Djibouti

Thursday, January 24, 2013

Mission Complete

I arrived in the U.S. of A. on 18 Jan at approximately 0400 after 22 hours of flying time and about 28 total hours of travel. I landed in Norfolk, VA, then flew to BWI, where my boss, Col Smith and Diane met me.

Before I left, my flight arrangements were: arrive in Norfolk at 0330, take American Airlines from Norfolk to JFK at 1430 (11 hours of waiting for my flight), lay-over there for a couple hours, then fly down to BWI, arriving at 1950. That's 16 1/2 hours to get from Norfolk to BWI!! Thank goodness my home TMO (Transportation Management Office) came through for me and booked me on Southwest, which left Norfolk at 0830 and arrived at BWI at 0925. If it weren't for them, I would have rented a car and driven home.

A couple weeks ago Courtney told me Christopher posted some videos of parents surprising their kids at school when they returned from deployment. Taking that as a hint, coupled with the fact that Diane said they had both mentioned how cool that would be, I told them I was getting home around midnight. So, Diane and I left the airport and showed up at Mullaney's school. Her favorite teacher helped by clearing it with the school. We arrived and she escorted us to where Mullaney was. She was definitely surprised!

Next stop - Christopher's school. He was outside at recess and his friends saw me walk in. I waited in his classroom for him to come in. He was still surprised. He and Mullaney were especially glad to get out of school early! We ordered Chinese food and ate it at home. It was a great day.

So, this has been THE coldest week of the winter and everyone is crediting me with bringing the cold weather! Hello!! I was in AFRICA for the last six months, where it was in the 140s in the summer!! It is EXTREMELY cold! Holy crap!! It has been in the single digits at night and in the 20s during the day.

I have been trying to catch up on everything at once, which doesn't work. So, instead of getting frustrated, I have decided to take one task at a time and mix in some goof off time.

I am still working out, well, running. I ran the first two days I was back and holy cow, was it cold! My hands froze, my nose ran, and I had to breathe through my mouth instead of my nose. If I had breathed through my nose, I would have had mucus all over my face! LOL. Tonight I am going to the gym to run. It is 24 degrees now and will dip into the single digits again tonight.

I find myself figuring out what time it is in Djibouti and I wonder how things are going there. I called my replacement, Todd the other day to check in and all seem to be doing well. Before I know it, all the people I knew will be gone. C'est La Vie!

Sunday, January 6, 2013

Winding Down

Well, time is winding down and I have passed my last milestone, New Year's Day. As of two days ago (4 Jan 2013), I have been gone for 1/2 year. I have missed Independence Day (the day I left), Labor Day, Courtney's birthday, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year's, and my grandson's birthday. I leave Africa on his birthday. I have also missed my kids' school functions like Christmas concerts and sporting events. My two Labs probably think I have left for good. I'm sure they won't let me out of their sight for one second when I get back! I have really missed them, too. They don't get the Skype thing.

My replacement arrived tow days ago, which makes today 6 Jan 2013. He will be shadowing me all this week, then Saturday I hand the reigns over to him and become just a blur in the background, fading out more each day until 17 Jan when I get on the rotator for the long flight home.

I still have so much to wrap up before I leave. One operating instruction, one OER, one end-of-tour award, and one FITREP. Of course OERs are Army Officer Evaluation Report, FITREP is Navy Fitness Report, OPR is Air Force Officer Performance Report, and LOE is Air Force Letter of Evaluation, which isn't a letter at all.

I have enjoyed every challenge here, but I think the most rewarding aspect for me was getting to know the Marines and Navy. They were the most foreign to me when I arrived, so I spent a lot of time getting to know more about their services. I will never understand Navy rank. Navy doesn't even understand it! Not really, but they do have a hard time explaining it. Everyone is LS1, LS2, EN1, EN2, etc. That is not their rank, but their specialty. So when you call someone in the office, you say, "hey, EN1", not "Hey, Petty Officer". You call them that only if you don't know their specialty. Very strange, that.

I think the hardest part to approaching the end of any deployment is keeping your head in the game until you actually leave. Although I have not begun to count down the days, I find myself thinking more about home and what I will do with all the time off. I will have a total of 41 days or more! The only thing I know for sure is that I will finally build a bed frame. Diane and I have gone without one since about 2005, when we switched to a Queen size bed. I have wanted to make one for years, and now I will have the time.

Saturday, December 8, 2012

Tonight the Harlem Globetrotters performed for us. They are so awesome! They were as entertaining as they were when I saw them when I was little.

Thursday, November 29, 2012

Safari

I had an opportunity to go on a safari in Tanzania the day after Thanksgiving. Holy cow, what an experience!! Ethiopian Airlines was late on the first flight, so we missed our connection, which made us spent the night and missed the first day of the safari. It was one of those hotels you wonder if you will check out with some sort of disease. As Dave put it, it was like they forgot to put the mattress on the box spring. The bed was as hard as a rock.

The food was incredible! Our cook was amazing and prepared a 3-course meal each night which consisted of soup, the main course, and dessert. He even baked rolls! All this on an open flame. I think his biggest compliment was when I called him a chef. He really was!

The safari itself was incredible! My first encounter was with an elephant in our camp. I walked out of the bathroom and saw something that didn’t register in my brain right away – elephant legs!! He turned to me and started walking toward me. I thought, “He won’t come too close because the trees are too low.” Then he lunged towards me and kicked dirt at me! THAT made me think twice about my initial thought that he wouldn’t come too close. Needless to say, I walked another way back to my tent.

I really don’t know what else to say about the experience other than this. I always love to see documentaries on TV about animals in Africa; however, to experience being in their presence in their environment is a very exhilarating experience. I was in awe just being in their presence. Truly an unforgettable experience.