We all experienced pulling in to the pier to the sounds of loved ones screaming to us from the pier. 

On one such occasion I noticed a shipmate standing by the gangway looking sort of "lost". I didn't know him but when I asked him why he was so upset he said his wife wasn't there to meet the ship! He told me he had an apartment on W. Ocean View and I told him I did too and that we ( my wife and I ) would take him home to see what was going on with his wife.

When we got there..he got out of my car, commenting that his car was not there. Then he went to the door and unlocked it. The car wasn't the only thing not there....everything he owned...was gone...and I mean EVERYTHING! His shock was palpable!

Then his neighbor came in...and she told him that right after we left for the Med...his wife left with some sailor...and a moving van.

I have seen less misery and crying at funerals! This guy was destroyed! All he had to his name was what was on his back..and ..what was in his locker aboard ship. I drove him back to the base and to the ship... To this day I don't know his name or what happened with his wife. I DO know one other guy who thought hookers were what we were "fighting for" overseas so he made sure he "saved" as many as possible. He could NOT, however , save his own marriage when I gave him the option of telling his wife what he had done..before I did. He confessed when we got home to Norfolk and she left him.

Sad sea stories, and I am sure there are hundreds of stories with similar content and endings...