Tastes Like Chicken



Skyping home from my CLU

  Sigh... I just got done Skyping Kerry.  She called at 9am, just after dropping the boys off at school (which is 6pm here).  Today was my day off so I was back in my CLU waiting to hear back from her.  I had called them all on the phone earlier, a little before 7am their time, and woke them up this morning - it was nice to get the boys up and going.  I chatted with them for a few minutes each and gave them lots of love and encouragement for the day... kinda like as if I were there.  A video Skype call to a mobile phone is even more fun as we get to move around and see each other - really like I was there.
       I just got a couple emails from guys at work too.  They wrote to check up on me and asked for my address (BTW, it changed to a different box# Maj Kevin MOOSE Dydyk - HOAAC / "YODA"; PSC 831 Box 0008 FPO, AE 09363-0008).  Not that I need anything - a card would be great to put on the shelf there next to my bed and some photos to hang on the wall.  I asked the guys instead of sending anything it would be cool if they would go play ball with my boys and check with Ker to see if there are any odd jobs needing to be done.  It's no fun to not have family around, but it is good having my Air Force family there when we need em.  Thanks guys.
    The Air Force is a small community - I ran into SPLIT Mulhare the other day.  He is stationed as a deputy group commander in the UAE and was here to check on some of his folks in our neighborhood.  He and I worked on the last airshow together at Sheppard AFB - he is going back there this summer as a commander!  I also bumped into WIZ Graber - he and I were stationed together in Aviano, Italy 10 years ago; I've got him to hang around with for a couple months.  Another weird connection happened - PYRO Havens, another Aviano cronie, saw on my Facebook page that I was in Djibouti.  She has a place for rent at Maxwell AFB, Alabama and was contacted by a possible renter - the French exchange officer, Lt Col Richard "Andy" Gros, who is going there for school this summer.  It just so happens that Andy is stationed here in Djibouti as the Mirage fighter squadron commander; Djibouti has an agreement with the French for national defense.  She gave me his name and said I had to go meet him.  By coincidence I bumped into Andy at a meeting I had to go to over there on the other side of the runway in the French Compound.  Last night he was very gracious and invited me and another US officer out to dinner at the fanciest restaurant in town.  After all I've been telling you about this country you're probably thinking how fancy can a place in this poor East African nation be?  Well I was shocked!  Downtown on the water there is actually one really fancy joint - the Kempinski Palace Hotel.


Kempinski Palace Hotel

   We ate there at the 'Lac Assal Restaurant' with his family, wife Nedjma, son Ekouan (9), and daughter Isciane (7) - who drew me this lovely picture!
  It was a great dinner set up buffet style (yes another buffet!) - no 5 slot tray for this meal - though you could go back and take as many plates as you want... I was good.  We had a nice bottle of French red wine, some nice cheeses and meats for an appetizer, the desserts were delicious - I actually partook in some for a change as their macaroons looked too good to resist.


For the main course there was a saute bar where the chef would prepare a chicken and or clam stir fry as well as a handful of unique dishes.  Among other things, for the first time ever I ate frog legs - Yum, tastes like chicken; really succulent chicken.  Where they got the frogs from I have no idea, but they were good!  Sure beats the chow hall food.
  On that note I think I'll leave you and go watch my TV series that Ker bought me on Amazon..."The Walking Dead."  Hope there are no Zombie frogs in this episode - I might not sleep tonite!

500 Paces

   That's how far it is from my CLU to the office... it's a tough commute. The two toughest parts of the trek into work is having to whip out between 27 and 176 salutes every morning to and also having to make it thru the Galley (Navy term) / D-fac (Air Force term) / Chow hall (Army term) somehow, without throwing a heaping ton of grub on my platter - yes, they give us a platter, with 5 separate compartments. My OCD makes me want to fill each one of them with something (yes, I'm a believer that every one of us has at least some OCD - some much more than others, I can definitely attest to that). It's way tough to cut weight with that kinda pressure.  I have managed to drop a handful, but have at least 5 more to go... handfuls of pounds that is.  Below on the left is the Dorie Miller Galley - named after a cook from WWII at Pearl Harbor; he was the first black sailor to earn the Navy Cross.

