The Golf ball is back!

On Oahu, military activities and movement of people, ships, Strykers, etc. are big news. Late in 2005, early in 2006, the “Golf ball” cruised into town for a fresh coat of paint at Pearl Harbor and made the news. The Golf ball is a powerful, 280-foot-tall Sea-Based X-Band Radar, a $900 million-plus floating platform containing a huge white ball perched on six thick pillars. When the paint dried in early 2006, it made the news again as it set sail for Alaska. Then it came back into Pearl after only a few weeks on the open water – and you get the idea, it made the news. Feel free to insert your favorite military intelligence jokes here. It finally departed after a short “fix it” stint, and I thought we had said goodbye for good. But now it’s back at Pearl. I’d seen it from the freeway and read something about it in the paper, but I hadn’t seen it up close. I went to swim at Pearl one day, and as I was following the directions to the pool from the guard at the gate, I turned onto a side road and caught site of it, looming above the trees and buildings. The first time you see it you really can’t take your eyes off it. It draws you in like a magnet. The picture included here is actually an "archive" of my own...taken in February 2006 from the top sections of Aloha Stadium during the Pro Bowl. The radar is on the left, the Might Mo (USS Missouri) and the Arizona Memorial are on the right. The picture is lousy as it was snapped with our digital point-and-shoot, and the end of the day when the sun glare was strong.