Makes You Wonder

Did you ever get the feeling that someone has been looking at their own plan for so long they've forgotten what it says?  In the formulation of the Plan for a Major (Possible) Event here in East Africa I had a conversation with someone about the portion they are supposed to write.  They'd gotten information from the Holders of the Plan and were working off of that.  I thought for a moment.  Then I said, "Uh... I'm not really sure that's entirely accurate."  I leafed through some paperwork.  No, it definitely wasn't accurate.  However, since things change so rapidly around here I offered that it could be me who was misreading the Plan.

But I don't think so.

Random Care Packages

There's a program in the States, I've seen it done but kinda ignored it until now, that allows people to fill boxes with stuff and send them out to US military personnel.  These boxes wind up in office spaces and opened up by us folks, usually near the end of the day when we're bored and tired.  I have to say that we really appreciate this.  Sometimes the packages are addressed to specific individuals and sometimes just to the office code in general.  The package is opened, like a Christmas gift, and the unknown contents are pulled out and distributed to each according to his need.  Just yesterday I was thinking about getting some hand sanitizer for when I go out on the ranges.  Poof!  A couple of bottles of it appeared in the next care package.  Thank you to whoever sent that.

Sometimes we also get really special treats such as the below cookies from Carl in Virginia.  (Or, more likely, from Carl's Wife in Virgina.) They are very tasty.

The Passport

I knew I was going to need a passport so I started that procedure months before I deployed.  What I never quite figured out correctly is what the difference was between a tourist and official passport.  The tourist version is blue and the official is red.  But that's not the real difference.  The real difference is that the official passport gets you through customs without having to pay for a visa.  Also, a visa application could take a few minutes or could take forever and ultimately be denied.  The passport for which I paid over a hundred bucks is the tourist kind.

I'm now in the process of applying for an official passport.  On the good side, it's free of charge since I'm working on government/military business.  On the bad side, it's going to take two to three months and I have places to be within that time frame.  So, if you find yourself coming out to Djibouti, you're going to want to look into getting that official passport as soon as physically possible.

Oh, another Important Tip about coming out here:  Get lots of extra passport photos and bring them.  The only way to get them here is to go out in town and you will probably need them for various things.  Like visas and new passport applications.

The Rotator

The rotator is the mil air flight that brings new people in and old people out of Djibouti.  It shows up once a week at an hour of its choosing.  Today it chose right after midnight.  I've been up for quite a while helping a few new members of our office get their bags sorted out, trucked down to CLUville, and get them settled in.  Unlike my commercial air flight, they stopped just about everywhere possible on their way from the States.  Mostly Navy and Air Force on this rotator.  Marines tend to fly commercial air due to the location of our pre-deployment training.  And it's a good thing, too.

Stuff Blew Up

As part of my job here I schedule the ranges for all the various units that want to shoot stuff and blow stuff up.  Sounds simple but when the Djiboutians own the ranges and the French run the ranges there's a lot of coordination that has to happen.  Anyhow, yesterday I got to go out and watch Marines shoot up some 55 Gallon drums and drop live ordinance on some range hulks.  500 pounders.  Amazingly loud from 2500 meters away.  The above helo was landing for a quick meeting with the range OIC before making its attack runs.

The Old Cantina

Next to the Combat Cafe is the Old Cantina.  It's a large patio type space, about 50' x 100', covered by a suspended tarp/awning system.  There is a big screen TV and a scattering of tables and chairs.  Up until very recently they served alcohol in the evenings but that's been stopped due to 'staffing issues.'  The issue at hand was that the bartenders were Chief Petty Officers stationed here and working in the evening, getting a paycheck from the contractor responsible for base operations, and getting tips as well.  Lots and lots of discussions ensued regarding words like 'conflict of interest' and 'inappropriate senior/subordinate relationships.'  The decision was finally made to stop the chiefs from being bartenders.  It is very unlikely that the Old Cantina will open back up for alcohol.  Now, since the weather is reasonable, it's a popular place to sit and eat noon chow.

Balbala

This is the shanty-town called Balbala.  It's filled with Somali refugees that have absolutely nothing except rocks and dirt.

Joint Pubs

If you are an officer and you're going to be part of the staff here at all, make sure you read up on your basic joint pubs.  JP-5 is critical.  You'll need to be able to speak the planning language that everyone else speaks.  Another good one is JP-3.57 Civil Military Operations.  There are also some pubs on interagency operations, which is especially important in the emerging 3D environment.  (Development, Diplomacy, & Defense)  USAFRICOM and CJTF-HOA are forging new trails regarding how to fight and win a war without pulling a trigger.  Anyhow, the best place to find joint pubs online is the Joint Electronic Library.  It's a gold mine for joint doctrine geeks.

