Guantanamo: the place

To avoid Cuban airspace, the plane has to make a steep bank and sharp turn immediately before landing. There have been cases where big airplanes have scraped a wing tip on approach.

New arrivals are carefully searched lest they be bringing in contraband.

Across the bay is the Windward Point, where housing is located as well as most of the base activity.

In GTMO, you almost get the sense that this is a small town in, say, Florida, but there's always something to remind the visitor that it isn't.

Are the pilots and planes of VC-10.

The hangar at the Leeward Point airport is equipped to deal with any problems that might arise.

Sometimes work is done on military planes not assigned normally to GTMO.

Private vehicles brought to GTMO generally stay there, sold when a sailor is assigned elsewhere. They tend to be dilapidated -- though not as bad as those on mainland Cuba -- and decorated.

The American flag, then the Navy flag, then -- just like on the mainland -- the golden arches!