tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7684531976778247960.post7786406265400214840..comments2024-03-29T02:32:07.583-07:00Comments on Chant du Départ: Under the Sea!OldAFSargehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15935839956936191547noreply@blogger.comBlogger32125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7684531976778247960.post-15602369564551543842016-11-23T06:24:26.938-08:002016-11-23T06:24:26.938-08:00Ooh,ooh, pick me! I know the answer to that one!Ooh,ooh, pick me! I know the answer to that one!juvathttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09096708575138552532noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7684531976778247960.post-32258656643132371152016-11-22T14:13:15.659-08:002016-11-22T14:13:15.659-08:00And I read somewhere (sorry, can't remember wh...And I read somewhere (sorry, can't remember where) that some suspect the local government was in collusion with some large nation-state that thinks it owns everything in that area of the world. Unfortunately, that would not surprise me one bit.Andrewnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7684531976778247960.post-6647548626851618382016-11-22T13:34:47.324-08:002016-11-22T13:34:47.324-08:00On Kwajalein Island there is a memorial cemetery p...On Kwajalein Island there is a memorial cemetery put in place by Japan in the '60s. Any non-American body fragment found on the island when I was there went to that memorial. A peaceful and beautiful memorial to the 7,800+ Japanese and Koreans killed during the island invasion, many who were just vaporized by the fierce artillery barrage (Kwaj was where the lessons learned from Bloody Tarawa were first used. Point blank fire from navy ships and island based army units literally flattened the island, grinding much of the buildings and surface into sand and dust.)<br /><br />On Roi-Namur, there is a memorial put in place for the Japanese dead by Americans.<br /><br />Civilized people do that. They fight tooth and nail against their foes, then, when the struggle is over and peace restored, respect the enemy dead or alive. I fear we will never fight a civilized opponent again.Andrewnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7684531976778247960.post-88447491994464313002016-11-22T13:18:13.909-08:002016-11-22T13:18:13.909-08:00The steel from the guns, armor, engines are actual...The steel from the guns, armor, engines are actually pretty protected by the corrosive layer of rust. And there's all that bronze and other metals lying around also.<br /><br />I believe Juvat may be somewhat referring to the missing ships of the Battle of the Java Sea. An ad-hoc task force of British and Royal Dutch ships was sunk by IJN forces in February, 1942, and then the location was pinpointed in 2008. When a group of Dutch went to prepare the site for a memorial, they found the vessels missing. <br /><br />Here are two sites that list the details:<br />all-that-is-interesting(AT)com/three-sunken-ships<br />livescience(At)com/56965-wwii-shipwrecks-vanish-after-illegal-plundering<br /><br />Nothing is sacred anymore. What's next, breaking into the ossuaries at Verdun for the calcium? Savages. Total savages.Andrewnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7684531976778247960.post-12336630069368543902016-11-22T11:09:25.853-08:002016-11-22T11:09:25.853-08:00Wouldn't the steel be pretty corroded?Wouldn't the steel be pretty corroded?juvathttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09096708575138552532noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7684531976778247960.post-89139737106478904472016-11-22T11:07:07.781-08:002016-11-22T11:07:07.781-08:00Just as an aside- I read that some WWII wrecks are...Just as an aside- I read that some WWII wrecks are disappearing. Apparently pre-nuclear age steel is worth quite a bit since it isn't contaminated with any radioactive material that is found in most steel today, so the salvage companies are scooping it up and selling to instrument manufacturers.Tunahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04930237104692982421noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7684531976778247960.post-5221755701982858012016-11-22T05:57:07.598-08:002016-11-22T05:57:07.598-08:00Old NFO, I hear the tropics calling!
