The travel started again.... Stuck in Paris now

So the wardroom had a hail and farewell Saturday night and that was a good evening. The day had been hot and humid with rain and it was a busy day and right after the wardroom function was over I went straight to the Air Terminal and headed to the Djibouti International Airport,,, what a treat that was. If you've never been to a fourth world International Airport, let me tell you about it.... When you pull up a frenzy of local individuals swarm wanting to help you with your bags so you can pay them. DON'T LET THEM TOUCH YOUR BAGS!

Then you go inside to the HOT HUMID place with no A/C and go through some semblance of security and I'm being generous when I say that. While waiting in the terminal for the flight there was some horrible looking black cat with injuries that was crying and meowing in that place.... This is the fourth world so animals all over the place is common I suppose..... That stupid cat was screaming I swear it was and I just wanted it to get out of there. It was almost creepy like pet cemetery or something out of a horror movie.

Please bear in mind that while it's necessary to hydrate in this climate,,, you must also process the hydration which means you'll be visiting the restroom....... Not a good idea. I think I would have rather used a Port-o-John. The urinals were covered with garbage bags so that was a no-go,,,,, on to the stalls,,,,,, water standing on the floor ( I hope), no seats on the toilets which is pretty typical, no toilet paper but a handy hose for those unfortunates who needed to use the full facilities. Not an ideal setup and a good reason to always keep that spare roll of emergency tp in the backpack just in case of such an emergency.

After that it was back to the waiting area which was like a sauna. Between the sauna like atmosphere and the habit of the locals to not use deodorant you can formulate a picture. Finally we were able to board the aircraft and I have to say Air France does a nice job. As soon as the aircraft was loaded a flight attendant went up and down the aisle dispensing aerosol fragrances making the cabin much more pleasant. The flight crew was surprisingly attractive, well groomed and looked very nice in their uniforms and provided great service in an incredibly clean aircraft. And then two meals were served and dinner was paired with wine if you wanted it. I was able to take in a couple of new movies during the flight and didn't get any sleep on the way to Europe.

So the flight had quite a bit of turbulence and by the time we get to Paris it's pretty rough. I swear when we landed we were only on half of the landing gear and I thought the plane was going to flip over. We sat on the runway forever with the plane shaking in the wind because it was not safe to deplane. Off to the terminal we went to get our connections and of course some croissants..... The croissants were excellent but not so much for the connections. We spend the entire day in the airport going back and forth, claiming bags then rechecking, getting new boarding passes then cancelled flights again. Between the weather and the suspected pilot strike we did not leave Paris.

So I'm thinking,,, I have a three day class and now I'll miss a day or at least half of a day.... but on the positive side I'm stuck in Paris. I know,,, Boo hoo for being stuck in Paris. It could be alot worse. Hopefully we'll get to Naples tomorrow by noon and get a half day of classes in.

Finally found my camera

So for two days I've been without my camera. I took it out on Thursday to the office to take some photos and could not find it since. I thought for sure it had fallen out of my cargo pocket or backpack. I had looked all over the place and took another look around my office today and there it was on the desk I had been using earlier this week. Needless to say, once I get back from Italy and France, I'll be doing some office cleaning. My workspace is not up to par as far as cleanliness and organization like I'm generally accustomed to having. You know how I feel about proper housekeeping and leaving a clean desk at night....

Right now I'm sitting in the base air terminal waiting for the shuttle to take me to the Djibouti Int'l Airport. I'm heading to Paris tonight and then on to Naples, Italy for the next week. I'm looking forward to getting that class under my belt to help me understand the job I'll be doing for the next year or so. Also the possibility of sightseeing and making it to Pompeii is even better.

Today and yesterday have been a little rainy and HUMID. It's so thick in the air here you can just walk out and get soaked from the humidity in the air. Nothing real eventful has gone on this week but last night there was no off base liberty allowed most likely due to some elevated terror threat in the area but I did not inquire as to why..... no plans to go out into the town so it didn't really matter. We stayed on base and had some drinks at the 11 degrees MWR facility (waters for me). I'm going to have to learn to like beer this year I suppose.

Stay tuned for photos and updates about France and Italy. Pictures of Camp Lemonnier to follow as well.

Some more traveling...

