Cindy Polgar's Page Cindy's Emblems of the US Army Communications Command
From: "POLGAR" cpolgar@mywdo.com
Date: Thu, 1 Apr 1999I just recently put my Turkey pictures in order after having them thrown in a box for 17 years, then to find this website -- I was thrilled! Being stationed in Sinop was an adventure for me from the moment I heard that this was to be my first duty station after AIT. My reaction was, "Where is Turkey?!"
The trip there was very exciting. I was 18, female, and had only been on an airplane once before. My parents dropped me off at Stapleton Airport, (Denver) and I flew to Atlanta GA. So far so good. Next leg was to JFK in New York, a little more intimidating but still O.K. I did run into another gal there but our route was different and her orders read Det 4 and mine said Det 169 so we didn't know we were headed to the same place. She left before I did so I was on my own again and off to Frankfurt Germany.
I don't remember how I found my way out of there, probably just followed the herd, smiled and gestured a lot. But my next stop was in a small airport in Ankara where no one spoke English AND the terminal was closing! I vaguely remember a farm-type animal in the arms of one person I approached but I don't think I was as close to panic as I should have been. Finally, I found an Englishman who helped me call the Airforce base. By the time someone came to pick me up I was alone in the dark outside the terminal and exhausted. He took me to his apt. where he and his wife were throwing a party, they rolled out a sleeping bag for me and that was my first intro to military life in Turkey. Next day they put me on a C-130 strapped in a kind of a jumpseat on the wall and sent me to Sinop!
Didn't everyone arrive this way?
From: "POLGAR" cpolgar@mywdo.com
Subject: More Sinop
Date: Fri, 2 Apr 1999My first thought on seeing the town of Sinop was that I had somehow stepped back in time! The older women with their flowing scarves and their pantaloons, a man in a "fez" ambling down the street with a donkey. The ancient ruins and the sea all around. I think the sea is "denize". "Cok guzel" is very beautiful, which it was.
The base was pretty cool, too. I had just come out of basic training and AIT, the advanced training where I learned to lay cable and climb telephone poles, and to run a switchboard which was my job on the hill. "Sinop Operator" - I was the last to use the ancient old switchboard they had before we got a new system and sent the old board off to a museum in Ft. Hauchuca, AZ. ( My tiny initials should be on it still.) At that time there were only about 40 females on the entire base of about 3 or 4 hundred. I found out that the Turks thought we were there to "service the servicemen"!
Another thing I found out immediately were that there were 3 other Cindy's on base so I changed my name to Teresa on the spot. The initiation talk held many warnings. Don't go to town alone or wear uniforms or patches down there. Never talk religion or politics with the Turks, or say the word "peach" ( I never did find out what that meant ). Do not cross your leg showing the bottom of your foot , somehow this was very offensive to them and to this day I'm conscious of it. Also you must never cross the threshold of their homes with your shoes on. I found this out by accident, ( I had many friends downtown by the time I left.) The woman shrieked and went running for a rag and disinfectant while I apologized profusely, scrambling to remove my boots.
The most wonderful thing about the base was that the Turks did all the work that I hated -- KP, latrine cleaning -- and we never had an inspection while I was there.I remember a lot of fog, I remember rails along the walkways because sometimes the wind was so bad it could lift you off your feet. Also soon after I arrived we had a great mass of snails up there. Everywhere you walked you would step on them, it was disgusting! Hope some of this is interesting to you, the memories are flooding back!
Date:Mon, 5 Apr 1999
Turkey was considered a hardship tour. For many I guess it was. One gal in our barracks boasted that she had never gone downtown. I think she was afraid to leave the security of the base.Downtown Sinope
There was a bazaar once a week.Turkish women with child
This shot was taken on the pier with our barracks on the hill in the background.
Sunset on the water walk with boys fishing on the doc.Cows, sheep, chickens and donkeys were encountered all the time.
I was in town almost every chance I had! Whether by myself or with any one who cared to go. The day after I arrived a few of the guys showed me around. I immediately loved the people and the little town and the quaint shops. I remember being served cay, ( not sure of the spelling and I can't make the little mark to make the "c" a "ch" instead of a "j" ) , tea, in one carpet shop. The proprietor hollered into the street and soon a boy came in carrying a tray. Little glasses and lump sugar.