Increasing Efficiency

Like any military headquarters staff, we generate a lot of reports around here.  It's almost a daily occurrence for us to come up with some kind of briefing, point paper, after action review, op order, etc.  Around the office we joke about how most of this stuff sits in desk drawers or file cabinets and then eventually gets shredded when it's superceded by a newer version.  (The Range SOP that was finished and signed when I got here a few weeks ago is about to undergo Change 1.)  So I thought of a clever invention that will cut down processing time and lead to greatly increased efficiencies throughout CJTF-HOA.  We could put a printer on top of a shredder and rig the document tray to feed directly into the shredder's mouth.  I even came up with the name 'Shrinter'.  That had us laughing most of the afternoon.  This morning I discovered through Google that The Shrinter already exists.  There is nothing new under the sun.

The only improvement we could come up with would be to pass the documents through a scanner that automatically emails them into everyone's recycle bin.

The Running Trail

The running trail here starts at the far end of CLUville, down by the flightline where SOCCE has their compound.  (Special Operations Command Combat Element, pronounced sock-see.  These are the guys behind heavy concertina wire with Predator drones and top secret sat-comm dishes.  When you ask them what their mission is they just wave their hand in front of your face and say, "These are not the drones you're looking for.")  The trail goes off along the fence line and is lit by standard light towers. It's 1.8 miles to where it dead ends and you turn back.  I'm still turning around at the one mile mark but will run out to 1.5 later this week.  As far as a trail goes it's in pretty good shape; compacted gravel and dirt about ten feet wide with a few water coolers along the way.  There is nothing much to see out there except some brush and a tall chain link fence.  Sometimes in the morning, if you're lucky, you get to run through rotor wash from an MV-22 or grimace as a C-130 powers up and taxis off the pad right next to you. This is life at the tip of the spear.

Generic "Dear Veteran" Letters

We get these letters from school children occasionally.  Here's the one that was dropped on my desk.

"Dear Veteran,
Thank you for protecting our country. We are very glad. We thank you for fighting for freedom. I hope you can come home on the holiday. If you can't our thoughts will be with you. And kick the bad guys butt.
Yours Truly, Josh B."

I want Josh on my staff some day.

The White House

The White House is the small complex that contains the Admiral's and the General's quarters, as well as several rooms and CLUs that are reserved for O-6 and above and Distinguished Visitors.  It's centrally located between the JOC and the exchange and it has a lounge area and a nice screened patio.  This is not a place where you can just wander in and hang out, it's invitation only.  Last night there was a Marine Corps officer's call out on the patio.  Dinner was served and the alcohol policy was relaxed and I had my first glass of wine since coming here.  Nice comfy chairs, a relatively cool breeze, cigars, and classic rock on the sound system rounded out the evening.

This place has its moments.

11 Degrees North

11 Degrees North is the bar slash pool hall slash general hang out area.  It's a basic metal building with a 50 x 100 ft open area.  There's wi-fi and a few pool tables and lots of little square tables and chairs.  There's also a stage and a big screen for occasional movies.  Alcohol is served after 1900 and they track your daily allowance by scanning your ID card.  It's sort of in between CLUville and the rest of the base, which means that wherever you are you have a little walk to get here.

Right now the place is decorated for Thanksgiving.  It's nice and all and I appreciate the thought and effort, but c'mon, it's not like this is a real holiday with homes full of family and love and the scents of dinner roasting away in a steamy kitchen and scenes of the Dallas Cowboys losing to whoever they may be playing this year.  That's what awaits us when we get back.  Today is really just another Sunday for us.  It's a day off and civilian clothes are authorized.  And that's how life is a little different out here.

The Inside of CLUville

This is the inside of my CLU.  Two beds, two lockers, one desk.  It's more space than San Quentin, but not much.

CLUville

This is taken from C block, right in the middle of CLUville, looking back up towards the rest of base.

Combat Cafe

The chow hall is a bit of a walk from the JOC compound where I work. Not too far, but in 90 degree weather it becomes a slight deterrent. When it gets to 110 I'm sure it will be worse. Luckily, there's an alternate facility very nearby. The head shed and the Joint Operations Center are right next to each other and around the corner from them is the Combat Cafe. It has everything that the main chow hall has, just a little less of it. Next to that is the Old Cantina which used to serve alcohol in the evenings but has been closed due to staffing issues. Typically we grab our lunch in a to go container, stuff some cookies and a Gatorade into our cargo pockets, and head back up into our workspace since the seating area is so limited. It makes for a handy dinner as well.

More About Containers

A quick note here about my workspace and the workspaces of most of the staff. We have what are called Containerized Working Units, CWU (pronounced 'chew' for some inexplicable reason, probably because 'swoo' would just sound stupid). These CWU's are usually two containers put together to form more of a square with the middle walls removed. The insides pretty much look like regular office areas; linoleum floors, fluorescent lights, desks, computers, and maps all over the walls. There's also the occasional Dilbert cartoon, which I'm told is so accurate to the functions here that it's actually not funny. I'm sure those comments will come later.

