Category: Events

Two times during SOS we did what is called Project X. The first time, our flight was … a little less than successful. However, in the second one, we were better prepared and consequently, more successful. You’re probably wondering what is Project X? Well, I can’t speak for why the name was chosen, but basically, it requires a team of six to solve a physical problem in a given scenario within 15 minutes. For example, you may have to move a dummy from one pedestal to another, without touching the ground in between using only a couple pieces of rope.
So, here are some images from our second time.
We got started early in the morning and gathered together as a group.

Each flag represents a flight (about 14 people). Jason (#20) is holding ours.

Phil looks back up at me through a tunnel.

Jason emerges from the same tunnel.

Can you see everyone’s worried about the board falling off?

The group is negotiating their way back with a dummy. Although they look benign, the dummies are very realistic, which means they weigh a ton (or at least 130 pounds). 🙂

Glen helps Lori (who was the only female and civilian student in our flight … and did very well) get across. One other point is that you can’t touch the red parts of the obstacle (or incur a time penalty).

Teamwork is essential to complete the tasks.

I just liked this image.

At the start of each task, the group is given instructions on what is required and what the rules are for the scenario. Here, Eddie reads the instructions to his group.

Joe, Jason, and TJ all work to get this log in the right place.

TJ lifts the log while the rope guides it into the right place from above.

Jason gets a hand as he jumps to safety.

We had a warrior run during the last week. Beside the run, we also had to do a few situps and pushups. So, as was usual, we stretched out as a group.

Again, since was doing the event, Anna was the photographer.
We lined up with a flight from another squadron. In our case, it happened to be the same flight that we had just played in flickerball (Tom’s flight). Fortunately, neither side held a grudge, so it was a friendly reunion.

While we did our pushups, the other flight counted for us.

Same for situps.

Then, we lined up to start the run. It was only a three-mile circuit, so the distance wasn’t tough.

Unfortunately, since I haven’t been training as much as liked, it was tougher than should have been. It took me just over 20 minutes to run it. At least the course was very scenic.

When we finished our presentations later that day, our final graded event was complete.
The course was overall enjoyable and I certainly learned a lot. It was nice that I could attend after we left Guam and before we arrived in Germany though.
As I write this, I am in the airport in Amsterdam (although I am publishing it from the lobby of our hotel in Germany), so we have already embarked on the next phase of our journey. We look forward to many adventures here in Europe.
So, until we have pictures to accompany them…
–Jim

The last five weeks, as usual, have flown by. However, the difference was I spent these attending a class called Squadron Officer School (SOS) at Maxwell Air Force Base. It is here Air Force officers are taught the tenants of Air Force doctrine and allowed to practice their leadership skills amongst peers (not a common opportunity). So, it’s a mix of classroom lectures, mass lectures, team building and problem solving, and, of course, athletic events. The following two posts are a compilation of the images and stories I thought you may enjoy viewing/reading.
I believe these were made on the second day. They are from our flight room. There were about 500 students total, divided among 36 flights that make up four student squadrons. Our flight had 14 members. This is Jeff and Eddie as they listening attentively. 🙂

Jeff’s expression really summed up what we all felt … it was going to be a tough five weeks.

Greg was our teambuilder, so he had the task of setting up our social events.

Glen’s expression here perhaps summed up the whole course.

On the first Friday, most of the students and instructors got together for a social event at the officer’s club. As you might expect, there was the friendly mock combat going on. This time in the form of pugil stick fights.

After the club, most of the flight headed out to hang out together. I thought this image of Greg was noteworthy just for his expression. 🙂

The next week, we had the opportunity to try our hand at the unique sport called Flickerball. I know you’ve probably never heard of it. I believe it’s an Air Force specific sport that was invented at or for the Academy. However, it’s used at SOS as a field leadership event. So, the idea is to see how well your team works on the athletic field as well as the classroom.

The idea is to take this small rubber ball (it used to be played with a football) and pass it to your teammates. It’s like ultimate Frisbee in that: you can’t let it drop, otherwise possession changes to the other team.
However, there are three referees who are there to enforce the multitudinous rules. Personally, I think there are so many rules just to take all athleticism out of the game, but that’s just my opinion. Most of the refs were very enthusiastic as they called the game. You can see that their uniforms are also very distinctive.

Once your team gets close to the end line, the idea is to throw the ball and hit the center net. If you do, your team scores 2 points. However, even if you just hit the orange edge, it’s a one-point score.

Sounds pretty simple, right? Well, if you don’t correctly follow all the rules, you’ll end up letting the other team take a technical foul shot. In all likelihood, each team will probably end up taking one to a bunch of tech foul shots. So, if you have a good tech foul shooter, you will probably score often (and consequently win as well).

