Friday night
9 January 1970

Tonight, for lack of anything else to do, I went to the show and saw a fairly good movie entitled The Magus, from the book of the same name.  It was one of those bewildering movies that leaves one wondering “what does it mean” - “what’s it all about”.  Then I decided  - does it have to mean anything at all.  When I was coming out some man ask me if I understood it.  I said “of course I did, didn’t he?”  You should have seen his face!  Ha.

After the movie I went to the o’club to get a coke.  When I ordered the coke, the bartender looked at me as though I was some kind of nut.  He asked if I wanted a straight coke and I said yes.  When he brought it back I tried to pay for it and he said no, it was on the house!  Ha. Some drunk standing at the bar also made some unintelligible remark!  Ha.

The strike by the Okinawans continued today.  It doesn’t seem to really hurt much.  The o’club at Camp Hanson has had all it’s waitresses both days.  However the strike has had a little more effect here at Kadena.  Most of the waitresses are on strike so they hired some high school girls to wait tables at the o’club.  We have to file thru the kitchen, buffet style, to get our food.  It’s funny how young these girls look!  We asked how old they were and one is a senior!  She looked about 15.

Would you believe it’s been raining every day since we’ve been here!  Today it really rained hard for awhile - but we were in class.  Tomorrow morning we are to be outside so I hope it clears up.

This cold weather has really ruined my skin!  My skin has returned to it’s winter state - dry, rough, chapped, and awful looking!!  I’ll be glad when I get back to Chu Lai so it’ll clear up.  Also, all my mail is piling up back at Chu Lai.

Thursday night
8 January 1970

This week is sure dragging by!  It’s only Thursday and seems like it ought to be Friday.

When I was in Okinawa last time, the Okinawans were holding demonstrations against American forces in Okinawa.  They had several riots, in fact.  Well, now we’re cutting back our forces in Okinawa, and, as a result many Okinawans working for the military have been dismissed.  Now they are demonstrating against the dismissal of these workers!!  In fact, the natives have declared a strike for today and tomorrow, against all military bases here.  They have pickets outside all the gates and we don’t have our usual waitresses in the clubs, or maids in the BOQ.  These people really ire me!  First they want us to get out - then they’re mad when we leave!

We went to the finals of the Inter-Service boxing championship tonight.  All the services here in Okinawa were represented in this tournament.  And the Marines won the over-all championship!

Boy it was exciting.  That’s the first time I’ve gone to a real boxing match, and I really enjoyed it.  There were a couple of knockouts, and some very good boxing.

Some of the Marine officers stationed here permanently  with the Division, have their wives over here, for sixty days I guess.  These wives eat in the o’club at noon, and the sight of them makes me long for when I get to Japan.

Wednesday morning
7 January 1970

I’m sitting in one of the most boring classes I’ve ever seen.  It’s a communications class taught by a com officer (Major) who is awful!

This morning has been a long one, it seems because of dull classes.

There’s a new rumor going round that VMFA-542, the squadron in Danang, is going to be pulled out pretty soon.  I think it’s just a rumor - but who knows.  Don Mikulka, Rick Hines, and Skip Spindler are in 542.  Skip is here at FAC school also.  We have people here from Chu Lai, Danang, Okinawa, and Japan, for this school.

The instructors for this school came from San Diego just to teach this school.  They come out here every quarter to teach this school.  It’s kind of funny because we know more about what’s going on in-country than they do.  So, in a way, we teach them.

I’ve been reading the paper this morning about the Kennedy hearing, and I wonder just what will come of it.

Well this class is finally about over, and it’s lunch time, so I’ll write more later!

After lunch

Well, we’re back in class with the same instructor!  So I suppose I’ll get some sleep!  The instructor is telling us right now about how much this particular class has been criticized in the past!

Well, I have nothing else to write.

Tuesday night. 6 January 1970

Tuesday night
6 January 1970

Just a note tonight - as I’ve nothing to write!  Ha.  School is already getting boring! 

We had an “inventory” exam yesterday, just to see how bad we would do.  It was a test about the things we’re going to learn.  Out of 55 questions I missed 28!  But the best score was 26 missed and the worst was 42 missed!  They said when we took the test that the best scores would be about 50 %.  We’re learning a lot of things about artillery and naval gunfire along with CAS.

Didn’t get nearly 6 degrees last night.  The temp here this afternoon was 61 degrees - cold to me!

Monday night, 5 January 1970

Monday night
5 January 1970

The end of another day has come!  One less day I am away from home.  One day closer to going home.

Our first day of class was okay.  Looks like this might be an interesting school.

