HMSO Testimonials
Aloha from Vietnam... I am a local boy who grew up in Kailua, Oahu. I have been living in Vietnam for 7 years and searching the coast with depth maps and a motorbike (with board). I would like to invite anyone in HMSO to surf with me just south of Danang. The surf is killer Brah! It can get 10 feet + and that's not considering the typhoon swells. I typically score 4 to + 5 footers alone behind perfectly formed headlands. I was on the beach last year when both Ketsana and Parma hit the coast in central Vietnam. My newest area to surf is unreal. A point left break (offshore all day) in a bay, right point on the otherside. In the middle of this bay is big and the most consistant sandbars with potential channels to get out. 30 Minutes away are more killer breaks! These breaks I mention are all around old military bases. My father was stationed in Danang as a navigator and I surf right were he used to swim down from the runway. Local people are always telling me stories about how there used to be 30 longboarders out in the 1960's and 1970's. You guys would trip on the place.
Sean in Vietnam
I was going over the gallery on your website and low & behold, there is a picture of me in Baghdad enjoying my one year vacation from my family. I say that in jest. This place truly sucks. I miss my wife and kids like it is nobody’s business! My XO sent over the photo’s I guess with a bunch of other pictures. I did some Magnum PI action to find that out by the way. I saw some of my Ranger Buddies doing a reenlistment on a hilltop and that was what gave away the source. I looked at the site you guys made and recognized a bunch of folks. Consider me a member. I’ve never surfed and don’t think I will as I am not the best swimmer in the world but what you stand for is good enough for me. I’ll send in an application form. Thanks for what you guys are doing again and keep the faith.
“Mongo” (Kyle L. from 1/75)
Glad to see all the Crossfit pictures in the gallery. That program reshaped my body from a Three Toed Sloth to a Man of Steel. At least in my mind that is how I see it. I haven’t mastered “Murph” yet but I will. Our mates over here in a similar workplace as Mike Murphy’s old place consider that the base of all our Crossfit jams.
- Kelly L. (Crossfit Southern Coast of England / Hereford)
I’m in love with one of the girls in your gallery. Maybe she will read this and contact me. It is the lady with the stomach of steel and the face of a goddess. She is clearly a surfer girl or a swimmer by the looks of her shoulders. I didn’t join your club as I don’t surf but I bought some stickers and a T-Shirt to represent.
- Waldo Y. (Naha, Okinawa)
Chaz, thanks for the T-Shirts. The guys love them. We plastered your stickers all over the unit gym too just for good measure. That, alongside the Strong Current contest banner you left when you moved back home. Appreciate all and see you soon on the high ground my friend.
- “Charlie Bravo” (Fort Bragg, NC)
I was just driving in my town of Danville, Ca and saw an HMSO sticker on a truck. My husband is a big surfer; we love Hawaii and are BIG fans of the military, so this was something I just had to check in to! Thanks so much and Aloha!
- Paula G.
Representing in Laos!
- Lance K. (Detachment 3 / JPAC / US Embassy)
My car broke got a flat tire when I was driving Ewa on Kunia Road a couple weeks ago and a nice young man pulled over in a green GMC Blazer. He changed my tire, and got me back on the road. He was very sweet! It was raining by the way and I’m no spring chicken at 65 and a 20 year widow of a Sailor with two tours in Vietnam! I don’t know who he was but he had on a shirt with your club on the back. I want to thank him if you know who he is. And thank all of you guys in the Military Club and all the men and women serving proudly. You may not know the value of what you do now, but when you get my age you surely will. It is a noble cause. God Bless!
- Norma K. (Toyota Camry on Kunia Road on Feb the third in the evening)
Hey Blokes! Thanks for your service. I just retired from the Air Force and now live in Scotland where the surf is cold and dark but I still get mine when I can. Thanks for mailing me out a shirt Chaz and you have one coming your way from our shop in Glasgow. Yes, we have a surf shop in Glasgow. And yes, I don’t wear any underwear under my kilt in case you were wondering. Buzzards!
- Mike Ross L. (A Brit from Hawaii that lives in Scotland now)
Greeting from Task Force Dagger! We run an adaptive scuba course for Special Forces guys who've lost limbs to IED’s in Iraq, and have assisted family members' travel to OCONUS hospitals and memorial services when SOCOM or the Army couldn't. If circumstances allow, perhaps we could work together to help more SOF troops along the road to recovery. I welcome the opportunity to discuss potential synergy between our organizations. (A note from the HMSO President {Chaz Bowser}… HMSO and Task Force Dagger will do something together as soon as the chance presents itself)
- Ben B.
Glad to see that someone out there is actually doing something vs. just talking about doing something when it comes to showing care for our veterans that are wounded. I hear talk all the time & it looks like for a change, that you guys have decided to take action. Count me in when you need a water safety person. I’m a Navy Diver and joining the club today!
- Mike K.
I surf with Chaz, Albert, Gonzo, and his crew out at Chun’s Reef weekly. A bunch of guys I don’t know the name of but they are all military men. I have never served before but let me tell you that those guys make me proud to be an American. My son just joined the Army and they all tell me things and help me deal with the fact that he is in harms way and even though, will be taken care of by his buddies. If these guys are any testament to what buddies my son makes, I rest easy. There is always room on my wave for anyone in HMSO anytime.
- David P. (My son is in Military Intelligence at Fort Benning)
The guys from HMSO are the nicest guys in the line up. I found your website from a link I found on Jamie’s webpage. Super neat!
- Jana & Kimo S.
The Alii Heenalu Surf Club was established in 1966 and I, Shorty Simonson was the President of the club in 1968 and organizer of the first military surfing contest held at Kewalo Basin in 1968. Aloha!
- Shorty S.
I cannot even begin to tell you how stoked I was that Chas Bowser and a group of his friends decided to put some life into the Hawaii Military Surfing Ohana Organization. I am a Vietnam Veteran and was in the club in the 1970’s. We didn’t really help out our veterans like the club does now. I wish we did. I’ve lost valuable friends to the needle and to suicide and to cancer and a whole mixed plate of things. Maybe if we would have done what this club is doing now, we could have saved some good men. Bravo to our brave men and women who fight for our freedom and Bravo to Chas Bowser and all the troopers in the club.
- Pat K. (5th Special Forces Group – Airborne, Vietnam)
I want to thank HMSO for helping our families while our husbands are gone overseas to fight for our freedom. I came to Water Safety Seminar that you guys conducted and my husband joined the club before his Air Force Flight took off. He wears his club tee-shirt under his flight suit all the time he says.
- Cynthia L.
Thanks so much for the cool shirts you sent me. I will represent you well on the Outer Banks! Thanks for keeping the stoke going. I have nothing but good memories of the club when I was stationed at Barbers Point years ago.
- William B.
You guys are awesome. Keep up the good work!
Roger R. (75th Infantry – Vietnam)
What a great gallery. God, somebody really knows what they are doing. Unbelievable photos. Please keep it up. Jeez. I had the opportunity to compete at KBay this past weekend at a bodysurf event and was interested in the “wounded warrior” project, and was very touched when a marine got up to tell about it. His name maybe was Ben Mercier but I could be wrong. I couldn't be happier about where my $ went. Thank you Marines and all military because I know that freedom is not free.
- Dave S