So I found out this week that I'm off to Europe for class.... a week earlier than anticipated. I've only been here five days but it feels like I've been here forever, but in a comfortable way rather than something bad. I've adapted to the routine and other than not being able to sleep through the night, which is also pretty normal, things are good. I'm still pretty clueless about my job but I'm still confident that I'll be able to manage to meet expectations.

So I'm headed off to Italy and get to spend some time in France as well. I guess the old slogan, "Join the Navy, see the world" still holds true. It's a beautiful night in Djibouti again. Once the sun sets the temperature is perfect and tonight the breeze is coming in from the sea so it's just nice and reminiscent of some of those good nights back in Hawaii minus a few friends along for the ride. However there are some new acquaintances that are making this tour a good one and I expect it will improve.

More to follow later and hopefully some good photos from Europe.

Sunday trip to Lake Assal and Djibouti's Grand Canyon

So this being my first weekend on Camp and I had the opportunity to travel to some local sights in Djibouti outside the city. MWR was running a trip and my staff was going as well so they offered to let me tag along to see Lake Assal and Djibouti's Grand Canyon. Lake Assal is a salt lake and also the lowest point on the continent of Africa (515 feet below sea level). The white in that picture is not sand or snow like I left behind in Norfolk, it is crystalized salt. Lake Assal is also the saltiest body of water in the world with the exception of places in Antarctica. Swimming in the lake was a great experience, great warm temperature, even in February. It is so salty you can barely manage to stand upright after floating. The only downside is once you get out all of the sudden you fid yourself caked with dried salt crystals all over yourself. I also found myself a little over-exposed to the sun and should have used some sunscreen.

On the way to the lake we stopped at the Djibouti's Grand Canyon. The landscape here is covered with volcanic rock scattered everywhere, it somewhat reminded me of Maui's dry side of the island in spots.

Arrived in Djibouti

So I'm in Djibouti. Arrived at 4:30 in the morning and it was a pretty ugly place. I suppose the few posted pics online made it look nicer than it really is. On the upside, It's 8:00 at night with a great breeze and in the low 70's probably. In a word the daytime weather was HOT and very sunny. Good thing I packed a couple of pairs of sunglasses. The camp is over capacity and luckily I got a shared living container temporarily. Due to who I'm replacing hopefully I'll get a new permanent living assignment of my own where I just share a bath with one other officer. I think it will probably be a long year in this environment. The internet is VERY slow and my magic jack probably won't work during peak hours for sure.

The only nice looking green spot with flowerson base is the sewage treatment plant,,,, the flowers look nice but you can imagine the odor. I haven't experienced the burning trash and dead animals yet but I understand it's not pleasant. I haven't gotten my travel dates yet for Europe but I suspect I'll enjoy the break. Food is pretty decent here and there appears to be plenty of it available. My pants are still snug so I have begun avoidance of the sweets. Saturday is only a half day of work and Sundays are off. So I have to go get weighed in at 1:00 tomorrow and then off to the office at 2:00 for a meeting. I'm not sure low late the afternoon work schedule will be. I'm really hoping for that new living assignment quickly so I can set settled and try to regain some normalcy, including not having to get dressed to go to the bathroom which is about six unit away outside. Base rules restrict going outside in towels or robes and without shirts,,, Don't ask me to explain that one.

I'll try to update this with some pics of what I can over the next few days.

My address is:

LTJG David Rassenfoss, USN
PSC 831 N4
FPO, AE 09363-9998

Left Spain earlier today; sitting in Sicily now.

So we're out of the States now and have been to Rota, Spain and are now in Sigonella, Sicily. Nothing of consequence other than just basic traveling. I have to give the flight credit, I've never flown on Ryan International but they give great service.

1am

So I'm in my room quietly minding my own business,,,,, I got one of those calls that someone needed to be checked on... the options were to take custody or somehting less pleasant. What an option considering we have a flight leaving tomorrow...... Did I sign up for this??? Suddenly I have become responsible and accountable for a 21 year old. I feel like a parent all of the sudden.

Day before departing.....

So it was the day before departing the States and I had just been out to lunch on base.... upon my return to the Navy Inn some of my Djibouti folks (ages 25 and below) ambushed me and basically said "what else did you have planned today?". That was all I needed to hear and off I went to Norfolk for Mardi Gras drinking and whatnot. Yes I'm of a certain age where I should know better but as the younger folks pointed out,,,, what else did I have planned for the day????

