MERRY FUCKING XMAS. This has been possibly the most uneventful Xmas in that we didn’t do anything festival and the most eventful in that we did nothing but work. On Xmas Eve we finished packing up pretty much, but we didn’t know how and when we’re going, really. We had a secret santa gift exchange. I got Porcayo the Playboy 50th year special book, and Roberson got me nice Nike shoes. Then later we all went over to the girls’ tents to get drunk, except this time I limited myself so that I wouldn’t throw up. Well, I came back early around 0100 hrs to sleep, because I knew I had to wake up at 0400 for guard duty. I had set my alarm clock at 0330 but I slept right through it until Miceli woke me up 15 minutes later, and the alarm was still going. Well, that walk was possibly the hardest walk next to my basic training final road march. I couldn’t think straight. I had PT jackets on, with black shirt and flip flops, obviously all out of regulation. Then I went over, slept for about another hour, made a couple phone calls to Matt Mck and Matt Lee, came back to the tents to sleep till 1100 hours. I woke up, went to lunch, which was the only really good lunch I’ve had at Camp Arifjan. This time, though, the officers were serving. O-3s to O-5s were serving anything from pastries, drinks, and everything. I felt weird. I thought it was cool they managed to coordinate something like that and actually go through with it, but I didn’t like the fact that it was officers. A Ranger LTC got me ice for my cups. It… was just something out of the ordinary, which I don’t think I will ever experience ever again.
On Christmas Day, approx 1600 hrs, we found out we have 10 hours to prepare for everything, we’re taking off at 0200 hrs. Well, of course that ruined all our Xmas plans. I went to the post office to mail back as much crap as I could, said my good byes and took pictures with the 23rd and 155 AG, traded numbers and such, and got my stuff ready to go. Of course when Sanchez, Fitz, and Mabugat came from KNB, we had to help them out so I didn’t really get a lot of free time. Went to Computer center for the last minute good byes, and headed back for a quick 15 minute nap before take off.
We took off Camp Arifjan around 0230 hrs on humvees and troop carriers. Of course we took off with ammo, but once we got to Camp Wolf, we got all that taken off. Took off from there around 0630 hrs on a C-130. I never thought anything could get louder than a C-17, but I was dead wrong. This sucker is crazy loud. You can’t hold a decent conversation at all even when you’re screaming, so we saved our breath and just mouthed out what we were trying to say. The CD player was on full volume to even try to make out what song was being played. Earpluggs brought the noise level down to about a C-17. I took some pictures but didn’t manage to go up to the cockpit. I was asleep soon after takeoff till just before landing.
We first went to Qatar. There was nothing around us, just an air field. Nothing as far as eyes can see, no buildings, just tents and shackhouses and trailers. But there were lots of jets, I think F-16s, and some others I couldn’t really make out. I don’t know how they manage to work there. The jets took off every 30 minutes or so and the tents, being about 500 meters away from the airfield, weren’t exempt to the excessive noise. But outside that, I’m told that the city part of the country I didn’t get to see is actually quite nice. The 23rd was ‘stationed’ there for about 2 or 3 weeks before they were sent to Kuwait, and they said they had a nice beach and of course, lots of beer. This trip took about an hour, and we barely stayed for another hour before transferring.
Then Bahrain. I’ve never been to the place, of course, but I couldn’t really make out how the city would be like. It reminded me a bit of South Carolina, because it wasn’t all civilized, and there certainly weren’t a lot of people there, but it still seemed busy enough for a country in the middle of nowhere. This trip took about an hour, too, but we stayed in Bahrain for about hour, hour and a half or so.
Then of course, the final destination, Djibouti. This trip took about 4 hours, of which I was completely asleep. I was drunk the night before on Xmas Eve, pulled a guard duty in the middle of the day from 0400 to 0700, went back to sleep for 3 or 4 hours, and was carrying 50, 60 pounds with me everywhere I went. My guitar was cumbersome, but I couln’t bare leave it behind. We got off and was soon greeted by 23rd AG we’re replacing, LT Bonner. Since the air field is about 300 meters away from the post, it didn’t take long for us to check in. We checked our weapons in to a cage next to the post office we were to work. Soon after we found our billeting,
First impressions? I love it. I love every part of Djibouti so far, except the weather. The workload is 1/4th that of what we had in Camp Arifjan, we’re 1700 miles away from headquarters, no waking up early in the morning for PT, the PX, barber, chow hall, showers, bathrooms, the post office, and the Gym is literally across the street, and best of all, 3rd platoon is back together once again. It’s been one long, wild ride, but it’s about to get much better. It’s just that on December, possibly the coldest part of year for the country, it’s 85 degrees in the morning, 75 during the night. I’m told to expect 140, 145 during the summer. LT Bonner says he saw a flying pigeon fall out of the sky because it was dehydrated. Supposedly this country was a bit volcanic back in the days of yore, and that and the sun and the proximity to the sea gives it the worst weather imaginable. AIDS is out of control here, and . But from the dinner I had at the chow hall, the food is much, much better here. They have a salad bar with FRESH MUSHROOMS and pastries for dessert, 5 different kinds of meat for dinner, free Gatorade and punch. The facilities, like the laundry and the shitters and the showers and the gym are a notch below that of Camp Arifjan, but we are free. We’re allowed to go off post pretty much whenever we want to. The Marine Force Recon are stationed here. I’m wanting to go on helicopter rides and such, it’s 50 meters away from where we work. There’s a decent basketball court, and we can actually see the stars out. The water tastes different from the American and even the Kuwaiti brand, but it’s ok. We should start taking malaria pills soon, too.
Right now it’s 2330 hrs, Djibouti time, which seems to coincide with Kuwaiti time, still. CPT Guardiano told us we’re 1700 miles away from headquarters. There’s a kill house here, where we pretty uch pick a weapon of our choice and blast away at targets. Plus there’s HALO going around the camp, and hopefully we’ll be able to go on those as well. WOW. I’m looking forward to our next 5, 6 months here.