Kinda-Sorta-CouldBe

After surviving 24 hours of nuclear attack from various pyortechnics, I wander home to rest my weary ass.

It wasnt terrible, but it wasnt all that much fluff, either. Many brushfires, many fireworks related damage, and rubbish fires, but all in all, not too bad. No house burnt down, and no kids injured as far as I know. A couple of auto accidents (1 DOA) and a missing Kayaker that was rescued.

It is the kayaker one that makes the day soooo much more fun.

On Oahu, we have a number of Military installations. Well, more like - plenty. Matter of fact, we have more than the government knows what to do with, but thats for another days mind warp. Suffice to say, the Fire Dept. likes to have interagency relations (not that kind, get head outta da gutter, damnit!) that are amicable, and productive.

Yeah, right.

You see, since 9/11 the military doesnt like free access to its bases (understandable) but also wants to inspect everyone who comes thru, (again, understandable) - - you know where this going, dont you? --- but there is a common sense line, dont you think?

Lets say you have an emergency, and you need someones assistance, (say the Fire Department...)And you dont have the know-how to get a person rescued......So you call us, and we go but you dont grant us quick access, and....well this is more of that spiel, and how inane some Government types can be.

We have a buncha lines that are directly tied in to various agencies. Pick 'em up they ring. The converse is true, pick up yours, and ours rings.

You know who picked up this one.

So you acknowledge the callers agency (in this case the Marines) and ask what the situation is - Of course, the Marines have their own lingo-speak, as do we, so it is kinda like foreigners conversing to each other -

"Hay-low Fire? This is Lieutenan Officer ****** from waterfront operations at Carkneeohhee (Kaneohe) base station, we seem to have a sitchuashon here where a K-yakker is missin' and ya'all need to come on over to waterfront operations to assist our Boat in a search for the missing K-Yakker"

And you think my english is bad...

Sooooo I get more information from the officer, and try to get him to make sure that the the staff at the gate know to let the siren balring lights flashing trucks come thru, w/o making them get searched from head to toe, ( i mean we are a fire department, you know) So he assures me that he will. (of course he didnt;whichpisses of the Chief who is going to the incident, because - 1. Life in danger, 2. The absolute absurdity of the whole thing.) Sooooo in getting the info, and getting the guys there, and getting the info out to the guys over the radio...The Police call to say they are going to send their Chopper to assist as well.

Now that means -

Tracking and keeping tabs on - A Chief, a engine company, a ladder company, a rescue company, our helicopter, HPD's helicopter, and dealing with the interagency phone call bureraucratic bullshit as well.

**whew**

The thing is, at the time, we all work together on our side to make it go smooth. But the looking back at it, makes the absurd parts stand out so strong.

All in all , the party was found about 1 mile from where he lost his "Kay-Yak" and was tired, exhausted, but hey alive is a good thing to be. Especially at night, oh yeah, this was at 8PM, BTW. Dark. High price to pay to watch fireworks, but whadda I know, right?

So its three days of Hotelheckage, and no reason to look forward to a surf, as it forgotten isle of flatness right now.

Patience, grasshopper, patience.

Aloha!