Things have gotten quiet here.

[jeisan]

Seems to have calmed down quite a bit since I stopped being a regular here. No J-pop kids posting to hundreds of threads a day, not that I miss that, but even the other sections are slow. It's like making a late beer run and coming back to find most of the party has gone home already.

 

[thomas]

Yeah, these days they have their beer on Facebook.

How have you been, mate?

 

[jeisan]

Lurking the last couple days. But in the Navy since the time I left, they have me up in Misawa nowadays.

How've you been?

 

[thomas]

Let me know if you make it to Tokyo.

At the moment things are pretty quiet here at JREF, but we have the occasional veteran popping in. It's always good to see some old faces and usernames.

 

[Mike Cash]

I thought maybe fascination with Japanese pop culture had started to fade, accounting for decreased posting.

How is Uncle Sam's Navy treating you?

 

[jeisan]

Thomas:
Funny you say that, I'm gonna have to drive down to Narita in a couple weeks, but it's during the week.

Mike:
Perhaps.
Treating me like a Sailor; training and paying me, supporting my family, but never forgetting to give me ample things to complain about. So pretty good.
How are things with you?

 

[thomas]

I thought maybe fascination with Japanese pop culture had started to fade, accounting for decreased posting.

Mike, that's my impression too. I see a lot of anime-related boards, some of them quite large, simply disappear. I'm not sure if that trend also extends to Jpop. Apart from my own shortcomings as a webmaster I do blame the so-called social media for fostering mostly shallow, meaningless and egocentric pseudocommunication that just caters to those who enjoy to exhibit themselves to their "friends". Online fora do require an attention span longer than the average fly-by posting on Facebook and do not offer instantaneous self-gratification. Yeah, well, enough ranting, lol...

Jeisan, just shoot me a PM if you ever make it into town.

 

[jeisan]

Will do. Also I hope to be around a bit more, I think I may have some more downtime than I've had in the past.

 

[Mike Cash]

The United States Navy, through a long and illustrious history and the collective cumulative experience of having nurtured the many millions of men and women throughout the course of that history long ago distilled all the lessons of management down to what they consider the One Essential Truth, the uniform and pervasive implementation of which they consider something akin to a sacred trust: "A sailor isn't happy unless he's got something to b!tch about". It is a matter of institutional pride to make sure no sailor is ever in danger of running short.

Do you ever find yourself muttering to yourself what I used to mutter? "Man....the things I do for my country...."

 

[jeisan]

That is the truth.
I have muttered those words to myself on many occasions. I'm especially fond of how they spend lots of money training people for months at a time, only have them mowing grass, sorting trash, chipping paint and doing dishes. But honestly, I wouldn't trade it for any other branch, I couldn't deal with any of the others.

 

[Grandpa Frank]

Been out almost 40 years now.....

but instead of forgetting all the bad things about the Navy time and only remembering the good ; hasn't happened yet , LOL. I will always be thankful for the 2 years in Japan the Navy provided me. At age 62 , those 2 years are the best of my lifetime so far. Stay safe Jeisan!

Uncle Frank

 

[jeisan]

Frank, I'm surprised you remember much at your age, Navy must've made quite the impression. What was your job anyway? MA?
I need to study some Japanese, it hasn't been very long but walking around pointing at things and nodding is already getting old...

 

[Mike Cash]

You don't soon forget the Navy.

 

[Grandpa Frank]

The Navy dragged me into the real world.

Being a dumb kid from a small Maine town , the Navy exposed me to so many wild and crazy things, places , and people. I signed up for 6 years for nuke subs as my dad had been a submariner. In boot camp , they talked me into going into Naval Intelligence to be like 007 as they put it. I became a CT"R" in NAVSACGRU as an ELINT spy. At 19 years old , I felt pretty cool being a spy againist the communists and in paticular , the Russians. I worked in HFDF (direction finding) , keeping track of Russian nuke subs and planes. Because I held a very high and expensive security clearance , we were not allowed to even think about marrying a foreign national. I made the mistake of putting in a request to marry my Japanese girlfriend , and the Navy made my life a living hell for having the nerve to do it. I was shipped off to Adak Alaska , which at the time was the worse duty station for a CT. It seemed a bit like going to prison at the time. I ended up spending my last(4th) year as the base Chaplain's yoman, which was again a life changeing year for me. The Vietnam war was going on at that time, which also had a big effect on my life and friends lives. I was a very different person after my discharge , some good and some bad.Those four years had a big effect on my life till this day. I wear a ballcap that says Navy veteran nowadays , so I can't say I hated those 4 years and try to hide it. I always chuckle a bit when someone asks what ship I served on and I have to confess to being just a land sailor.

Uncle Frank