After our sponsors met us once we arrived on camp, we attended a quick indoc session where we were told the basic rules and told such useful things as when meals are and where to be on Monday morning. I arrived on camp on Thursday, July 22nd and am finally writing about it on Friday, July 30th. It has been a busy week of turnover with the guy who had the job for the last year.
The base is surprisingly large with a million moving pieces. There is construction going on all over the place for things like a new galley (aka dining hall), runway repairs, power plants and the list goes on. I am the Assistant Public Works Officer. In that capacity, I am the #2 in our office where we manage the contract that provides all the day to day support of the base (e.g. cleaning, food, berthing, just routine stuff) along with other one time construction contracts for projects like repairs to buildings or water lines to major military construction like building a new galley or water distribution system around camp. I am still spending a lot of time at the office just reading through old correspondence trying to catch up on the history of what decisions were made when and why. I am dealing with a lot of funding issues I have never dealt with before which is interesting.
The base has a lot of quality of life type of things. There is a well air conditioned gym along with a turf field and volleyball court. There is a small store that sells things folks need like toiletries and electronics along with a coffee shop, rec center and 2 computer/TV spots. In future posts I will include some pictures from around camp so you get a visual of what this place looks like. Sorry no pictures this time, I have not taken my camera with me at all.
This post gives me an opportunity to brag a little on Nathan. He just the word that he was selected for promotion to Lieutenant Commander. I knew I married a rock star.
Friday, July 30, 2010
Unexpected Weekend Off and 24 Hours of Travel
While in South Carolina, we received our transportation brief, which was just that. The coordinators told each different group of people (Iraq, Afghanistan, Djibouti, Kuwait, Tampa or those going to additional training) how they were getting from South Carolina to their respective next stops. I was pleasantly surprised to learn that those of us going to Djibouti would leave South Carolina on Thursday, July 15th and not have to fly out until Tuesday, July 20th. With this unexpected weekend off I was able to attend RDML Mike Giorgione’s retirement ceremony in Annapolis, MD and spend the rest of the weekend with my parents. The retirement ceremony was great and it was so nice to be able to see the Giorgione’s again along with many other folks I have worked with. My parents also attended so it was nice to introduce them to so many folks. On Saturday, my sister Kate flew down from Boston to spend the weekend and the four of us had a great family weekend together (family minus mine and Kate’s husbands ). We explored Baltimore and then headed back to Mom and Dad’s place in Northern VA. On Sunday we went to mass and just enjoyed spending the day together. We had a great dinner at home and played an intense game of dominoes.
On Monday I dropped Kate at the airport and headed back down to Norfolk. I spent Monday and Tuesday finishing my packing and just relaxing. The 30 of us that were flying to Djibouti caught a plane from the military air terminal in Norfolk. The plane was packed with other service members and families because before arriving in Djibouti, the plane made stops in Rota, Spain, Sigonella, Sicily and Bahrain. 24 hours after take off, we arrived in Djibouti and were quickly met by our sponsors and brought to base. That’s all for now, more to follow from Camp Lemonnier.
On Monday I dropped Kate at the airport and headed back down to Norfolk. I spent Monday and Tuesday finishing my packing and just relaxing. The 30 of us that were flying to Djibouti caught a plane from the military air terminal in Norfolk. The plane was packed with other service members and families because before arriving in Djibouti, the plane made stops in Rota, Spain, Sigonella, Sicily and Bahrain. 24 hours after take off, we arrived in Djibouti and were quickly met by our sponsors and brought to base. That’s all for now, more to follow from Camp Lemonnier.
Training Complete
The 19 days of training in South Carolina went surprisingly quick. We were training 6 days a week and really did cover a lot of topics. We did a lot of weapons training on both the M16 rifle and M9 pistol. We were issued our gear and weapons on the 2nd day and had to carry the weapons with us from that point out. We often wore our “Battle Rattle” which consisted of about 60 pounds of body armor, helmet and pads. With the South Carolina heat, I have to say the heat was the toughest part of training.
We were trained by Army Drill Sergeants. They were nothing like you see on TV. They were there to help and they did a great job (think more teacher, less screaming person). Our class was about 180 people split into two companies. The Drill Sergeants really broke the training down to the lowest common denominator because we had people from all different backgrounds. Seabees and other brown water Navy folks were a little more familiar with weapons and convoys and land navigation, then say, a lawyer or aircraft mechanic. That being said, some of the training was really boring.
In addition to weapons training we learned very basic about convoys, land navigation, how to react if you become isolated, first aid, how to enter and clear a house, communicator via radio and then a bunch of classroom sessions about various administrative topics.
