6 July 2007 - Preparing to convoy out

Tomorrow I am leaving for Assamo, Djibouti. I will be living in a tent with no AC for a month providing radio comm for the well drilling team going down there. The guys all seem really cool, (even if they are Army :) ) and we'll all make alot of money, so it wont be all bad.

5 Jul 2007 - Independence Day

For Independence Day, yesterday, we got the day off, and got to wear civilian clothes. It was a nice change of pace. Finally the sons of bitches who push papers and make decisions from behind a desk in an air conditioned office listened to reason and allowed PT gear after duty hours. Desert Camo doesn't breathe well and it's so damn hot here already. I am truly starting to dislike the officers appointed above me here. Very few take care of us. The ones who do are generally prior enlisted. We do the work, they have no clue about what we do or how we do it, yet they make ALL the decisions, and have the final say, and then they get credit for what we do, yet somehow I owe them respect because they got a 4 year degree before I did.

I hate July 5th. 7 years ago today my dad had a heart-attack he didn't survive. It's always a somber day for me.

28 Jun 2007 - ASSAMO!

I haven't been writing much because there hasn't been alot to say. I found out this week that I'll be going downrange to Assamo Djibouti! WOOHOO! Per Diem! I've spent too much money, hopefully I can stop and save a bit of it.
Helo flights can get old fast. Hot, dirty, windy, and loud. Being in charge of sat phones is keeping me very busy though. OH! the band Lit came and played a concert at the cantina last night. They were really good and left me in a good mood.
90 some odd days left, it will be over before I know it. I'm tired but I can't sleep. Aimee has been writing me, but honestly, she is the last thing I need right now. She has a way of making me miss her even though I know we aren't a good match. I think I'll avoid it all together.
I'm sick of working every day already, but if I wasn't working everyday I don't know what else I would do to pass the time. My TV back home still isn't fixed - what the FUCK is taking Samsung so long? I'm rambling and running out of paper so I'm going to hit the sack. I've been feeling pretty lonely lately - Most of the guys I work with are lame, and the one guy I get along with really good, Piper, is down range.

Piper putting a hurting on chow hall crab legs on a resupply trip back to the base.

P.S. New castle is pretty good, everything else is skunk here.

21 Jun 2007 - Djibouti City

I haven't had the urge to write in a while. In fact I'm not in the mood now. Djibouti city is madness - people mobbing you trying to sell stuff, unwilling to accept no for an answer. They will follow you for hours begging. Their souvenirs are expensive, yet cheaply made. The people are unrelenting. If you are white skinned they will poke and prod all day wanting you to come see their shop, buy something, or begging for money. They are all high on Khat (an opiate chew) and they drive like absolute fucking nutcases. It's interesting to see but it's very unwelcoming. I will probably only go into the city once more for souvenirs, but I have no urge to go get robbed.

6 Jun 2007 - Learning the ins and outs

Lunch break - movie time.

Another day another dollar. Nothing special today. I think today was the hottest I've felt yet. I wish I could remember to take more pictures, there just isn't much to see these days. They're training me up for the Helo missions. I'll be calling in the checkpoints for the crew.
Yesterday I fixed a radio in the Joint Operations Center, which was the most excitement I've had thus far. One thing I can say I miss already is snacking. No food in the tents = no snacks, and since I don't have a personal workspace, I wont be able to keep the other fucks I work with from eating my shit.
I got into a pretty nasty argument with a Navy IT3 today. That fucker can be pretty abrasive and he seems to think he outranks me - he keeps giving me orders - yeah, umm... no. Being the new guys kind of blows - all the shit work comes our way. I hope to get to go downrange - more money and less BS. I guess I shouldn't complain too much, the work is easy and I'm not being fired upon all the time.

I'd like to go get a cup of coffee but it's too damn hot.

4 Jun 2007 - Ramping up

Another day of boring ass pointless briefings. I had to do an ISOPREP, it's basically a form that gives search and rescue some info about me they can ask me to verify my identity in the case that I need rescued... Pretty sobering. We were running missions around the borders the last few days - explains why our comm was out - can't risk OPSEC.

Piper gets to go downrange in a few days, lucky bastard. Can't wait for my chance. Awesome money to be made, and I'd like to get outside the wire and see the country. I think I'll volunteer to teach English and Western Civilization at the local schools in my off time. It will give me a chance to interact with the people.

The radios I work on are easy - hence pretty stress free so far. I don't know how to explain living in a tent... It sucks, but it's not THAT bad. Kinda cozy for lack of a better word.
Today the Djiboutian who works at the PX was singing Whitney Houston - i got a good chuckle out of that... Wow, I sure can jump from subject to subject.