I loved the way they wrapped all the purchases in paper instead of giving you a sack. I learned to carry a basket or a net bag. Some of my purchases were, a beautiful handmade quilt, a jacket which made me look like a local the whole time I was there, one of those famous boats and of course plenty of brass and marble trinkets. Oh yes, a black goat skin.
Another warning in the initiation talk was about the blackmarket and drugs, and once I was approached in that weekly outdoor bazaar about buying hashish. I didn't want that, of course, but what I did like to buy was BAKLAVA . Also pistachio nuts, figs and halvah. You get the idea that I liked the food?
I remember that there were birds flying loose in some of the restaurants. Not fancy exotic birds, but like swallows or something!
I was fascinated by their butcher shops. The meat was just hanging there in the window and often a sheep head or two was sitting outside the door just draining into the street! And I remember huge tubs of flopping fish out on the docks in the evening.
I hope it has never changed in case I get back there someday!
Date: Mon, 19 Apr 1999
I couldn't tell about my adventures in Sinop without mentioning a CRAZY guy I met on my third day there, named John Cunningham. (I should give an update in case any one knew him. John and I got married back here in the states, got out of the Army, then he went back in later as an Apache helicopter pilot and then was killed in a car crash in '92.)
This is John stomping on a turtle. The tradition was they bought this little fake turtle when they were "short" and crushed it on the tarmac before departing.
When I met John he had a broken hand from hitting a wall. He told me that the Dr. was watching a movie in the post theater and made him wait until it was over before they could go set it. That's how casual it was up on the hill.
I loved that post theater, remember how we had to stand at attention for the Star Spangled Banner before every show? Well, the first movie I saw when I returned to the States was, I think , the Alien, where it began with the little girl watching T.V. late at night and that music came on. I leapt to attention in that civilian movie theater, all by myself! Every one was staring at me as I realized what I had done and slunck back down in my seat.
Anyway, John had started a rappelling club and we spent many days out there climbing around on the cliffs. One time, in February, he was trying to rappel into a little cave and fell right into the sea amongst the jelly fish! I'm surprised he got wet he was out of that frigid water so fast. And of course I was no help standing there on the edge of the rocks laughing my head off.
Once he had forgotten to bring something with us out there, so some of the guys and I waited while he went back the mile or so to the barracks. I guess trying to take a shortcut he got stopped by a Turkish guard. The guy had crossed a fence and was chasing John screaming (I think) "Dur, Dur!" Well they came back to the fence and John came back over it and seeing that the Turk was having trouble getting over with his rifle, offered to hold it for him - The Guy Let Him! He came back grinning ear to ear to tell us this. Everyone, including their own officers seemed to love to abuse those poor young oskeris. I hope I am remembering some of these Turkish words correctly.
One time John took me out to this remote place and into a long abandond tunnel. I know it was manmade and very old because there were actually stalactites growing in there, some were a foot long. We guessed that this may have been an ancient escape route of some sort. It ended at a bricked up wall which John was dying to try and break down and get through. For once I adamantly refused to join in as I thought the sea would come rushing in and drown us. He saw the force of my argument and gave in. But we did have some fun turning off the flashlights and terrifying ourselves.
Once when I was by myself exploring a little, I came to a house out there, more of a hovel actually. And a beautiful little girl came out to greet me. We chatted for quite a while (somehow) and I learned a new word. Irhan- goat milk? She motioned for me to wait and ran in the house and came out very carefully carrying a chipped up china teacup filled with some sort of milky stuff. She handed it to me and made me understand that it was for me. I thanked her profusely and drank every drop of the sour stuff, smiling but praying I wouldn't get sick. Actually, I grew to like irhan, but served downtown where it was more likely refrigerated.
Date: Fri, 7 May 1999
One adventure I had on the hill almost killed me! John and I were out hiking one day and I excused my self to find "the ladies room" Somehow I got a little lost. I don't know how, but stepping through some trees I was suddenly tumbling straight down a cliff to the sea! I grabbed onto some bushes and roots and just clung there looking down at the water crashing on the rocks, hollering for help. Finally I realized that no one was going to hear me so I started clawing my way back up.
Every time I grabbed onto a rock to make it up a little ways, it would come off in my hand and down I would slide again. Once a seagull screamed right in my ear, I was sure it was mocking me. I found I made more headway if I went straight through the sparse brush, what's left of my hat is probably still there, caught in some branches, to this day! I remember praying and reciting Amazing Grace until reaching the top.=============================================================
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