FNG

A line of sailors traveled up the brow, across the wind break, and down into the depths of the food store room. Boxes were tossed from the pallet and all the way up the chain. The wind kept me cool as I passed crates of energy drinks and cartons of cigarettes from FC2 to my left to ET2 on my right.

ET2's blouse had been tossed to the ground. His brow was beaded with sweat, his face was red from heat. FC2 kept rendering smart-ass remarks down the line at a few chiefs who happened to join us on the brow for the working party. He tossed the boxes as if they were feather light. I received them with a muffled "ooph."

First day actually on the ship. Despire the labor, I was filled with joy. I had survived the evils of Great Lakes, IL. I had survived terrible legal accusations. I had thrown it back into those bitches' faces when I got my orders to Rota, Spain. There was no reason not to be happy. I was wearing my command ball cap with pride.

I wore that ball cap for a total of 4 hours and 16 minutes.

A gust of wind blew inland. My curly hair blew back. My beautiful ball cap flew off. I followed it with my eyes, my neck craining to follow it. The case of Monster's in my arms was forgotten. It fluttered off the brow, along the side of the ship, and fell with an unceremonius splash into the water below.

"Noo!!!" I screamed as if I had just found out that Darth Vadar was my father.

ET2 grabbed the Monsters from my arms and tossed them to the next guy.

"Good job, FNG," he said.

FNG. F-ing, New, Guy Girl. That was me. Way to go, me.

"We have search and rescue swimmers don't we?" I pleaded as FC2 shoved another case into my hands.

"Search and rescue swimmers?" ET2 asked, his eyebrows raised. I passed him the case, looking over my shoulder as I did so. The ball cap was becoming ladened down with water. It would sink soon.

"To rescue my ball cap," I said.

"It's lost," FC2 said, "Forget about it and buy a new one"

My heart sank. That was my first ball cap. The one I would cherish forever and ever. I had stenciled my name into it in bold, silver letters. I glanced into the water again. It had disappeared beneath the murky water.

Hours later I found myself in the Aft Shop. I settled down next to ET3 Radar on the floor. The half dozen of mis-matched, broken chairs were already taken up by the senior members of the department: IC2 McMoney, IC3 Doesntshower, IC3 Kidstache, ET2 Bodybuilder (the one from stores onload), ET2 Kermit, and ET2 Seriousface. And that wasn't even everyone.

"Hey, you're not that new girl, are you?" ET3 Radar asked me.

I frowned at him. "What new girl?"

"The curly-haired one who lost her ball cap on the first day," he said.

The conversation stopped just for that second. Of course it did. All the guys turned and looked at me. ET2 Bodybuilder grinned mischeviously.

"Hell yeah she is," he said. "Right off the brow and into the water."

The room erupted in laughter. Laughter and teasing and pointing. The story of how I lost my ball cap travelled around the entire ship and back to the division within only a few hours. I hoped that wouldn't foreshadow my stay on the ship.