As our Members know, we have recently completed our "Patrol in Paradise" for this year, and as always - we had a great time. We will not use a lot of ink here for this report, but let's see just some of the highlights of this historic time in 'Paradise'.

Some of our people arrived a day early and had this magnificent beach to enjoy for a full day, or they could take advantage of any of the many great things offered in the Daytona Beach area. One of our early arrivals was an 80-year-old semi retired banker, and he found a unique way to enjoy his extra day. Well, you might think a fellow with this background might enjoy a round of gold, perhaps a stroll on the beach, maybe just relaxing. Maybe - for any old duffer but GEORGE CHANDLER (EH 579-1996) is not an old duffer, and none of the above was exciting enough.

This P-38 LIGHTNING fighter ACE from the South Pacific with five Japanese ZERO fighters to his credit, went to Daytona International Speedway and hopped into the right-hand seat of a specially modified Winston Cup Grand National stock car - and went around this high-banked superspeedway at 160 mph or more! GEORGE said it was great - not as exciting as shooting down five ZERO fighters and certainly not as exciting as any of the times his own LIGHTNING came home all shot up - once with the portside engine in flames; but mighty exciting none the less.

Annabelle Stevenson, guest of FRANK McCLATCHIE (5814­1999) met GEORGE CHANDLER during one of our informal FREE drinking hours & during their conversation, she mentioned that in her younger days in college, her best friend had the same last name of Chandler. They were both young married couples and they were very close. Then, some years after college, they lost contact with each other so she asked GEORGE if he had a relative of the same name as her former college best friend. Indeed he did. It was his sister! As a result of these people being part of `Patrol in Paradise - 2001' two college friends who had not seen each other for more than forty years are back in contact again.

Our first day saw our group touring the Kennedy Space Center and we had a great time. The tour made us feel as if we were part of the Space Program. The exhibits were so life like, you might think you were in a Shuttle or even on the surface of the moon.

No visit to central Florida would be complete without a visit to Walt Disney World, so our group spent the entire day there at the Epcot Center. I personally spent a lot of time in the German part of the exhibit - they have great food, and a lot of good beer!

Of course, we then went to the submarine base at King's Bay, where our Atlantic Fleet OHIO Class `boomer' boats are home ported. This was one of the high points of our `Patrol in Paradise' this year or any year. We first toured the TTC or Trident Training Center, where we visited the various training rooms and devices. Crewmembers are trained how to handle leaks, fires, electrical breaks and other types of damage on these huge submarines and keep them operational. It was informative for sure!

USS TENNESSEE

After lunch in the base mess hall, we visited this submarine and toured all through her. This is the submarine on which CDR. STEVE JONES (2183-1992) served as XO some years ago. It is amazing that a vessel nearly as long as two football fields and with a weight of more than 18,000 tons can be a submarine, but they sure can. These vessels, far larger than a World War II cruiser, can carry food for about 180 men for many months, can make more than enough fresh water for drinking, cooking, bathing and washing clothes, can make enough fresh air for their crew to breath forever - and can still run silent and deep as a deterrent to war.

Next day we were at NASJAX or Naval Air Station - Jacksonville. There were two great activities for us here. First, we went in small groups into the `Starlight' training room. The `Starlight' is the night vision equipment that allows good vision in all but the most pitch black nights. We stood in a room and when the lights were turned off, there was a tiny bulb in the ceiling that was so dim that we could not even see the person standing at our elbow. Then we took up the night vision glasses, and it was if the sun had come up! It is easy to see how our SAR (Search and Rescue) people and the combat people as well, can see perfectly well in almost total darkness. Of course, the price tag on these little binoculars will be a deterrent to anyone wanting to buy a set - something in excess of $13,000 EACH! Of course, these used by the military are not even available to anyone other than the US military.

Another highlight of our time at NASJAX was the simulator for the pilots of the HU-60 twin-engine helicopter. We each got a turn actually flying these simulators! Of course, the guy in front of me who flew first was GEORGE CHANDLER and he got into the seat and flew the sim as if he'd never left the cockpit of his P-38, he never missed a beat. Then it was my turn - hooo boy. Well, at least I didn't crash and I was able to land on the deck of the carrier without killing anyone on deck or falling overboard.

We also toured the training center for repairs of the various components of the HU-60 choppers, the parachute rigging shop etc. We ate lunch there on the base - it sure has changed from when most of us were in the service. These are now `dining halls' and not mess halls. The food was good and we had plenty of it.

As always, we were treated better than family by everyone on these US Navy installations. They have every right to be proud of their facilities, of their training, of their personnel & their mission. Of course we ended our `Patrol in Paradise' at the Hawaiian show and luau but this time, they did not grab HARRY COOPER (1­LIFE-1983) to do the hula with other luckless guys in the audience. This time, they grabbed JOHN KAMMERER (653­LIFE-1988) to wear the grass skirt, the coconuts and the beach comber hat. JOHN was a good sport, and had a great time with it.