"Son, you can help your situation out, or you can do nothing and let things go down as they will. I can tell you, if you do nothing...well, I think you know what happens, right?"
I knew exactly what would happen. I would be dishonorably discharged, my record would carry the reason for my discharge as 'engaged in homosexual acts with foreign nationals' and I would be haunted with the stigma for the rest of my life. No, that much was clear to me. It was the only thing I had been thinking about for the past three hours I had been in custody. But I didn't understand what he meant by helping my situation out.
"Yes..." I began hesitantly "but what do you mean 'help the situation?"
"Give us the names of...uh, of your...uh, your shall I say friends?"
"What do you mean? I don't know their names, I mean they're just cab drivers."
"No, not those. I mean the names of any other sailors, or whatever, you know?"
"There aren't any other names to give you. I mean..I haven't....you know, I don't know any others."
"Are you telling me that you've never...uh, had...I mean, you've never done anything with anyone other than the cabbies?"
"Yessir" it was the truth. I hadn't done anything with anyone else since arriving on Okinawa.
"You expect me to believe that?"
"I...it's the truth, sir"
"You willing to prove that? Take a polygraph?"
"I...yessir" I finally found the words. What did I have to lose? And with that he helped me to my feet and led me out of the interrogation room and down a dimly lit hall to another small room. It looked like a storage room, boxes and files piled all over the place. But in the center was a chair and beside it a complicated looking recording device with all kinds of wires hanging down from it. He sat me in the chair and connected several of the straps to me, to my wrist, a band around my chest, and sensors on the palms of my hands.
"Relax" he finally said, and settled into a chair beside the machine. Turning it on, he let it warm up as I sat still and tried to relax as he said. "Alright, I'm going to ask you a series of yes or no questions and I want you to answer that way. Nothing more than yes or no. Understand?"
"Yessir"
"OK" and with that he started an innoculous enough series of questions about my name, age, rank, time in service, hometown and others designed to baseline a right answer from a lie I suppose. After what seemed like an eternity, his questions bore home on the subject he was really interested in.
"Are you a homosexual?"
"I....uh..I don't...."
"Yes or no." he said firmly. I guess there was only one right answer.
"Yes"
"Truth - and have you engaged in homosexual acts. Ever?"
"Yes"
"Truth - and were any of these acts before you joined the service?"
"Yes"
"Truth - and have you engaged in homosexual acts after you joined the service?"
"Yes"
"Truth - and were any of these acts engaged in places other than Okinawa?"
"No"
"Truth - and have you engaged in homosexual acts with anyone other than Japanese cab drivers?"
"No"
"Truth - and do you know of any US service personnel, either here or at any other location where you have been, that practice homosexual acts?"
"No"
"Truth. OK, that's it. Let's get you out of that rig." And with that he took the wires off me and we went back into the interrogation room, where he sat across the table from me. "Well, it seems you're telling the truth about that. So if there's nothing you can give me, I can't help you." My heart sank as I realized that I was going to be discharged in a hail of humiliation. "But, let me talk to the Lt., he may have something to offer that I can't"
I sat in silence and dispair, alone again in my thoughts and self pity at what was happening to me. After what seemed like hours, the door opened and a tall, slim blonde came into the room, walked to the table, and took the seat opposite me. I couldn't meet his gaze and diverted my stare to the table as he spoke.
"Alright sailor, we all know the trouble you're in. We all know what's going to happen to you. Do you have anything to say?"
"I....no" I finally stuttered. I couldn't think of a single thing to say in this situation.
"Your kind is particulary susceptible to outside influence of the worst kind. Given the sensitive nature of what you do, of the information you handle, you are targeted by every kind of element against the US. And if you think I'm blowing smoke, look at this." With that he flung down an 8X10 glossy on the table in front of me. I struggled to focus on the image in front of me, then took in a sharp breath as I realized that it was a picture of a body, hanging from what appeared to be an overhead pipe in what appeared to be a jail cell. The face was twisted in a grotesque blue mask as the feet and arms hung down at a strange angle.
"This one had himself a German boyfriend. He was stationed at NSGA Bremerhaven. Passed information to his boyfriend. Only we caught him, we always do. And he went up on charges of spying for the East Germans. Decided he didn't like his chances, so he checked out in his cell one night. Used the sheet there to do it." It was grotesque.
He let the next picture fall to the table, and try as I might, I couldn't resist the temptation to look at it. The body was lying on what appeared to be a mattress. It seemed to be that of a girl, with long blonde hair, clad only in a bra, garter belt, and high heels. The entire pubic area appeared to be one mass of blood, and her mouth....well, something bloody seemed to be in her mouth.
