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I spent my first week in PR on Roosey when we blew a turbine after our last mission on a FLEETEX in the mid-90's. Sheesh! Rum was $3.00 a bottle, and I don't think we spent one night sober.

Then, I got to ride out Hurricane Georges when it scoured the island in '98. The eye passed right over the base, winds hit 130 mph, and the duty van, the skipper's car, and the hangar were totalled. The van took a direct hit from a coconut which went in one window and out the other like a cannon shot. Skipper's ride was sandblasted to bare steel by flying gravel and was flooded after its windows blew out. My pilot then drove the soggy wreck to the hangar and had to call the skipper to tell him. His response? "Is the XO's car okay? Good...it's not his anymore..."

Fortunately (or unfortunately for our livers) the infamous Papa Joe's, outside the back gate, remained open.

My husband was stationed at RR from late 96 to early 99. We had the great 'fortune' to experience Georges too (from enlisted housing POV). My sis in law was visiting at the time (lucky her), and our first child was 3.5 months old. I remember watching tree limbs, signs, etc. go flying or floating past our house. We were lucky enough to have a generator but we still lost a fridge full of food and an area rug due to incoming water. The worst part of it was being without power for 2 weeks and the smell that came from dead fish and mangroves. Since we had no A/C, we had to keep the windows open (great for the appetite). Ah, memories :)

Everyone who came to visit us had to make a trip to the Bacardi factory, although they got their cheap rum at the Exchange to take back home. My mom bought enough that I think she still has a bottle or two in the liquor cabinet, lol (and we left there over 4 years ago). Drinking and barbequing seemed to be our two favorite pasttimes down there!