Now don't jump to conclusions...this is not a modified P-3; it's a C-2 Cod. This is the plane you want to see if you ever find yourself floating around on one of those aircraft carriers. This aircraft represents either a ride off of the boat or transportation of mail onto the boat. Either way, these guys are a lot like Santa Clause year around. I know what you are saying, your saying, "Stan how good can a plane be if the darn wing is broken?". Well, believe it or not it's designed to do that! They can fit a lot more planes on a carrier deck if the wings fold up. Right, just one more thing to go wrong in flight! "Sir! we seem to be loosing altitude!" "Well no kidding, you forgot to unfold the wings!" That's a conversation I could do without; however, the P-3 does have a red guarded wing jettison switch in the flight station...hmmm, better leave that switch alone!

Well I promised to post some pictures when something exciting happened to me and out of the blue an opportunity to take a trip to a couple must see spots on Okinawa opened up. This is Shaikinaen, an Inn where royalty would house and entertain their guests.

This is one of the main rooms in the Inn. It looks pretty cool but the walls are paper-thin! HA!!

Outside I found Yertle the Turtle of Solla-ma-sond. I'm not quite sure if he is king of this pond!

In true Japanese, I'm sorry, Okinawan' style(the people of Okinawa do not consider themselves Japanese), shoes must be removed before going inside. I should have worn my flip-flops. Yes honey, my new socks already have holes in them!! :-).
I was fortunate enough to be there at the same time a wedding party was showing up. The bride and groom were gracious enough to allow me to take a picture. American tourists...man!

Before our next stop we had lunch at the mall. This my friends is fast food Okinawa style! Delicious noodles and beef with sprouts and ginger cooked up on the grill before my very eyes. The dish on the left is octopus balls. Now let's keep it G-rated gang! This dish has nothing in common with Rocky Mountain Oysters! Oh, and the drink is Green Tea Soda.
Shurijo Castle...perhaps the most rebuilt structure on the island. This structure has been burned down and rebuilt four times! Not to mention it was reduced to rubble when the Japanese invaded and again during WWII. What you are seeing here is what was rebuilt after WWII. It is an important symbol to the Okinawans' and is considered a national treasure. With this kind of history I'll bet it is real hard to keep an insurance company...maybe they should switch to Geico!

So my buddy Jeremy and I noticed that every time the locals take pictures of each other they flash the peace sign. So we thought we would blend in a little...Oh yeah, that's the King's throne in the background!
Hey! Who is that guy? I don't know but his face sure rings a bell! This bell is called Tomoya or the "Bridge to the Nations Bell".
This guy is the local sheriff in town keepin' law an order in these parts. He guards the Kobiki gate to ensure tourists strictly adhere to the law of the land.

Afterwards we went to the AC/DC concert and totally rocked out!! No these guys aren't AC/DC, they were the opening band, "Boys to Men";-). Alright, that's not true either. This was a little production of Japanese theater, don't ask me what it's called...I don't know, but it was pretty cool and I got to hang out back stage with the band after the show...right!
I can neither confirm nor deny allegations of impersonating a lion statue outside the Zuisen gate. I don't know what the definition "is" is and I refuse to comment further.
How to win friends and influence peo...well...water foul?? "Hey mister ducky you sure do have a nice bill!" Well, its a start anyway. So if you like to go sit in the park and feed the birds, who do you feed when the birds decide to sit with you? All in all it was a great day. I have been deployed to this area three times and this is the first time I ventured out to absorb this much culture. There is a lot of history here and I highly recommend it if you are ever in the area.

Alright! There is a nasty rumor going around about me not doing any work on deployment. You know who you are and don't even try to deny it! I would just like to prove with this simple picture that I am in fact working my tail to the bone. Do you see any toys or play things in this picture? NO! Just work stuff! Work, work, work, work!!! And this poor gentleman comes to me, why? Because he doesn't know how a P-3 works. So I'm showing him how it "works". See, lots of work...nothing but work. Man I'm tired.

Ahhh...a meal fit for a king sitting atop a grand dining table with only the finest cutlery. By the way that is the same knife I clean fish with and perform light maintenance on my aircraft!

Now watch as the king rules his domain...all 70 square feet of it! Well, cheers!

Emma and Daddy loving the great outdoors.
Torrey and Daddy having a great time!

My little girls have been reminding me that I haven't posted anything on my blog for a while. Well, I don't have any recent pictures but I do have some pictures of a hike I took the girls on just before deployment. I hope this will do.



So my beloved wife has asked me to participate in a questioner that originated on her friends blog and so on and so forth and you get the picture. So to ensure continued martial bless I have agreed to this rather "girly" activity. I only hope that I will still maintain my masculinity and dignity and that no one will hurt my feelings and make me cry!

What is your full name? Stanton Allmen Culbertson; although my middle name was supposed to be, Allman, but there was a little typo on my birth certificate. I was named after my two grandfathers Stan and Allman. My Grandfather on my mom's side was actually Edwin Stanton Miller the II but that's too snooty of a name for a Naval flight engineer! It's like having a guy named "Charles of Exxon" change the oil in your car. No thanks! Have Chuck do the work. No offense Charles.

How long have we been married? 8 or 9 years or so but who's really counting? Can't we all just live in the now? I'm glad I've got the most wonderful woman in the universe to stand by my side and keep track of such things. :-D

What is your dream job? A P-3 orion flight engineer! Oh, I'm sorry, I miss-understood the question. I thought you said "ream job"...my bad! Ok, I'll try again. I think a float plane pilot/flyfishing guide.

What is your favorite Car? A 57 Chevy Bel Air, two door, hard top with a tricked out 350 under the hood all restored by yours truly!

What is your claim to fame? This is a tough one. I have accomplished so much "fame" worthy stuff in my life. Like I threw my mother-in-law out of my sailboat, I have a special affection for cats!!! (like in my gun sights), I am extremely anal (just look at my toolbox), but I think the kicker is my wife is friends with the scrapbooker of the year.

What do you like to do? I love to hang out with my family. We just got a new camper so I'm really looking forward to spending some quality time with them in the woods after this deployment.

What's your biggest fear? Failure...but my first biggest fear is something happening to my family while I'm overseas.

What animal describes you? A cat! Just kidding. A Honey Badger. I'm stubborn and I must achieve my objective even if it kills me.

If you could live in any era which one would it be? The late 1700's because I would have loved to be part of the forming of our country.

What is your guiltiest pleasure? I love to wash the car. I know...weird! Think about it. I get to fire up the pressure washer, play in my garage with all of my tools, watch the kids play in the water and try to stand up when they use the pressure washer and at the end of it all my car has bling bling!!

What do you love about your spouse? Everything! Even the things that drive me crazy I love. Most of all she always bring a smile to my face and keeps me from taking myself too seriously. She reminds me to take a breath and enjoy the simple things in life. And she is HOT!!!

I don't have any tags so there!