Deployment to Africa

Back in America

Well I'm back in the US and on my ship again. Although I did not volunteer for the deployment, I really enjoyed the time spent in Africa and the experiences I had there. We have it really good in this country and shouldn't take it for granted. Right now, I'm just finishing getting checked back in and getting all of the pieces of the Navy's new working uniform together.

Triumphant Return to Djibouti

I finally made it back to Camp Lemonier in Djibouti. Ended up flying back from Kenya on a commercial flight and ironically had an overnight layover in Ethiopia. For the layover, I stayed at the luxurious Sheraton Hotel in Addis Ababa. I had never been to Addis before so it was a fun time. Was also nice because I knew some of the language/customs already. I ended up paying the $250 for a night (their most modestly price room) in cash because my Govt. Travel Credit Card was declined back in Kenya. I don't know what the reason was but I suspect it was a "you're supposed to be in Djibouti, fraud!" issue. The same thing happened with my PayPal account. I was/am literally surviving on cash and a 5-star hotel is a bad place to be in that situation. The next morning, I hopped on the commercial flight again and got to Djibouti.

A quick word about customs/airports is in order I think. I have never gone through more security screening than I did in Addis. I had to empty the contents of my giant seabag twice. Mostly it was because the xray operators didn't like my bag full of locks. They never did open the other pocket on that bag and find the picks, though. Also, on the final stretch of my journey; they discovered that I was carrying a nice big leatherman multi-tool (with plenty of knives) in my carry-on. I didn't even realize it, but I thought it was funny that I made it through 5 screenings in 2 countries prior to that.

Right now I am preparing to return to the US. Working on all of the check-out tasks and procedures and getting packed. At the same time I'm studying my ass off in preparation for a written test and formal verbal board to earn the optional but awesome Expeditionary Warfare Specialist (EXW) qualification. With any luck I'll do well and return with it pinned on my uniform. The timing makes this a one-shot-one-kill opportunity because I was downrange in Ethiopia for so long.

Scuba Diving and New Hotel

I threw the money and time down to do a PADI Discover Scuba course. After some instruction and a pool dive; we went out to a reef nearby and I was able to try some Scuba (one 45 minute dive). Also rented an underwater camera...which happened to be the same model as my own. That's right, the exact same camera but in a cool underwater case; this was pretty cool because I knew how to work everything. However, I am an uber-n00b at diving so I didn't get very many good in-focus photos. Also had a vision to pick a Medeco underwater at the reef (ala Doug Farre in NDE #2). They told me no because possession of picks is illegal in Kenya; it was likely for the best though. Did almost land on top of a lion fish; those things are everywhere. Saw some coral, fishies, and this cool yellow fish. Caught a pic of an eel between too sea urchins in this pic. Then, while I was ascending, I ended up going right through a group of jellyfish and got stung on my arm. A buddy of mine suggested pouring vodka on it and scrubbing with a rough sponge. Strangely, this voodoo-like ritual actually worked.

Later that day (actually during the scuba trip), my group was kicked out of the hotel/resort. Apparently rich business men are more important than US military to them (no vacancy). The place we're in now is much more...humble. Maybe its the weather but the vibe here is much less fun. Even the cats look pissed that they aren't at a 5-star resort. It does have more wildlife roaming about, though, especially monkeys. They are daring little bastards too; one of them literally opened my buddy's sliding glass door walked in and started stealing sugar packets (even made multiple trips to get them all). I'll try to get a video of that behavior. Also I'll be throwing some more pics up soon.

Stranded in Kenya

Well, I was on my way back to Djibouti when the plane had to change its flight plan. As a result, I am stuck in Kenya for an undetermined number of days. One tiny detail: I'm stuck at a beautiful resort-hotel. This place is fantastic: beachside, pools, bars, nice restaurants, and maybe a safari are everywhere. Only time will tell how long this enjoyable inconvenience will last, but I'm pretty excited that things finally went wrong in a good way. Going from Ethiopia to this has a strange sort of culture-shock factor to it. A friend of mine in Ethiopia always talks about wanting to ride a camel; FIRST!. Also I did some snorkelling for the first time around a reef in the Indian Ocean. Here is a picture of some fish looking through glass in the bottom of the boat

Humanitarian Destruction

Ever wanted to demolish a building, not clean up the mess, and help others? Well, our team got a chance to do just that recently. A local orphanage had a building that was damaged when a nearby wall collapsed onto it. It was unsafe in its current condition and we were asked to bring it down. Lots of folks were available to clean up the rubble (work is valuable here). The orphanage needed workers that could bring the building down safely; thats where we came in. First, the roof was taken apart. Then we used sledge hammers to weaken the bottoms of the walls. Next a handsaw and axe weakened the main structural supports (telephone poles). We pulled the supports out by hand (tug-o-war style), with a truck, and a forklift. Finally, we weakened and pushed over the remaining two walls as shown in the video to the left.

