Welcome to Atsugi

Friday August 8

The day after a nice long fly day gave everyone a chance for a bit of a rest. "Steel Beach" picnics happen every so often on Navy ships, but when guests are on board, they occur often enough to make people think they're a regular part of ship life. Fortunately for everyone on the Essex, the "tigers" on board deserved such a day of relaxation. There was a band comprised of crew from the ship that played some rockin' tunes out on the flight deck, a HUGE amount of food, and an overall fun atmosphere on the sunny flight deck of the Essex.

Our helicopter staged a static display for everyone interested, and we set up the guns and manned the aircraft almost all day in case people wanted to come check out our equipment. Whether good or bad, nobody made it far enough from the food and music to come look at our display. Instead of giving tours, we just ate our share of hot dogs, ribs, and chicken and relaxed on the deck. Because it was a non-operational day in terms of flying, it also allowed us to get to bed nice and early. There will be plenty of days where we will not get much sleep, so we have to take every chance we can get to give ourselves a full night in the rack.

Before we got too relaxed, we had to lug all of our equipment from the maintenance spaces to the aircraft so we could transport it to Atsugi. A tiring couple of hours, to be sure, but those who weren't flying off the ship still got some good sleep the next morning.

Lunch in the bird... yummy

Giving tours of the helicopter to each other

Saturday August 9

Today was the "fly-off" to Atsugi. The crew that flew to Atsugi got rushed by an accelerated ship schedule, but once we launched them and they were well on their way, Ben and I got a chance to relax until the ship pulled into Yokosuka. We stood on the flight deck to watch the trip to the pier and finished packing and readying the room for the unload while the ship moored up (right next to a submarine. . . those things are SMALL!). We got ready to go, had some lunch in Yokosuka, and packed up the bus. Surprisingly enough, loading 29 sailors and their gear and driving to Atsugi ended up being a smooth process, and once we got there, boring as it may sound, everyone got checked into our rooms, and headed to bed.

The beautiful port of Yokosuka

August 10, 11

Atsugi's first couple of days were busy only in the sense that a lot went on at work. Our second aircraft entered the window for a "D phase" inspection. The whole aircraft needs to be taken apart and reassembled after measurements and inspections, so it takes over a week before it's ready to fly again. Sunday was our day off, and most of us did nothing more than sleep, work out, and eat. Monday started our busy maintenance schedule, but we all got a chance to explore the base, and I reconnected with an old company-mate of mine from USNA. She's the wife of my roommate from San Diego, who is arriving on the 17th, so they'll be a good source of familiarity from the states.

August 12

Tuesday marked the first "fly day" of our stay here, and though it mostly involved merely getting to know the area, our flight managed to find some great views of the Tokyo area. I will get some better photos when the weather changes and we get more time to fly here, but even the few I did take are pretty amazing. The city is absolutely gigantic. It makes the Los Angeles urban sprawl look rather unimpressive. Even if you're not a big city fan, the architecture and views around the city still look pretty amazing. The coast was just about as scenic. The hotels and coastal resorts etc. are on a whole new level compared to similar ones in the U.S. Again, I got a few pictures, but the view from the air is still my preference.

Ready to rock

Mary's flying the one in the back, and that's me in the front.

Downtown Tokyo and the Imperial Palace grounds

More Downtown Tokyo

Coolest hotel pool I've ever seen!

Amazing island. Tunnels, towers, and some gorgeous rocky shores.

August 13-15

We rolled out on Wednesday night (13th) for sushi, but unfortunately our target restaurant had about a 45 minute wait and our group was much too hungry (silly Americans) to wait that long. Instead, we took the suggestion of a local pilot and tried Mike's Mexican restaurant. It's better Mexican food that I had in Guam, and probably the best I've had since Salazar's ("the Zar" for you locals). Yesterday (Thursday the 14th) was the most uneventful day so far for me. I was standing "watch" though most of my duties involved updating the thunderstorm condition for our scheduled flights. Thankfully my day ended earlier than planned, but once I got home there wasn't much time to do anything else besides shower and go to bed after a couple of important phone calls (hello Matt). Today's duties were still rather lax, but I found out all sorts of information about Mt. Fuji, and am increasingly excited about that trip next weekend. The pilots on our Det held a little BBQ tonight, and are about to head out for a movie.

BBQ for Mike's last night on Det

I'm looking forward to the weekend despite the fact that we have to work through most of it. We're planning on a baseball game at the Tokyo Dome on Sunday, and for those of you who share/understand my baseball fanaticism, just imagine my anticipation for that event. In about a week, we'll be gearing up for the trek to Fuji, so there is definitely more to come later, but for now, that's all I've got.