My time in Djibouti was finally up on 19 Jan 12...exactly 196 days after setting foot on Djiboutian soil. Looking back, this was one of the most rewarding experiences of my life. Don't get me wrong, I am thrilled to be home with Jen and the kids but my time out in the Horn of Africa will stay with me for a long time.
- We had the opportunity to experience the local culture. While Dj was sandwiched between Yemen and Somalia, it was a relatively peaceful place. For my entire time downrange, I didn't ever feel like I was in immediate danger. As such, we had the chance to go off of the camp and mix it up with the locals. I took full advantage of this and ate in the Djiboutian restaurants, shopped in the Djiboutian markets, chatted it up with the locals, etc.
- Unlike operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, our mission in Africa is relatively ignored on the nightly news. This is probably a good thing; however, a lot of people don't realize the good that the US is doing in East Africa. I thought for sure this was going to change with the Kony 2012 video that went viral a few months ago but even now that is an obscurity. Not only are we helping to track down this very evil man, but we are also going after Al Shabaab (al Qaida affiliate) and al Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula thus denying them a safe harbor in that part of the world. In addition, we were trying to do right by the African people by providing them wells, assisting with famine relief, buiding them schools, etc. This "soft power" was undoubtedly the most used weapon that we utilized. Regardless, good luck trying to find any of that on the nightly news. It simply doesn't fit the narrative.
- Life at Camp Lemonnier was truly joint. While the camp was technically a Navy installation, the population was a nearly split in quarters along service lines (especially when the Marine MEU was in town). Unlike many other AF deployments, I worked primarily with non AF people. In fact, my boss, his boss, and his boss were all in the Navy. This helped break down a lot of the stereotypes I had of the sister services (not all Navy guys have mustaches!)
- Camp Lemonnier was pretty spartan by any standard but there were some definite perks. Example, we could go off Camp and out to dinner if we wanted. We could have three beers per night (was eventually reduced to two but whatever). We were close to a five star hotel called the Kempinski which I was known to be seen at. Galley food was great as were the contractors who served it. Finally, we had our Sundays off. Good luck finding that at other deployed locations. I guess when you tell someone they are going to Djibouti, you got to throw in some nuggets to soften the blow.
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