Jail

We gave some classes to folks in a city about diseases, water purification, hygiene, etc.. a few days ago. The location happened to be a courthouse/jail complex that had some classroom space. While the lectures were going on inside, I entertained the locals as usual outside with some juggling. The crowd got to be so big that it was blocking traffic and the police made me stop. The jail was interesting; as the picture on the left shows, it was a small building with a little fenced-in yard outside. There was no latch on the "gate" and the only thing preventing an escape is several federal police armed with AK47s.

We also made a very long drive to a remote village. For several hours, the landscape looked like this. It was like being stuck in a big maze; it amazes me that these drivers can find their way out here. I also wasn't fast enough to get a picture of some cool wildlife; it was like a zebra but black with white stripes. Besides that I've been getting ready to return to Djibouti and teaching my replacement here to pick locks. He's gotten really interested and is getting pretty good at SPP. He has a P2-SET pickset(plastic handles) enroute from Peterson (Ken even hooked him up with a free pry bar lite) and some Bogotas on the way as well from SerePick.com (special thanks to Matt Fiddler for the extra goodies and support).

More Randomness

While driving around the other day, we found a derailed traincar and a couple more overturned. Naturally, everything inside was scavenged by the locals long ago. Recently, we helped organize a soccer tournament; one of the teams was late, so I entertained the crowd with some juggling (video). Also, here's a random picture of some kids at their school; these kids love having their picture taken.

African Hacks

During my time here, I've seen a lot of neat hacks. In the broadest sense of the term, a hack is any creative or unusual solution to a problem. The economic and environmental conditions here make these sorts of tricks necessary. Here are a few of them:

Water Collecting Gutters - There is not much rainfall here, especially outside the rainy season. This village has built gutters that drain the rain into a large watertank. The gutter on the other side of this building is being repaired.

Brazing - The gutters picture, we can see a fellow doing some maintenance. I took a closer look and found out he was brazing the gutter do the drain pipe. Here is a video of him preparing the torch. First, he piled up some dirt and poured some gasoline from a water bottle onto the pile. Next he lit the dirt on fire and turned on his torch. Once the flow of gas had been adjusted and the flame lit, he insterted a bent piece of steel into a bracket on the torch. In this configuration, the torch heated the steel and allowed it to be used as a soldering iron to repair the gutters.

Wire Cutting - Didn't manage to get any pictures of this one, but I found it impressive. We were building a small shelter for an outdoor stereo a while back (just using what was laying around) and wanted to put a classic aluminum roof on it. The problem was that we didn't have any tools to cut it. The guards showed us a neat trick for cutting the metal. First, they grabbed 15 foot length of steel wire and tied one end to a post. Next, they laid the metal sheet over the top of it and wound the loose end around a stick a few times. A board was then laid down over the metal sheet in line with the wire and one of us stood on it. He pulled up on the wire, cutting into the sheet, and walked forward winding the now-loose wire around the stick. This process was repeated until the nice straight cut was complete.

Hacking Bird Minds - Saw this hack at the luxury resort in Kenya. There is an employee there who's sole job is to keep the local birds from hanging out in the main courtyard complex (esp. rooftops). He accomplishes this by standing in the center and shooting at them with a slingshot. Over time, he conditioned the birds to recognize his movements (pulling the slingshot back, etc..). Now, he doesn't need the slingshot at all; he simply makes a sloppy approximation of the movment involved and the birds in that direction scatter.

Others - Haircuts usually include a complementary hair washing with powdered laundry soap. Door closers are made with water bottles hung on strings. Everyone can pop non-twist bottlecaps with their fingers. Herders spray paint numbers on their goats to keep track of them. Many businesses (esp. bars and hotels) have generators and water tanks because of the very frequent power/water outages. Steppe farming is also very widespread to take advantage of any decent soil there is.

Assorted Randomness

Pet Baboon: After frequently seeing wild baboons in the countryside, someone had the bright idea to go buy one. For now, our pet monkey is on a leash to get used to the environment. Supposedly, it takes about a month of being tethered before these things will stick around without the leash.

Special Tibs: The best food I have found here is called Special Tibs. Its lamb cooked on a little clay mini-stove powered by charcoal. The entire stove is then served to you to eat from (coal still burning inside).

Housing: If outside a major city, this style of stone house with a tin roof is the best shelter you'll see. Homes made from clay and sticks are much more common.

Birr: The official currency here is Birr. The exchange rate is around 11 birr to 1 dollar and things are generally cheap around here. A good meal at a nice resturant can be had for about 30-50 Birr for example. Also, heres a picture of some Djiboutian Francs (exchange rate around 1000:6).

It may come as a surprise to learn that President Obama has a taxi business on the side.

Day at the Museum

We spent some time at a museum the other day and I figured you folks might like some pictures. The first thing that struck me about it was the architecture of the museum complex; it was obviously very old and built by skilled hands. They had a good number of exhibits showing local crafts like old pottery and hookahs. There was also an ancient weapons display and a more modern one. They didn't have any old locks on dispay, but they did have these latches. The artifacts that impressed me the most were these pieces of traditional wedding jewelry. They're made of a nickel-silver alloy completely by hand.

