We were met by the Executive Officer (a captain), who had come out to pick up the
courier material, and were transported to the base in a jeep with all of the other stuff
bouncing along behind in the jeep's trailer. Since our route was through the town, I
got my first look at Sinop, at that time considerably smaller than the 16,000 figure
quoted for 1973. I would estimate that the total population in 1957 was probably
3000 to 5000.  There was one huge fortress that caught my attention which turned
out to be a Turkish Federal Prison. 

This being March, the top of The Hill was mist-shrouded, adding to the almost 
surreal feeling. There were few "permanent-type" structures on the hill at that time.
The BOQ, the enlisted club, a supply warehouse, the Orderly Room, the 
mess hall, the dispensary, a crudely-built theater where 16MM movies were shown
and where monthly "training" classes were held, and the operations building were
finished. Within 15 days of my arrival, the NCO club was completed. When I use the
term "permanent-type" buildings, I'm referring to wooden structures, mostly with
concrete floors. I'm sure that all of those buildings were gone by 1973. 

Our quarters were Jamesway huts, which are nothing more than small, canvas-
covered Quonset huts. Each hut held four men, each man provided with a metal 
GI cot, a footlocker, and a doweled rack about three feet long on which to hang
a few clothes. Senior NCO's [E7] were billeted either singly or two to a hut. In the
center of each hut was a cannon heater, a coal-burning stove about a foot and a 
half in diameter that, while not keeping the hut warm, at least allowed you to take 
off your field jacket when you were inside. The huts did have wooden floors, but
the "incessant" wind quoted in The Hallmark story, and the muddy conditions in 
winter, worked to keep the floors dirty. That same wind, beating against the 
canvas of the huts, kept an almost constant "plop-plop" sound going all 
winter.