A Bit About the Base

Camp Lemonnier is an interesting creature. It's sprawled along the south side of the international airport and it's a collection of inherited buildings, newly erected buildings, and shipping containers masquerading as buildings. Pull it up on Google Maps and you'll see a huge area of neatly arranged, gleaming white containers. These are Containerized Living Units (CLU, pronounced 'clue') and most of them are shared by two people and have a shower/toilet CLU in the middle of the block. My rank gets me my own CLU with its own bathroom but the waiting list is a few months long.

The thing to get used to is that you have to walk everywhere to do anything. When you're in CLUville, that's a long walk. It takes some logistical planning to figure out what you're going to have in your hands at any given time as you make your way across base. The importance of this is that there's no bags of any kind allowed in the exchange and you can't leave bags unattended anywhere on base.

The chow hall is not quite big enough. A new facility is being built and should be open next summer but for now it's best to try to eat during the off peak times. The food is decent and you can eat as much as you want as often as you want. That can be dangerous. They also have a variety of snacks like cookies, granola bars, chips, etc. and you can grab a couple of those as you leave. There's been a problem with people filling backpacks so the snack items are now controlled a bit stricter but you can still get whatever you want.

Right now I'm still trying to figure out my daily routines but life is generally okey dokey.

Arriving

I'm here in Djibouti and what with checking-in and turnover with the Marine I'm replacing it's a bit like drinking from a fire hose. Let's start with something simple. When you get to the airport you will find it looks just like a dilapidated third world airport, which it is. You come down the stairs from the plane and walk over to the terminal and gaggle together to get through customs. No carpet, no A/C, lots of grime and exposed wiring. Then you herd your way into the baggage claim area and gather up your stuff. If you've been paying attention you realize that you will have lots of stuff. I had four checked bags (200 total pounds) and two carry-ons. There are no carts. There are however, several blue clad gentlemen who quickly try to grab bags out of your hand and "help" you exit the room. They're going to ask for money, five bucks U.S. currency per bag will do even if they ask for more. Stand firm when pressed. (Try to carry as many of your own bags as possible.) Oh, and if someone is meeting you and you think they are going to help... no. No one is allowed into the baggage claim area so there's no other way to get out of the airport without using the "helpers." After that you get to walk through the dirt parking lot and drive to base. That's when you start to see how poor this place really is. More on that later.

The French Connection

My connecting flight out of Paris left late at night so I had a fifteen hour layover. Let me tell you how not to get to Disneyland Paris if you are ever in the same situation. DO NOT take the Disney shuttle service. It takes forever to wait for and forever to get there and then it stops at all the hotels first. I wasted an hour and a half when I could have gone down to the TGV station at the airport and taken a ten minute train ride to a station right next to the Disney entrance. Added salt in the wound... the train would have been cheaper too.

Leaving On A Jet Plane

The time has come and off I go. The final process goes through the MARFORAF liaison office. They check off all your paperwork, hand you your itinerary and wish you well. Then it's up to me to get across the world in one piece. I loved the last bit of advice here; if something goes wrong with one of the flights, just keep pressing forward, using your government travel card to buy tickets that get you closer to where you're going. Should be fun.

J-Actionville

Jacksonville, NC, is a little on the sleepy side. But, that said, I've had a chance to get around a bit. Here are some recommendations if you've never been here. (Or like me, haven't been here in 23 years.)

If you're looking for a church to attend where you can hear the Word of God preached in a biblically sound way I'd suggest Calvary Chapel Jacksonville. They are very attuned to the workings of the Marine Corps and their deployments and families.

If you're looking for all the latest chain stores and restaurants you'll want to drive up Western Avenue. They're all there.

Speaking of restaurants, the locally owned options are few. The best place for seafood would probably be Tony's Seafood and Oyster Bar. It's a nice place and it's not too expensive. (Like Duck's Grille and Bar was.) A word of caution: Every time I order fish around here I'm asked how I'd like it done. I look quizzically at the server and say, "Uh, medium, I guess." The fish then comes very rare in the middle. I'm from Seattle and there's really only one way fish is 'done' and that's done. I don't know who taught these people to cook out here.

If you like fried chicken then there are two good places. Bojangles' is the best, in my not so humble opinion, and it's right off base. Smithfield's, on Bell Fork Road, is good but tastes a lot like KFC.

If you like Shakespeare and fine wine in the park... you're just SOL.

Tips On the Rental Car Situation

If you're coming to Camp Lejeune and mobilizing through the DPC then you really need a rental car. I had one authorized at government expense for only the first ten days but I decided to keep it on my own dime. I'm here longer than most and I hate being confined to base and I'm getting per diem while here so I can afford it.

With the amount of running around you have to do while checking in and doing the field training the car is essential. (The base hospital is probably four or five miles away from mainside.) After that, it depends. If you're staying at the Lejeune Inn you are a half mile from the DPC and everything else is even closer. If you have a week or so of just waiting around then you can easily walk down to the DPC and check in every morning. If you are staying at the BOQ or the barracks down at French Creek then you need the car because they are miles away. If you cannot get a rental car in your orders and you are going to be here for a while, you can try this: Take a taxi from the airport to the Lejeune Inn and arrange for a rental from Enterprise. They are a couple hundred yards away at the MCX annex on Holcomb. Get your car there, use it for the days you really need it and then turn it back in and wait out your time. Then take a cab back to the airport and turn the taxi receipts in on your travel claim.