Entertaining the Locals

I had the opportunity to visit a school in the area and decided to introduce the students to the obscure performance art of contact juggling. If you want to see some, check out my YouTube channel for a video of me CJing to industrial music. The kids and staff really enjoyed the impromptu show (plus rock juggling) and have actually motivated me to practice my 5-ball juggling with rocks. I've also been grabbing some pretty pictures of the countryside and mountains. The other day, we found a neat-looking giant tree; likely harvested for firewood for decades. And yes, I did shave my head again...its Africa.

Downrange in Ethiopia

For now I'm supporting a humanitarian mission in Ethiopia. Its all about assisting the communities and letting the people know that the US is there to help. The economy here is much better than in Djibouti and the people are very open and friendly. The food does funny things to your digestive system and the flies are merciless but its a good time out here. Also we have a few cats and a couple of giant tortises that hang around here. Haven't had a chance to stop by a locksmith yet, but I was given a cool cruciform padlock. So far, I haven't been able to find a good tensioning tool that will fit and still allow access with picks. I'm thinking a key with all of the bitting grinded down except the tip would work but it remains unopened...for now :-)

Watermelon!

Each of our living units has a small "front yard" about a square yard in area. Pretty much everyone else's yard looks like this. Somehow, ours (roommate's as well) has become a magical jungle bursting with vegetation. The centerpiece of this testament to mother nature's majesty, and her ability to conquer even the most hostile of environments, is this watermelon. By feeding it a steady diet of air conditioner condensation, bottled water, and love; it has grown to mythical proportions. Besides the obvious danger of heat (which is slowly killing it off despite constant watering), it also chose to grow right next to the sidewalk. This leaves it vulnerable to kicks by 3-beer-drunks and jealous neighbors. Because of this, we must act quickly; I'll update here when we feast.

Update: On the day of the feast; we walked out to get the watermelon and found it stolen...my faith in humanity may never recover.

Pink Basketball Court

Recently I volunteered to help out with a community service project out in town. We all got up early on a Sunday morning and went to a local high school basketball/handball/soccer court. This thing sees some heavy use because its the only semi-suitable facility in the area and possibly the country. I have heard rumors that their olympians train there as well. Our job was to put a fresh coat of paint on it under the direction of a supervisor. I'd like to make it clear that the folks painting (myself included) were not involved in the planning or color selection process at all. For a pastel-colored basketball court, it looks pretty good after 6 hours of painting and they were very grateful. The heat dried the paint fast enough that we had plenty of time to play some soccer while waiting for transportation back to base.

Out in Town

So I've started leaving the base a little to check out the city and get some food. This entry started off as a little summary of one outing, but I think the following format works better. I'll try to make updates to this entry and expand it. Here's what I've seen so far:

• Trash is absolutely everywhere (no garbage service here).
• Everyone lives in makeshift tents or tin shacks.
• Decent buildings are surrounded by barbed wire.
• Drivers and pedestrians that don't care if they live or die
• The Djiboutian Palace which also functions as a 5-star resort
• Zombie-people walking around stoned on Khat
• A wrecked-out and abandoned rip-off amusement park known as Djibouti Disneyland
• Infinity pools with swim-up bars
• Somali refugees with missing limbs
• Sandy beaches
• Kids that chase your vehicle and beat on the door begging for food
• Kids that demand money for your parked vehicle's "protection" from break-ins
• People smiling for a stranger with a camera

Welcome to Djibouti

I have now arrived in Djibouti, Africa and am hanging out at a base called Camp Lemonier. The mission of the camp is basically to provide stability, defense, and humanitarian aid to most of Africa. There is free wifi coverage (very slow and unreliable) in the area that we live in but not inside the actual living units. The galley (place where you eat) has a lot of variety and the food is pretty good. They also have random things in there like an ice cream bar and free gatorade bottles. The emphasis here is on hydration and water bottles are available everywhere. They also provide some amenities like a basketball court, volleyball court, swimming pool, library, two bars (3 beers per day), movie room, and other things that I haven't found yet...oh yes: and shuffleboard. My job, however, is one that will require me to leave this camp for months at a time to do work in other African countries.

Body Armor

We get to wear/carry this stuff everywhere.

Cleaning Weapons

Just a quick shot of some folks cleaning their M16s. We carry these everywhere and get lots of practice at the shooting ranges.

Standing in Line

This was the line to get ammo for the machine gun familiarization shoots.

Machine Guns

We got a chance to fire these (M2 and M240) as well as the M249 SAW (not shown).

Convoy Operations

This was a fun training exercise; we went through some convoy scenarios. I only got pictures from us loading up but the rest was done on a rough road through the woods. We all armed up with blanks and rolled through as they launched different attacks and situations on us (including simulated roadside bombs with pyrotechnics).