We’re Not the Only People Moving to GTMO

This the story of how I became “The Happy Housewife.” You might want to start at the beginning.

During the spring of 2002 we found out that we weren’t the only ones headed to GTMO. We would be joined by the detainees.

At first Sailor wasn’t sure if it would still be a safe place to raise a family, but after talking to several people who were already there, we were assured that nothing much had changed on the base and it was still very safe.

On July 4, 2002 we shared tearful goodbyes with our family and headed to Jacksonville where we would fly to GTMO the next morning. On the trip up to Jacksonville my dad realized that the van we had borrowed from my brother didn’t have a current registration in the vehicle. It was registered but the paperwork was back in Orlando.

We tried to get the van on base but were not allowed. We emptied all our luggage, kids, and car seats, out of the van and waited for a cab to pick us up. We waited forever and finally a car showed up, but our family of six didn’t fit into a car. Sailor had called for a van, but apparently there weren’t any available.

We weren’t sure how we were going to get to the Navy Lodge on base in a car, but then we figured out that I could stay back with some of the kids and my dad, and Sailor would take two kids and most of the luggage and get us checked in to the Lodge.

The cab came back to pick me and the kids up and then we spent thirty minutes dragging our luggage upstairs to our hotel room since the elevator wasn’t working. I was nervous about missing our flight the next morning. The report time was 7am, we had no vehicle to get there, and it seemed cabs were hard to come by around the base.

Sailor made a reservation for a 5:30am cab just to be on the safe side. 5:30 am rolled around and no cab, by 5:45 I was getting worried. Finally at 6am Sailor called for another cab. Once again a car showed up and we had to split up to get to the airport.

I hoped there would be a McDonald’s close to the airport, since the kids hadn’t eaten breakfast. (and aren’t McDonald’s on every base???)

Unfortunately we didn’t pass one, and the cab driver didn’t know of any restaurant open on base that early in the morning. We arrived at the terminal a little before 7am and found out that even though the report time was 7am the plane didn’t actually take off until about 11am. I think we spent a small fortune feeding our children from the vending machine that morning, but at least they had something to eat.

I kept thinking that things would get better once we got on the plane, and thankfully they did. It was a commercial aircraft so no one was sitting in jump seats, and they even served food. Little did I know, those two and a half hours would be the easiest moments of my life for the next several days.

When we arrived in GTMO I was shocked at the blast of hot air that greeted me when we walked off the plane. There was no “gateway” at the terminal so Sailor and I had to figure out how to get an infant, toddler, three car seats, two other kids, and all our carry-on’s down the steep flight of stairs off the plane. I was already sweating like a pig by the time we got off the steps.

I couldn’t wait to get into anything that was air conditioned. After we got off the plane we were led to a small fenced-in area and were instructed to place all our belongings in front of us. Dogs began sniffing our carry-on luggage and one by one security checked our paperwork. Since we were one of the last people off the plane, we were also last in line to go through the security process.

The kids were getting hot, the baby was crying, and I was considering getting back on that plane and telling the pilot to fly me back to Florida. Someone took pity on us and let us move to the front of the line so we could then proceed to get our baggage.

We found our luggage and then realized that we would need to carry our eight suitcases, six carry-ons, three car seats, one baby, one toddler, and two kids to a school bus that would drive us to a ferry.

Say what?

The impossibility of this task was overwhelming to me. I decided it was better to laugh than cry and somehow (I’m sure someone once again took pity on us) we managed to load all our stuff onto a school bus and rode to the ferry.

Once we got to the ferry we had to unload our stuff from the bus and then drag it onto the ferry. The ferry was actually a welcome break from the crazy heat on the runway and the bus. The wind over the water was actually quite cool and I then considered just riding the ferry back and forth for the rest of the day.

When we got to the other side of the island we were met by our sponsor who picked us up in his, you guessed it, un-airconditioned minivan.

I decided right then, that I just had to laugh, because if not I would probably be committed into the psych ward. He drove us to our house and as we turned down the road to our new home I was amazed.

Our house was at the end of a strip of land that directly overlooked the ocean. We had an ocean view! Nice!

We walked into our home and memories of Panama came flooding back. Our house was furnished with loaner furniture and I honestly thought some of the pieces of furniture might have been the same stuff we had in our Panama house years ago!

Shortly after we arrived I heard a knock at the door. It was Grace. Grace was Amy’s sister and she had been living there for about nine months. She only had a few months left on the island, but she came determined to make sure we had anything we needed. She brought towels, food, and other necessities. If it wasn’t for her we would have all been sharing one towel until we could get to the store!

It wasn’t long after Grace left that we met one of our neighbors. They seemed very friendly and even offered to let us borrow their jeep if we needed to run to the store to pick up groceries. I told them I would definitely be taking them up on that offer.

They told me I could just take it any time, it would be parked in their driveway and the keys would be in the ignition.

Say what?

The next day I borrowed the jeep and headed to the commissary. Since we had almost no food I knew this was going to be a big trip. I wasn’t even sure what the commissary sold, but I figured I would probably just buy one of everything! I told Sailor that I  wouldn’t be home for a while and left.

I was impressed with the selection at the commissary and everyone seemed to know each other. It felt like I spent the entire afternoon at the store, and I was shocked when I looked at my watch and realized it had only been gone an hour! The commissary was not that big so it didn’t take long to walk down every aisle of the store.

I hopped in the jeep and headed home. The commissary was only a half mile from our house, but our house was uphill and the 95 degree temperature made walking to the store a less than fun idea. Right before our road I was stopped by a military police officer. Having lived on a few military bases I was familiar with the MP’s, but what I wasn’t familiar with were road blocks. I sat and waited worried that my milk was going to turn into cottage cheese sitting in the back of the jeep.

More and more MP’s showed up and they all were heavily armed. I started to get concerned because I was not heavily armed. In fact I was wearing a t-shirt, shorts, and flip-flops, and I didn’t see myself being able to get away from what ever danger was lurking around the corner very quickly.

Finally after waiting for about 45 minutes a school bus with darkened windows drove by me. It was nearly impossible to see inside the bus, but I realized that it held the detainees being taken to the camp.

Then it started to rain, soaking me and all the groceries in the jeep. I laughed, not knowing that this would be one of the three times I saw rain for the next two years.

Life was going to be different here in GTMO…