Rolling Along

Even though Rule Number One is 'until it happens, it hasn't happened' I'm pretty sure that I'll be flying out in a few days because I have the itinerary in hand and the e-tickets have been paid for. I get to bounce around the states a couple times before flying through France and on to DJ. What's good about this schedule is that I have a 15 hour layover in France that should let me take a train to Disneyland. It definitely beats the other possible ports of call, like Amsterdam or Cairo. This also means that I'll get to collect another stamp in my passport, which is cool.

And Now We Wait

I'm done with Medical and Supply and all my field training is done so now I pretty much stand by until the 11th. I had thought there was going to be more training so I coaxed the creation of my orders into giving me almost a month here. Turns out there's less to do than I anticipated. While I could go to the rifle range all week for a qualification, when I sat down and thought about it I decided against it. I'm already a rifle expert, second award, so there's nothing to gain and everything to lose. Qualification is not required for my rank and billet so therefore I just risk losing my expert score for no good reason. The odds of getting back on a range at this stage of my career are unlikely so I think I'll just keep what I've got.

I'm in contact with the Marine I'm replacing and his advice is to learn as much French as possible so I'll be doing a lot of that. There are several weekly coordination meetings with the Djiboutians, who speak French, and the French Army. (Who also, BTW, speak French.) And of course there's always a plethora of Joint Doctrine pubs that I can read, although I hear tell that CJTF-HOA makes up their own doctrine on the fly so we'll see how valuable that is.

Training III

Yesterday: Pistol Sharpshooter (a middling score)
Today: Rifle Range, Intro to Combat Tactics. Fun.
This Afternoon: Gas Chamber. Not fun.

Oh, and two more shots yesterday.

Training II

Ran through a CFT and the rollover trainer today and I am a beat puppy. (A CFT is a Combat Fitness Test: a half mile run in boots and cammies [you'll notice I said 'run' and not 'comfortable jog'], lifting a 30 pound ammo can over your head as many times as possible, and a crazy 'maneuver under fire' course.) I got through the run with ten seconds to spare. (Hey, if the minimum wasn't good enough it wouldn't be the minimum.) Then we went to the ammo can lift. I'm thinking that 30-35 lifts would be good enough to score well and still not pull a muscle and screw up the next event. So I'm counting the lifts for this willowy female Lance Corporal and she pumps out 60. Oy. Then she counts for me. I quickly change my plans and do a face saving 63 lifts. The next event is fun but exhausting. Here at the DPC they use a permanent CFT course with lanes already marked out. Of course, that means that the grass has been worn away and we're crawling in mud. But you sprint, low crawl, high crawl, zigzag through cones, grab a wounded buddy and drag him back through some zigzags, transfer him up to a fireman's carry, drop him back at the start line, pick up two ammo cans, run (or walk in my case) back down the course, throw a dummy grenade, do some push ups, then pick up the ammo cans again and run (or walk quickly in my case) back to the start line. Like I said, crazy. And to make it even more fun I had to carry a bigger guy than me. But at my age I get about 6 minute to pass with the barest minimum points. I did it in 3:30. So that was successful.

Then there's the rollover trainer. Hmmm... I have to take back my Disneyland comment. First you buckle yourself in to the seats of the interior mock up HMMWV. This thing rests in a gimbal that spins it around at a decent but unhurried pace. They spin you two or three times and you end up hanging upside down in your seat belt or scrunched up against the door or something. Let me tell you, this is a very disorienting position no matter how Joe Cool you thought you were before. The light's at a different angle, the shapes of ordinary things are not like your brain thinks they should be, blood is rushing to your head, and you're probably carrying your full body weight on the top of your helmet. Oh, and you have a rifle to maintain control of. You find the latches of your seat belt, which never seemed to be where they were supposed to be, and unbuckle while unsuccessfully trying to prevent yourself from becoming a completely discombobulated lump of humanity on the roof of the vehicle. Then you have to manhandle yourself into a logical position, keep in mind that there are three other people trying to do the same thing, and figure out which door can open. Then you unglamorously haul yourself out and set up security positions. Repeat seven or eight times.

Tomorrow: Pistol Range. Even if it rains that should be an easy day.

Training

Now we enter the training phase of my time here at the DPC. This afternoon we had a familiarization class on crew served weapons and and introductory class on the rollover vehicle trainer. Tomorrow we get into a mock up of a tactical vehicle and sit in it while it gets rolled a few times. Then we get out of it without killing each other. Sounds like a good candidate for a new ride at Disneyland.

Oh, and more shots today. Yea.

More Handy Tips

1. Don't bother bringing an empty seabag to Supply. They're very good at arranging the gear you get by stuffing it into other things.

