I do have an interesting story. My bunk mate, who slept on the upper half of the bunk, was a young man from San Diego, California. His name was Rudy Sanchez.
He was kind of a party nut too. Every month when we got paid, within two days, he’d party and use up all his money. Then he would come to me and borrow some money until the next month when he got paid again. He would pay me back, go out and party for two days and then he was broke again.
I had an interesting experience with him. He was a young Catholic man, and he found out that I was a member of the Mormon church and soon discovered that my underclothing was different than normal. I didn’t make a big deal about it because at 10 o’clock at night the lights would go out in the bay where the sleeping area is. They would leave a light on in the showers, and where you go to shave, and so on. So I would disrobe my underclothing, put them under a pillow, and then I put the towel around me, and went to take and shower and shave and then came back and put on a clean pair. Then I would go to bed.
In the morning when I got out, it was always after the lights were on in the bay, and he soon became aware of that. I told him about what they were.
One morning, a young man from West Virginia who was very foulmouthed, happened to see me in this different underwear and started to make fun of me for having them. Rudy Sanchez jumped off the top bunk, ran down and got a hold of this guy and threatened to kill him if he ever said another word about my religious garments, which I thought was quite interesting.
Later on, I don’t remember the occasion, but one day I started to say swear words. He got up in my face. He said, “Hey, that’s okay for me. But that’s not all right for you,” which I also thought was interesting.
He became a very close friend. That ended my active duty in the military because I was brought home at that point and then had to go each week to meetings, and then in the summer, we had a summer camp.
