Monthly Archives: May 2020

Footnote On a Forgotten Piece Of History

25 Monday May 2020

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freeflot

1980- Cuban refugees heading for Florida

Forty years ago, what is now called the “Mariel Boat Lift” occurred. Thousands of refugees from Cuba boarded all kinds of boats and headed for Florida and a better life in the USA. Many were escaping the Communist regime of Fidel Castro, a good many more were planning to reunite with long lost family members who were already living in the US. I know that part to be true because a marine from my company met up with his sister who he hadn’t seen in ten years. Then there was the other side of the story. Castro used the “Freedom Flotilla” as an excuse to empty some of his prisons and dump them on America. I know this because I was there.

Back in May of 1980, my battalion was on what was called ‘air alert.’ That meant that if the president needed to send troops anywhere in the world, he would send the air alert battalion first. In fact, three days before the botched hostage rescue attempt in Iran, we were woken up at two in the morning, put on trucks and driven the fifty miles to the air base at Cherry Point, North Carolina and put on a plane, only to be told it was a drill. Anyway, two weeks after, President Jimmy Carter ordered us to Key West, Florida to deal with the influx of Cuban refugees landing on US soil.

My company was assigned to what was called “tent city.” It was a waiting area for refugees to be taken on to Miami for further processing. Our job was to make sure the refugees were looked after and order was kept while they awaited transportation. We did that for four weeks, three of those, I was assigned to what they called the ‘2C’s,” people who had no links to the US, many of them released from Cuban prisons and dumped on the US. Still, we did our jobs and looked after them as best we could and for our efforts, the entire battalion was awarded the Humanitarian Service Medal and all of us were given Certificates of Appreciation for our efforts.

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Even though what we did in Key West was entered into our Combat Records, I have no great heroic tales to tell from my experience. Sure, there were times some of the prisoners got a little boisterous but they soon calmed down without the use of any force. Being Florida, we also had to be on the lookout for rednecks who had made threats of coming down to Key West to shoot all the refugees. That never happened either. Actually, the duty itself was nothing exciting but we all did our duty and I think did it well. Actually, the best part and this is true in most places service persons are sent to, was the liberty in Key West. Lots of bars to hit although I wish they hadn’t imposed a midnight curfew because Key West doesn’t really start jumping til about 10:30.

When we returned from Key West, we didn’t get any parades or any serious recognition. The battalion was given a 72 hour pass but that was it. During that time, I mentioned that I had been down to Key West to deal with the Cuban situation but nobody really seemed that impressed. At least, I had a feeling of the indifference Vietnam Veterans faced when they returned home.

Now, it seems that the entire Mariel Boat Lift or Freedom Flotilla or Cuban Refugee Crisis or whatever else it has been called has been consigned to the back-burner of history. Very few people seem to remember it and even when I googled it, there isn’t that much detail. Even more depressing was my participation is now just a footnote. All I could find was a statement that 400 marines were sent to deal with the situation. I just happened to be one of them.

One ignorant person claimed that I had done only what any recruit could have done and my efforts were nothing special. Maybe so, but at the time, it didn’t seem to be the case. Others will say that I am simply trying to get some sort of relevance for what I did in Key West for my own life, like I’m some sort of saddo. I’m not trying to do that. However, what I am doing is remembering the 40th anniversary of something I was doing for my country at the orders of the president. If that’s sad, then others have a problem with it. So, in my closing breath, I ask that all of you tip your hat in remembrance to the Cubans who risked their lives travelling to get to a better life in America and the 400 marines who helped make it possible for them.

To buy He Was Weird, go to: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Was-Weird-Publisher-Generation-Publishing/dp/B00SLVHRFG/ref=sr_1_1?crid=36I8I1G32U0R4&dchild=1&keywords=he+was+weird&qid=1590400272&s=books&sprefix=he+was+%2Cstripbooks%2C148&sr=1-1

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I Shouldn’t Be Thinking Like This

19 Tuesday May 2020

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Reading about all the ill effects this current Covid 19 has caused around the globe, it is a tragedy. However, I seem to be benefiting from the current lockdown situation and there is the small, mercenary part of me that hopes it will continue for a little while longer. Fortunately, I have been able to supress that part of my mind but I still think it might be beneficial, at least to me, as to why the thought is there.