The afternoon started at Jillians, moved to Hooters, back to Jillians and then to Mo & O'Malley's for some drinks and shots and a little food in between. So I arrived back at the base before midnight with laundry and packing ahead of me so I can head out tomorrow. It should be an interesting flight.

Still parked in VA

I'm still in Virginia Beach at the Little Creek Naval Amphibious Base. We've been here since last week and for the most part I've tried to get caught up on some sleep and getting geared up for heading overseas. It has been unreasonably cold here but fortunately there isn't any snow accumulation. I picked up a few things for the kids today at the NEX and got a fresh haircut. Made a small effort at the gym today and had some dinner at the galley and that's about it. Not too much excitement going on and my crew has been pretty sedate and apparently in hiding since I haven't really seen anyone. Hopefully we'll head out of here mid-week providing no weather system moves in and we should be in our final destination by the end of the week or so,,, hopefully.

Arrived in Norfolk

We arrived in Norfolk last night around 8:00. We headed out of Camp McCrady around noon or so and headed up here on a charter bus. I dreaded that ride but it ended up being a decent trip. The bus had DVD and tvs so we ended up watching three movies and we had a fun group so the trip was actually a good time. I can't remember the last time that I was able to watch that many movies. Our moves were The Hurt Locker, Zombieland and GI Joe. After the training we had watching The Hurt Locker was a little too realistic and I found myself thinking back to alot of the training we had over the last few weeks.

So I'm at the Navy Lodge in Norfolk until I head out so I'll have a few days to catch up on some sleep and answer the voicemail and email that has accumulated.

Wrapping things up...

So today was the last practical exercise outdoors for our platoon. We had our convoy operation and I managed to not get killed and was able to shoot off a couple of rounds at the opposing side. I was actually a little disappointed that I didn't get to engage in gunfire more than what we did. Luckily the rain held off during the evolution.

After that was over we gathered up some gear that has been in storage for a while and after dinner we had a weapon cleaning session and then back to do some laundry and start figuring out how to pack all of this gear into four seabags. This is difficult when you show up with one seabag of your own and get issued four more plus a big backpack of gear, so this will be a creative process of packing I'm sure. Tomorrow is a day of power point presentations and some other administrative tasks.

Tomorrow is a late day; no muster until 7:30!

Another long day....

So the day started out early.....again. My schedule was to be at a medical stand down at 0500 then breakfast was 0530 to 0600 and muster in formation at 0600. Have you ever been to a medical appointment to get your vitals taken, fill out paperwork and get a shot in less than 30 minutes??? Me neither.

After getting the Anthrax shot (still hurts) I decided skipping breakfast was a good idea since just getting through the line was a 20 minute ordeal usually. So I headed back to the barracks to get all the gear on adding that 50+ pounds to myself. Even with skipping breakfast I was still a little delayed in getting to muster which was not a big deal since I was already expected to be delayed but you know how I hate to be late when I'm expected somewhere.

So we loaded up the buses and went out for some round-robin training on various stations and scenarios of security issues, explosives and urban searches. There was also an exercise in humvees and then back to Camp McCrady. Once back on base we dropped our gear and headed to a travel briefing where we got information about our next travel and when we head out. I'll post more on that once I get where I'm going and settle in. We were late getting to dinner and actually sat around and realized a bit before heading to the computer lab to get a decent Internet connection.

Tomorrow will be another early day where I will definitely skip breakfast since they've scheduled 0530 breakfast and an 0600 muster in full battle rattle. There's just not enough time to eat and get geared up in a timely manner. Tomorrow is our convoy exercise day and that will in essence be the end of our practical training. I'm hoping for some downtime afterward to get a little rested and packed before moving along. Stay posted for the next leg of the adventure...

Uneventful weekend

Well Saturday started early and we had a land navigation exercise out in the woods. It was once again painfully obvious that I should have a Garmin GPS with me at all times. After that was over we came back to the barracks and loaded up on the shuttle to Ft. Jackson and the PX. In lieu of eating an MRE for lunch I decided to eat at the PX before picking up a few items in the store.



Saturday night was a little slow so five of use went into Columbia for dinner. It took a conscious effort to not gobble my food down like an animal out in public unlike what is usually necessary at meat times here during training. It was a quiet night in the barracks for the most part since most of the guys decided to get hotels and stay out in town.