Dorie Miller Galley (left) and 11-Degrees North (right)

   On the right is 11-Degrees North - the recreation center / social hangout which is my nemesis on the way home; that's where we can buy drinks - 2 per day.  A nice benefit for a deployment.  For the last 20 some years America has elected to fight wars in areas where we have to be hosted by Muslim nations and very conveniently the US leadership elects to not offend our gracious hosts so therefore alcohol is not allowed.  Djibouti is a different story, they are largely Muslim, but they are not the strictest practicers and therefore we can get away with a lot more.  We're on the honor system for our 2 per day, and for the most part there are no issues.

  I have stopped by there a few times, but it's not really my nemesis, I just liked saying that.  I tried a 'local' beer from Kenya called Tusker Beer, not bad - cool label and a big bottle.  Would look cool on a rugby jersey - I'm sure there must be a team.  That's where all our social events are held.  Last weekend there were 4 comedians who came by and did a performance.  They were great - not fantastic as they were completely filthy, but definitely brought out some laughs - it felt really good to laugh.  Since being here over the last month there have been no less than 5 groups that have come through to entertain us - from NFL cheerleaders, to NFL and MLB stars, actors, and chefs who cooked good grub for us. That has been more than all the previous four deployments combined worth of entertainers/do gooders come through.  In fact, I can't remember but one USO show during my other deployments.  Americans have really come a long way in showing their appreciation for us troops.  In fact around work every week there are 2-3 care packages that show up for 'any soldier'.  They have books, movies, games, food, toiletries - you name it in there.  Greeting cards, puzzles, pictures, drink mixes, coffee - anything.  It all gets taken eventually.  Stuff that we don't take for ourselves makes it down to the orphanages and the like downtown.  A really neat thing - it really took me by surprise when I first saw it.  The best ones have handwritten notes from the senders - be they a group of service moms, schoolkids, an office; America rocks!



Djiboutian Baboons

  I haven't had much to do besides work, so this post has been long in coming, but I have a few ideas and a few things coming up that I hope I can sit down and write about.  Plus I just got a media card reader and was able to download my pictures off the camera.  I know Andrew would really like to see a picture of the baboons I saw on my way to the beach on my 1st trip off Camp so here you go Andrew - there really were baboons running wild along side the road... we were driving, so it's a bit blurry, but those are baboons.  That is the village's soccer field in the background.  These things tend to hang around people as their scraps are easy sources of food.  Next trip I'll bring some extra bananas and get a close up for ya kiddo.





Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day Sweethearts.
  Hey I had a good day today (relatively... considering).  I got a mushy eCard from my babe and went and had a much needed massage - also from my honey... I feel a million times better. I chilled out a bunch today; for the near term I have Thursdays off.   I met with the new boss here this week and he put me in charge of the "YODA" watch schedule and duties so one day a week is what we get [one day is just as good as another around here]. YODA is our radio callsign for our position here at the base (we're all knowing and use the 'force' a lot to get all our taskers done).  I work in the JOC (Joint Operations Center - kinda like the command center you saw in the movie War Games except this one is ad hoc).  We talk to the aircraft and coordinate all the military flying in and around Camp Lemonnier (CLDJ) for various operations. We're the air component of the U.S. AFRICOM staff, CJTF-HOA AC (Combined Joint Task Force - Horn of Africa, Air Component). It is a Navy run camp with members from the 4 services here - much heavier in officers than most places as we're a large staff working for the 2-star CJTF-HOA commander. I can't get into details, but I don't work 12 hour shifts for nothin'

    Outside of work I don't have a ton of 'free time'. I'm keeping up with my morning workouts, there is a group of us that do the "INSANITY" workout Mon-Sat. It really is Insane; I hope I can keep consistent with it as it'll do me a lotta good - Sean T is an Animal! They even had a Sweethearts 5K run this morning; I finished in about 28 minutes - and that's after doing my Insanity workout. I've also been spending too much time in the chow hall - 3 a day buffets still aren't doing me any good. I'll have to get some pictures of it - they built a brand new facility and it's great. But definitely not Kerry's home cookin' So with all the comin' and goin, odds and ends like showers, laundry, writin' this blog, Facebooking I don't get but 6-7 hours of sleep, my days off are great.