2 Jun 2007 - Still Settling In

So I ran out of smokes and the PX has none. Luckily the gift shop had a few packs. Seems to me that bartering will do you well around here. It was hotter today than yesterday, and the phones and computers are down at the MWR tent - BOO!! I haven't talked to my family at all yet and my mom is gonna be upset if she doesn't hear from me soon.
Working the weekends doesn't seem like it will bother me too much - there isn't shit else to do and at least there is A/C at work. The A/C makes my whole tent shake and this pen sucks so my writing is really shaky. These dirka hadji cigarettes taste like ass, maybe they'll force me to quit... Nah, unlikely.
As ridiculous hot as it is here I woke up shivering last night. The A/C blows right on my head so I taped over the rip that allows it to do so. Either way I got little sleep last night. Hopefully I'll get better sleep tonight.

I drank alot of water today, and I don't look forward to the walk to the head I'm inevitably going to have to make - probably right after I fall asleep. The Djiboutians seem nice - I'll talk more about them later.

1 Jun 2007 - Midnight

Naples Italy, the next pillar over (cut out of pic) says "Zona Fumatori" or Smoking Zone

It's almost midnight and I woke up, couldn't fall back asleep so now is a good time to continue writing. The flight coming over here was long and boring. Ireland had a lot of cool stuff we could buy and I want to grab some crazy liquor for display on the way back. Italy had a little food mart type place but nothing else. Greece was a room... A boring room we couldn't leave until they finished fueling the plane. Bahrain... Wow, walked off the plane and it was so humid and hot that I had a hard time breathing. Before I made it to the terminal I was dripping wet. Finally we landed in Djibouti.

Djibouti's airport is no bigger than a McDonalds, in fact it was difficult to squeeze the 30 or so of us into the terminal. One of the things I realized was that you get so busy trying to go through customs and get your baggage, that you don't take in the sights.
We got to the base, unloaded, did a quick in brief and stood around waiting for our stuff to arrive. It was probably about 4 or 5 am. Our stuff didn't arrive until about 7am.
Piper, the guy I came with (my battle buddy) and I still had no clue what we were doing over here, or who to talk to to find out. Shit, we didn't even know where our tents were or anything.
By noon we had everything figured out. My tent is pretty decent. I have something like an 8x8 foot square section to myself. I have a bunk bed, a wall locker and a foot locker. I share the tent with about 20 others.

Laying in my bunk, bored.

It's a bit weird being in a joint unit... I don't know Navy, Army or Marine ranks for shit.. I know - shame on me.
The food is excellent. I ate Pizza and chicken nuggets for lunch with a gatorade. After that I went back to my tent and crashed. I missed dinner. Did I mention it's fucking hot? Mind wandering, exhaustion setting in...

1 Jun 2007 - Arrival

I have neglected getting started writing about my experience in Djibouti so far, but today and the past few days have been pretty interesting. We flew in from OKC and our route took 3 days. OKC-Dallas-Norfolk-Shannon Ireland-Naples Italy-Souda Bay Greece-Kingdom of Bahrain-Djibouti Africa.
There is alot to talk about, but my trip was long and the malaria meds are making me tired, More to come...

Wasting Time

Have you ever felt like you were just buying out your time somewhere? I look at the picture in my header and see a 4 year old boy with the world ahead of him. "Mom, when I grow up, I wanna be a firetruck! Or an Astronaut" And damnit, if that's what he wanted that's what he'd do.


Now that 4 year old boy is a 21 year old servicemember, serving in the worlds greatest Air Power, The United States Air Force. I look back at the decisions made that took me where I am now, and I can't help but wonder if I sold myself short. I got "wiser" and realized being an astronaut, or firetruck weren't likely career fields for me, but how much "wiser" did I really get? That 4 year old could be anything he wanted to be, but with the "wisdom" he's gained over the next 17 years his possible career fields dwindled.


Seems a little bogus to me.

I don't regret any of the decisions that I made to get me where I am today, I am optimistic and I anxiously look forward to what may come my way, but damn, I miss that 4 year old in me.. adventurous little bastard..

Welcome to "What the hell happened to me?" a web log of some of my experiences and thoughts. Stick around, it will get VERY interesting as you catch a preview of the chaos that is my brain.

I'll be starting it off by transcribing entries in my little journal thing from my deployment to Djibouti, Africa in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. Disclaimer: Due to OPSEC reasons, some things will be deleted/modified, and as I wrote the thoughts EXACTLY as I had them you will find a lot of mature language.



-Max