Chinese Water Torture

I don’t think I would know what the original form of Chinese Water Torture was, were it not for my 8^th grade Geography teacher, and Mythbusters. So, for those of you that are unfamiliar with it, it is a form of torture in which you lie down and little drops of water are dropped on your forehead and varying intervals. The intent is to cause you as much anxiety and distress as possible. It doesn’t seem like it would be that torturous, but after hours upon hours or even days upon days, it begins to take its toll on you and drive you completely mental—according to Mythbusters anyway. I have never experienced it in its original form before, but I have experienced it in a different form.

On May 11^th Steve was to graduate boot camp and officially earn the title of a United States Marine. This was supposed to be right at the heart of my finals week at college, but fortunately the teachers are pretty easy on first-year students and in all of my classes, I either didn’t have finals, or they were given the week before during the last week of classes. So, on May 9^th, I found myself at the airport with my (now) mother-in-law and father-in-law ready to board a plane for the first time in my life to go out and see him at graduation. I don’t remember if he knew I was coming or not—I have a feeling that I probably couldn’t keep it a secret from him and ended up writing to tell him about it in one of my letters.

I was excited about the plane ride, but was more excited about what would be at the other end of plane ride once I got there. And, like a true new form of Chinese Water Torture, I soon realized (after his parents pointed it out) that MCRD, where Steve was jumping through his first set of hoops with the military, was right outside the window next to the airport as we were landing at the San Diego airport. The thought to just jump the fence crossed my mind, but I decided I might be shot if it did and decided against it. So, we headed to the hotel for the night.

The next day, we spent a lot of the day roaming around Old Town San Diego, and even hopped the trolley over to Coronado Island. I enjoyed it, and I had always wanted to go to California, so I loved walking around and seeing the palm trees and being in the warm weather and sun. However, the day was still not as exciting as I had originally dreamed my first trip to California would be. I knew that I was more or less just wasting time until it was time for what I REALLY went there for.

The following day, the 10^th, it was Family Day, which meant that we could FINALLY get on to the base (without being shot) and would finally get to see him. But the Chinese Water Torture wasn’t over yet. Rather than just saying “run free, find your recruit”, they paraded the family members around, gave them a little tour of the surrounding area, and went through the schedule for the day—as if we REALLY cared about what the place looked like. Then, we were led out to a big parking lot, where we waited for them to come running by. That’s right. They just ran by. We couldn’t hug him, we couldn’t talk to him, we could wave in hopes that he might pick us out of the crowd and know that we were there or cheer for him as if he could distinguish our voices from the hundreds, maybe thousands of others that were there. But, we watched him run by, caught a glimpse of him, and then it was off to more waiting.

We eventually walked over to the parade deck, where they had bleachers that were roped off so we could sit and wait. After what seemed like forever, but probably wasn’t really that long, the soon-to-be Marines came marching out in their Charlie Uniforms. Once again, they were in formation, and we were forced to sit there and watch. We couldn’t run out there, we weren’t close enough to talk to them. Chinese Water Torture. I think the little “program” that they had was about an hour long—which was too long. I don’t think I even had any idea what they were saying or what all was going on. I didn’t really care. Which was unfortunate. I am wishing I could find the program that we got so I could remember what all happened during that hour.

Finally we were allowed to jump the rope, along with the hundreds of other people, and “rush” the parade deck and attempt to make our way through the sea of people to find the one that we came there for. I found him without too much trouble (despite my being a tad vertically impaired) and I was FINALLY able to talk to him and hug him for the first time in 13 weeks. It was WONDERFUL. It was right around noon that they were “released” from their formation and free to go—anywhere on MCRD, that is. They weren’t allowed to leave, but we could stay there with them for a couple hours and wander around. And I was satisfied with that, for now.

Eventually we had to leave, and he had to stay there. I couldn’t believe how hard it was to leave him, knowing that I would see him the next day. This was the point that I realized that I was finally able to grasp how valuable time spent with your loved ones is. Despite enduring 13 weeks of no contact, I was dreading one more night of it. However, I knew I had to, and I knew I would survive, so off to the hotel we went.

The next day was Graduation Day. We headed back to MCRD and basically endured a repeat of the day before—minus the running thing. We were once again directed to the bleachers by the parade deck, where we watched them march out in formation—this time in their Bravo Uniforms. And we endured another (probably) hour long ceremony along with the Chinese Water Torture. This ceremony was a little more tolerable because they were being “pinned” deeming them, officially, Marines (they are considered “recruits” until they graduate boot camp). Eventually they were released once again to the masses of people. Only this time, we were able to take him WITH US. We left MCRD never to return again. We went to IHOP to eat, and luckily had a little time to do some sight seeing before our plane left later that day.

It was so nice to finally be able to walk around with my new Marine and I was so proud of him. After minimal sight seeing, we headed to the airport to catch the plane home. We were fortunate enough to be flying with an airline that had some compassion for service members, and despite the flight being nearly completely booked, they managed to rearrange our seats so I would be able to sit next to Steve for the plane ride home. We were kind of spread out from the rest of his family that was on the plane, but at least we didn’t have to endure more Water Torture by sitting at opposite ends of the plane. After the 3 hour ride home, we finally stepped foot back in Minnesota where we could enjoy a few days of relaxation before the next “storm”.