Andrew and S...Old NFO, I hear the tropics calling!<br /><br />Andrew and Scott, The Japanese Memorial garden on the south tip of Okinawa was very moving and the view of the Pacific off the cliffs from there was Peaceful. Quite unlike the battle itself.juvathttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09096708575138552532noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7684531976778247960.post-9428432774737480332016-11-21T20:47:39.420-08:002016-11-21T20:47:39.420-08:00As, indeed, they should!As, indeed, they should!SCOTTtheBADGERhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12859188068159799373noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7684531976778247960.post-73914608082169201622016-11-21T17:43:31.942-08:002016-11-21T17:43:31.942-08:00Dang stupid fingers. AF Major father. My AF Majo...Dang stupid fingers. AF Major father. My AF Major father. Gahhhh.<br /><br />And Johnston Island was shelled in the '40s. Double-Gahhhhh.Andrewnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7684531976778247960.post-66911451524542105692016-11-21T17:33:48.604-08:002016-11-21T17:33:48.604-08:00Truk Lagoon. The place that got Jacques Cousteau ...Truk Lagoon. The place that got Jacques Cousteau banned from Japan for life. Seems that episode of his tv show where they enter the submarine and see all the bones was, well, they moved the bones from all over the sub for the shots.<br /><br />Japan takes moving their war-dead very seriously.Andrewnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7684531976778247960.post-20658734197414847302016-11-21T17:24:54.057-08:002016-11-21T17:24:54.057-08:00What I Did On My Summer Vacation, or, Fabulous Joh...What I Did On My Summer Vacation, or, Fabulous Johnston Island!<br /><br />Okay, so there we were, June, 1970, flying from Honolulu to Kwajalein in a military chartered 707 (stewardesses included in the rental agreement) when about halfway there, some Army (or Air Force) security officer gets on the intercom and tells everyone to close their sunshades and keep them closed (this was punctuated by 2 armed MPs, one on either end of airplane (and how did they go unnoticed for so long to the small household ape that I was?)) Also was the comment that bathrooms will be closed in 10 minutes. Huh?<br /><br />15 minutes later the plane lands and brakes hard, accompanied by the sound of reverse thrusters. Plane stops, we hear sounds of something being dragged over top of the main door area, and we are all escorted off the plane onto a set of covered airport stairs into covered busses (unairconditioned school type) and driven to a place that had a covered entrance into a covered building with no bathrooms (that I recall) and no windows. We were there for about an hour(or so it seems) sitting on wonderful military issue hard wooden chairs, without my AF Major officer (???) And then the whole covered process reversed itself. <br /><br />Plane takes off, hard (which was probably easier as it seems about a quarter of the passengers were missing)(comment from Dad was, "Shut up and quit looking.") 15 minutes out we are kindly allowed to open the shades and go back to gazing upon unending ocean and clouds. Lots of ocean, lots of clouds.<br /><br />Years later Dad told us that was fabulous Johnston Island. So now I can legitimately say I've been to a place that got attacked by both foe and friend (shelled by Japanese in the '40, bombed by us twice with thermonuclear devices (sort of, kinda, look it up, it's vaguely disturbing.)<br /><br />I get the feeling that any further and substantial information on that stop will be available for public perusal sometime after the heat-death of the universe.<br /><br />So many of my earlier childhood memories are like that. Strangly surreal, not really making sense, until, bing, the pieces fall into somewhat place many years later. Like why when my dad was first assigned to Vandenburg AFB, we lived in lovely Santa Maria. Dad said the hills between blocked the bad weather. So when we moved onto the base later (due to duty responsibilities he said later,) I noticed really no difference in the weather, but never got a decent answer. Years later I realized that he meant from the primary effects of a nuke attack. Also explained why he rented a house with a basement when the other houses next to us only had crawl spaces. Hmmm.Andrewnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7684531976778247960.post-42633798159984664772016-11-21T15:48:48.375-08:002016-11-21T15:48:48.375-08:00Too funny! And Truk Lagoon IS worth the trip, if y...Too funny! And Truk Lagoon IS worth the trip, if you ever get the chance!Old NFOhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16404197287935017147noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7684531976778247960.post-30334061576862290412016-11-21T14:41:39.931-08:002016-11-21T14:41:39.931-08:00Yeah, that