Djibouti

Djibouti International Airport

At 5;30 a.m. on Monday morning, we finally arrived in Djibouti. Our sponsors met us and gave us a hearty welcome to Camp Lemonier. At the top is a picture of Main Street at Camp Lemonier with a small Navy Exchange, Souvenier and Barber Shop. Below is my new home - a container living unit. Right now, I have a single room complete with cable and internet connection. I share a bathroom with another room. In the next couple of weeks, I'll move to a larger CLU with my own private bath and shower.

Take Off

We loaded our bags at 11:00 a.m. onto the trucks to go to the airport. At 1:00 p.m., we all boarded the buses and off we went. Similar to Norfolk, we were greeted by many well wishers who gave us flags, "Dang It" dolls, snacks, and pizza among other items. It was a real surprise to us. By 3:00 p.m., we loaded the plane and headed off to Djibouti. We stopped in Maine to refuel and change crews and met the same reception from the community. Even as late as it was, they stood on either side of the isle to shake our hands and wish us well. I never expected this much support prior to us even leaving the United States. I couldn't have been more proud to be an American.

Africa

The Next Chapter Begins

Weapons have been cleaned, field and classroom training now complete. Seabags are being packed and many are planning good-byes with family and significant others one last time before we get on the plane to Africa. This will be my last post until after we get settled in Africa. This chapter at Fort Jackson is completed and a new one is about to begin ....

Final Chapter

We finished our last day of classroom education, our field training already completed. The seriousness of our mission with further IED training, SERE and survival education, and Personnel Recovery. A map was flashed on the screen with Camp Lemonier lying less than 10 miles from Somalia's border.

Packing Up

As our training comes to an end, we begin cleaning weapons and packing our bags. Some of us are heading to Africa while others Afghanistan, Kuwait, and Iraq. Other than the heat, the training has been pretty good. We've had some really good Drill Instructors. I was part of 1st Platoon with Drill Sergeant Jacobs. You couldn't help but like him and his humor. I think we'll all remember him and appreciate his time with us. Mad Dogs!

Final Day of Training

Today was our final day of training. We've been fortunate for the most part, as we have not had any rain during the day while we were training. This morning, we started the day off early with land navigation and convoy ops. Overall, this was pretty good training. I was fortunate to have some Fleet Marine Force (FMF) Corpsmen in my party that were experts at land navigation through the woods. We scored a 100 percent and were one of the first groups back. Convoy ops was fun. We had 5 vehicles in our convoy as we fought off IED's and "bad guys". While we still have weapons cleaning and administrative work to complete, we have completed this stage of training.