Chapters:

Late Night Survivor

  It was a chilly spring evening in Sherman Barracks, the living quarters for the men and women of the 1st Batallion 1st Regiment of the United States Corps of Cadets. The second floor of the barracks was mainly occupied by Alpha Company and as a Third Class Cadet I had drawn the glamorous duty of weekend CQ duty. The duty is fairly easy, you conduct bed checks, answer the company phone, pick up packages and are basically the goto guy for the company. The only bit of stress that rarely occurs is if the OC (Officer in Charge) could show up to tour/inspect the barracks.

  As I said it was cool spring evening, a friday evening if I remember correctly, and I was sitting in the CQ room reading a book and listening to the radio. Taps was only 30 minutes away and everything was pretty quiet. Most of the First Class Cadets were out on leave or off post and everyone else was either hanging out, sleeping, or just chilling somewhere. Things were quiet and that was good. I got up to do a quick routine check of the second floor and to get a head start on my head count for taps.

I was walking down the south hallway, the south wall dominated by lines of doors for my fellow company mate’s rooms and the north wall had several doors leading to bathrooms and lockers. I saw a plebe leave one of the bathrooms and he greeted me with a popped off, "Be Straight or Be Gone Sir!" the motto of company A-1. I growled "Be Straight" out of habit and continued walking when my upper class ire was aroused. I saw the plebe dive into a classmates room at a full sprawl. His bathrobe went flying, flip flops laying in the middle of the floor, all sense of decorum lost. Plebes were expected to be at attention at all times when in public spaces and I certainly wasn’t going to let him get away with that.

A Cadet Sergeant had also seen him from the opposite side of the hallway and he moved in for the kill. To my surprise he suddenly stopped and dove into the same room as the retreating plebe. My stride quickened as I moved down the long hallway. The rooms flew by and I was coming up on one of the main stairwells that traversed the five floors and basement of the barracks.

Suddenly three more cadets shot out from around the corner and made a beeline for their rooms followed by a strange figure. As a second door slammed shut with a resounding thud I saw a small black and white animal round the corner and skid to a halt as he saw me striding up the corridor.

A skunk!

I ground to a halt and we eyed each other warily, I swear a tumbleweed rolled across the hallway. I took a slow step back and the skunk sniffed the air with an arrogant indifference. One more step and the skunk lowered his beady eyes and gave me a long once over. I froze and time stopped dead in this impromptu field of battle.

I wasn’t prepared for this enemy, I didn’t even have my gas mask on me. How could the guard book not have warned CQs to be prepared for such an eventuality.

I backed off again and something broke inside the skunk, he began to trot my way! That was it, I took off at a run and dove into the nearest room, slamming the door shut with a resounding thud. A minute went by and I heard other doors slam shut and the cries of my fellow company mates echoed through the halls.

We were trapped but we were safe.

Then to my dismay I heard the words I least expected to hear. "OC on the floor, where is the CQ!"

Oh God, not now! Go away sir! You’re taking your life in your hands.

The voice got louder as I heard the officer striding down the hall. "Where the #$@! is everyone! Get me #@! @#!@ CQ right now!"

Suddenly there was a strangled cry and a thud. Silence reigned for what seemed like an eternity before a string of four letter words was followed by the sickingly pungent smell of chemical warfare, skunk style.

I emerged to see the OC flat on the floor, hands to his eyes as the tell tale black and white tail of the intruder disappeared down the stairwell. I called for a medevac and took charge of the grisly scene as the company retreated into the night air of the waiting courtyard. The battle had ended but I don’t think anyone was ever the same after that night. War is hell, and on a second floor hallway in upstate New York I had seen the enemy. I was a changed man but I’m always thankful that quick action allowed me to survive another day. As for the skunk, he may still be out there for all I know. Beware!