One more week of Heaven
By: Dave Rice

I had been stationed at Cubi Point NAS for two years and when it came time for my bunch to rotate back to the "Big Island", I was on restriction for one of my many transgression and was not allowed to board the ship for home. That was o.k. with me, as I didn't want to leave paradise anyway. When my restriction was up, I was sent to the transient barracks at Clark to catch a flight out. The procedure was to check the flight manifest posted in the showers each morning at 0700, and if your name was on the list, you were to pack your sea-bag and muster at the flight terminal.

Well, when I wasn't listed the first couple of days, I called Olongapo and had my Honey-ko come up to Angeles and get a room in a hotel. I broke open my travel package and pulled my orders out, dressed in civvies and headed for the main gate. It wasn't too hard to talk my way past the Air Head at the gate, and I was in town. We spent a week together, with me heading back to the barracks each night about 2400hrs.  One day, at 0500, two A.P.'s grabbed me, told me that I had missed two flights and by God, wasn't gonna miss today's. They had me pack my gear, escorted me to the flight line and loaded me aboard a C-121 Super Connie and watched me take off into the morning sky. I didn't even to get to kiss her good-bye, but I did get an extra week of "heaven".