My first duty was Mess Cooking. Army recruits would know this as KP, but the Navy was different. This was a full three-month duty, not completed on a ...aily basis. During this time, Mess Cooking, I had to see the integration of the University of Georgia. I worked directly for the cooks, both of them Black, and one of them was from the panhandle of Florida. His main comment was ‘The Navy gave me my first pair of shoes, and I walked backward for two weeks, just to see my tracks’ Needless to say,. I guess having cast no vote meant it couldn’t come back to hurt you later.The second set of six were called in one after the other and given sixty seconds to introduce themselves and then confirmed without debate. All of us were confirmed by a vote of the full Senate before lunch.So far Hawk was twelve for twelve.Having been confirmed meant that the ‘Acting’ title was removed from Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security. I was free to get to work. Being relieved of confirmation worries allowed me. As soon as I was secure, she jumped up and grabbed a few items off her dresser. I strained my neck trying to see what she was up to. Then she approached the bed and I saw a pair of scissors in her hand. “If you make a sound I will stop and send you home, is that understood,” She asked.When I nodded she proceeded to cut my clothes from my body, with no regard to the fact that my pants cost a hundred and forty-five dollars and my silk shirt was a three hundred and twenty dollar specially made for. They wanted to havethe Seniors come to school wearing only loin clothes. They should haveknown better. Since I fall into the top ten percent and my buddy doesn't,I was in while he got to watch. Their demands hit the bulletin boards,and within minutes it was all over the school. My heart sank when I readit for myself. Every one of us that qualified, boys and girls alike, hadto dress in the clothes of the other sex! Girls would have to wear boysclothes, right down to the briefs, while the boys.