would take a bit of mental discipline t...Yeah, that would take a bit of mental discipline to navigate. <br />I never understood claustrophobia until I got put in the box at the Camp during Survival School. Thought I was going to lose it until I got my hand out of my box and into the box above me, which was unoccupied. That was all it took to get back under control. Funny how the mind works.juvathttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09096708575138552532noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7684531976778247960.post-63460223117507317432016-11-21T14:37:01.342-08:002016-11-21T14:37:01.342-08:00Not sure if it was the same hill, but directly acr...Not sure if it was the same hill, but directly across the street from our second base house (the first got flooded) was a hill that was nicknamed Habu Hill. My son and I hiked to the top of it and it did have a nice view of the runways. Coming back down we found a few fox holes, but decided not to investigate them other than what we could see from several yards away. It was an interesting assignment.juvathttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09096708575138552532noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7684531976778247960.post-67674200365569546092016-11-21T14:26:08.475-08:002016-11-21T14:26:08.475-08:00Thanks, Me too!Thanks, Me too!juvathttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09096708575138552532noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7684531976778247960.post-18281373789815609452016-11-21T14:25:11.731-08:002016-11-21T14:25:11.731-08:00I think that will make a remarkable tale. Looking...I think that will make a remarkable tale. Looking forward to it. We sat through that video when my family arrived on Okinawa also. My 3 year old son took me down to the beach one night after I got home. While there he showed my a 81mm shell he and the nanny had found. Unexploded. Called EOD, they said they'd get there as soon as they could, but they were excavating 2 2000lb bombs from downtown Naha. Priorities don't you know.juvathttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09096708575138552532noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7684531976778247960.post-24782992838575191012016-11-21T14:07:39.693-08:002016-11-21T14:07:39.693-08:00Once upon a time, I sat up on Habu Hill to take pi...Once upon a time, I sat up on Habu Hill to take pictures of the Habu mission taking off. (We got the frag ord two days before the mission, so I was ready!) About halfway into a roll of Fujifilm, a truckload of SPs showed up. There was some discussion, and I wore my cover a little funny for a while, waiting for the knot on my head to subside. They didn't break my camera, but did expose all the film.<br /><br />Next time, I sat out on the sea wall, off the end of the runway, and took my pictures.<br /><br />Thanks for bring back some fond (and not so fond) memories!Retired Spookhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07162727356116384883noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7684531976778247960.post-10183945625198407692016-11-21T13:27:57.618-08:002016-11-21T13:27:57.618-08:00Sounds like another application of that adage: You...Sounds like another application of that adage: You can get it good, fast, or cheap. Pick 2.<br /><br />That picture of the drainage pipes reminded me of an informational show on USMC Boot Camp. I don't remember if it was a standard obstacle course or part of the Crucible, but they had a drainage pipe tilted down into a small "pond" of water, covering the end. Now I'm not particularly claustrophobic, nor do I have a problem with swimming underwater, but trying to navigate that obstacle while maintaining proper firearm discipline has me feeling like I'd get stuck with my head under water. Which, of course, is why these courses are confidence builders.<br /><br />Bruce JonesAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7684531976778247960.post-40082792763325338812016-11-21T12:30:13.722-08:002016-11-21T12:30:13.722-08:00Great post, as usual. Looking forward to Andrew&#...Great post, as usual. Looking forward to Andrew's story.<br /><br />Paul L. QuandtAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7684531976778247960.post-29221504417276735142016-11-21T12:12:34.558-08:002016-11-21T12:12:34.558-08:00When you mentioned the 'pipes' I got a col...When you mentioned the 'pipes' I got a cold tingling feeling where that was going to end up. Little issue with Japanese ordinance is that they used an explosive compound that becomes more volatile due to age and exposure to salt water. <br /><br />Because of the knowledge imparted to me within the first 10 minutes of landing at Kwajalein, which was a 15-30 minute slide presentation of "THIS WILL KILL YOU". more was more of a checklist for the kids and a complete horror show for the parents - everything from stonefish (step on this and you die in 30 seconds) to, yes, unexploded ordinance) I was cognizant of the dangers of UXB.