Since my job of working with adults with Autistic Spectrum Disorder is considered essential, I still go into work for my three twenty-four hour shifts and then theoretically, three days off. Here’s the first thing that gives those mercenary thoughts. While I haven’t been effected by the coronavirus or been sick at all, some of my colleagues haven’t been so lucky. While, thank God, none of them have come down with the virus, they have been off sick with other ailments and have been made to stay home and self-isolate. As a result, I have been given lots of overtime and have have taken home fatter pay packets. In reality, this isn’t so mercenary as necessary because on account of schools being closed, there has been no supply teaching work, so the overtime makes up for it.

In the house I mainly work in, there are two service users living in it. One is Melvin, who I mentioned in previous posts, is at his mother’s house while this is going on because having him remain would have sent everyone’s anxieties through the roof. He wouldn’t be able to have his usual trips out to buy post cards and DVDs and would have made everyone’s life hell. Therefore, it’s better for him and us he stays with mother.  But because, he requires 95% of your attention, shifts at the house are very easy because the other service user, who I will call Ira, is happy to sit in his room and watch TV all day. He does do work experience two days a week and the work is now collected and he does it from home, no problems. Even though Melvin isn’t there, work isn’t a total skive. We have done lots of cleaning throughout the house because it can’t be done when Melvin is there because he requires so much of your attention. But after six weeks, the house is pretty clean.

Another benefit to the lockdown is that I’m not putting so many miles on the car. With work, supply teaching, taking the wife out, going to visit my daughter once a month or my sons and refereeing American football all put on hold, I have driven about half the miles in the past six weeks that I would have put on in a month. It’s a lot less wear and tear on the car.

Sure, I might be benefiting from the lockdown but like everyone else, I want it to end soon. I see what it is doing to others around the world. My son Will had just been awarded the chance to run his own pub just when they were shut down and now that’s on hold. He is confident that he will still get his pub when this is all over. My step-son Teal also works in the pub industry and has been out of work. Trust me, he needs to get back.  Then there is the threat of a global economic meltdown if the lockdown goes on too much longer. I don’t think anyone wants to see that. So while I might be benefiting from the covid lockdown at the moment, I still want it to be over soon.

To buy He Was Weird, go to: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Was-Weird-Publisher-Generation-Publishing/dp/B00SLVHRFG/ref=sr_1_1?crid=36I8I1G32U0R4&dchild=1&keywords=he+was+weird&qid=1589906084&s=books&sprefix=he+was+%2Cstripbooks%2C148&sr=1-1

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Supermarket Stress During the Covid Crisis

12 Tuesday May 2020

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To be perfectly honest, it hasn’t been too stressful for me during the current lockdown, even in supermarkets. However, I do know that I am by far luckier than a lot of people. I don’t mind standing in lines to get into the store and those lines seem to be getting shorter in recent weeks as people are doing less panic buying. That gives the added bonus of finding what I am looking for still on the shelves. Therefore, my anxiety levels haven’t risen any more than normal while the Covid crisis has been going on.

Saying that, something happened while I was in the supermarket the other day which had me thinking, “That could be me.” I was behind a gentleman who seemed to be taking his time looking for the items he wanted to buy. Because of the how he was shopping and the narrowness of the aisle, I couldn’t go past him. So, I had to follow behind while he went about his shopping, looking for what he needed, without a care in the world. Admittedly, my anxiety levels rose slightly, but I calmly stayed behind him, observing social distancing, until he was at the end of the aisle and I was finally able to go around him.

If I was that gentleman, and seen someone behind me, I would have started panicking about holding people up. The anxiety levels would have increased further if I couldn’t find the items I was looking for straight away and with my Asperger’s type mind, it could have caused me to go into a slight meltdown. What I might have done is pull to one side of the aisle and turned my back so the shopper behind me could go past. That would have worked for one person but if there was a long line forming, it could have been more serious. What I wouldn’t have been was calm, cool and collected like that man in front of me.

Fortunately, that hasn’t happened to me but now, I find myself worrying that it might actually happen when I next go shopping. Hopefully, it won’t and I will get through the lockdown and social distancing as well as everyone else.

To buy He Was Weird, go to: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Was-Weird-Publisher-Generation-Publishing/dp/B00SLVHRFG/ref=sr_1_1?crid=36I8I1G32U0R4&dchild=1&keywords=he+was+weird&qid=1589309412&s=books&sprefix=he+was+%2Cstripbooks%2C148&sr=1-1