Barricks tour

Unmarried Barracks A-4

“Welcome, I am AV-31-911, but you can call me Gav,” the man in urban digital camo said opening the door, “Come in.”

The camera crew came in and did panning shots of the lobby of the building. There is a wrap around desk in the middle, a few doors and a wall of mail boxes.

“This is the Charge of Quarters desk, it is a rotating job, they sit here, answer the phones and watch for problems on the monitors. That is the first floor common room,” Gav pointed to a door in back, “There are the front stairs, that is the entrance to the mail room, the first floor laundry room, the cleaning closet, and the emergency room.”

The camera stops on the indicated door for a few seconds.

“Oh it isn’t a hospital room, it is for emergency supplies,” Gav explained, “We are right in the path of nearly every tropical storm forming into a hurricane to mess up the Caribbean and everything after. Last year we got hit with four storms back-to-back so we were stuck on lock down for five days straight. Had to break out cans of food. We have medical supplies, water and such in there as well.”

Gav walked to one of the doors and into a hallway filled with doors.

“I am what we call the ‘Barracks Boss’ or what the US military would call a ‘Non-Commissioned Officer In Charge’ or NCOIC,” Gav said before sweeping his arms to indicate the doors along the sides of the hallway, “Each room houses a single uniformed Cobra Member, it is a bit like a nice hotel room or an efficiency apartment.”

Gav stopped and knocked on a door propped slightly open with an open transom window above it.

“Mic, I got the camera crew, mind if I show them your room?” Gav called.

“Yeah, it’s open,” came the accented response from inside.

“Mic is a fellow Alley Viper, we do urban warfare,” Gav said as he entered, “Here is the kitchenette, the sink, fridge, there is the bathroom, and back here is the bedroom area.”

The room had a few dressers, a floor length mirror, a desk, a bed with a black guy laying in bed pulling his Balaclava on, and a door that was almost closed.

“As you can see, each of us gets a bed, furniture, Mic has his tv and gaming console on the desk,” Gav turned and pointed at the almost closed door, “And in there is the locking walk in closet to secure your gear, your personal valuables or your girlfriend to change in.”

The door opened and out came a black girl with her hair dyed blonde wearing an oversized tee-shirt and a balaclava.

“Come on, lets let them be,” Gav said and ushered the crew out, “Now hang a left when you get out.”

Gav leads the camera crew down the hall to the stairwell.

“What?” Gav reacted to the unrecorded question, “No, I am not upset, dude if I got upset each time a hook up happened in a barracks, I would have strokes weekly… No, they are adults and we have the facilities once they get married to raise their kids. Come on, I just want to show you the mini gyms on the second and third floors over the emergency room and mailroom on the first.”