Been following stories about the tough duty at K-Bay. I was stationed at K-Bay with Station Operations and Maintenance Squadron (SOMS) from Oct '74 through Oct '77, then got out and stayed in Hawaii until 1984. I arrived as a 19 year old newly minted LCpl who got married en-route. In those days you had to be "Command Sponsored" to be authorized quarters and/or a wife, but we were too young and too dumb to know how poor we were while living in a tiny apartment in town and sharing our one bicycle for transportation. Road that bike about 5 miles to/from work daily, more often than not in the rain. Worked GCA Radar just off the middle of the runway with F4 Phantoms screaming by non-stop. That's our yellow trailer in the middle of the asphalt in the picture. Too far for most folks to walk out to bother us so for the most part it was just me and my Gunny. Yes, it was "swinging with the Wing" at times and couldn't have asked for better duty.
Jeff Howards
Sgt of Marines
'73-'77
Roger that, I was there from Mar 14- 74 to mar 13- 78. I was the guy fueling those Phantoms and Helicopters then. MABS-24 MAG-24 TAFDS… Tactical Aviation Fuel Dispensing Systems. On the big Island I would haul jet fuel from the docks up the mountain to the base between the Volcanos Mauna Loa and Mauna Kea and offload, ( before they were erupting ) then go back down and load up and roll back up to the base. Ten bladders of JP5 I would fill. You could see whales off the coast as you drove up to Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa, it was a good time back then. Our hooch was on the flight line and when a jet would hot fuel the blast would come right through our breeze way