All of the women (with exception of the 4 Commanders who had their own little hut) were in one barracks. Think WWII movies with the long hallway of bunks and a locker between each one. Yeah. While the Junior Officers would have appreciated some JO berthing, we all survived just fine.
Here are some pictures of me during training.
All decked out in my “Battle Rattle”
Waiting on the bleachers. This was a common activity at the ranges while we were waiting to shoot. It was impressive to see how we all got better each day with the Army DSs coaching us. We did most of our rifle shooting laying in the prone position or kneeling on one knee. We did three different type of ranges. The first was everyone had their own corridor to shoot down and targets would pop up at various times and distances, the second was a “stress shoot” where you had to jump around to get your heart rate up and then run though a short course of laying, kneeling and standing shooting positions. The third was a “reactionary fire” where they told you which direction your target was and you had to turn and shoot from the standing position. While I did OK, I am just not a huge fan or shooting.
Here is my group learning how to enter and clear a house. We learned the very basic skills. I pray none of us every have to use this skill. You may wonder why I am on the only one in a brown camouflage uniform. Those going to Iraq or Afghanistan were issued Army uniforms. The 30 of us going to Djibouti were issued standard Navy Desert Camouflage uniforms.
Here I am driving during convoy training.
Just a snapshot of our living conditions. I am in my rack with my locker to my left and my weapons on the end of my bed. The perk was we did have wireless internet :)
All in all the training was good. We were all glad to be done and ready to get to where we were actually going.
We were trained by Army Drill Sergeants. They were nothing like you see on TV. They were there to help and they did a great job (think more teacher, less screaming person). Our class was about 180 people split into two companies. The Drill Sergeants really broke the training down to the lowest common denominator because we had people from all different backgrounds. Seabees and other brown water Navy folks were a little more familiar with weapons and convoys and land navigation, then say, a lawyer or aircraft mechanic. That being said, some of the training was really boring.
In addition to weapons training we learned very basic about convoys, land navigation, how to react if you become isolated, first aid, how to enter and clear a house, communicator via radio and then a bunch of classroom sessions about various administrative topics.
All of the women (with exception of the 4 Commanders who had their own little hut) were in one barracks. Think WWII movies with the long hallway of bunks and a locker between each one. Yeah. While the Junior Officers would have appreciated some JO berthing, we all survived just fine.
Here are some pictures of me during training.
All decked out in my “Battle Rattle”
Waiting on the bleachers. This was a common activity at the ranges while we were waiting to shoot. It was impressive to see how we all got better each day with the Army DSs coaching us. We did most of our rifle shooting laying in the prone position or kneeling on one knee. We did three different type of ranges. The first was everyone had their own corridor to shoot down and targets would pop up at various times and distances, the second was a “stress shoot” where you had to jump around to get your heart rate up and then run though a short course of laying, kneeling and standing shooting positions. The third was a “reactionary fire” where they told you which direction your target was and you had to turn and shoot from the standing position. While I did OK, I am just not a huge fan or shooting.
Here is my group learning how to enter and clear a house. We learned the very basic skills. I pray none of us every have to use this skill. You may wonder why I am on the only one in a brown camouflage uniform. Those going to Iraq or Afghanistan were issued Army uniforms. The 30 of us going to Djibouti were issued standard Navy Desert Camouflage uniforms.
Here I am driving during convoy training.
Just a snapshot of our living conditions. I am in my rack with my locker to my left and my weapons on the end of my bed. The perk was we did have wireless internet :)
All in all the training was good. We were all glad to be done and ready to get to where we were actually going.
Sunday, July 4, 2010
4th of July Celebration in Korea
The base in Chinhae held its Fourth of July festivities on 3 July. I took part in the 5k race on the ROK (Republic of Korea) navy base. It was moving to see so many Korean sailors show up to do the 5k with us. After the race, the U.S. base held a parade. Again, it was great to see the support from our ROK allies and the ROK marching band was top notch. The tenant commands on base were invited to create their own float for the parade. My guys did a great job in decking out our duty van in a patriotic motif. The cookout had some really great food. However, with the heat and humidity, I don't think the potato salad and kimchi (Korean fermented cabbage) sat well in my stomach and I missed out on the afternoon events (which included a dunk tank, watermelon eating contest, and martial arts demonstrations, just to name a few...). I also missed the base fireworks display but heard them from my room. It sounded like a great show and I heard that the base always did a great fireworks display for the 4th of July. I was told the day after that the base lived up to its reputation. Too bad I missed it.
4th of July Parade
Color Guard and Marching Band
Base Youth Center
Our Van in the parade
4th of July cookout in Korea must include potato salad and kimchi
Happy 4th of July!
Nate
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