My predecessor had stayed past his year's commitment in order to acquire a bear tag. Apparently, back then one had to be a resident of Alaska for a full year before qualifying. This individual went hunting in a valley somewhere in the Cold Bay area (I think Left-Hand Valley across the Bay) and brought back a bear. As I remember, he had purchased a new rifle especially for this hunt. Because it was far more powerful than those that any of my acquaintances carried, the rifle elicited as much conversation as the bear. I remember that when I saw it and a round that it fired, I thought it could stop an elephant! At the radar site, we could check-out a .30-06, which I carried once in a while. One of the airmen in the photo owned a .30-30. The other carried a .30-40. I was informed that all of those rifles were underpowered for serious hunting of the huge coastal brown bears. We carried the rifles anyway, but just for plinking and shooting smaller game. For protection against a potential bear charge, some of the men carried serious handguns such as .44 and .357 magnums. I had my doubts. However, I suppose something is better than nothing! Those bears were the same species, Ursus Horribilis, as Grizzlies...only larger. I had heard and read too many stories about how hard it was to bring one down.
The men in this picture did not go on the hunt. They were there to see the bear. As for the location of the picture, I believe it was the engineering shop inside the composite building of the radar site. However, it could have been the motor pool. Gene Smith was on the left, Steve Bishop on the right. Sorry, but I don't remember the name of the individual in the center.