Getting There: 18 AUG - 20 AUG 2009

Let's fly on a plane for a long time!

I've finished with the replacement center. The next step is getting from Fort Benning, GA to Djibouti, Africa.

In total the trip took about 28 hours. It was by no means a direct flight.

First I had to get from Benning to Atlanta. A shuttle that runs from Columbus, GA (the town near Fort Benning) to Atlanta got me there. Then it was a flight to Norfolk, VA. From the airport I head to taxi to the Norfolk Naval Base to catch the plane that would eventually make it to Djibouti.

The Naval Base Air Terminal was just like a small airport. A check in counter that takes your baggage and four little gates to board aircraft. There was also a strange place officially called the "dining facility" but it was more like the concessions stand at a little league baseball game. They sold overpriced burgers and hotdogs but I had to get one because I was starving. The greasy cheeseburger looked disgusting but tasted delicious.

The "Dining Facility" is through that glass wall on the left.

After waiting about eight hours it was time to board the plane.

First stop: Terceira, Azores Islands, Portugal

The Azores are a clump of islands that belong to Portugal. They're very beautiful and I a feeling of excitement rolled over me as I stepped off the plane. All this time I'd been in the Army (almost two years) I'd never gotten any sense I was actually doing anything productive. I would shoe up to work at a small post and sit in an office all day rarely accomplishing anything because there simply wasn't much to do. When I got off the plane it felt like I was embarking on an actual mission. I had a purpose. I would be working to accomplish something with people from across the entirety of the military.

Then we got herded into the passenger terminal and were told no picture taking of the flightline and waited for an hour and a half until we could get back on the plane. The strangest thing about the stop was the music. Coming out of the ceiling speakers were popular American songs covered by a twangy country music guitar. The only one I positively recognized was "Hey Jude" by the Beatles.

How quaint!

Goodbye, pretty island.

This model is how the rest of the trip conspired. Fly, get off the plane, wait in a small terminal for an hour and a half to two hours, get back on the plane, repeat.

After our first stop we made three more in Italy, Crete, and Bahrain before finally making it to Djibouti International Airport.

Some city of the east coast of Spain, I think.

Italian countryside.

Kingdom of Bahrain

In the Italian terminal there were posters of random foods with their names on top. For example, there was a picture of a nasty looking hamburger with melted shredded cheese all over the top of it and on the top of the large poster was simply the word "Hamburger".

One of the highlights of the flight was the snackbox. We got two of them. One from Italy and one from Bahrain. Each box had local snacks in them.

Italian snackbox!

Bahraini snackbox!

We finally came to Djibouti but that's where the photos stop. No pictures of the flight line allowed. As we were on final approach to the airport I did manage to get a shot of a shipwreck and some of the reef nearby.


Until next time . . .

CONUS Replacement Center: 8 AUG - 17 AUG 2009

Fort Benning, GA - Pine trees, sand, and humidity.

After a week and a half of leave back home I reported to the Continental United States Replacement Center (CRC) located at Fort Benning, Georgia. The CRC is set up to receive and send forward individual augmentees like myself who are not deploying with a unit.

Lots and lots of contractors.

The CRC processes every branch (there was an air force officer and a navy chief in my group) as well as Army civilians and civilian contractors. Contractors are the most numerous type of person here. From my estimates contractors outnumber military about two to one. Almost all of them are headed to Iraq or Afghanistan. I talked to one contractor who fixed tanks when he was an enlisted Soldier in the Army. Now he works for General Dynamics and will be doing the exact same thing he did when he was a Soldier except he'll make about four times the amount of money for it.

The CRC cycle is only a week long. The first couple of days are mostly medically related. The clinic makes sure all of your shots are up to date, you have any medications you need, and you don't have HIV. I'd done all of this before I left my old duty station so I mostly waited in long lines so I could tell someone, "I have everything I'm supposed to." They would look over it, tell me I was set, and then I'd sit on the bus and wait for everyone else to finish.

After medical processing was over it was time for administrative stuff. People made sure your life insurance was set up and you have an accurate next of kin contact.

Over the course of a couple of days we got issued all of our equipment. I received an inordinate amount of gear, especially for where I'm headed. I'm allowed three duffels bags and a rucksack. I've made one duffel the bag completely filled with things I'm confident I'll never use such as my several layers thick Extended Cold Weather Clothing System. According to its specs it's designed fore use from +40 degrees to -60 degrees fahrenheit. I doubt I'll use it very much considering Djiboutian temperatures rarely drop below 70 degrees.

Most of my issued gear. 75% of it will not be used.

One smart thing they told is about is Eagle Cash. Eagle Cash is a little smart card that's hooked directly into your bank account. The thinking behind it is that physical currency takes up a lot of resources. It's heavy to transport, not that durable, and is easily stolen. Also, every cash machine has to be refilled when it's emptied. Cumulatively, filling those cash machines take a lot of resources and puts people and machinery in danger since a convoy is going to have to make those cash runs over time. Electronic transactions do away with all of the logistics behind handling paper currency.

The last couple of days were tactically related. We did some Improvised Explosive Device (IED) familiarization, some medical aid familiarization, and we qualified with our M9 pistols.

For a long time I thought I'd be going out on Friday at the end of the cycle with everybody else. Turns out that because I'm going to Djibouti I fly separately and at a later date. Because of this newfound schedule I was able to make it to my brother's wedding. No one expected me to be there and my parents and sister were the only ones who knew I'd be there when I arrived. My brother was very surprised when I showed up.

I leave tomorrow and should be making my next post from Djibouti.