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.