Whale Watching

Here are some pictures of whales that Kevin was lucky enough to see when he was on a helicopter Atoll tour.

Are you for Scuba?

Here are a few photos of Kevin and I scuba diving. We are working on our advanced certification which will allow us to dive to 130 feet. Once we have this, we will be able to venture to Roi Namur Island and dive the "Airplane Graveyard" site. The "Airplane Graveyard" site is a spot in the Ocean where there are a lot of WWII airplanes that were shot down during the war. We'll be sure to post some photos of those dives.

Bigej Islet Tour with Captain Beth at the Helm

Along the Atoll are several Islets but on of the more popular and only sparsely inhabited by the locals is the Islet of Bigej. Bigej is about twenty miles north of Kwaj on the eastern reef and is a great place to snorkel, hang out, or hunt for booty (pirate treasure). Over the past two weekends, Beth and I have been renting one of the boats at the small boat marina and cruising up to Bigej to spend the afternoon hanging out with friends and living the Corona Commercial Dream. Once we all get there, we tie the boats together to create a flotilla and proceed to have a great time. For our friends' kids, we put together a pirate map and take the kids on the islet and go hunt for buried treasure. Our neighbors used to live in Cambodia so we scored some Cambodian currency and buried the loot in different spots on the backside of Bigej and let the kids try and find the treasure. Like good pirates they decided to fight over the treasure. Good Times.

Captain Beth at the Helm!Little Buddy with the Skipper

Pristine Waters

Pirates!

Living the Dream!

RUSTMAN TRIATHLON

For the past 30 years the Kwajalein Running Club has sponsored one of the greatest events to occur within 2000 miles, really the only event within 2000 miles, fondly known as the "RUSTMAN." The RustMan is a near olympic distance triathlon 1k swim, 42k bike, and 10k run. (For you non-metric people that .6 mile swim, 26 mile bike, and 6.2 mile run. A few weeks ago Beth decided that she had to live hard to be hard and began training for the RustMan. Thanks to her grueling regiment of training she was able to successfully complete the RustMan! Beth put in an impressive first triathlon time of 3 hours and 20 minutes. (20:58 swim, 1:44 Mountain Bike with Road Tires, 1:14 run). I was even out there too with Team Sail Fish Ale "One Sip and your Hooked" sponsored by our favorite island Brewer/Legal Guru. After killing off a few sharks in the lagoon I was able to build some confidence and contribute to the Sail Fish Ale Team Performance with an not so impressive swim time of 19 minutes and several seconds. Photos Below!
Late Evening Gun Show!

Beth Crossing the Finish Line!Pre-Race Photo with Team Sail Fish Ale - One Sip And Your Hooked!

Finishing in a not so impressive 3 hours and 4 minutes.

After Action Review Comments:

1. Invest in a decent Tri/Road Bike.

2. Actually Train.

Snorkeling the Lagoon

Snorkeling in the lagoon.

Coconut Cutters

Cococut cutters hard at work. Supposedly 30 people a year are killed by falling coconuts. So its best not to stand under any coconut trees. Safety First!

Its official we're KWAJers.

Beth and I stopped by a Kwaj Patio PCS Sale today, otherwise known as a garage or moving sale in the states, and we worked out a great deal for a Surf Board and a Kayak. I am very excited about learning how to surf with my own board. We also picked up a pull cart to haul anything from mail to groceries on our bikes.

So I think it is official we are now KWAJers. How do I know this well as Edgar Schein would say, "The culture of a group can now be defined as a pattern of shared basic assumptions that was learned by a group as it solved its problems of external adaptation and internal integration, that has worked well enough to be considered valid and, therefore, to be taught to new as the correct way to perceive, think, and feel in relation to those problems." I think this definition for culture of group does a nice job of describing why somethings are the way they are here on Kwaj.
Another good news story is that our household goods arrived yesterday so we are working on getting our potted plants together. One can generally tell how long you have been on the island by the size and number of plants in one's yard. Since top soil can't be found on island it becomes a hot commodity.

They are only allowed to sell two bags per visit to the store if they even have it. Fortunately we just got a new shipment so I'll let you know how the plants are doing as we get them situated.

Interesting Article

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7885750.stm

Winner, Winner, Tuna Fish Dinner

Dogtooth Tuna! My first fish caught on Kwaj!

The DogtoothLearning how to clean the fish. This guy's daughter owns a fish market in the states.

Keepin the knife on the backbone and slice away Fresh Sashimi! Quite Tasty

The Fishing Team
Shark ScrapsLand Shark!