I bought a cassette recorder today.  I also bought some blank cassettes on which I’ll record some music.  There are cassettes available with music already on them, but I haven’t been able to find any here.  I plan to leave the cassette recorder in the car when I get home and can play music as I drive.   It’s an outstanding recorder and the music is just as good quality as any good radio.  I put the mike in front of the radio here in the room and recorded some music.  It’s exactly what I wanted and I’m tickled pink!!!

Boy, it’s cold here!!  The wind is blowing from the north and is very chilly!  There’s a rumor that the temperature is to go down to 4 degrees tonight.  I sure hope not.  The weather is especially cold as I’m not used to cold weather having just come from Chu Lai.

One of the benefits in the BOQ here is free laundry service.  I just leave my dirty laundry on the bed in the morning and when I return at night, it’s all clean and folded.  The laundry I had done today is so clean and white I can’t even believe it’s mine!  All my stuff was so gray and filthy looking, that I’m going to have the stuff that was supposed to be clean, done tomorrow.

We’re watching TV tonight.  Right now Star Trek is on.  Since we only have the one station in English, we don’t have much choice.  This station is run by the Armed Forces Radio - Television Service.

Sunday, 4 January 1970

Sunday morning
4 January 1970

Didn’t write last night - so will write twice today!  We ate a most fantastic meal last night.  I ate Kobe beef, a special kind of beef that comes from Japan.  The meat is very tender and delicious.  Seems the cattle are fed a lot of beer which gives the meat its tenderness.

The tables in the restaurant are three sided things with a grill in the middle.  The chef stands on the fourth side and cooks (fries) the entire meal right in front of you.  There is no menu - they only serve this one meal. 

The first thing the chef cooks is a concoction of potatoes, onions, and bell peppers, all very highly seasoned with salt, pepper, garlic, and wine.  Then he cooks the meat, to your choice, seasoned the same way.  He cuts the meat in bite size chunks as he cooks it. 

Then comes spinach - which I passed up. Next is garlic bread and finally rice.  I did eat some of the rice, with soy bean sauce on it - and it wasn’t bad.  The rice was the only thing the chef didn’t cook. 

Before the meal we were served a tossed salad and soup.  Now here’s the topper - the whole meal, except the soup, was eaten with chop sticks!!  You should have seen me!  There wasn’t even a fork or knife in sight.  It was without a doubt one of the finest meals and experiences I’ve ever had in a restaurant. 

This whole meal is a Japanese custom apparently.  The place was so busy we had to wait for about two hours to eat.  Then it takes so long to eat because the food is cooked as you eat it.

We checked into the school yesterday.  The school is going to last until the 17th.  We (O.J. me and another guy) decided to rent a car and stay at the Kadena BOQ.  It’s about a 30 minute drive from the Q to the school, but it beats staying at the Q at Camp Hanson.

As I predicted, the money is really going!  Being out of country like this, a person wants to celebrate all the time, go places and enjoy himself!!

My address for emergency is Kadena BOQ, Bldg. 327, Rm 124, Kadena AFB, Okinawa.

Sunday night
4 January 1970

We didn’t do much today.  Just slept late then ate lunch, then watched TV and shopped this afternoon and tonight. 

Tomorrow we start school so I’ll have something to keep me busy all day.
It’s winter time, now, in Okinawa, and I didn’t have any kind of a jacket to wear.  So I bought a windbreaker yesterday.  I bought it out in town for only $3.50.  The cheapest ones in the PX were $6.95.  The jacket seems to be of good quality and worth more than I paid.

I also had to buy another pair of slacks as my old gray ones have just about had it.  Both pockets are completely worn out.  I bought that gray pair of slacks at Sears in Brunswick.  Of course, I was planning to buy clothes over here as I needed them.

I’ve been looking at cassette recorders here.  My roommate moved right before I left, so I’m thinking about buying a recorder of my own.  I’m pricing them to see if I’ll have enough money to buy one.  The best price I’ve found so far is $29.95 and that’s for a good brand.

2 January 1970

Friday Nite
2 Jan. 1970

Well, I got to Okinawa, finally!  We left Chu Lai yesterday morning and went to Danang.  But we couldn’t get a flight out of Danang until 1630 today and it’s a 5 hour flight to Okinawa.  So we finally got here late tonight. 

We are staying at the Kadena AFB BOQ tonight, a real nice place.  We have to report in tomorrow at 1300, but we still don’t know for sure just where the school is held or where we’ll be staying.

I ran into Hawk Cornetta tonight at the o’club.  He was at Basic School with me and is real small (smaller than me.)  I was surprised to see him.  No matter where I go I run into old friends.

The BOQ here is fantastic!!  These rooms have TVs, a refrigerator stocked with beer and soft drinks, wall to wall carpet, and even a clock radio.  These crews that live here are mostly B-52 crews who fly missions to Vietnam.  What a way to fight a war!  If I ever join the military again, it’ll be the Air Force.