2. If at all possible, stay at the Lejeune Inn. It's right in the middle of mainside and the BOQ is quite a ways away. Getting a non-availability statement is easier if you don't make a reservation at the BOQ and go there to check in after a few days have gone by and everyone else has taken up the rooms.

3. Take a contrarian view of standard Marine thinking and don't do complicated things like Supply and Medical 'first thing' in the morning. Everyone is doing them first thing in the morning. Save your mornings for checking into the B.S. stuff like MCCS and PMO. Do the major muscle movements later when the lines have drawn down.

Supply

Went to Supply (Sorry, 'Central Issue Facility'. Who comes up with these stupid names?) today and got all the gear that they said I was supposed to have. It is an insane amount of stuff. I brought an extra seabag just to hold gear and I don't think it will be big enough. The main problem is that if I use my seabag and the huge pack I was issued I'll be going over the baggage limit to fly commercial. Since it seems like I got the complete combat load for Afghanistan. I'm getting in touch with the people I'm going to be working for and double checking on what I need. Djibouti is supposed to be a permissive environment after all...

Medical II

Here are some handy tips:

1. If you are a Marine reservist deploying overseas then you need to do whatever it takes to get your medical records in your hands before you leave. Don't listen to anyone who says they will be transferred "automatically." In fact, when you mention this at the DPC, be prepared for the room to burst out in a healthy chuckle.

2. If you know you haven't had very many shots then do whatever you can to get some of the live viruses administered before you report to the DPC. There's a 28 day wait between them and if you need more than two, you're screwed.

3. Learn to like waiting rooms.

Deployment Processing Center

Other than being next to impossible to find in the gloom of early morning, with little to no signage and an unmarked S-1 entrance that's hidden under a stairwell, things are running fairly smoothly here at the DPC. They have their check-in procedures down and you finish with S-1 to walk across the parking lot and sign up for training events through the S-3. Then you get your billeting arranged while here at CLNC. I'm sitting down with the MarForAf LNO after lunch and then starting my run through medical. Medical should take most of the week and all my field training will take most of next week. There's also a list, much longer than I had previously thought, of online courses you have to run through. Those can be done on my laptop at my own pace and they have printers in order to print off certificates. They also have a bank of unclassified computers that we can use.

There's a large group of Marines, mostly going to a new Brigade HQ that CENTCOM is standing up, and they are sort of clogging the system this week. No worries though, I'm pretty sure I'll be here for a month anyway. Another friendly LtCol pointed to my check-in sheet and said that it's basically a scavenger hunt. You finally figure out exactly what building and room you have to go to only to find that the person is out until tomorrow. That sort of thing. Really, the big hold up for most people seems to be medical and that's probably how it will be with me, waiting for all the live vaccines I have to get.

So it's been an interesting day one and it's only noon chow.

Here We Go

The journey has now taken a huge leap forward. This morning at zero dark thirty I made my way to the airport and flew in to Jacksonville, NC. One of my bags didn't make it on the little puddle jumper that I hopped on in Atlanta so I have to go back and get it from the airport tonight. It's annoying because that bag has a couple of crucial uniform items that I could not replace by the time I got on base. If it doesn't come in tonight, I'll have to report in civvies tomorrow. Great.

Anyhow, for those of you who are Marines and may end up following this same path, let me tell you about the J-Actionville airport. When you get your rental car and drive off you will get to a T that has no street signs, no directional markers, no nothing. I figured it would be easier to find Camp Lejeune. It wasn't. (Hint: go right.)

Eritrea: A Puzzlement On Purpose

Eritrea can pretty much be summed up by the fact that even North Korea has more of a free press than they do. If it wasn't so completely dirt poor it would be declared a rogue nation by the State Department and we'd isolate it diplomatically. They are about as closed a society as you can get, without a single foreign journalist in the entire country. Not one. It seems to me that they're so bats**t crazy they're likely to start sponsoring terrorism just for the notoriety. I mean, they fight for independence from Ethiopia for years and years, get their independence, and then instead of working with their now landlocked southern neighbor they get all spiteful and close off all Ethiopia's access to the sea. I'm sure they were sitting back and thinking, "We showed them!" but then a funny thing happened. Little Djibouti raised a hand and said, "We'll be your port of entry." Now Ethiopia and Djibouti are relatively prosperous and Eritrea is poorer and poorer. Smooth move, guys.

Kenya: We Know What We're Doing. Wait, Was That a Gunshot?

All observable evidence shows that Kenya has their crap in one seabag. They have a relatively stable economy, decent education, and they can generally feed themselves. This was the common perception amongst the world powers for much of the last decade or so. Then came the elections of 2007 where the ruling party was way behind in the vote count before they seemed to mysteriously discover more ballots to count and that put them over the top. Riots, explosions, and murder in the streets followed. A thousand dead Kenyans later the rest of the world paused from their morning coffee with a seriously upturned eyebrow.

"Great," thought the world. "We thought we had that one handled. It's hard enough helping Africa without the success stories sliding backward."

