I went to a “Yakiniku” restaurant in Yomitan city in Okinawa, Japan where you literally grill your own food. “Yaki” means to grill and “niku” means meat. So you go to this restaurant and choose which kinds of meat and vegetables you want and then they put some coals in the grill and bring you what you’ve ordered. Typically they will bring a bowl of rice too. Then you cook your food and enjoy your dinner. These are great restaurants to have a beer while you cook. What man doesn’t like to grill and drink a beer?
Cook Your Own Food Restaurant
Okinawa Route 58
Driving up route 58 in Okinawa near the East China Sea and Kadena marina.
Kadena Circuit Actions
Kadena circuit actions airman hard at work.
Pallet Building
During Joint military exercise Cobra Gold here are some United States Airmen building a pallet at the Wing 1 exercise complex in Korat, Thailand.
First Thai Kickboxing Experience
While in Thailand for joint military exercise Cobra Gold I took the opportunity to see a live Muay Thai kickboxing event. During the event they started out with the lower weight classes and worked their way up to the main event fight. From my observations the lower age and weight class fighters were primarily just trying to get points, but as the skill level got higher you could clearly see the fighters were trying to knock each other out. It was a really neat experience to take in the Thai culture through this sporting event. Unfortunately at the time I did not have a high quality digital camera, so these are the best photos I was able to take.
Deutsches Haus
After a 12 hour shift and then a 1 hour bus ride back to the hotel, during Cobra Gold 2000 in Nakhon Ratashima, Thailand I enjoyed going out to a local restaurant called the Deutsches Haus. It was owned by the nicest German man named George. George would cook up some good food, sing karaoke, and he always kept the beer cold.
One night George even closed down his shop to go out to a popular local establishment called “Unique” and have some fun and watch the entertainment.
Navy F-18’s at Cobra Gold 2000
During Joint Military exercise Cobra Gold 2000 the U.S. Navy had some F-18 hornet’s on the flight line at Wing 1 of Korat air base in Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand.
Cobra Gold 2000 Technical Control
After a 12 hour shift this Technical Control airman is waiting to go back to the hotel during Cobra Gold 2000 in Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand.
Welcome to Thailand
This is my first time ever to Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand I took a couple photos looking out of my hotel room window to see what Korat had to offer. Then I decided to go for a walk to see for myself. While walking down the street there was a guy riding an elephant, so I asked him if I could take photo.
Joint Military Exercise Cobra Gold
Here is a group photo of the communications team that was taken during the joint military exercise Cobra Gold that was held in the kingdom of Thailand.
DISN Data Services Course
While in the Air Force I was sent to the DISN Data Services Course. Here is the manual from that Air Force training.
Power Machines
Drove over to the flight line with a friend on Kadena Air Base and snapped some photos of his Nissan Skyline and my Nissan Cima with some Air Force muscle in the background…and a tank.
F-15 Versus Air Force Security Forces
While serving in the Air Force I received an e-mail with this safety briefing about an accident that happened at Eglin Air Force base in Florida. Even though they say it was an accident, every part of this looks like people were screwing around.
White’s Bridge
Went over to White’s Bridge near Lowell, Michigan to see the historic covered bridge.
Ali Al Salem Air Base Facilities
Here are some of the facilities at Ali Al Salem air base in Kuwait. You can see the base exchange, the recreation center, and the gym in the photos above.
Explosive Ordinance Disposal
While at Ali Al Salem air base in Kuwait my commander was an ex-Explosive Ordinance Disposal (E.O.D.) person so he asked me if I wanted to go out and watch EOD blow some things up. That’s how I was afforded the opportunity to go out with EOD and watch them blow up 24 sticks of C4. They also used a thermite grenade on some classified computer systems and disposed of some British flares. It was a pretty cool experience.
Digging Cable Trenches
Ali Al Salem air base was a tactical base that was quickly setup and it has a mess of cables all over the place. To try to clean the cables up and run them neatly through trenches. The biggest problem though was that it was all rock and digging through that was not easy.
Radio Tower View of Ali Al Salem Air Base
The view of Ali Al Salem Air Base from the radio tower. This definitely gives a bird’s eye perspective of what it was like on this base. You may notice a swimming pool in the photos. The swimming pool was only 3 feet deep and the main reason it was there was because it was the largest source of water in case of a fire.
Sights around Kuwait
Here are some different things you can see around Kuwait.
Kuwaiti Puma
At Ali Al Salem air base in Kuwait I happened to see a couple Kuwaiti Puma aircraft. Here are a couple photos.
Shooting the Big Gun
This is what a 50 caliber Baret looks like and this is what it looks like when you are aiming at a bad guy through a scope. These photos were taken at Ali Al Salem air base in Kuwait.
Ali Al Salem Tent City
While deployed to Ali Al Salem air base in Kuwait I was afforded the wonderful opportunity to go camping in the desert 39 miles away from the Iraqi boarder. The United States Air Force was ever so kind as to setup tents with air conditioning. It was so hot in the desert that if you wanted to feel any of the air conditioning you needed to tape water bottle together to point the air at you. One of the worst days I can remember was 130 degrees at 9 o’clock in the morning. Whenever there was a windstorm you could count on not getting any sleep that night. It was also nice shaking sand, dirt, and the occasion scorpion or camel spider out of your boots as well. Here are some photos of what tent city was like both inside the tents and on the outside. Sometimes between the tents people would build a common area between the tents so people could play cards or read a book.
Reenlistment Ceremony
While at Ali Al Salem air base I reenlisted in the Air Force. Here are some photos of the reenlistment ceremony in front of “The Rock.”
Air Force Predator Aircraft
During my time at Ali Al Salem air base in Kuwait it was common occurrence to see the Air Force Predator aircraft. This plane is pretty cool because it is an unmanned aircraft and has virtually a lawnmower engine to power it.
There was a lot of debate between different types of pilots about if the Predator pilots should actually be considered pilots because they sit on the ground and are in no imminent danger if something should fail on the aircraft. They have no threat to life or limb if they do something wrong with the aircraft. It is much like playing a video game.
Hardened Aircraft Shelter at Ali Al Salem
Here are some photos of the hardened aircraft shelter’s (HAS) at Ali Al Salem air base in Kuwait. The story behind the HAS was that they were built by the French and they were designed with 10 foot reinforced concrete. Apparently the French who built them for the Kuwaiti’s sold them as being bomb proof. When Iraq invaded Kuwait they took over these facilities and then during Operation Desert Storm the United States came in and bombed the heck out of them. I heard the Kuwaiti’s sued the French for the HAS not being bomb proof like they were sold as.
Welcome to Ali Al Salem Air Base, Kuwait
After 34 hours of flight travel I finally arrived at Ali Al Salem Air Base in Kuwait. This base was 39 miles from the Iraqi boarder. Here are a few photos of C-130 aircraft with a photo of the base out of the back of a C-130. Just a few of the things I saw while I was there.
Okinawa Dragon Boat Race
Went to watch the dragon boat races at Tomarin in Okinawa. This was a pretty neat event. There were teams with Okinawan people from different places and there were also teams from different military bases in Okinawa. It seemed as though they were building friendships through friendly competition while experiencing some of the Okinawan culture.
Fighter Jets
Here is a photo of an Air Force F-117 stealth fighter while it is refueling and a photo of a Navy F-18 static display at Kadena air base “Friendship Festival.”