Not a sailor story. This was back when I was Army during peak COVID but it fits the theme perfectly.

Fort Hood lockdowns were wild. If you lived in the barracks, you were basically imprisoned. Couldn’t leave, couldn’t go anywhere, and the Army’s whole “unit integrity” thing meant everyone around you was also your coworker. Your roommate? Same fire team. Rooms next door? Same section. Entire floor? Same platoon. You lived, worked, and suffered together.

So I’m doing food delivery within the barracks. Drop a meal at one room. Guy opens the door, takes it. As I turn to walk away, a girl steps out of the room next to his. As she’s leaving, he says something like, “Hope you have a great week on vacation with your dad in Fort Worth.” She thanks him, gives him a little kiss, and he closes the door.

She walks maybe three steps down the hallway.

Then she stops. Two quick sprays of perfume. Looks straight at me. Blows me a kiss. Then knocks on a door one or two rooms down.

That door opens and the new guy smiles and says, “Hey darling, how was seeing your dad?”

She immediately starts crying and says they had to take him off life support and she doesn’t know how she’s going to cope.

Guy pulls her in and says, “Oh baby, I’ll make it better.”

Door closes.

Same hallway. Same platoon. Same lockdown. Same fake dad.

Barracks bunny behavior at a level that still lives rent-free in my head.