CanuckAmok
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Fri Jul-29-05 11:33 PM
Original message |
Wow, a friend just emailed me from the Aleutian Islands. |
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She's on a research vessel just West of Unimak Island, about 1200 miles West of the Alaskan Mainland.
She says it's "...freakin' cold and freakin' quiet, and the fog never, ever lifts...".
Just a thought to you DUers stuck in the heatwave.
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Droopy
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Fri Jul-29-05 11:35 PM
Response to Original message |
1. My aunt, uncle, and cousins |
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used to live in Adak, Akaska. My uncle was stationed there in the Navy. I think it is the farthest westward town in the United States.
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CanuckAmok
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Fri Jul-29-05 11:38 PM
Response to Reply #1 |
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Edited on Fri Jul-29-05 11:39 PM by CanuckAmok
IIRC, it's the only US soil invaded by the Japanses in WWII. In 1942 they took Adak to prevent the USAF from establishing an airfield within reach of the Japan, but they abandoned it in 1943.
on edit: USAAC, not USAF.
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jobycom
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Fri Jul-29-05 11:37 PM
Response to Original message |
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I was afraid you were going to say Bush invaded them, too.
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BikeWriter
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Fri Jul-29-05 11:40 PM
Response to Original message |
4. Crap, I had a shipment to Shemya once... |
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Luckily, they needed an electrician at Sparrevohn on the mainland, too. I traded orders. It was remote, but at least it wasn't an island.
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greendog
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Fri Jul-29-05 11:52 PM
Response to Original message |
5. I was out that way a few summers ago |
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You can take the ferry from Homer to Dutch Harbor. It stops in several little towns along the way.
We lucked out and had nice weather for the whole trip.
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CanuckAmok
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Fri Jul-29-05 11:54 PM
Response to Reply #5 |
6. I'm just occasionally freaked-out by wireless email... |
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It's like "Hi, I'm in the most remote place in the Northern Hemisphere. How's it goin'?"
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Floogeldy
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Fri Jul-29-05 11:57 PM
Response to Original message |
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My father was stationed in the Aleutians in the Navy.
They say that is why I'm crazy, today.
}(
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BikeWriter
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Sat Jul-30-05 12:01 AM
Response to Reply #7 |
8. We had two guys come down with cabin fever at our site... |
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It's a very real thing at remote sites.
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Floogeldy
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Sat Jul-30-05 12:03 AM
Response to Reply #8 |
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On a serious note, I think my dad had some problems afterwards. Because this was back in the late 40's, early 50's.
But he came out of it okay in later years.
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BikeWriter
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Sat Jul-30-05 01:20 AM
Response to Reply #9 |
10. I doubt they had much as far as recreation back then... |
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We had movies and a library, at least. The winter was pretty damned hard to take. I think it contributed to my PTSD.
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Zuni
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Sat Jul-30-05 01:23 AM
Response to Original message |
11. I interviewed a WWII vet who invaded the Aleutians |
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he landed on Kiska, which the Japanese left before he got there. He served in the Phillipines and Okinawa as well, but he said Kiska was the most miserable place he ever served in
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proud2BlibKansan
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Sat Jul-30-05 01:26 AM
Response to Original message |
12. My hubby was stationed at Shemya |
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He said it was absolutely beautiful.
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BikeWriter
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Sat Jul-30-05 07:56 AM
Response to Reply #12 |
13. Did he tell you about the wind gauge? |
proud2BlibKansan
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Sat Jul-30-05 09:53 AM
Response to Reply #13 |
14. Seems like I remember that |
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He talks about the animals. He took lots and lots of pictures of foxes. And it was so cold in the winter they had tunnels to go from one part of the base to the other. Also, when he was there they had no women on base.
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BikeWriter
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Sat Jul-30-05 11:01 AM
Response to Reply #14 |
15. The wind gauge was a piece of chain tied to a post... |
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when it blew out horizontally the wind was considered to be blowing.
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proud2BlibKansan
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Sat Jul-30-05 11:02 AM
Response to Reply #15 |
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I'll ask him if he remembers that.
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BikeWriter
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Sat Jul-30-05 11:10 AM
Response to Reply #16 |
17. I was diverted from there in 1969 to Sparrevohn... |
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Some of our people were in radio contact with them. Others had been there.
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proud2BlibKansan
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Sat Jul-30-05 11:17 AM
Response to Reply #17 |
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in 70 and 71.
Small world.
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BikeWriter
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Sat Jul-30-05 11:22 AM
Response to Reply #18 |
19. Not too long after my time... |
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The Alaskan Command and the Aircraft Control and Warning Squadrons were an important part of our cold war defense.
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proud2BlibKansan
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Sat Jul-30-05 11:30 AM
Response to Reply #19 |
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and was stationed there in the comm center.
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BikeWriter
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Sat Jul-30-05 11:43 AM
Response to Reply #20 |
21. Oh, okay. That means one of several things.... |
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He could have been in regular communications, plus we heard lots of stories about our Russian-speaking people out there listening in on the Russkis. :-)
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proud2BlibKansan
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Sat Jul-30-05 11:59 AM
Response to Reply #21 |
24. Well he had a TS clearance |
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and still can't disclose much about what he did. But when people ask him what he did, he tells them he was stationed at the closest US military installation to the Soviet Union during the Cold War, and he was in communications. :)
Not hard to draw some obvious conclusions.
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BikeWriter
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Sat Jul-30-05 12:03 PM
Response to Reply #24 |
25. For sure! From what I hear they often... |
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gave Russian pilots faulty directions in Russian. I remember we heard some funny stories.
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proud2BlibKansan
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Sat Jul-30-05 12:07 PM
Response to Reply #25 |
BikeWriter
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Sat Jul-30-05 12:19 PM
Response to Reply #27 |
28. Yep, I have a friend who was a pilot out there... |
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about ten years before that. He says fights with the Russian pilots were regular events.
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trof
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Sat Jul-30-05 11:48 AM
Response to Reply #12 |
22. So was my brother-in-law. |
trof
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Sat Jul-30-05 11:50 AM
Response to Reply #22 |
23. I flew over the Aleutians for 10 years. |
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Once or twice a month, between Anchorage and Narita. I think I saw Shemya maybe three or four times. Covered in fog all the rest.
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BikeWriter
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Sat Jul-30-05 12:06 PM
Response to Reply #23 |
26. That weather out there was said to be bad... |
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I have no regrets about diverting to Sparrevohn.
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Fri Apr 26th 2024, 05:02 AM
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