Of course, what the election violence pointed out was that the rest of the world really doesn't understand Africa as well as they think they do. So now Kenya has held a national vote on a new constitution and things are moving along nicely. Since the U.S. really needs them as a regional partner in both the War on Terror and our anti-piracy operations, hopefully Kenya will continue to hold it together and move into the promising future that everyone expects of them.

Ethiopia: How Ya Like Me Now?

It's an odd thing, especially for people my age who grew up in the 80's watching Live Aid on MTV, to have Ethiopia as the local model of 'not too bad.' The electoral shenanigans there don't really seem that much worse than Cook County, Illinois. The general economy seems better than Detroit's, which really ain't saying much but you get my drift. Also they're only down to the occasional drought, which makes them a bit like central California. When you look at the positives-- host country for the African Union, plenty of water and arable land, reasonable lack of genocide and ethno-religious warfare-- you could almost say it looks kinda like the Garden of Eden. (Of course if you did say that, you'd probably spark a healthy round of ethno-religious warfare.) It seems to me that their biggest problem is an ornery neighbor to the north and a peasantry twisting to the whims of governmental cronyism. Not all that different from Philadelphia when you think about it.

Uganda: Punching Above Their Weight

Interesting things happen when bombs explode. Not only do you have general carnage but you also tend to register some altered motivations. Back in July the entire world, give or take a few billion, was watching the FIFA World Cup. So were a few hundred Ugandan Joe Sixpacks when bombs went off in their pubs and killed 76 of them. Then your not-so-friendly neighborhood terrorist group Al Shabaab claims responsibility and things get a little more dicey in East Africa. I mentioned before what a walking disaster Somalia is. That's mainly because of Al Shabaab.

So then you get Uganda ramping up the rhetoric as well as offering more 'peacekeeping troops' to 'assist with stability operations' within Somalia. Not only does 'stability operations' sound so much nicer than 'bloodthirsty revenge', it's also more likely to get you special funding from the United States. Now while the U.S. is plenty willing to give money and guns to whoever lines up to fight terrorists, Uganda has a bit of an image problem. Sure, they go after the gang of murdering thugs known as the Lord's Resistance Army and they've offered their courts for trying captured pirates (Who are mostly Somali. Hmmmm...), but when you've got a leader with a less-than-stellar human rights record and who likes to wipe out opposition parties and ignore his own constitution so he can run for office again and again, getting assistance from Uncle Sam is difficult at best.

In fact, in my completely unofficial and nowhere near expert opinion, Uganda, small as they are, encapsulates most of the problems with U.S. policy towards African states. (Ed. Note: I was going to call this post The Mouse That Roared but decided to be polite.) We want terrorists to die (sorry, 'come to justice') but we know we need to operate through other nations because we just can't be everywhere at once. We look around the world chess board and the only people we see with the capacity to kill bad guys are not all that good themselves. That, as we say in the English speaking world, is a bit of a pickle.

Sudan: Train Wreck's A'Coming, Let's Make Popcorn

I've been paying a lot of attention to the international and local news agencies reporting on East Africa. The situation in Sudan is puzzling and would be laughable if it wasn't so unavoidably tragic. Sudan has been wracked with civil war for decades, mostly between the north (where the national government is) and the south. They've got a peace agreement that calls for a vote on southern secession and that vote is scheduled for Jan 9th, 2011. Not even Vegas bookmakers are taking bets against the vote going in favor of secession. The south has all the oil. The north has all the guns. The south is a combination of animist religions and Christianity. The north is predominantly Muslim. The south is ready to secede even if there's no vote. The north is dragging its feet in preparing for the vote.

This is not going to end well. It's a train wreck that everyone can see coming down the track.

Throw into this mix a province that straddles the north-south line having its own vote over which side to join, the Darfur region of west Sudan where genocide has become so regular its practically written on everyone's daily 'to do' list, and that Sudan's ruling head of state has been indicted by the ICC for crimes against humanity or some such. Folks, this recipe for disaster is coming out of the oven whether we're ready for it or not and its not going to be a pretty mixed metaphor. Sure would be nice if someone could, I don't know, do something about it.

Somalia: Let's Do the Time Warp Again

I know people who've been to Somalia. I know people who've fired several rounds into a darkened cityscape in an attempt to force their way out of an ambush. I know people who watched as warlords waited for U.S. forces to fly away after delivering relief supplies so they could go in, shoot the starving people, and steal the food for themselves. Somalia was a geographic fiction back in the early 90's and it is pretty much the same now; only with international terrorists and pirates competing for space against the average run of the mill thuglord.

There's a reason CJTF-HOA doesn't engage in cooperative military operations within Somalia: There is no functional state to deal with. The 'Transitional Federal Government' measures their control over the the country by single digits of city blocks. Most of the northern parts of the country are made up of the soon-to-be-officially-recognized regions called Somaliland and Puntland. In the casual observations of this Marine, Somalia has about six more months before it completely falls apart. (And I realize that the word 'completely' suggests that it has far to fall. It doesn't.)