"He liked to dress up. Had him a Jap boyfriend. Turned out to be Soko Gaki, and they wanted him to pass information to them. He did for a while, then got spooked and decided he had enough. They partied with him dressed like that before the cut his dick and balls off and stuffed them in his mouth. Then they shot him, once, in the head. Pretty, huh?"
I gagged at the explanation, fighting to keep from passing out as I closed my eyes, the image of the dead boy burning into my clenched eyelids.
"Look at them" he said sternly "and believe me when I say your kind are targeted. By every commie splinter group trying to steal secrets from the US government. By every terrorist group trying to prove a point against the US. And by every US security agency as well. With the secret work you do, with the information you're exposed to every day, you'll be targeted. Til one of us, or them, gets to you. I think a simple dishonorable discharge would have been far better than what happened to these two. Don't you?"
I couldn't argue. He was right. What was worth losing your life the way these two boys had lost theirs? Nothing. Pure and simple, nothing. A dishonorable discharge meant you had to live with that stigma. For the rest of your life. But at least you would be alive. Life.
"I...I ....yes" it was almost a whisper. I was beat. The whole experience had left me without the least bit of resistance now. "But...why....I mean...why show me....?"
"You can help. You can help us, and quite possibly help yourself."
"How..?"
"First you have to believe that we have to flush out these....homosexuals. We have to identify them and get them out of the intelligence community. For the good of the country, and equally, for their own good. To protect them as much as we're protecting the US. A dishonorable discharge may be hard to take, on the surface, but in the long run it's giving them their life. Do you understand?" Surprisingly, I did.
"Yes"
"Then you are in a unique position to help us with this. You're...I mean, you can interact with them. You know....you can, well....you're one of them. You can help us convince them to admit their homosexuality so we can get them out of harm's way."
"You mean....talk to them?" I didn't completely follow him now.
"Well, yeah...talk...and, well....you know...uh....engage them?" Engage them? What the hell was he talking about? Surely he didn't mean....no, that couldn't be what he meant. Did he?
"Engage?......do you mean....I mean, you don't mean..." from his uncomfortable look I think I knew what he meant.
"Yeah..I mean engage them....in, you know...acts"
"Like with the cab drivers?"
"Yeah, like with the cab drivers. Except you wouldn't be the mark. They would."
"And you'd take pictures? And haul them in here for the 3rd degree? And get them kicked out on a DD?"
"Yeah"
"And you want me to help you do that? Help you railroad these.....these guys?"
"Railroad? God Damned it! You want to take a good look at those pictures again? You think railroading is worse than what the Bader Meinhof Gang, or the Soko Gaki did to those two? You god damned faggot. You think being some radicals pussy boy til he gets what he needs and then tosses you aside, or to some security agency as a spy is worse than getting sent home to mommy? Look at the god damned pictures!" He was shouting now. I forced myself to open my eyes and take another look at the pictures on the table in front of me. I almost threw up at the sight.
"I...I, I don't...I don't know if I could.....that's all" I said, half pleading with him.
"What?" he said, calmer now 'you couldn't help us save some lives? Couldn't help us plug a security leak here and there? Couldn't do something to make it easier on yourself? Do your duty to you country? Possibly beat this rap, have it expunged from your permanent record?" The possibility of beating the rap hanging over me appealed more than he knew.
"Beat...beat the DD?" I questioned.
"Perhaps. We'll see how you do. How cooperative you are. One things for sure, we can make a big input in any court martial."
"I...maybe....maybe I could...." I stammered, my mind already made up but my brain not able to form the response.
"You got five minutes. I'm going to leave you alone to think it over for five minutes. Then you decide. If it's no....well, we've already got the paperwork ready to put you in the brig til you can be brought up on charges." And with that he rose quickly, turned, and strode out the door, leaving me again with my thoughts and little else.
My mind....well, what choice did I have. If I was going to get out of this at all I knew I had to cooperate. As my eyes inched across the table, I glanced at the pictures yet again. He was right. I knew it deep in my heart. Had these two been caught by the security service before they were duped into divulging national security and becoming spies.....well, chances were that they would still be alive today. I guess I did believe him when he said we were targets. And maybe....just maybe luring someone into something and catching them would save their life. Maybe I could do that....if I kept that, and the pictures in mind.
Just maybe I would do this.....
To be continued
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