CLDJ to Les Sables Blancs

   Today wasn't my first day off - on Sunday I was invited to tag along with a few guys to Les Sables Bancs (The White Sands) near Tadjora, Djibouti - a 2 1/2 hour+ drive from Camp around the Gulf of Tadjora, by Lake Assal and the Day Forest - the drive alone was an adventure.  Traffic in a city in a 3rd world country is an experience to behold - absolute pandemonium.  Kids, bicycles, buses, goats, camels, motorcycles - I'll have to get some video for you just to prove it.  As we left the city we drove through the hood... a hood like I've never seen before - the conditions these people live in is deplorable.  The 'homes' in this picture are permanent residences in the local landfill as they had easy access to food. There weren't just these few there were 100's of them


The hood

 Outside 'Djiboutiville' there is nothing but wide open spaces with the occasional village built around a small mosque.  More ranshacke homes, but a few solid structures.  More camels, goats, and even baboons along the road as well.  The highways outside the city were well paved except for where they had washed out in a dozen or so places.  The speed limit is 90 km/h but nobody is doing less than 120 except the big trucks hauling who knows what from the Djiboutian ports to Ethiopia.
 There was a surprising amount of shrubbery on the plains, a few odd trees and lots of terrain.  There were rocks everywhere too - most covered in black - either soot from an old volcano or burnt from the sun.  I was very fortunate to get out and about to see the sights - I can finally grasp that I am in Africa.








  Les Sables Bancs is probably the best beach area in Djibouti.  About a 1/2 mile long stretch of beautiful sand and blue water.  No more than 50 feet off shore is an above average coral reef.  Among the gear I packed included my snorkeling gear - I'm very glad I brought it as I hope to do a bit of SCUBA diving.  There were sea turtles and lots of tropical fish.  I was really hoping to catch a glimpse of the whale sharks that roam these waters, but I got here just a bit too late - they hang out in the Gulf of Aden from Oct thru the end of Jan.  I spent the day diving and sitting on the beach getting a sunburn - sure beats sitting in the JOC for a 12-hour shift.



Les Sables Blancs

New Digs

Old Digs - the tent

Me and 35 of my newest friends

  The military has downsized my living quarters big time. I finally got to move out of the big ol' tent I was in with 35 of my newest friends down to a little 10' x 30' trailer with just one roommate. I haven't met him yet, but gathered he is a Navy Ensign (O-1) from his uniform hanging on the wall. This is a good thing as I get to order him around to clean the floors and do my laundry whenever I want (I'm an O-4, Major). Just kiddin' I would never do that - that's definitely not his job.

In 3-4 months I should be able to move into my own room - one with a bathroom and shower in it. Right now I have to walk a couple CLUs down to a common bathroom/shower trailer. We are asked to take 'combat' showers (wet down, wash, rinse) to save water, which is hard to dispose of as they didn't plumb this place right.

The CLU life - 2 beds and a desk area

The grey and black water are mixed and we're in danger of overflowing the system. Oddly enough they have no trouble producing enough water. Today I have to run over to the internet store and order me up some service; it's a bit expensive, but worth it to be able to be in touch better - hopefully I'll blog a bit more for ya. It's a crazy schedule with working 12 hour shifts and the 9 hour time difference to Texas; that works out to a 10pm to 10am CST shift - pretty good, especially on the weekends. My time I go to bed around 9pm in order get up at 4:30am to call back home (7:30pm CST).

As I've mentioned before the air here is terrible. I don't know if I have a cold/sinus infection, allergies or if the pollution/dust, but my upper respiratory and sinus are giving me a fit - coughs and runny nose. I think I'm gonna wear a surgical mask at night to see if that helps. Despite that I've been doing regular workouts every morning after I call home. There is a group that meets for an hour and does the 'Insanity' videos. They're pretty tough, but are great for getting a thorough workout in minimum time. I'm not in great condition so keeping up is tough, but I'll get there in no time - surprisingly I'm better than most. This is one thing a deployment is good for... getting my butt to the gym. Anyway, I've gotta run off to work here in 15 minutes. See ya.