What makes this time different from the 90's is that there is a relatively strong desire amongst the rest of East Africa to see that some kind of stability rules the place. The African Union has 'peacekeeping' troops there and is trying to get UN support for thousands more. The U.S. has watched Black Hawk Down enough times to realize that another round of American forces in Mogudishu is a very bad idea. Also, there is a general movement among the U.S. government to let African problems be solved by Africans. We'll just have to see how long that sentiment can withstand the inevitable onslaught of internet video showing the misery and starvation that is currently prevalent but not currently seen.

There Are Orders and There Are Orders

Modifications to orders can take on many shapes and sizes. Some can completely change just about everything and some can make just a minor adjustment. My orders to mobilize included a short little line saying that no rental car was authorized while in North Carolina at the Deployment Processing Center. This is irksome.

Camp Lejeune is a very big place. There will be training events all over the base and when I got hold of my contact at the DPC he said they had no drivers and vehicles to spare for carting me around. So I sent of an email to my home unit and asked them to include a rental car.

I know what goes through the mind of the person approving the funding for orders like this. If we authorize a rental car they'll just use it to have an extended vacation at the Marine Corps expense. (Never mind that a taxi from and back to the airport will cost almost the same amount as a couple of weeks rental; those funds come out of a different pot of money.) Plus there is also a general ethos amongst Marines that luxuries are to be avoided. Air Force guys always get rentals and good hotel rooms, they simply won't go on temporary duty without them...

So I got my modification with one little line on it saying rental car authorized. These are some of the steps you have to go through to get anything done. And to enjoy some little trips around North Carolina before heading overseas.

How Things Become Confusing

I found out today that medical is no longer the overwhelming issue I thought it was. It's funny how this kind of thing happens and is actually a good study in organizational dynamics. You know, the kind of dynamics that make Dilbert so doggone funny.

The reporting instructions for MarForAf are pretty explicit that all training and medical and admin issues need to be handled before showing up for duty. There are even phrases like 'incomplete areas will result in canceled orders and return to your command.' So I've been trying to figure out how on Earth I'm going to get everything done with fewer and fewer days to do it. So today I had a good conversation with someone who knows the process and she told me not to worry. All the things I'm trying to do will get done while I'm in North Carolina at the Deployment Processing Center. It's there that the training and medical and such are finished before you actually fly overseas. Relax, she said, and enjoy the last couple of weeks with your family.

So that's what I'm going to do.

Billet Assignment

I've finally gotten the assignment for what I'm going to be doing in Djibouti. There's a specific line number in the Joint Manning Document that I'm deploying under. It used to be one job (the advertised job that I saw and thought I was signing up for) but now it's been reassigned to another job in another section. That's the way the cookie crumbles. No hard feelings; in fact I'm pretty excited about it.

I'll be in Operations and I'll be working to ensure that all the exercises we conduct go off without a hitch. It's even specifically written into the billet description to take care of any 'unforeseen problems'. Since that is something that I've always excelled at, I'm looking forward to the challenges ahead. (Handy Side Note: When anyone in the military starts using the word "challenges" you can usually translate that to mean "we have no idea how to do this.")

My main tasks will be to ensure the smooth workings of multinational exercises through interaction with the host nation through their military offices and embassies. From what I can gather, I'm the guy that goes around and makes sure that the plan that everyone agreed to actually works according to plan. It sounds like a lot of travel throughout East Africa and a lot of smiling and hand shaking and frantic cell phone calls. Should be fun.

The Labyrinth

This is rich. I need my orders in hand to get anything done at medical. I need to start the medical process at least a month out. I can't get orders until they clear through travel and my flight to NC is arranged. I call the admin bubbas who write the orders and they tell me that I (as in, not them) need to call the travel office to arrange travel and then my orders get kicked out of The System. I call the Marine Corps Reserve travel office and they tell me that they don't do travel requests this far in advance. I sigh. I explain the situation and they tell me that I (as in, not them) need to fill out a travel request and email it to them. Then they book the travel and I can get my orders and go to medical and get shot.

And this is the easy part.

Medical

Here's a handy tip that I kinda knew but hoped wasn't true. Medical won't do anything for a reservist unless you have mobilization orders in hand. If you wind up in the pipeline for deployment like me, ask for orders as soon as possible.

The X Factor

Another player in this game is Marine Forces Africa, the service component of USAFRICOM. (A Short Aside: The various Combatant Commands throughout the world, as shown on the map below, all have components of the four armed services that function as force providers. A force provider is a headquarters that handles the deployment of its particular service members so they can support whatever exercises or contingencies that the Combatant Command is responsible for. Therefore, in addition to MARFORAF, there is also USARAF, US Air Forces Africa, and NAVAF.) Part of the reporting instructions for MARFORAF is to be thoroughly briefed and cognizant of the roles and responsibilities that you will have during your deployment. This is typically summed up in a billet description.

