A wise man once told me that the woman behind the man is the woman mentioned on the vat board...behind the man! On behalf of the VP-1 Flight Engineers from half way around the world, "HAPPY BIRTHDAY NOEL!!!!" I hope you have a great birthday honey. I love you. December 23, year and age are classified...sorry.

Here is a special post to honor the men and women that roll up their sleeves and maintain the aircraft I fly. Here is their office...the hanger.

At first glance this may appear to be a game of ping pong. However, this is an important tool to measure ones worth and establish a pecking order. Now you may ask, "what does this have to do with maintenance?"...Nothing, but a happy maintainer is a productive maintainer so there!

These are the guys that keep the engines running and ensure the wings don't fall off. I like these guys...although it may appear there is a lot of lounging going on, don't be quick to judge...I took this picture during one of their union mandated breaks ;-).

Ok, my job is to put warheads on foreheads, but who's going to put warheads on my airplane? The answer; these guys...the Ordnance Men! If you like to lift heavy stuff and blow stuff up these guys might be able to help you out!

Should I be alarmed that the only shop in the hanger that has a plastic scull is the guys responsible for maintaining my personal survival gear? Maybe I'm just over reacting...


...and here is the guy responsible for the plastic scull and my survival equipment. Keep it real brother! I am a big fan of your work. To all the the maintainers of Patrol Squadron One, thank you for all your hard work.

Finally I got a break in the flight schedule and it's time to go out on the town an indulge in some local cuisine at Yoshie's sushi bar, a long standing favorite ...and yes we do have snowmen on subtropical islands.
Here is the Yoshi's spicy tuna roll with sea eel at the top for dessert. Yum! (why ruin perfectly good fish by cooking it)
You can't see it very well in this picture but some of the tables have holes in the floor below them for those of us who are not used to sitting cross legged at the table. I'm thinking they reserve those tables for us Americans. It's just a thought.

Just remember your manners and remove you shoes before dining...it's more sanitary that way...the smell of dirty feet goes well with raw fish;-D. It's a Japanese thing.

General Patton once said, "Patriotism is not dieing for your country, it's getting the other dumb bast#@! to die for his." Well general, it's good to be a patriot! I'm going hunting.

A lineman keeps the area around the aircraft safe while engines are running. These things have been known to chop up birds, animals, and Chinese aircraft! Where was the lineman then ;-D.

So Santa does come to Japan! Funny, I didn't know he had a Japanese accent.

Okay, so I'm not a photographer...but I think this picture turned out pretty darn good. Look at that big ______ plane!

No that engine is not broken, I am simply employing a simple fuel saving technique. At low altitudes it is a common practice to loiter (shut down) an engine in order to reduce our fuel burn. You should try this technique in you car. If you're burning too much fuel simply shut down one of your four engines and watch how much fuel you save!

Here is a picture from deployment past. Meet your pilots; on the left, LT Mabbit, and on the right, LT Mabbit. That's right, husband and wife. You don't see that every day. So the story behind this unusual event starts towards the end of my last deployment when LT Mabbit's squadron (on the right) was in the process of taking over for LT Mabbit's squadron (on the left) and we were tasked to fly the admiral to deja-do Korea just days before my flight back home off of deployment. There was a lot of brass on that flight to include my commanding officer, the commanding officer of VP-46 plus the boss man himself. It just goes to show that with that much brass around, anything can happen.

You may be saying to yourself, "for being deployed, there sure is a lot of playing going on", but I assure you this was business of the most serious type. This was a face off between my crew and Combat Aircrew 5. This was a duel to the death, to determine who really is the best. I'm am proud to announce that we beat them twice, but they sure put up a good fight. It's not easy being the best ;-).

Here is my family for the next six months....Combat Aircrew 10 (yeah baby!)

Home sweet home! Nothing beats geographic batcher billeting! FYI; Habu is a type of poisonous snake that lives on the island. What a great place to hang my hat...or flight suit...what ever!

After my crew finished a platter of lumpia (dog, cat, or some kind of meat, wrapped in little burrito looking things and deep fried...yummy!) we discovered the platter this amazing dish came on had certain aerodynamic qualities. Pictured is my IFT (In Flight Technician) demonstrating his "discus" pose in lieu of our intense on board game of Frisbee.

Some pictures are worth the trouble one goes through (or gets into).

So this is the face of my wife, Noel, while I'm on deployment. Thank God for web cams! Isn't she pretty? Right now she is talking me through the "blog set up" procedures. Smart and pretty! I sure am a luck guy.

Welcome to My Blog

Hey everyone! After much persuasion my beloved wife has talked me into starting my own blog. Because I love her and it is in my best interest to keep her happy, and because I live an exciting fun-filled life packed with adventure, danger, and romance; I have decided to share my experiences with you via my blog (all except the romance, that's private!). So Enjoy!

Here is my new blog. I don't have anything to post right now, but give me time.