Groundhog Day for Real

For sure the days are going to be long and busy. I'm already in a routine - get up early to workout, shower, work, play on the computer a bit and go to bed. With 12 hour shifts and the jet lag still kickin' my butt, I'm not much in the mood to type much tonite - plus the mosquitoes are out and about more than usual, my last excuse is that it stinks - the Djiboutans are burning their trash. The real reason I'm going to bed early is so that I can rest up for the Superbowl tomorrow... it comes on at 2am Monday morning here so I need to get my sleep now while the getti n' is good.

Get to work MOOSE

Nice African sunset. It was good to sleep in a real bed although at least 4 guys were sawing some serious logs last night and some jets took off after midnite - thank goodness for earplugs... Now, if I could only do something about the time zone change - that is really kickin' my butt! Somehow I managed to get to bed at 9pm (noon, Texas time) and got more or less 7 hours sleep. There's not much to do around here at 4am except go the gym - it's open 24/7. So I went and had a great workout (I will lose that weight); granted, the chow hall has great food - 3 squares a day from a buffet line is gonna be tough to overcome. Today I had an omelet for breakfast and crab legs / fried shrimp for dinner - they've gotta keep up the morale somehow, although they do have some good MWR (Morale Welfare and Recreation) events here occasionally... for the Superbowl we have some celebrities visiting: Matthew Lillard and Robert Patrick (a couple actors) and Randy Johnston (MLB pitcher) along with a dozen NFL cheerleaders - they must be outta their minds coming here; God bless 'em though! On Facebook check out the Camp Lemonnier Djibouti page. As for the job, right away the guys that I am going to be working with got me in-processed and put me in on-the-job training. Surprisingly overworked and undermanned. The AFRICOM (Africa Command) staff here is not the monster like it was at CENTCOM (Central Command - they control ops in Iraq and Afghanistan and therefore have had all the attention the past 20 years). The guys can't wait for me to be spun up so they can get a little reprieve. Needless to say I'll be busy at work - my job for now is 7am - 7pm shift work on the Operations Floor monitoring and reporting on all the air operations in theater. There is a lot going on here now - much of it you can decipher from the news, but in support of US interests we are more involved here that you could imagine. Anyway, it's past my bedtime - I'm gonna try to Skype Kerry one more time. She has been really busy getting the boys the help they need in school, I really wish I could be there to help... If you have a Skype account look me up: KevDydyk is my username and I'd be glad to chat most anytime you see me online.

Groundhog Day #1

I can see it already, what the last day will look like - a lot like the first. I sure hope to have a few adventures in between, but deployment life will most definitely be monotonous. After clearing customs we were jam packed into bongo buses and caravaned over to the Camp. Djibouti smells. There is trash everywhere and the air is thick with pollution - apparently they burn their refuse. Camp Lemonnier is huge.

A mile from one end to the other. In the photo camp sits to the right (South) of the runway. The distinctive rows of buildings on the far (East) end of camp are the living quarters - CLUs (Containerized [Corroded] Living Units). I'll eventually get into one of those, but for now they have me manned up in a tent with 30 new friends - those are just to the South of the CLUs. If you go to the far West end of camp that is where I'll be working. They have pretty much everything one could want at a campsite, a great chow hall, a mini WalMart, coffee shop, Subway, and a cantina where I can get 2 beers a day. I spent the day wandering and napping - trying not to get too much sleep so I can manage to get a bit tonight. I got my address here if you'd like to send me a care package - not too much though, I'm planning to lose 30 pounds! Maj Kevin MOOSE Dydyk - HOAAC / "YODA"; PSC 831 Box 0008   FPO, AE    09363-0008 Please DO NOT write 'Camp Lemonnier' or 'Djibouti' on the address... it'll get lost.