My situation is a little more complex, however. There are apparently a few different billets that I might be slotted in to but no one has quite figured out which one it may be yet. For now, there's really no impact on my preparations. I'm still trying to get some training done and go to medical next week. The difficulty is going to come later when I try to study up on what exactly I'm going to need to know. Things like joint doctrinal publications that would be handy to have read will have to be put on hold. But, since the unofficial motto of the Marine Corps is Semper Gumby, Always Flexible, I don't really think it will be much of a problem. I look at it as an adventure unfolding before my feet, with pleasant surprises, sunshine, and lollipops as far as the eye can see.

Leaning Too Far Forward

Because of Rule Number One (until it happens it hasn't happened) I've tried to be careful about getting myself too prepared. It took me months before I just recently ordered some French language software and a phrase book. I've known what the medical requirements are for an equally long time but since the list is as long as my arm, I didn't feel like going and getting a bunch of shots just to find out that I wasn't going over there after all. But now things are much more certain than before. As I mentioned before, a momentum builds up and works to prevent change because no one wants to go through all of this all over again.

As an IMA reservist I have a couple of problems. One of them is lack of a home unit that can put me through PTP Block 1. Pre-deployment Training Package 1 is the basic Marine Corps stuff and it's required for joining AFRICOM; rifle range, pistol range, gas chamber, swim qual, etc. Since I drill out in Hawaii a couple of times a year, I don't have the support for completing all these events. What I'm finding out now is that they can all be taken care of in North Carolina when I get to the deployment processing center. Good enough. That leaves me with just medical. That's going to hurt enough as it is. I count 15 different shots that I need to get before hitting the ground in DJ. Lucky for me I've got a month and a half before flying to NC and another month after that before arriving in country. Should be time enough.

AFRICOM

So I chose a billet within the newly established combatant command responsible for Africa: AFRICOM. Once that was done I decided to look up some information on it and see what this was all about. Five minutes on the Google opened my eyes quite a bit. There's a whole host of people out there who hate AFRICOM and vow to resist it as much as possible. They believe it is part of the United States' plan to re-colonize the continent. After some learned study I have to conclude that their fears are understandable, given the history of Africa, but off the mark. The U.S. doesn't want colonies. We want viable trading partners. The U.S. doesn't want to steal Africa's resources. We want to buy them at stable market prices. And for those who think that this move is just to further the militarization of the continent, I would point out that there is plenty of militarization already and that part of Africa's problem is that their militaries can't always be trusted to work for the good of the people. One of AFRICOM's goals is to change that and to professionalize the various military organizations so that they behave responsibly under the control of responsible civilian governments. I just can't see that as a bad thing.

I could go on and on about this, and I probably will, but right now I'm still in Seattle going over the pages and pages of reporting instructions and the shockingly long list of vaccinations I have waiting for me.

How To Begin

The first step in this journey is to get yourself laid off back in March. That forces you to look for options. I'd always known that going back on active duty would be a good short-term financial move but I didn't want to come back after a year or two just to be in my mid forties and have to start at the bottom of some company all over again. That decision has now been made for me already. (Plus, after seeing some of my buddies getting jobs with defense contractors, I realized that military duty might not have as many negatives as I previously thought.)

So I started looking into mobilization options. Two great sources for reserve Marines are the MarForRes Global Billets list and Reserve Duty Online, which is an MOL thing. What with two wars going on there are plenty of opportunities out there. After sifting through them all I circled in on a billet with CJTF-HOA, Combined Joint Task Force-Horn of Africa. It's a standing command with responsibilities throughout the East Africa region.

What followed was an almost comical series of email exchanges where the addresses on the cc line became more and more numerous. Finally, back in May, I located the person at my current unit, MarForPac HQ, that was responsible for putting my package together and forwarding it on to approving authorities. Luckily for me, I happened to be in Hawaii for another exercise and I could go talk to him face to face. That shortened the process considerably. (I suppose I should mention that I live in Seattle, where it is currently raining and 65 degrees.) From that point on the process gathered inertia and began rolling down the line like the boulder chasing Indiana Jones. But, remembering rule number one, until it happens it hasn't happened.

Introductions

I'm a Lieutenant Colonel in the United States Marine Corps Reserve and I'm volunteering to go to Djbouti, Africa, for a year of duty with CJTF-HOA. I'm putting this blog together because I found it hard to find first hand information when I was going through the decision process regarding my orders. Most stuff was dated by a couple of years and some other things just didn't have what I wanted. So the plan is to post as much unclassified information as I can over the next 18 months or so. Everything from the process of getting orders, to the training and travel, through the deployment and to include the retrograde. If my experience can be a help to someone, then I've done my job.

Currently, I've been in the process for a few months so there's some catching up to do. I would have started the blog earlier but, as I explained to my wife every time she asked about how certain of deploying I was, until it happens it hasn't happened. That's been true for my entire 20+ years in the Corps and it's still true today. Funny thing is, in the Marines... even after it happens it might not still keep happening.

Time will tell but I should be starting active duty on or about October 17th. Lots of ground to cover between now and then.