Aloha

Well we just got done working out of Hawaii. It was my first time there so everything was new to me. I didn’t really know what to expect but I was pleasantly surprised! We stayed on the island of Ohau where Honolulu is located and worked out of Hickam Air Force Base, which is connected to Honolulu international airport. Hickam is directly attached to Naval Station Pearl Harbor and that is where our hotel was. Incidentally we were on Pearl for Memorial Day, which really hit home for me seeing as though so many Americans died there when were attacked by the Japanese. There were a few older buildings on Hickam that still had bullet holes on the outside from the attacking planes, amazing! Needless to say, there is a lot of history on those bases and many people to remember who lost their lives way back when.

We delivered two hits a day to the ship carrying parts for the ship(s) and airplanes, mail, and passengers.  All of our passengers are usually pretty excited to take an arrested landing and a catapult shot but some people get forced into the action.  For anybody that needs to get on or off of the ship our plane is usually the only way.  Some people don't care for airplanes, especially ones landing on and taking off from the ship.  We once had a passenger who started to freak out.  We had to calm him down by putting an oxygen mask on him.  He truly thought that he was going to die..... Honestly I felt bad for him, but I guess it is just one of those things that you are obligated to do when you join the Navy.  I however love the action on the boat.  Traps and catapult shots are awesome!  We took a pretty hefty catapult the other day that was so strong I started to black out a little… It was NIIIICE!

In order to maintain our operational readiness our airplane maintainers worked around the clock ensuring that our planes were ready to fly. That task was/is not easy though seeing as the C-2A was developed in the 1960’s. The planes are always breaking and we are always fixing them. This aspect makes our job pretty challenging because the boat always expects two hits a day no matter what the status of our planes is. So that means if one plane is broken, the other one will pick up the slack. This process is day to day and we are always having to flex. But overall, I can’t complain because even though I might have a rough day, I am still living on the beach, unlike the guys living on the ship. Each day when returning to land we were greeted with a great view of the amazing Honolulu coast line.

When were not flying or dealing with bureaucracy that Air Force liked to throw our way, we got to go explore Honolulu and Waikiki. Pearl Harbor is about a 12-minute drive from the downtown areas. There are a multitude of beaches, hotels and restaurants to explore. We went body boarding one day on the beach in Waikiki. The surf there wasn’t too bad. I hear though that on the north shore the surf can be pretty brutal. I am still waiting to learn how to surf. I guess that if I don’t learn while on deployment I can always do it back home on North Island. Hawaiian food is pretty good too! I love pork, which seems to be the specialty in Hawaii.

While in Hawaii we also me up with VRC-30 Det-3 which is just finishing up it’s deployment with the USS Nimitz. The Nimitz pulled into Pearl Harbor on its final port call. It was nice to see our squadron mates whom we hadn’t seen in a couple (5) months. We all met up and went downtown to a bar and grille called Duke’s (named after the famous surfer dude). It is located at the bottom of the Outrigger hotel. Duke’s is an open-air place right on the beach with a great view of the ocean. Mai Tai’s are the local drink specialty there (and all over Hawaii for that matter) and are very tasty if I do say so for myself!

Overall, Hawaii was a great experience. My first det site on my first Navy deployment. Good sights to see and lots of mission experience. My morale is still high on the chart! One week down, 23 to go! What’s coming next?