In high school, I hung out with Tony & Joshua Pajela and the T&J Sounds gang. Also Paul & Michael Apilado & da "Company C Boys" too. Caused daily trouble with Freddy Patricio and rocked with Johnnie Bonachita, Alsen "Soonie" Viquelia and Tony Bernaldes. Entered Brown Bags to Stardom for 3 out of my 4 years in high school. Senior year took 2nd place at WHS, only to get killed by Glenn Medeiros at the Kauai competition at the convention center. If you don't remember me, I was the long haired guy with all the bandanas and black rock pants. Drove a 1970 Plymouth Roadrunner wih "WASP" stenciled on the side.
After grad worked Big Save Waimea then Fun Factory at Kukui Grove for a year. Deejay'd a ton of dances with T&J Sounds and had you all jumpin on the dance floor. Wesric Kaneakua, Daniel Simao, Ron Rytter, Tony, Josh, Mila, Karen, Krissey, Ziba, Ryan (RIP), Nikola, Mugs, Dennis, James, John P, Matt T, David R, Johnny, Soonie & Tony B, I miss the HELL outta you guys!
I left for the Air Force in 1987. After Basic Training I went to Denver, CO, for 6 months at 3462 STUS as a 462X0 Aircraft Armament Systems Spec on F-16's. Immediately after that, I was sent to Kunsan Air Base, Korea where I spent 1 year. Met my good buddy Ryan Sabate there and rocked the rec center with our rock band. Ate some cheese ramen, bought some guitars and bootleg cassette tapes, did the train up to Osan a couple of times. Went to MacDill AFB, FL next in Tampa Bay. Spent three years there. Got married too in 1989. Got out of the Air Force and drove from Florida to Washington State in a little less than 4 days...yeah, I was HAULIN ASS! Worked a few different jobs as a civilian up in Vancouver, Washington. The funnest for me was at Hewlett Packard as Security Ops Manager and also as Chef at Hawaiian Cafe. I also joined the USAF Reserve out of Portland, OR, as a Weapons Load Toad and deployed to Kuwait/Saudi Arabia in 1994. My wife gave birth to my 1st daughter in 1994. Then over the next 6 years, was deployedt to Turkey three times. In 1999, I was deployed to Brindisi, Italy for the Kosovo war. My wife also gave birth to our second daughter. In 2000, I crossed trained into Aerial Gunner and in 2001, had my 1st rescue, spotting 2 missing female hikers in the Wallowa Mountains of Eastern Oregon. On September 11, 2001, I found myself yet again, in Turkey, shopping for rugs and getting pulled into a store by a Turkish shop owner who was pointing at the tv as the 2nd plane hit the WTC. In 2002, our unit deployed to Salt Lake City, UT to provide aerial support for the security of the Winter Olympics. After returning to Portland, the 939th RQW was to undergo a conversion from HH-60's/HC-130's to KC-135 refuellers. Not wanting to become a boom operator, I decided to move to California and remain in CSAR (Combat Search And Rescue). Two weeks after moving down here I deployed to Turkey, yeah again, but this time for 9 months. Even though we were in a really poor city named Diyarbakir, it was one of the best deployments I've ever been on. I really don't think morale could have gotten any higher than it did there. Along with doing my normal Aerial Gunner job, I also cooked breakfast and lunch pretty damn near every day for the whole 9 months I was there, for about 60 people...who really appreciated it all. Since I had some chef experience, I put together an awesome team of "Combat Iron Chefs" and kitchen workers who all worked their asses off not only doing their primary duties, but making sure we all had hot meals and a clean kitchen to operate out of. We had Combat Iron Chef "Pinoy", "Italian", "Mexican",  "Haole" and me as "Hawaiian." You can best believe I had everyone eating local food the whole time, from spam fried rice to pok'e to Hanamaulu chicken. For Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years and the Superbowl, we cooked for up to 150 people that we all handled in our small 2 stove "Kitchen Stadium".
In 2005, I was deployed to Afghanistan. Now, I work fulltime for the California Air National Guard as an Aerial Gunner. Wife also gave birth to my 3rd daughter in 2006.
Between HomegronHawaii.com and MySpace, I catch-up with so many of my long lost friends and classmates. Being away from Kauai for 21 years now, makes one really appreciate everything about that island. Many times I wish I was sitting on the beach, right in-front of what used to be my grandparents house at Pakala.
 
Someday. :)