In Country

Here I am in Djibouti - Camp Lemonnier. I arrived at 0510L – nine hours ahead of Texas time. It’s hot (80°F) in the middle of the night. A complete day has come and gone with little to show for it; 25 hours and 9 minutes from the time we left Norfolk to when we landed in Djibouti (16 ½ hours flying time). We travelled on the same 767 airplane all the way here, but had to deplane in order for it to be refueled and serviced. The stops in Spain, Italy and Bahrain were uneventful, each just over 2 hours. It was good to stretch and breathe in some fresh air. I did manage to get a really good book read, Gift From the Sea, by Anne Morrow Lindbergh, a quick 66 page read. Kerry picked it up for herself, on the recommendation from a new friend in Hawaii, and had me read it too; pretty good at getting you to think about relationships and frames of mind . I’ll have lots of time to be mindful and think over the next few months, this will certainly help focus those thoughts. Of course there was a meal every few hours (2 breakfasts, a lunch, and 2 dinners) plus all the onboard movies of which I occasionally glanced at. I watched Looper on my new Android tablet – cool movie. Also read some of Protect and Defend, the10th installment in the Mitch Rapp series by Vince Flynn – a special operative, assassin novel. I’ve been hooked reading all those over the last year or so during my travels teaching the MGRC class, pure fiction – almost as good as James Bond. I have the final three books with me that I’ll be sure to get through quickly; I’ll have to find a new series or perhaps even think about starting a ‘pay your fee’ MBA, something I can bang out in a year. I don’t know I want to do after the Air Force, a management position would be good and an MBA wouldn’t hurt. Working on the Dydyk Family tree will be a good pastime as well. My Great Aunt Marilyn and second cousin Monica provided a lot of good leads – I got to visit both of them for the first time this past year during my travels. I’ll have to find a good way to publish it online if any of ya’ll are interested.

Goodbye 1st World

Couldn't decide what to leave behind

So I've never been to a "3rd World Country" before... I have no idea what to bring so I'm going to bring everything I can think of. They said four sets of uniforms, plus they gave me a flak vest, helmet and a gas mask - what on earth for I have no idea, but it's the incredible wisdom of the military that can't be reckoned with, so I won't. I should have a bit of free time so I packed my SCUBA gear! Djibouti is on the Arabian Sea. The mosquitoes are thick there and they absolutely love my blood so I brought extra bottles of DEET, the 100% kind - Ker says she hopes it doesn't give me brain cancer. If i was to come down with something it would be from all the shots I had to get, 7 in total... Yellow Fever, Hep B, Smallpox, Anthrax to name a few. I'm a walking time bomb. The chances of malaria are not too great, but I'm taking the malaria med anyway, why not? Three 50# bags in total, plus my carry on's - hope I didn't forget anything. If I do I'll let you know, care packages are awesome!

  So, my flight takes off in an hour... looks like we're about to board. I'll drop you a line when I get there, if not along the way. We stop in Rota, Sigonella, Bahrain before finally getting to Djibouti. Each stop is 2 hours and 20 minutes making for a 25 hour journey in total. Not to mention the very wise military machine had me get here 24 hours in advance... just in case (hurry up and wait right!) - whatever.

The (Wretched) Deployment Begins...

    Kicking and screaming the Air Force has managed to send me on one more deployment, my fifth(and final?). Today I departed home, sweet home - my gorgeous wife and two incredibly awesome sons - for the continent of Africa. Djibouti (pronounced "JA BOOTY") to be exact; for those of you who may not know where I've attached a map.

It's right there in the crack of the world, on the East coast of Africa near the Horn. A strategic spot to go chasing pirates and hunting down terrorists, for helping the impoverished throughout the continent, and especially for reaping its resources before Japan, China and the rest get it all. I'm not exactly sure why they need me there, but the position asked for a pilot. I won't be flying, so I don't know why they need a pilot - it's not as if there is a shortage Air Force wide (sarcasm - huge shortage, especially fighter pilots). I'm sure I'll be there to feed the monster that is the AFRICOM Commander's staff. Each and every major command has a ginormous following to run things - highly inefficient and wasteful, but the Generals love it. So when I return I expect to get back to the same as before - traveling to every Active Duty Air Force base with a flying Wing. Myself and a maintainer (Maj Chad Oba) teach the Mission Generation Road Course (MGRC) an operations and maintenance integration class for pilots (operators) and maintainers. I'll also keep flying the T-38 as a Pilot training instructor when I am home at Sheppard. One year from my return I'm eligible for retirement, but I enjoy and am proud of what I do (particularly when I am home) and hope to stay in the AF a few years longer... we'll see.