Guess who's back…

Got back from Hawaii today, and look at all those new posts! Looks like I’ll be spending some serious time responding later.
As for Hickam AFB, saw a few interesting things. There were 7 or 8 F-16’s (didn’t get the unit) there exercising. Saw a C-17 on the tarmac one day. Also the Kansas ANG here at McConnell must have decided to follow my lead; a day or two after I arrived so did 2 of their B-1B’s, to exercise with the Hawaii ANG’s F-15’s and then on to Austrailia for an airshow (they have t-shirts here at McConnell-“Taking the Bone Down Under” hehe). Of course there were the 5 F-18’s that overflew the Pro Bowl during the National anthem-first a four-ship (all of a sudden the people on the jumbotron were pointing at the sky, then here come the Hornets), then a single F-18 flew to about the 50 yard line, hit the burners, and did a corkscrew straight up into the air. Felt that one.

Saw a few interesting things in Pearl Harbor as well. I highly recommend the Arizona memorial and the USS Missouri (BB-63, you need at least 3 hours to get through this one) to anyone passing through the area. Also present is the USS Bowfin, a WW-II submarine commissioned on December 7th, 1942. Got to crawl around inside it, its actually not as cramped as I was expecting it to be. Interesting stuff. Saw the USS Tarawa in the harbor, with a mess of now stationary AV-8B+’s on deck as well as the usual assortment of helos, and a bunch of Los Angeles-class SSN’s and Arleigh Burke DDG’s.

All in all a fun trip. And of course, there were 7 Miami Dolphins in the Pro Bowl }> GOod to be back home though.