<br /><br />So I was snorkeling at one of the islands north of Ebeye at Kwaj Atoll and found a whole case of Jap grenades. Employing emergency backup procedures, I promptly backed right up onto some fire coral. And, in the ancient days of the early '70s, the only treatment was either a jug of vinegar or being pissed on by every male in the dive party.<br /><br />One of the wrecks on the lagoon side of Kwajalein island was "O" wreck, which had a vast supply of battleship rounds within its holds. Once in a while, one of those would get dislodged and roll away and go 'boom', tossing up a nice column of water, dead fish and at the wrong time of the year, Portugese man-o-war. Not fun. Wreck was well marked and everyone who borrowed a boat from the MWR people were cautioned to stand far off of the location.<br /><br />Sharks weren't a problem as long as you could see them. People were cautioned not to swim in murky water. Murky being less than 30' visibility (seriously). Lagoon was noted for having minimal 60-100' visibility on normal days. Black-tips, white-tips, they all acted like fat lazy dogs for the most part. We were told to leave them alone and they would reciprocated. Only one person got bit while I was there, due to alcohol and a stupid wish to try to feed the shark for a photo op (he was roundly considered a complete dumb-ass by everyone.)<br /><br />At the ocean side of Kwaj island, there used to be a restaurant with a pier that went almost out to the edge of the reef. On really low tide days you could go out there and if the waves were quiet, gaze down at the sharks swimming 150' below you. Reef stopped somewhere around the 2,000' or so level. Like looking at the edge of the world, just went down for ever and ever. Mesmerizing.<br /><br />At super low tide, you could go walking on the reef, collecting all sorts of animal life (that would kill you) from killer snails to killer fish. If you got hot you just go swimming in a shell or bomb crater in the reef.<br /><br />And I thought this was a normal childhood, until my dad retired and we settled down south of Patrick AFB.<br /><br />One of these days I'll give you my story on my hour long stay at Johnson Island. Fun times, fun times...Andrewnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7684531976778247960.post-24386753687942168192016-11-21T11:09:06.773-08:002016-11-21T11:09:06.773-08:00Yes, he does and I'm pretty certain that I abu...Yes, he does and I'm pretty certain that I abused his patience in those categories more than a few times.juvathttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09096708575138552532noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7684531976778247960.post-8885090715259776712016-11-21T11:08:26.424-08:002016-11-21T11:08:26.424-08:00Thanks CW! Didn't see any sharks any of the p...Thanks CW! Didn't see any sharks any of the places I snorkled (Oki, Guam, Hawaii), but knew they were there somewhere. Course I didn't snorkle anywhere the vis wasn't good either.juvathttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09096708575138552532noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7684531976778247960.post-38427995750230487842016-11-21T10:33:27.526-08:002016-11-21T10:33:27.526-08:00Great story Juvat. Brings back some memories (&quo...Great story Juvat. Brings back some memories ("nah, they won't bother you unless you act like a wounded seal...").<br /><br />The lord looks out for fools and drunks...up to a point!PrairieAdventurehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06466447251827774900noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7684531976778247960.post-42549413293223189492016-11-21T09:29:40.224-08:002016-11-21T09:29:40.224-08:00Got several good laughs out of that, thanks!
Had ...Got several good laughs out of that, thanks!<br /><br />Had a buddy school who was into diving, until he started reading shark attack stories. Pretty soon, he'd only go in fresh water. Then, he decided to sand the paint scratches out of his tank, and because of that the dive shop wouldn't fill it any more. That ended his diving career, probably for the best.c w swansonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02735507642689652780noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7684531976778247960.post-71060594030032455902016-11-21T06:54:48.082-08:002016-11-21T06:54:48.082-08:00Thanks,
When I got to Army CGSC, I got introduced ...Thanks,<br />When I got to Army CGSC, I got introduced to one of their <i>Bon Mots</i>, "If you want it bad, you get it bad!" Applicable in this case.juvathttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09096708575138552532noreply@blogger.com