Monday morning came for me at 05:30 with the ringing of my alarm clock. It would have been no different from any other work day, but today I was going to work at MSD Concord, CA instead of MSO San Francisco. I hit the off button to silence the alarm, took a breath, got out of bed and headed for the bathroom to start the day.

My day always started out with a shower to wake me up. For the first few minutes of the shower I simply stood in the shower and let the hot water roll down from head to toe. The real wake-up came when I grabbed the scrub brush and soap and started scrubbing. After drying off I got put on my clean and pressed uniform which I had laid out the night before. Ran a polish cloth over my boots and walked out to the common area of the apartment.

As I ate a bowl of cold cereal in the kitchen area my civilian roommate woke up from the sofa where he usually fell asleep and shuffled off to his bedroom. As an IT contractor he set his own hours and he was off for some more sleep time. I popped my dirty bowl and spoon into the dishwasher and was out the door to begin the day. It was 06:00 as I merged onto I-80. This time I made a right turn and East and away from the heart of the SF Bay area. After a few minutes I spotted the road sign for Highway 4 and Concord.

I drove through the rolling hills on Highway 4, also known as “Blood Alley”, not because of the poor engineering of the road. Highway 4 was often called “Blood Alley because of the shitty driving habits/skills of SF Bay area drivers. Dense Tule fog on Highway 4? Drive faster. Traffic is dense? Fuck that four second rule about the distance between your front bumper and the other cars’ rear bumper. That posted speed limit is 55 mph? Hell, that’s is just a mild suggestion.

I passed through Martinez CA, the childhood home of baseball great Joe DiMaggio and proceeded on until I spotted the road sign for the Port Chicago Highway. I made the exit off of Highway 4 and onto Port Highway and the traffic density dropped off to almost nothing. Within minutes I was passing by the main gate of the Concord Naval Weapons Station. My destination was not the base proper, but the actual site of the town of Port Chicago. Posted on the side of the road I drove past signs that said “U.S Government Property” and “Military Reservation” in big bold letters that were attached to tall fences which were topped with barbed wire.

I made the turn at “Dead Man’s Curve” due to the number of rollover accidents which occurred there and onto Waterfront Road. Just about a mile down the road I saw my new duty station off to the left. I made the last turn on to Main Street and traveled on for a few more seconds. I could see the streets and the building foundations, all that remained of the houses and business of Port Chicago. Stop signs gave silent testament to the town that once stood there. All of it behind a continuous chain link fence with signs that read “U.S Government Property” and “Military Reservation”.

One of the only two buildings left standing was the Port Chicago Fire Department building. I made my turn off of the road, passed through a sliding gate and into the parking lot of the old fire department. I parked my car in an unreserved spot, grabbed my paperwork.

I could hear music coming from the building as I walked to the open front door. It was the Dead Kennedys, one of my all time favorite punk groups. I walked into the common area which sported a worn, mismatched sofa, a loveseat and a pair of easy chairs. In the center of the room was a coffee table which had seen better days. The decoration was, well...Port Chicago military chic.

In one corner of the common area was a 250 lbs. bomb that had a lengthwise section cut out and filled with a light weight plastic filler. It was a training aid, the yellow filler represented the explosive part. A hollow center housed the removable fuse and detonator. A 3 inch/50 caliber anti aircraft shell rested on the coffee table, and a 5 inch/30 caliber rested on the floor nearby. Tucked off into another corner was a 105mm artillery shell and 2.75 inch anti personnel rocket.

I presented my documents to YN1 (E-6) Steve who sat in an office area that looked out onto the common area. Steve took my papers and hollered out over his shoulder, “Zoomer, the new guy is here” A moment later BMC (E-7) Zoomer popped out of his office with a big smile and held out his hand. “Hi, GooBlatz”. “It’s good to meet you”. I shook Zoomer’s hand. “The officers aren’t here yet, so let me introduce you to the guys you will be working with”. He walked me the short distance into what was the garage bay of the old fire station which had been converted into the bullpen for the junior petty officers.

California Uber Alles was belting out from a cassette player sitting on a desk in the bullpen and three guys were slam dancing. Zoomer wolf whistled and the guys stopped dancing. I got to meet MK3 (E-4) Bones, BM3 (E-4) Dave and BM2 (E-5) Kenny. Zoomer pointed to an empty desk. I could tell it was my desk because there was a desk ID plate with my rate, Boatswain's Mate and my name, GooBlatz. On the desk was a nice new desk calendar and a stack of business cards with my name and rate and rank and rubber stamp with the same.

It was 07:00 and this place was showing promise.

Note:
Work at both locations started at 07:30 and you dear reader may ask yourself why I was leaving an hour early to only go some 19 miles (30km) to either Alameda or Concord. The answer was and is, SF Bay area commute traffic. For those of you who live or have lived in the SF Bay area you fully understand this. For those of you who have not, let me take a moment to explain. If I had left just 10 minutes later it would have added another 30 minutes of driving time to my commute. It was simply much easier to arrive early at work then worry about being late.