1 I'm all jealous too. I might as well be living on the other side of the world, for all the chance I have of going to that Con.

Also, yay! You started a blog!

2 You're in Okinawa right now?  Stationed?  NotMcGurk (commenter over at my blog) was stationed there when he was in the Marines... 

3 Yes, I'm with the 1st Marine Air Wing in Okinawa, Japan. I'll be out here for another year or thereabouts.

4

Lol...  If you need points of interest, just post a comment on my blarg.

5

Ooh Rah, swingin with the wing.  How long have you been on "The Rock"?

I was at Camp Hansen for 12 months.  I was pretty well intoxicated the majority of the time, being so close to "Sin" city it was kind of hard not to be.  That was 16 years ago so I am sure it has changed quite a bit since I was there.

Parts I remember:

1) On the north part of the island there was an amusement park and campground with a 9 hole golf course that we used to go to. We would play golf, get drunk and passout on the beach.  Definitelly the best vantage point for sunrise and sunset on water.  It was cool (a lot of main land japanese families would vacation there as well so it was also nice to meet and talk to actual Japanese women instead of the usual phillipinos in the bars).

2) There was a very cool waterfall on Hansen, out by the firing range.  we put up ropes to climb up and would jump off a pretty high drop (usually after consuming many drinks).  The main drawback here was the leaches but they were really more of a nusiance than anything else.

3)There was this extremly awesome restaurant on top of a suit shop right outside the gate of Hansen.  It was not much too look at it but I have yet to have a steak as good as the ones we used to get in there every payday.

4)Lots of WWII memorials down on the southern part of the island.  The main one I remember was on the cliffs where okinawans jumped rather than surrendering to US troops.

5)In the center of the island, just a little south of Hansen there was a very plush resort type hotel that had beach access to a reef, I did not do a whole lot of snorkeling but what I did do I did there.

If pressed I could probably remember more but again, I am sure the island you are on is a lot different than it was 16 years ago.

SEMPER FI

6 Yes, things are a little more "tame" around here now, from what I hear. Even weekend liberty is strictly monitored, as the Japanese have lost patience with the usual assaults and other misbehavior.

I'm on the southern section, so I've seen the various war memorials. I want to go to a museum made from the tunnel complex that was the local defense HQ back in the war, but have yet to make it there. I really need to suck it up and get the week TAD it takes to get a license to drive around here.

Twelve months would have been nice though. It's now two year unaccompanied or three year accompanied. So we get to know the place quite well.

Take care, Marine Vet!