There are three matches total in the course. After the first two (we had won both), my flight was actually tied for the lead among all 36 flights, since we had won by fairly large margins. In the championship match, we met Tom’s flight, which was also undefeated. This is Tom as he warmed up. Anna was the photographer for these flickerball images.

The ball is put into play with a jump ball.

Tom and Glen on the field.

Here I am with the outstretched arms. I was attempting to block the pass (unsuccessfully by the looks of it).

When the referees had to confer for a violation call, the teams had a chance to regroup in a mini-timeout. We liked the balance and symmetry in this picture.
Flickerball is a non-contact sport (in fact if you even inadvertently touch another player, you are sent to the penalty box), Tom’s team played very aggressive defense.


So close…

Unfortunately, my flight didn’t win the last match, but we did end up in 6th place overall. I have to say though, I wasn’t sorry to finish flickerball. Let’s just say, it’s not my favorite sport.
On the next post, I will get into more of the teambuilding part of SOS. I really enjoyed that part.
Until then…
–Jim

Do you remember when you were in high school? It seemed that only “old” people had high school reunions… it still seems like just yesterday, I was walking the halls of Arrowhead High School.
Well, that was 10 years ago now… and we just had our first high school reunion.
Fortunately, it was a very enjoyable experience. Since I was fortunate enough to be chosen as one of our class officers back in the formative high school days (and since no one else stepped forward), I got to plan it. That worked out very well, because I could time it to coincide with our move from Guam to Germany.
So, here is a selection of pictures from that night.
Here are all the classmates who attended. As you can see, it wasn’t a big group, but I think most everyone who attended enjoyed it.

Looks like Andy’s not quite sure about things.

As people arrived that night, we gave them a questionnaire to fill out. Among other things it asked them what they’ve been doing since high school, what memorable things they did in high school, or what they would like to forget. So, we sorted through those over dinner, and after, decided to bring some people up to tell the more interesting stories.
As you can see here, Katie decided to show off her karaoke skills.

Of course, since she was singing “Baby Got Back,” there were a number of girls who got up and joined her.

There were also people like Kelli who got up and were good sports about embarrassing memories.

Brad recounted how he and his friends decided to dress like a pimp, but when the day came, he was the only one who followed through with it. Poor Brad, but looks like he turned out ok. 🙂

Here is a small selection of some of the people who came. I took many more, but unfortunately, not all of them turned out as well as I would have liked. If you were there and don’t see your picture, send me a message and I will send you yours (if I have it).
This is Eric, Brianna, Shannon, and Cathy (I don’t think Eric was supposed to be in this picture).

Amy and Cathy:

Frank and his girlfriend:

Casey and Gretchen:

Mike and Becky:

Brianna and Shannon, I hope you don’t mind I posted this picture. It’s such a cute picture, I couldn’t resist. 🙂

Here is Eric and Rebecca, the newly weds. Eric is a good friend from high school (obviously) that I’ve kept in contact with. He and Rebecca just got married two weeks before. Anna and I were very sorry to miss the celebration, but got to congratulate them when we got home.
Aren’t they sweet??

The girls outside: Anna, LeeAnn, Amy and Melissa.

Mike and Cathy.


Everyone decided to play a team game called tip-cup. I captured this picture as the cup was flipped over, which as the name implies is the point of the game. 🙂


We had all four years of yearbooks at the reunion, so it was fun to look back through them and reminisce.



Here’s Eric reflecting back on the good ol’ days.

Yes, I know I have entirely too many pictures of Anna in this post, but she looked so beautiful, I couldn’t resist. 🙂

So, that concluded the dinner part of the reunion. However, since some people didn’t want to go to a semi-formal dinner, we also had a BBQ on Sunday afternoon. So, here we are at Nagawaukee Park.

We brought the yearbooks out again.

It was a frigid 65 degrees and Anna and I had to bundle up to stay warm. Oh, how things change! We used to go out in a tee shirt when it was that warm!

We were really glad to see our good friends John and Jenni (with daughters Brooke and Julia) come out to the BBQ. They couldn’t make it to the dinner, so we enjoyed hanging out with them. Since I had to leave to come down to Montgomery, Alabama, it also allowed me to say goodbye to them.
John is on the left in this picture.

Here is Jenni with Julia.