Waking up on Sunday and being up before 0800 was beyond my comprehension but that's how things were this morning. The internet here is maddening since the Army IRR guys have arrived and the already slow internet has gotten much worse on base. After lunch today (which was pretty awful) I broke down and went to the computer lab just to get a good connection. I managed to finish my class that I've been trying to do for the last three weeks in about 30 minutes; I should have done that two weeks ago I suppose.



I would try to post some new pictures but it is not at all possible under the circumstances. I hope to find out tomorrow more about my upcoming travel. Tonight will probably be an early one for me since I have to be in medical tomorrow morning at 0500 for some more Anthrax which will be a great time for my arm. I'm not even going to pretend to be interested in the Superbowl tonight.

Friday

We had a good day today. Breakfast was optional so I took the option to sleep in since we didn't have to muster until 6:20 this morning. We had some early class instruction time with one of our drill Sergeants who as you would expect is pretty matter of fact which is actually a good thing. We also got our assignments for our convoy next week; it seems that I'm now a gunner. For this job I'll be sticking up out of the top of the humvee having to be observant. I'm not sure why you'd stick someone up there who can barely pay attention when they're driving but that's my assignment so I'll execute it as well as I can for the benefit of my team.... and I get a machine gun to shoot most likely so that's a good thing.

After lectures we loaded up on our buses and headed down to the Electronic range simulators for training for night shooting and other training scenarios. It was pretty interesting and I ended up having a pretty successful day. For the training scenarios I actually received praise for breaking the chain of mishaps from earlier groups by executing my mission and keeping my group from getting blown up; it took putting a bullet in someones head but that was the job at hand and in the scenario it was what was necessary to save my team. The instructor said he had to blow everyone else up that day for not eliminating the threat who had a bomb. I was disappointed not to have more time in the trainer today with those scenarios even though that's probably not what I'll be doing where I'm headed.

We went back to the classroom after the simulator training and lunch outside in the cold and rain for more instruction. We received training on tactics and devices used by the enemy. the excitement tonight was going to the base PX at Fort Jackson with a battle buddy. I got a haircut and had a Philly cheesesteak from Charlie's..... I actually felt like a real person again for a little while. We'll probably head back tomorrow to buy bugout bags to have for good backpacks for traveling while we're on leave overseas. On the planner this weekend is the class I have to finish in the next five days which is hard considering the Internet connections here and some housekeeping that needs to be done in the barracks and maybe the Superbowl party on base here this Sunday; we'll have to see how that goes and if the place is packed or not.

More time shooting..... got pistol qualification today

So the day started at 3:30 for us today. We made it into bed early enough last night but then there was the nightmare that had one of our folks screaming in the middle of the night.... needless to say that disturbed the little bit of sleep we got. We ended up outside at 4:15 for a 4:30 muster and then were rolling by 4:45 to the range for low light pistol shooting. Well, it was freezing this morning and I ended up in the third firing order which meant I was standing outside waiting my turn to shoot. It wasn't bad shooting but the weather was brutal and it was impossible to keep the hands and feet warm. I ended up skipping breakfast and just going to the warming room to try to thaw out.

From there we went to the large weapons area and shot the 50cal and machine guns. That was a good time but again..... cold. Back on to the buses and off to another range to do some reflexive shooting with rifles and then back to the range where we started out the morning. The lunch today was MREs again and mine had cheese tortellini and mashed potatoes; not sure who came up with that combination but I just ate the fig bar out of it. We did some stress shooting after that with the rifle which consisted of getting out of a hummer, no easy task in body armor by the way, and running to a course of various shooting stations while there was some yelling by the Drill Sergeants. That was the end of the training day in full gear for about 11 hours and I was tired after that.

While observing the long cold day one of my shipmates asked me if I would prefer to be at my civilian job which immediately brought things back into perspective. Of course my attitude improved with that thought and the training day was over for the most part. Tomorrow we get to sleep in and don't muster until 6:20 which is a late day!