Pan-Seared Tuna with Avacado, Soy, Ginger, and lime
Fantastic!

Delta Mariner

Here is a news release on one of the cooler projects we have been working on. I am simply attaching the offical press release to avoid any legal gray areas. Luckily Beth and I were in the attorney's backyard oceanside bar this weekend enjoying his new Amber Boch homebrew and he assures me that the as long as we focus on the offical news releases when discussing work then the blog is good to go! Maybe one day you'll here the rest of the story just not over the internet.

From army.mil

-The Missile Defense Agency contracted the Delta Mariner to bring their support equipment to their launch site at Meck Island. The Delta Mariner, a 312-foot long and 8,000-horsepower supply ship, specializes in transporting space-bound hardware. Designed to navigate shallow inland waterways as well as the open ocean, this versatile transport vessel hauled launch support equipment almost 11,000 miles from Decatur, Ala., down the Tennessee, Ohio and Mississippi rivers into the Gulf of Mexico. The ship transited the Panama Canal en route to the Hawaiian Islands then on to Kwajalein Atoll. This journey began on Dec. 22 and ended when the Delta Mariner docked at Meck Island on Jan. 30.

The logistics functional lead for targets and countermeasures, Ken McDonald, reported, "This shipment is the first of its kind for the Missile Defense Agency. We have never shipped materiel by ship at any time in the agency's history." It is also reported to be the largest ship that has ever sailed into the lagoon. The delivery of the launch support equipment to Meck Island marks the first phase of preparation at Reagan Test Site to support the Missile Defense Agency's two-stage intermediate/long-range launch vehicle, or LV-2. The LV-2 is part of the agency's Flexible Target Family and will be used to test the Ballistic Missile Defense System later this year. The Missile Defense Agency plans to conduct two tests this year with launches of LV-2s from Meck Island. The joint Government-Lockheed Martin test support teams will maintain a consistent presence on Kwajalein for the remainder of the year. The LV-2 Project Manager, Scott Shifrin, stated, "We are very pleased with the support provided by RTS and USAKA. We look forward to launching targets from Meck Island for many years to come." The Flexible Target Family, developed by prime contractor Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company, is composed of targets that exhibit various degrees of threat emulation with a broad range of performance characteristics and features in order to present tailorable target behaviors that test multiple Ballistic Missile Defense System (BMDS) capabilities. The LV-2 uses Trident C4 Stage 1 and Stage 2 motors for the required trajectories, accommodating the agency's desired capability for heavier payloads, longer downrange distances, higher velocities and variable launch capabilities. The LV-2 first flight is planned for 3rd quarter fiscal year 2009 in a planned BMDS flight test.

Operation Flintlock 65 Years Later

This week is the 65th year since Operation Flintlock and The Battle of Kwajalein. So not only is our home a tropical paradise it is also a former battlefield where thousands lost their lives during World War II. Here is a little excerpt from wikipedia on the battle.


-The Battle of Kwajalein was a battle of the Pacific Campaign of World War II, fought from January 31, 1944, to February 3, 1944, on Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands. Following the capture of Tarawa in November 1943, American eyes turned to the Marshall Islands. These were the next vital stepping stone across the Pacific towards Japan, and would bring the islands of Guam and Saipan within the reach of US forces. Employing the hard-learned lessons of the battle of Tarawa, the United States launched a successful twin assault on the main islands of Kwajalein in the south and Roi-Namur in the north.The Japanese defenders put up a stiff resistance though outnumbered and under-prepared. The determined defense of Roi-Namur left only 51 survivors of an original garrison of 3,500.
For the United States, the battle represented both the next step in its island-hopping march to Japan and a significant moral victory because it was the first time the United States penetrated the "outer ring" of the Japanese Pacific sphere.

By the time U.S. Troops landed on the islets of Roi, Namur, and Kwajalein the Navy had laid on a non-stop barrage of 2655 tons of ammunition.

In their first amphibious attack, the new 4th Marine Division landed on Roi and Namur Islands on February 1st 1944, while US 7th Division landed on Kwajalein. At the time this was the longest shore to shore amphibious assaults in history. The lessons of the bloody fighting on Tarawa had been well learned and the successful attack on the Marshalls set the pattern for future amphibious operations in the Pacific War.

The airfield on Roi (the eastern half) was captured quickly, and Namur (the western half) fell the next day. The worst setback came when a Marine demolition team threw a satchel charge of high explosives into a Japanese bunker which turned out to be a torpedo warhead magazine. (Photo of this Explosion in the upper right of the operation flintlock collage). Only 264 out of 10.000 Japanese soldiers surrendered during the US Invasion.