Unfortunately, that also concluded my brief stay at home. I took off a few hours later to come down to Alabama. I am here for a 5-week course, and Anna stayed back in Wisconsin to have a little longer with our friends and family. Since it’s a school, I haven’t been on many adventures, so my posts have been a bit lacking. However, if there’s something worthy of a post, you can rest assured that I will post it!
So, until the adventure…
–Jim

After we left Guam, Anna and I stopped in Los Angeles to visit with Julie (my sister) for a brief stay. Although we were only there for 26 hours, we managed to see a bit of the city.
Here’s the port outside Julie’s apartment at sunrise when we arrived.

Julie and her boyfriend Michael, share this cute little apartment right on the ocean in San Pedro. The only concerning part is that there used to be more houses closer to the water, but back in the 1930’s there was a landslide that swept them into the sea. So, hopefully, the ground under her apartment is a little more stable! 🙂

Julie is a grade school teacher in Palos Verdes. So, first stop for the day was to see her classroom.

This is Michael, with Anna in Julie’s classroom.

We also wanted to stop down at Venice Beach. Along the way, we came across this very decorated vehicle. Julie said that this car was parked there every day.

We had fun strolling along the walkway on Venice Beach.

It was a beautiful day, and after lunch, everyone decided to catch up on a little sleep.

While they were sleeping I had fun watching all the people walk by…


Then, we headed out to the actual beach. This was over Labor Day, so there were lots of people out.




Of course, we had to stop by Muscle Beach. We had heard so much about it.

Nearby, we also stopped to watch the games being played on the basketball courts made famous in the movie, “White Men Can’t Jump.”

As usual, we found some interesting sights as we walked back.
WARNING, below are a couple pictures that might offend. Please scroll down at your own risk!!!


It seemed that nearly everyone was out doing something athletic. These people were roller dancing.

You can’t tell the motion from these pictures, but he was spinning very rapidly…


This is Julie and Michael as we walked back to the car. Apparently, Julie wanted a ride back… 🙂

A final shot of Venice Beach.

Then, we went inland to get a better look at the world famous icon of Los Angeles.

Although we weren’t dressed for it, we decided to hike up the trail for a better vantage point.


Here’s one of my artistic shots.

This is a view of the downtown Los Angeles skyline along with the Griffith Observatory.



Look at this Hollywood starlet, I found on the top of the hill.





Another artistic shot… 🙂

The nighttime cityscape of Los Angeles again.

So, after our entirely too brief visit in Los Angeles, we had to bid farewell to Julie and Michael. We were off to spend a few short days with our family in Wisconsin. I hadn’t been back to Wisconsin in over 2 years, so I was very excited to go home and see what changed and what stayed the same.
The next post will have images from my 10-year class reunion (I know that totally dates me).
So, until then…
–Jim

This is the second part of my final entry to chronicle our adventures on Guam.
This adventure was to hear our favorite band on Guam play, MOJO. Two of the members are friends of ours whom we met through the numerous multi-sport events on the island. This first one is Eric.




This is Mark (kinda scary picture, huh??) 🙂

Once we shipped all our stuff last week, we had to move into a hotel, and thanks to Anna’s friends at the SandCastle, we got a very nice room at the Hyatt. Here’s the aerial view of the hotel.

This is the view from our hotel balcony.

While we didn’t have a ton of time to enjoy all the amenities, we did make it down to the pool area a couple times. On the way down, you cross over a large koi pond, where this little girl and her mother were feeding them.

Here are the playful and colorful fish up close.


Then, down to the pool area.

When I arrived down to the pool, I found this stunning woman reading a book next to the pool.

We also found that there was a Japanese film crew doing what looked like a reality couples show in the pool as well. As far as I could tell, two couples would get on the floating raft, wrestle to get someone off, then music would play and they would dance. Then the process would repeat.
Here’s the setup.

First though, they had to get in the water.

Then, the dancing.

Finally, the wrestling.

It was rather entertaining, even if I couldn’t understand a word that was being said.
So, after baking in the sun (as well as bemusedly watching the Japanese TV show) and getting one last swim in the ocean, we headed next door to watch the SandCastle’s Magic on Ice dinner show. As usual it was very entertaining. In fact, our friend Lisa (who’s a dancer in the show), even gave us a little signal to say hi while performing.

This is the lobby of the SandCastle, and if you want to see a Vegas style show on Guam, this is the place to do it (ok, so it’s the only place, but it’s quite good!).

Here are some of our friends from Guam who came to say good-bye. We were fortunate and had several opportunities to say good-bye to friends (although these are the only ones pictured).

These are the really hardy friends that came to say good bye at the airport at 4:00AM!

