Way Behind

I am way behind on getting this started. I will try to catch up to the time i landed here in djibouti.

I left San Diego on May 8th after spending a week at the ultra inefficient mobilization processing center. wow was that a complete waste of a week of my life i will never get back. our flight to Columbia, SC left San Diego 3 hours after the planned departure. Columbia, SC is the home of Fort Jackson, an Army base that houses Camp McGrady or Camp McCrazy as we so lovingly styled it.

At Camp McCrazy the Army taught us the basics of rifle and pistol marksmanship, Humvee convoy strategies including IED detection, land navigation, and even combat first aid. now lets put aside the fact that i have been exposed to all of these things at one time or another (mostly with the Marines) during my more than 12 years in the Navy, and focus on the fact that my deployment to Djibouti will utilize exactly none of these skills. Now some might argue that know combat first aid could come in handy because after all first aid is first aid. As a physician i didn't really find it that helpful. Now granted there were about 200 other people there that were going to Iraq and Afghanistan that could actually use this training, but i am not quite sure why the Djibouti crew were there. the three things I did accomplish during the nearly three weeks in that tepidly humid southern training center were these: 1) i improved my shooting to sharpshooter in the 9mm pistol and the M16 rifle. 2) I shot a .50 caliber machine gun that shakes you from your throat to your boots, and a M240 and a SAW 249 machine guns. 3) i received a small pox vaccine that is still trying to heal.

The living conditions left much to be desired. We resided in open mixed rank squad bays likely left over from WWII with bunk beds. I was strapped with a 9mm and the M16 the entire time we were there. had to take it every where with us. The Galley food made MRE's (meals ready to eat) taste good. during training we had to wear body armor that weighs about 40 pounds. those days in full gear and full humidity were tough. right now my body armor is protecting the underside of my bed. needless to say the second leg of my journey did come to and end.

the djibouti folks pulled out of good old Camp McCrazy right on time in a bus that drove us 7 hours to Norfolk, VA so we could catch our flight. the plane left Norfolk only an hour and a half late and we flew all night and landed in Rota, Spain in the morning. From there we went to Sigonella, Italy and then on to Bahrain. In Bahrain, after we reboarded the plane and sat on it for about an hour and a half we were informed one of the engines wasn't working. so we were put up in a nice radison hotel in town and spent the night. it was 0400 in the morning by the time we got to our rooms. then to add to the excitement the next day after the plane was fixed and we reboarded again, the mechanic became a heat casualty. he was taken to a medical facility and treated. The mechanic has to fly with the plane. so after about 4 or 5 hours he finally returned and we were off to my ultimate destination, DJIBOUTI.