Sometimes we need to take a moment and reflect on the things that are NOT; and be grateful! For example, I am grateful I am NOT a crewman on this HS-53. Although it is very cool and one of the most powerful helicopters in the world, its glide slope during an engine failure or heaven forbid a gearbox failure is not so impressive. They also have a wonderful tendency to roll over and sink quickly in the event of a ditch. However, these babies are impressive and are used to transport troops and equipment into battle. When I say equipment I mean like Humvee's, armored transports, large guns...you know, big stuff! The most impressive aspect of this aircraft...

...it folds up nice and neat to be tucked away when we are all done with it. Next thing you know it'll fold up into a brief case so you can carry with you on your way to work at Spacely Sprockets!

This is my "nugget" AE3 Jenson (that is how we refer to our unqualified engineers). She has proven to be a pretty good protege and is promising to become one of VP-1's better flight engineers. The book she is reading that looks a lot like a giant coffee table bible is our flight manual and we are required to have most of it committed to memory. My job is to make sure Ms. Jenson is very familiar with the contents of that manual. So our flights go something like this; "Hey Jenson, how many engines do we have on this plane?" "Hold on AD1, I'll look it up!". This dramatization was highly simplified to enhance your comprehension of the events that actually take place in flight!

Alright, some of you have been giving me a lot of grief because I haven't posted on my blog in a while. I won't mention any names Noel, but I am here to prove I have been busy protecting the constitution of the United States against all enemies foreign and domestic. For example, do you see the boat in this picture? We are flying about 200 ft above this boat. You know that the fishermen on this boat are going to have to clean out their undershorts after my GIANT plane came screaming by at 200 knots. And do you know what they saw when they looked up? "NAVY" painted right on the side of the aircraft. That fisherman will think twice before messing with us! Consider yourself protected.


I know, enough with the pictures of an engine shut down already! I just never get enough of the fact that this is a standard practice of ours.


This is from the back of the plane looking toward the flight station. I can't tell you what any of this stuff does so don't ask! Just kidding. The plastic cylinders with the brass nubs sticking out of them are sono-buoys. We shoot them out of the plane and listen for things in the water... you know, like underwater things...OK submarines!!

The best part of being a flight engineer is the rack in the foreground is the pilot's and the one in the back is mine! Works out well on those long 12 hour flights through the night. When you are responsible for safety-of-flight, you get a place to sleep!

I know what you are thinking, Stan is using his Jedi powers to levitate the aircraft so maintenance can repair the landing gear. Close! Actually the plane is on jacks; really big jacks, and this is a procedure that is required any time you change a component of the landing gear.



So this is all fine and dandy, but what actually happened to place an aircraft up on jacks, in the hanger, with its landing gear in a compromising position?

This is a landing gear door, and the rod that is broken in half is responsible for closing this particular landing gear door. The manufacture does not issue these rods in this condition; this one is broken. Guess who found it like this...yep and to think, I was getting ready to take the plane up for a test flight!


OK, I know this picture looks like I slaughtered my crew. Although the thought has crossed my mind I have decided against that course of action. This is what it looks like when you have preflighted your second plane for the night, it's close to midnight and #2 engine failed to start because it's spewing fuel all over the ground. Yes, the fluid on the deck is not blood, its fuel. So now you know why I have not had the time to update my blog. Remember; terrorist beware!!!!

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!

Welcome to the first annual VP-1 Screaming Eagles fashion show! We have lots of new and exciting outfits to strut the hanger deck in style so just sit back and enjoy! Here our CMC shows off a new line of military casual wear. Note the swimmies and snorkel to accessorize this stunning ensemble.

Terra shows off the latest in semi-formal beach/rain wear. Note the sleek lines and color coordination. You go sister with your bling-bling! This will certainly turn some heads and attract the kind of attention you deserve!

Alright...you caught me horsing around. What do all of these individuals have in common? They all won a popularity contest! That's right. You know the kind where you put your favorite person on a list to take part in a plane wash and then back it up with some green. Well these people really know how to bring in the green!
And here is our group of celebrities. You may be asking yourself why I'm not standing there...well, people like me! Actually I won the contest last deployment. Yep, nothing more fun than washing a plane...except maybe slamming your finger in the door!

P.S. If you haven't figured it out yet...I'm back in Japan...

This place is a local favorite. Great food and atmosphere, let me introduce you to our chef.

Chef Rico starts out with some potatoes and onions, yum.

So I'll bet your wondering how I knew my chef's name. Well, my investigative skills are highly refined. And the egg was a good clue too.


If your chef arranges your fried rice into a heart shape it can only mean one of two things, either he wants your phone number or a good tip!

It's hard to believe that explosion on the grill is my steak...and it was gooooooooood!

After a while chef Rico taught me some of the tricks of the trade. Let me just say based on the final destination of that bowl of rice, I think I'll stick with airplanes!


...and this is my sensor 3 radar operator...yeah... We are so proud of him!

So today my crew decided to blow off some steam at the go-cart track and we had a blast! There are some differences between American cart tracks and the third world tracks. You'll get a better sense of this as you look further into this post.

I got the mean, green machine! It was pretty fast and handled in the corners pretty well. It is an unwritten rule that the foot never comes off of the gas pedal in the world of go-carts...unless you're a pansy, then its okay.

Look closely, yes that is a goat in the middle of the track. How to tell you're in the third world lesson one; goats are everywhere!

Lesson two; the goats family is forever enshrined in the furniture. Dude, this bench really bites!

Lesson three; Although one may be so inclined to blame the condition of this cart on my navigator's driving skills (notice the steering wheel bent forward and the front tires slightly out of alignment; oh yeah, and the giant dent in the front bumper), we can look to lesson four for more wisdom on this subject.


Lesson four; never trust the maintenance practices of an organization that can't be sued! This rod is responsible for connecting the steering wheel to the front tires. In the picture it simply came unbolted, not broken...UNBOLTED!!!, which put my navigator in a ditch on the other side of the tire fence with the cart on top of him at about 35 mph...OUCH! He's pretty shakin up, but I think he'll live. Funny, when track owner saw what the problem was he let us go without paying for damages to his cart! Image that, what a guy.

Here is a little something I put together for all of you who have faithfully visited my blog. I hope you enjoy!

Even on this side of the world we can still get a live feed of the Superbowl! We had a little party at work with TONS of food. Funny thing is there are a lot of guys with the stomach flu so there was a lot of food left over. Unfortunately, I was only able to catch the last part of the fourth quarter which was the defining moment in the game anyway! Go Giants! What do you think life in Vegas is like right now?