So, that was the end of our time in Guam. We already miss our wonderful friends and the beautiful island that we were fortunate to call home for a short while. Who knows, perhaps someday we’ll be able to come back and visit. If we’re really blessed, we’ll have a chance to live there again.
So, until the next adventure in Los Angeles (our first stop back on the mainland).
–Jim

Well, it is with great sadness that we departed the beautiful island of Guam. We were fortunate to call the island home for two years. It is now time for us to move on to the distinct Deutschland. However, here are some parting pictures from our final days on Guam. Since we had to cram in a number of “must-do” activities, I’ve made this a two-part entry.
First, there was one golf course that I needed to play before I left. That was Mangilao Golf Course. It is the best course on the island, and if you can believe it, I hadn’t played the entire time. So, we rectified that on the last weekend.

As you can see, it was a truly beautiful course. I am starting off with an aerial view of the signature hole, #12 (the tee box is on the lower right side and the green on the left).

This is what the view looks like from ground level.

Here I am attempting to reach the green.

Here’s Jon hitting from the drop area for those of us who didn’t reach the green on the first shot.

Here is a shot of Col Westa and I on the #12 green.

Again on #12, with Jon.

Here are a few images of other amazing views around the course.




No, he may not have the best form, but at least it went in the hole!



This is JT blasting his way out of the sand and on to the green.

You may have noticed on the last post, my friend Rory left a comment that he was the one who flew our office around the island to re-enlist Raven. Well, since I was completely oblivious to that fact, I had to make up for my ignorance and fly again. This time it was Rob who really helped make that happen (thanks again, Rob!). So, off we went to fly around the island … again!
Here is Rory, who yet again, showed us the best parts of Guam.

This time around however, I was able to focus on the scenery a lot more and had a much less windy seat, so I could also focus on taking more pictures. That’s me on the left, in one of the jump seats with a whole open doorway to myself.


This is the northern end of Guam.

The water is always so clear on Guam.

Here’s Rob.

This is another beneficiary of the flight, my friend Gordon.

This is Two Lover’s Leap. As you may know (and Wikipedia informed me), it’s fairly common to have a place of great height so named in honor of a romantic tragedy legend where star-crossed lovers leap to their mutual demise. This place on Guam is one of those locations.

No leaping here, as these Japanese tourists speed through the harbor.


Here’s Rob again.



Here are the guys checking out the sights as they passed under us.


The next post will conclude our time in Guam with a few pictures of our favorite Guam band, MOJO, as well as the activites in the resort we stayed at.
–Jim

Just before we left on our China trip, I had the opportunity to take an aerial tour of our island, courtesy of the Navy.
The purpose of the trip was three fold, to do a re-enlistment, announce an Airman’s promotion and as a going away trip for the office (since I am moving next week). I think we were pretty successful in all three areas. 🙂
Here we are ready to go…

First order of business was to re-enlist Raven. Here is Col Westa administering the Oath of Office (in front of Tanguisson Beach, for your reference).

The is Raven reciting the Oath.


Here is JR (Raven’s husband) is inspecting the flag to make sure it’s ok still.

Just South of Tanguisson is Tumon Bay, with it’s tourist packed beaches and scenic hotels. This is the Hilton Resort.

Here is one of the wedding chapels that cater to tourists who come to Guam to get married (mostly from Japan).


After only a moment, we rounded the point and came to our Agana Bay (if you look close you can see our condo in this picture, directly behind Alupat Island).

Here’s a better view of our place.

This is a good perspective to see the way jet skis are used here. It’s all about follow the leader with one jet ski wrangler out there to corral everyone and make sure there’s no passing… (he’s armed with a whistle and not afraid to use it!)

Follow the leader, round and round in circles…

The hard coral here can be very pretty.

Since Guam is a bit isolated from pretty much everywhere, just about everything comes in containers like these.

Here we are rounding the corner on Orote Point.

This is looking down on Spanish Steps (as you may recall, this is one of our favorite snorkeling spots).

The water is such a nice shade of blue since the water is quite deep here.

This is the Navy housing that could have a great view, if it were flat ground out to the sea…

Marine Corps drive goes right by the ocean in many places.

A view from down south looking north into Hagåtña and the surrounding villages.

I’ll let you guess who this is.

As we circled the south, we went inland to get a better view of a few of the numerous waterfalls in the area. Here are a few that we found.



The mountains look very pretty from high above them. Of course, down in the jungles, the perspective is a little different.

As headed down to the extreme southern end of the island, we went out past Cocos Island (as you can see in these next 2 pictures).


