610thACWSq-Radar Sites-Southern Japan

INTRODUCTION

This Web Site has evolved from one devoted to a single Radar Site, to one devoted to a Squadron, then a Group, several Squadrons, some Support Elements and so it continues. If you read early posts, and we hope you do, they may not appear to be accurate or complete, but please remember they were created when membership and our memories were limited.

Most pages can be viewed by anyone. However, to Post messages or photos, or to view everything, you must be signed in as a member. Before we discuss how to do any of those things, let us see what is available.

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GUIDE

Looking at the Tool Bar on the left side of the page, you can divide it into several informal sections.

1. Let's call the first the "General" section. If you are signed in as a member, "Join Now" may be replaced with "Reserve your MSN Nickname" and appear before "What's New."

__A. "WHAT'S NEW" - Here you can view the 4 most recent messages posted; 4 most recent photos posted; and if you are "signed in", you can see the Member Names of the last 4 to join.

__B."JOIN NOW" - Takes you to the pages to establish an MSN Net Passport ID, or to use one you already have.

__C. "HOME PAGE" - The name says it all. Besides a general description of the Web Site, it contains 2 very descriptive photos. There are some tabs to take you to other sites of current interest, such as reunions or to access the by-laws of the Southern Japan Radar Group. Near the bottom is a Guestbook tab. You might want to visit the GB occasionally, as some vistors post an entry, but do not accept the invitation to join immediately. Who knows, you might recognize a name or two.

__D. "OUR REUNION PAGE" - Location of next reunion and link to Reunion Website.

__E. "IMPORTANT NEW INFORMATION FOR ALL" - Why we organized and current officers.

__F. "GUIDE" - This page.

__G. "FAQ" - Questions that have been submitted by more than one member and our attempt to answer them.

__H. "MAP WITH RADAR SITE LOCATIONS" - The entire area showing where each of the sites was located.

2. The 2nd section is a tab entitled "Quick Links - (All Units) - Photos - Rosters - Tour Dates" that takes you to a separate selection page. For brevity, henceforth this page will be referred to as "Quick Links." Selecting this page brings up a menu of locations under a column entitled "Photos." There are two other columns, "Rosters" and "Tour Dates."

__A. "PHOTOS" - Each unit or group of units have a photo album of one or more pages. The first entry in each case is a map showing the location of the unit. Whenever you wish to refer to a particular photo(s,) it is suggested to use an album-page-row-number format. For instance, Det.15 album 2-page 4-row 1-#3. Not all Detachments have multi albums, so, just the Detachment number in that case.

__B. "ROSTERS" - Each unit or group of units have a listing of personel (very incomplete) that served a tour or part of a tour there. More on these rosters later.

__C. "TOUR DATES" - Each unit has a list of names on a "Tour Times" page of members that have filled out a Profile with the months and years of their arrival and departure from each site. The names are displayed in alphabetical order, with an "X" entered for any quarter or partial quarter of a year that the member served in that unit.

3. For lack of a better name, we'll call the next 3 tabs the "Input" section.

__A. "JOURNAL" - Accesses the pages for the longer War Stories.

__B. "MESSAGE BOARD" - Allows you to choose "JOURNAL", "GENERAL" (the short notes and questions) or both. Experiment with displaying the Individual Boards and All Topics. Also, Discussions and Replies vs Discussions Only. See which one you prefer.

__C. "DOCUMENTS" - Newsletters and personal stories in longer format.

4. "LINKS" is a listing of URLs for other sites of similar interests.

5. The next section we will call "group interest."

__A. "DUES YEARLY" First important words here sre 'volounteer basis.' An explanation of why a dues program was started.

__B. "HISTORICAL PHOTO SECTION" - Pictures of patches, emblems or any other "icons."

__C. "MISC. PHOTOS"- Photos from members that served or are serving in units not located in the old Southern Japan (1945 - early 1960s) arena.

__D. "MUG SHOTS - BEFORE & AFTER" - A "then-and-now" set of pictures of members. These have been very helpful. When names proved unfamiliar, the 'Then' picture were recognized, and at the re-union, the 'Now' picture allowed one to greet the other with a handshake and a name.

__E. "PHOTOS FROM BRANSON REUNION 2004" - The name says it all.

__F. "PHOTOS FROM SAN ANTONIO REUNION 2005" - ditto

__G. "PHOTOS FROM TENNESSEE REUNION 2006" - ditto again.

6. The last section deals with identification.

__A. "NICKNAME TO NAME" - Brings up a conversion chart to help you find out who the 'R2D2' that posted the last message really is. The information in this chart is gleaned from Profiles or intial membership entries or postings. We do not always catch all the changes, but we try. Individuals can add/change their own.

__B. "MEMBERS PROFILES" - Basic info to help others remember you or note a common interest. More info on this to follow.

__C. "TOOLS" - As a visitor you can view info and settings or join; as a signed-on member, you can adjust your personal settings, change your member name, etc.

HOW TO

So, even after looking it over, you still want to become a member, tell some stories, ask some questions, post some pictures,etc.

