MPs had personally told each dependent to go home and wait for the evac bus to pick them up. And bring your evacuation bag.
Within a few hours, the entire population was boarding ships to bug out.
The biggest problem we had was that we didn't have any cold-weather clothes for us kids. The Navy Exchange, of course, didn't sell jackets or coats. All we had were shorts and t-shirts. We had long outgrown our stateside clothing.
The last thing I recall seeing of Guantanamo was a ship unloading its cargo: thousands of coffins. My dad was staying in Guantanamo.
My mom, my brother & I were on a ship that was loaded down with aged ammo that was being hauled out to sea to be dumped when the ship had been diverted for the evacuation. Each bunk was shared by 4 people. We were to sleep in shifts. When you weren't sleeping you had to stand in the aisles.
The crew of the ship were incredible. They slept on deck, and did everything to accommodate the dependents on board. The mess hall served food 24 hours a day, because we had to eat in shifts as well. Our ship wasn't able to keep up with the other evac ships because it was so loaded down. A Soviet sub tracked us the entire trip.
When we docked at Norfolk it was cold as heck. They put us up in some barracks on base and told us to go to some warehouses the Salvation Army had set up. The Salvation Army told us to take everything we could use. They told us not to just take what we needed but everything we could use. We got clothes, kitchen utensils, toiletries, ... everything.
So keep that 3 day evac kit packed. You never know when you'll be depending on that for survival.
