New Year, New Blog

Happy New Year everyone!

I have been meaning to create a blog about my mobilization to the Combined Joint Task Force - Horn of Africa ever since I received my orders back on 12 April, 2010. I found out that I could add another blog to my existing Google/Blogspot account.

I spent New Year's Eve at the Commander's compound. It is one of the original buildings from the first French Base here. It had a James Bond theme with James Bond music and movies being played, James Bond Trivia, and some card games being played.

Not too bad.

My CLU - E110

This is where I sleep (front bunk). It is called a Container Living Unit or CLU.

Camp Lemonier has rows and rows of these. Hopefully I will be able to move into a "wet" unit- one that has a connecting bathroom.

CLUville

Here is a better view of my neighborhood. The rows and rows of Container Living Units are collectively nicknamed "CLUville". Block B has some nice plants, my block E does not.

Snorkel Trip to Mouscha Island

A couple of female work colleagues had organized a chartered boat trip to Mouscha Island for some snorkeling and sunbathing. The trip cost 7000 Djiboutian Francs. I bought $100 worth of Djiboutian Francs and received 17750 DJF ($1 = 177 DJF). The group left at 0845 and arrived with time to spare in front of the Djibouti Naval Base. Our charter arrived at a floating dock and picked us up. The ride over to the Island took about 20 minutes and soon we were a world away lying down on lounge chairs catching up on sleep and reading, etc.

Around 11:00 am I went snorkeling in the cove and enjoyed seeing some tropical fish and long stands of seaweed. At 13:00 lunch was served - a small salad and cold pizza followed by a beef dish in tomato sauce with some mushy peas and saffron rice. I had some water and coffee to go with it. A piece of pie (apple?) was served for desert.

After some exploring, reading and sleeping, we headed back at 17:00. Back for a hot shower and a good night's sleep.

Christmas Day

Merry Christmas everyone!

This is Manger Scene outside the Chapel.

Midnight Mass

Midnight Mass was held in an open-air basketball court called the "Thunderdome". The Roman Catholic chaplain is in the Reserve and has been in Djibouti only two weeks longer than I have. His home parish is in Buffalo, NY.

Extended Layover in Rota, Spain

Our Navy Rotator commercial charter flight left Norfolk on Sunday, 19 Dec at 22:35 and arrived in Rota, Spain ~12:00. Due to the severe winter storms impacting Northern Europe the relief flight crew was delayed in Germany. Omni Air International booked everyone a room at a 4-star hotel in Rota with lunch and dinner buffets included. We all had time to sleep and have a shower or bath. We left the hotel at 04:00 and the flight resumed at 07:30.

The Hotel had a wonderful display of the Holy Family. It is a Spanish business tradition to display the Christmas Manger in great detail. There are vendors all over Madrid's Plaza Major selling Christmas Display materials.

The plane landed at NAS Sigonella around 11:30 and had a normal 2-hour ground stop. The next leg was to Bahrain where we landed at 21:00 and after another 2-hour ground stop we took off for Djibouti.