Successful on rifle qualification today. Tuesday 2/3

I qualified on the rifle today which wasn't mandatory but I still did it. Tomorrow is a large weapon day where we shoot machine guns and the 50cal and hopefull blow something up. I have to get up at a horrible time in the morning,,, probably around 3:30 so I can get ready and muster at 4:15 for a 4:30official muster to head out on buses at 4:45 so we can do low-light pistol qualifications then breakfast outside before some reflexive shooting on rifles and large weapons.
I was so exhausted last night that I got in bed by 9:00 and pretty much passed out with a big flourescent light right over my face and everyone else up and being noisy watching a comedian on the computer and cleaning weapons... I slept hard after wearing body armor around all day long.


Today wasn't so bad and it was not cold like Tuesday. After I finished qith my qualification i piddled around and eventually after lunch decided to lay down in the sun,,,, I think I took a little nap and got some sun on my face. After that we came back and had a basic map reading class until dinner at 6:00. Then back to the barracks to get out of uniform, check email and get a shower just to start over again tomorrow.

Successful on rifle qualification today.

I qualified on the rifle today which wasn't mandatory but I still did it. Tomorrow is a large weapon day where we shoot machine guns and the 50cal and hopefully blow something up. I have to get up at a horrible time in the morning,,, probably around 3:30 so I can get ready and muster at 4:15 for a 4:30official muster to head out on buses at 4:45 so we can do low-light pistol qualifications then breakfast outside before some reflexive shooting on rifles and large weapons.
I was so exhausted last night that I got in bed by 9:00 and pretty much passed out with a big fluorescent light right over my face and everyone else up and being noisy watching a comedian on the computer and cleaning weapons... I slept hard after wearing body armor around all day long.

Today wasn't so bad and it was not cold like Tuesday. After I finished with my qualification i piddled around and eventually after lunch decided to lay down in the sun,,,, I think I took a little nap and got some sun on my face. After that we came back and had a basic map reading class until dinner at 6:00. Then back to the barracks to get out of uniform, check email and get a shower just to start over again tomorrow.

This three weeks makes me a little more appreciative of those who gear up and do this every day as well as those who instruct.

Cold and rainy Tuesday

So today started at 4:15ish rolling out of the rack and getting on all of the gear. We even added the gas mask today for some reason even though we never used the thing. We had a 5:15 muster then off to breakfast and back to the classroom. My battalion was taking a convoy out to the target range instead of the buses.

Well it was starting to drizzle as we loaded up in the humvees; five per vehicle and one of us had to be up in the turret. That was all fine and good and I started out in the back of the vehicle and we alternated positions all the way out. Well all the convoy exercises were fine and I didn't mind driving although the diesel vehicle was no luxury import, but then I made my way out to the turret with my rifle.

The rain was coming down so it felt like needles in my face. Had it been a nice sunny day the ride in the turret would have been ideal but no such luck for me. CDR Hasen (Trish) was driving as we came upon a huge muddy water puddle and she floored it as we approached. Most of the puddle ended up on me and the rest on the windshield to the point they could hardly see out. They were all amused and I was a good sport but not as amused since now I was soaked (and dirty). We did a drive through the course we will convoy next week as a group exercise and then headed toward the range.

Of course everyone had been started or rostered so we were last on the roster. We received some other instruction while waiting and finally we were called. Well the surprise we got was that we were given eight magazines of ammo to do all of our shooting exercises at once. Let me tell you, face down on wet red clay in body armour is not where you want to be. The other groups did four magazines, broke off then came back later. It was nice to get it done all at once but a little tiring and the break would have been nice.

Our battalion was released for the day after that and we came back and tried to clean up or gear as best we could so we can probably mess it up again tomorrow. Gear cleaning was followed by a long hot shower that was supposed to help my old sore back,,,, it didn't help much but at least I was clean again.

Stay tuned for more...

It was a fairly uneventful weekend and got to catch up on a little sleep. Everyone came rolling in on Sunday and it was pretty busy until around 10 at night. We were able to sleep in on Monday morning and did not have to be at breakfast until 7:30 and then off to medical for some follow up stuff and then free until lunch. The afternoon will consist of some first aid and other lectures and tomorrow we have an early day going out to shoot prequalification practice on the M16; cold and rain predicted as well so it'll be good times I'm sure. Wednesday is qualification day on the rifle and Thursday is low light shooting day for the M9.

We found out today tentatively that we should ship out next week to Norfolk and will probably be there for a number of days before heading on over to the next stop. Hopefully there will be some liberty time while in Norfolk to do some visiting.