1. Become a member -

__A. Click on the "Join Now" tab.

__B. If you already have a Passport, you can choose the "Sign in" option and proceed from there.

__C. If you do not have a Passport, you can choose the tab to learn more about Passports first, then select the option to "Get" one.

__D. When you reach the point of selecting a "Member Name" give some thought. It will be the tag line on any messages or photos you post and thus will probably be how other members address you. So if you want us to call you "SAM" rather than "R2D2" don't rely on our memory to connect the 2. By the same token, if you intend to log in to the "CHAT ROOM" you might consider a slight bit of uniqueness. We found out the hard way that if "SAM" tries to sign into our Chat Room and there is another "SAM" signed in to ANY MSN Chat Room, he and all other "SAMs" are denied entry. One option that worked, was for "SAM" to become "SAM610" or add some other numeric.

__E. You will have an option to be notified whenever a message is posted on the board. Be aware that this means you will get an e-mail whenever a post is made. If you do not want that much e-mail, DO NOT select it. If you do select this option and later decide you do not want it, you can de-select by going through the "TOOLS" tab and editing your membership. In either case, MSN will send you a weekly message with a summary of photos and message titles posted during the previous week.

2. Sign In. At the top of the Home Page and most other pages on the Web Site, there is a horizontal Tool Bar stretching accross the page. On the left is a tab saying "MSN Home." On the right is a white area with the wors "Web Search." In between, there is a tab that says "Sign In." This will take you to a page where you enter your E-mail address and MSN Passport Password. After you make the appropriate entries, you will be returned to the page you were previously on.

3. Fill out a Profile. Please, we urge you to do this one. It helps everyone to get to kow you and understand your background as it relates to the Southern Japan Radar Group.

__A. Select the "Profile" tab near the bottom of the Tool Bar.

__B. If you have a Printer, you might want to print the existing Profiles, or make some notes to use as a guide when filling out your own. You can use John Rosso's as a template, or if you prefer, you can see there are others with more or less details.

__C. Select "Add Member" and fill in the blanks. We ask that at a minimum, you include name, DOB, month and year of arrival, month and year of departure and e-mail address. If your tour(s) took you to more than one site, the month and year for each will be very helpful. Of course, this is just the minimum. Rank(s) while on station, job, current interests and other comments are not only welcome, but encouraged. Also, if your E-mail changes, you might want to change it on your Profile.

4. Make a Tour Times entry. After you have filled out a Profile, an entry will be made for you on the appropriate Tour Times.

5. Put your name on the Personnel Roster. These are lists created by the membership listing themselves and anyone else of whom they had personal knowledge or official documentation (orders, PAMs, etc.) Members have "ACTIVE" in comments to indicate more info is under Profiles; Non-members have "Inactive" under comments and their entry may have a little more detail since there is no Profile. Use John Rosso's entry under Det. 15 as a guide.

__A. Select the "Quick Links" tab.

__B. Select the Personnel Roster for the unit(s) where you served.

__C. See if your name has been entered by someone else. If so, you can modify/correct the entry as needed. Also, under comments make an entry saying "ACTIVE."

__D. If your name is not there, please make an entry. Also, enter any other "Inactives" you know of that are not already there. This last is not restricted to your own unit.

6. Post a message. Okay, you've become a member, filled out a Profile, etc., now you've got something to say. Are you replying to or commenting on an existing Post or do you want to start a new thread?

__A. An existing Post. You found the post either on the Message Board or its one of the 4 most recent displayed on What's New. While displaying the message, click on "REPLY" and a window will open where you can enter your response. When you are finished, there is a "SEND" at the bottom of the page. Also, if you found the original message or any other that you read exceptionaly interesting, there is a "RECOMMEND" button right next to the Reply. This puts a little 'ticky mark' in the 'heart' column of the Message Board.

__B. Start a New Thread. From the Message Board (Journal, General or All Topics), click on "NEW DISCUSSION." From there, it is the same as Reply, except you select the Title. You will be given a choice of which board, Journal or General, you want your entry in.

__C.Post by other methods. This is possible. If you elected to receive e-mail on every post, you can reply via e-mail. However, you also send back all of the original posts, plus lots of MSN advertising. An experiment with a form of word processing was tried. It made it difficult to view the message. I am sure there are others, but replying while logged on to the site seems to be the best.

7. Post a photo. The biggest challenge is getting the photo in to your workstation, and that is an individual thing. Some use scanners, others have imported from a CD. Still others have sent the photos to someone who has a scanner. So, let's assume you have the photos in a folder on your PC.

__A. Select the appropriate album - Unit, Mug Shot or Miscellaneous. Unit Photo Albums are accessed via the "Quick Links" tab.

__B. At the top of the page, click on "ADD PHOTOS."

__C. From there you will be asked for the source, and again, that is a personal thing. Once you click on that source, the photo will be imported to the site.

__D. Now, the most important step before submitting, is adding comments. And, the most important consideration of this most important step, is the date or approximate date of the photo. Of course, additional identification information, such as names or places is always appreciated.