Purgatory vs. Transient Barracks

In Hell on Earth, a love story, Hank spends a little time in a transient barracks when first arriving in Vietnam. There is also a strong suggestion that Erebus, home to his caseworker and others managing the sentences being served on Earth, might be some type of Purgatory

I don’t think anyone has ever had a real good idea of just what Purgatory is, where it is, or why it is. It is a place we can easily accept in general terms—a kind of halfway house on the way to heaven. However when we get down to specifics—tolerable pain and suffering to pay for minor sins—pain and suffering that can be reduced to some extent by deeds and prayers we do or someone does on our behalf, well the whole idea gets a little bit complicated.

If a certain amount of suffering is necessary to get to heaven—call it paying your dues—what would be the realistic reason for having one person suffer less on earth only to have to suffer more in Purgatory, or to suffer more on earth and less in Purgatory? Why even have quotients for suffering?

Rather than look upon Purgatory as some sort of torture-light pseudo-chamber of Hell where the debt of sin is paid off much the way an old bar tab would have to be paid off before you could open a new one, I prefer to look upon Purgatory as sort of a transient barracks. For everyone who has been in the military, transient barracks are a pretty easy concept to understand and in my opinion they are very similar to what I think Purgatory might be like.

Transient barracks are where you go to when you are between stations or assignments. To paraphrase the children’s verse, when you’re here, you’re here; and when you’re there, you’re there; and when you’re neither here nor there, you’re in a transient barracks—or in Purgatory.

There is a certain amount of pain and suffering going on in a transient barracks but it is not by design. It is just the nature of the beast. And it is not dished out in equal doses and there are generally no guideline directing how it is dished out. The pain and suffering you get in a transient barracks is generally dictated by what you bring to the table.

If you are easy going, even tempered, and patient you won’t have much trouble waiting out your time in a transient barracks. On the other hand, if you’re impatient, on edge, and spoiling for a fight, you will find a transient barracks to be a living hell five minutes after you set foot in one—which I guess is what the purpose of Purgatory is for whatever time you spend there.

You don’t unpack your bags in a transient barrack and obviously you have no bags to unpack in Purgatory. You probably don’t need any sleep in Purgatory and you definitely can’t get any in a transient barracks. You sleep on a mattress that is thinner than a flimsy excuse.

I can only assume that Purgatory is more crowded than Bourbon Street on the last night of Mardi gras since most of those people probably wind up in Purgatory sooner or later. But don’t expect to ever experience the luxury of privacy in a transient barracks, either.

I would imagine passing time would be the biggest problem in Purgatory but I don’t think it is much different in a transient barrack. You might be able to survive by lying on your bed and reading a book, or lying in bed and listening to the radio if you keep it real low, but in the long run—and this is what most people in a transient barracks do to pass the time—you’re better off just lying in bed and hoping you’ll fall asleep so the time passes more quickly.

You don’t really make friends in a transient barracks and that is usually your own choosing but I can’t picture a whole lot of socializing going on in Purgatory. There’s no one in either place that you knew before hand or ever expect to see again. You don’t want to learn anyone’s name and where they’re from and that’s pretty much the way they feel about you. For a genuinely unfriendly place, there’s a really friendly atmosphere if your definition of friendly is everyone minding his own business.

The only real word of advice someone in a transient barracks gets from someone not in a transient barracks is, “Hang in there. You won’t be here for too long.” They’ll also make a point of adding, “We’ve all been there,” and then add reassuringly, “and sooner or later, you’ll get out.” It seems that this could be the same advice given to someone entering Purgatory because there doesn’t seem to be any difference between time spent in Purgatory and time spent in a transient barracks.

Any way you look at it time spent in either Purgatory or transient barracks pretty much boils down to “dead time” and a lot of it.