It was surprising to me that we could see animals so clearly in the water. We found a black tip reef shark and a sea turtle as they went about their day. Unfortunately, the were on the other side of the aircraft from me, so I didn’t get any good pictures, but it was cool to watch, nonetheless.
Now, this is up on the east side of the island (by Pagat Cliff). You can see Mangilao Golf Course in the background.


Another picture of Raven enjoying her flight.

After about an hour and a half, we arrived back to the base. This is everyone as they got out.

I know you can’t really tell, but this is me in the foreground.

Here is Raven and Tammy. On the flight, we surprised Tammy with an embroidered number. The significance of that number is that it is her line number for promotion. It took a few moments for the importance of the number to sink in, but when it did, she was SO excited. We were all happy for her, as she richly deserves the recognition.

Col Westa with the 2 other women. It was my first flight with the Navy and it was a great one. I really enjoyed seeing the island from the air. A fitting way to bring our experience on Guam to a close.
Until the next adventure…
–Jim

This afternoon, was again spent playing in the water. We left on a boat out of the small harbor just a few hundred yards down from our house.

We headed north to again visit Double Reef. It’s about a half an hour to get there, so we had a little time to enjoy the scenery and sun on the way.
Double Reef is so named because there is a second, circular reef just offshore. Here is what it looks like.

Once we were anchored, everyone geared up and dropped into the water.
This is Jessica (one of the USAFA cadets, who were also on the boat with us). Isn’t she cute in all the gear?? 🙂

Then we have Sergeant SCUBA … “Hi kids, one day you can grow up and SCUBA dive … it’s lots of fun!”


Even though we only snorkeled today, it was great to be in the water. Plus, we got to lie out in the sun, enjoy the day, the boat and the people with us.
On the ride back home, I made this picture of someone who needs no introduction…

This is the venerable Two Lover’s Point where legend says two Chamorro lovers intertwined their hair when cornered by Spanish authorities to press them into a different arranged marriage. So, instead of face a fate without each other, they leapt off the several hundred foot cliff to their mutual (but joined together) demise.

The clouds can be so hypnotic.

This picture is of Oka Tower (AKA where Sgt Hall lives). We’ve included it by special request. 🙂

These fisher people are at the mouth of the Agana Boat Basin (our starting and finishing point today).

It was a most enjoyable and relaxing day. This is such a beautiful island and the waters around it are immaculate (at least in most places).
Until the next adventure…
–Jim

This post is for all those who have never had the opportunity to attend a military retreat or retirement ceremony.
A few weeks ago, I had the opportunity to help with the planning and execution of a retirement ceremony for our vice wing commander, Col Stephen Wolborsky. He had served is country honorably in the United States Air Force for 26 years and the intent was to give him a fitting tribute.

I had the honor of being the narrator for the event.

Here are some of those in attendance for the event.

During the retirement ceremony, Col Wolborsky was presented with the Legion of Merit decoration, as well as a retirement certificate, a letter from the president and since the Air Force does think families are important, a letter to his wife, for her support of his career.

The ceremony was officiated by Major General Rice, who flew in from Hawaii and also presented Col Wolborsky with the medal and all of those certificates.

He also had a chance to tell some anecdotes from his long (and very distinguished) Air Force career. You can tell that he’s a very animated story teller.

At the conclusion of the retirement ceremony, we had a retreat ceremony. The honor guard took the colors down, while the wing rendered the appropriate military custom.


The honor guard also did a flag folding ceremony for him. The wing staff also gave Col Wolborsky the flag as a token of their appreciation.

The flag was retired and presented to Maj Gen Rice, who in turn, presented it to Col Wolborsky.

A the end of the ceremony, a jet flying in the local exercise that had just ended coincidentally flew over and gave a fitting impromptu aerial display.


It was a very fitting tribute to the man who had done so much for the base. It was an honor to have worked with and for him.
–Jim
Note: many thanks to the base photographers who made these pictures.

Yesterday was Guam’s 62nd Liberation Day. It commemorates July 21st as the day American military returned and defeated the occupying Japanese force during WWII. Each year, there is a huge celebration and parade to commemorate the event. While we didn’t go to the parade, we did celebrate with a BBQ with some friends.
We went to the main tourist village and BBQ’d on the beach. It was a beautiful day for it because it was cloudy (but not rainy) in the morning and sunny in the afternoon, but a breeze kept the temperature cool. This is the view from our location.




You can see all the hotels along the beach in Tumon. This is where most of the 1.5 million Japanese tourists who come to Guam each year stay.

These are some of the people who work with Anna and were with us at the BBQ.
Tricia:

Liezl:

Ray:

These are a few other friends who joined us for lunch.





We had a good time sharing food and laughter with our friends. So, until the next adventure…
–Jim