Stereo Shopping, May 20, 1971
My
trip to Iwakuni-Naha-Iwakuni-Naha-CCK worked out pretty well once we
got underway (before we left the squadron I walked into a door in my
inimitably cool fashion and put a lump upon my head). A good
shopping trip--we returned with 7 boxes of stereo equipment.
At Iwakuni Marine Corps Air Station in Okinawa we stopped at their
stereo hobby shop. BV Hammond
(copilot) and Roy Grimes (nav) both bought Akai 280 reel-to-reel tape
decks. Roy
bought a pair of Pioneer speakers; I bought a pair of Sansuis and Dual
1209 turntable.
CCK Officer's Open Mess, May 21, 1971
Last
night was kind fun but I don't think I'll do it again right
away! BV and I sat down with some other guys
in the dining room of the club--I guess there were about 10 of
us. BV and I had supper while somebody ordered some
champagne.
Before long we were playing the number-on-the-dollar-bill
game to see who would buy the next bottle. One bottle led to
three and a cork-shooting contest ensued. The high point was
when BV bounced one off the ceiling and it landed in his own glass,
smashing it to smithereens!
At CCK, some guys had accompanied tours (long, but your family was
authorized to be with you). Most of us had remote tours (shorter
and
lonelier), and a few had dependents in town unofficially.
This caused some jealousy among the other unaccompanied guys.
By
decree it was stamp out FUD (fucking unauthorized dependents) Night
and there were quite a few such dependents in the room. Despite
attempts to good-naturedly gross them out they seemed to enjoy the
whole thing too.
The wing commander and his deputy chief of operations
were sitting at a table across the room so we sang them a "hymn".
The hymn in this case is actually a "him"--a simple chant that goes...
"him. HIM.
FUCK HIM!"
One
guy suggested a "her" for the DCO, Colonel Herr, but we decided that
would be a little too personal. Meanwhile the club manager, Jerry
McVety, joined us hoping to be a
calming influence. Jerry
lost
the
next
round
and
also
made
"helpful"
suggestions
like
shooting
at
the
loudspeakers or emergency lights intead of the chandeliers.
Then
two
more bottles arrived compliments of Cols Iosue and Herr, so I had the
waitress bring some more glasses, which we filled and took to their
table, thanking them for being good sports.
Meanwhile Bill
Draper did some arithmetic and calculated that for $2 each our table
could buy
a
bottle of champagne for each table in the dining room. So a good
time was had by all with corks popping and toasts toasting all over the
room. About 10:00 the center of activities moved to the bar and
at that point I cut out knowing that if I stayed I'd have to be carried
out!
Later I learned that one lieutenant was in fact carried
home by an anonymous full colonel.