to sleep. It took the van an hour to find Joey and Whitey before bringing them back and their cheeks were red from the cold wind and out of breath from walking on the brow. We came up with a plan to tell the same exact story. “We were stranded, our phones were dead, and we felt we had no other option but to jump the fence. “ we all agreed. 

In my mind nothing else seemed clearer than to make that one decision that would completely alter the way I think and act. I had a plan in my head from the beginning of the day. To go ashore, eat some grub, and come back to the ship with plenty of time to sleep and get ready for this voyage. The plan failed and majority ruled. I had to jump the fence. And now I’m going before the mast. I can’t help but wonder what my mother and father might think. Of course I’m embarrassed but more than that I am ashamed. This kind of pain from one decision takes me back to childhood when I would tell a lie or break a rule and see the look in my father’s eyes after he had found out. It is the gut wrenching feeling of being punched or getting choked. I feel like I’m going to throw up. I’m trying so hard just to man up and do my job meanwhile thoughts are pummeling my brain with things like “you’re never going to be happy again” or “no one will love you after this”. I’m also worried about the woman I have fallen deeply in love with. Will she leave? Will she leave me for another man for I’d be away for so long? I’m so worried about these things and I’m only 21. To me if I loose now I feel like I’ll never get back. My car is another thing; what will happen to it while I’m on restriction? Will I be able to make payments on time? What about my phone? Will I have it? Will I have any connection to the outside? And my brain is screaming no. I look to God a lot in times like these and it makes me feel fake. Of course I pray every day but I never say or ask for anything else until I’m in deep shit. I don’t know what to do anymore, because everything in my head right now is telling me “this is it. I’m done. This is the end of Ray Walters”, even though I know there is life after this. A lot of people go through it. I just never thought I would do something so stupid I couldn’t talk my way out of it. 

The true agony of this whole nightmare was awaiting the impending doom of going up before the old man to answer for my crimes. From the time we were detained until mast was three months. Three months of walking on egg shells, hoping you wouldn’t get noticed. Praying they would forget. But eventually we had to man up and walk into the room, stand before the captain and confess our crimes and answer for them. To some my punishment was a slap on the wrist of you would. 45 days restricted to the barge. 45 days of not being able to go home, 45 days of having to shower in a 2 foot by 2 foot steel shower. 45 days without being able to see my woman. In the end I am certain it made me stronger, more patient, wiser, and more humble than I’ve ever been. 

The day I was released from my proverbial prison was sweeter than cotton candy at a state fair on a hot summer’s day. I was so tired from the drab, depressing daily routine that I had managed for 45 days. I was released at midnight, and had to be back on the ship at 0600 the next day. I didn’t care. I was going home. We can all laugh about it today and there are no hard feelings, yet I would be lying if I said I wasn’t a better man today than I was back then. So keep your boots on and your nose dry, and always remember time flyes when you’re having rum.