Aloha! Rim Pac in Hawaii

[DMan]

Hi all,

I'm in the 2nd week of our Det to Hawaii with my Marine Hornet squadron here in K-Bay! The weather is nice (I have a nice farmer's arms now!) and it rains everyday! It can be sunny in one minute and 5 minutes later comes this shower out of nowhere, we are pretty used to that now. You should see us Plane Captains running to close the canopies (well, not anymore, we in Powerline are not that dumb after all, now the canopies remain closed until launch).

I saw a lot of P-3s here (Lt. John Wickham, are you one of them?), even Canadian, Japanese and Aussies P-3s. Saw tons of helos (this is a Marine Corps Base) and some C-130s. My squadron have been flying CAS (Close Air Support) exercises in the islands, dropping bombs and shooting drones. They even did a few dogfighting with the Air Force F-16s. (We kicked their a$$es from what I heard).

Let me tell you what, if you're single and actually can afford a car, this is where you want to be stationed at! From talking to people stationed here in Hawaii, it got old pretty quick but I think there are tons of places worse than here. The night scene is awesome, with so many bars and club in Waikiki. We've been going out almost every night and working long hours (12-15 a day, Oohrah Air Wing!)

The pilots took some awesome pictures for us in the air, hopefully will get a chance to share with you guys when I get back to CONUS next week.

Meanwhile, as they like to say it here in the Rainbow state, Hang Loose!

DMan

 

[cubsfan79]

DMan,

Oahu is the greatest, I was out in K-Bay last summer for my first class NROTC cruise with VP-4 (Skinny Dragons). The only bad thing about K-bay was the BOQ room and the cochroaches I slept with, but I guess that is sort of a Navy standard. Enjoy it while your there, make sure you hit the beach on base. You have to cross the runway to get to it but it's very nice, good break if you surf. As far as Waikiki, make sure you hit up Dukes on Sunday afternoons, lots of aviators go there, at least from the P-3 side of the house, good drink deals and such...lots of fun. Have fun out there, be safe.

 

[webmaster]

quote:I saw a lot of P-3s here (Lt. John Wickham, are you one of them?), even Canadian, Japanese and Aussies P-3s.

Yes, our squadron is out there on the line. In fact, you guys were parked behind our squadron earlier this week (behind Hangar 4), and then you guys got moved I guess. Things are quite hectic and insane with that many helos, P3s, C130s and F18s on the ramp.

Hope you enjoy Hawaii and definitely get out and about when you have time!

 

[corsair17]

goddamn you guys are making me droool!
are there any naval air stations around? Whats stationed there?

 

[DMan]

Corsair17,

I'm not 100 percent sure about this, but I think the only other Naval Base in Hawaii is NAVSTA Pearl Harbor and it's not an air base. There are, however, Navy squadrons stationed at MCB-Hawaii/MCAF Kaneohe Bay: P-3s, C-130s (Navy or Marine Corps?), C-20s, and helos (SH-60s). As for Marines: Helos (CH-53s), C-12s and C-130s? I might need Lt. John Wickham to verify this.

Everybody else,

I just got back from beautiful Hawaii last week. It was overall a good and successful Det. Only complaints were: K-Bay was kinda far away from the rest of Oahu, like Waikiki, cab ride was $40 one-way and make sure you get on the cab company called "The Cab" or you will have to walk from the front gate to your barracks. If you can afford to keep a car, all power to you.

cubsfan79, if you think BOQ was bad, try to stay at one of the last remaining squadbays, it was filthy but it's okay, we are Marines and we take pride in staying at junk yards like that. The last complaint was that we didn't get any days off, just half day on July 4th. But we still managed to go out and have fun, and nobody got into trouble.

Working in DACALA (spelling?) (that's why we were moved away from the Hangar Bays) with live bombs and missiles on deck was fun, gave us a real sense of combat. We got a lot of training (both for pilots and maintenance crew) done, our jets even got to be in Bruce Willis new movie coming out next summer (we did a fly-by for him) and he ended up funding our luau (didn't get to meet him though).

Well, too bad there's no Hornet squadron stationed there, which is what I want. But I have to say this again, I don't mind being stationed here! I kinda miss that place!

Aloha,
DMan

 

[Hudson]

I was stationed on Schofield in the middle of Oahu when I was in the Army as a vulcan gunner. We would go to Kbay and track the f-18s and to Barbers Point NAS and track the P3s on aproach and take off. Good memories
Hudson

 

[Valion310]

(Excerpt from the shop to shop bitchbox
"Lineshack - Maintenance."

"Go Maintenance."

"Get your CENSORED CENSORED CENSORED out and get my CENSORED CENSORED CENSORED CENSORED canopies close!"

"Rogg." (Everyone looks around) "Trainee's - !"

Hey Dman,
Sound familiar? We learned real quick not to open them until our pilots walked and isn't it just so much fun trying to get all the water out of the consoles while a pilot is walking? LOL Do me a favor and give the APU pump in the main mount a nice kick in the arse next time a pilot dumps it during start up, who ever invented that pump should be exicuted! I hated pumping it! Anyway, PC's rulz! (ex-PC from VFA on E coast.)

"Tally1 - Fox2 -- Good kill! Good kill!"

Valion310 out-
quote:

It can be sunny in one minute and 5 minutes later comes this shower out of nowhere, we are pretty used to that now. You should see us Plane Captains running to close the canopies (well, not anymore, we in Powerline are not that dumb after all, now the canopies remain closed until launch).





Edited by - Valion310 on 08/06/2002 00:29:21