Recent Pictures of Dominic & Jocelyn

These come to you courtesy of DominicsGrandma Pat!

Hi!

Dominic Plays with String

DominicsMom, Dominic, and DominicsGrandpa Frank at Earth Day Sleepy little Girl!


Another box....

Who, Me?

My current favorite picture of Dominic.

DominicsDad, in Djibouti

Humanitarian Projects - Damerdjog Soccer Field

Very recently the Company was involved in a small humanitarian project to help a local Djibouti village clean up their soccer field.

CAMP LEMONIER, Djibouti, May 18, 2006 — Fifty U.S. Marines with the 4th Provisional Security Company here helped rebuild a soccer field recently at a small local village.
The company, stationed with Combined Joint Task Force Horn of Africa, has been deployed in Djibouti since March and provides force protection for the camp.“We noticed the soccer field needed a little help,” said U.S. Marine Corps Capt. Garth Massey, 4th Provisional Security Company executive officer. “And we decided we were up for the challenge.”The project, which involved removing trash, smoothing and marking the field and adding nets to goal posts, took the company about four hours to complete. It was four hours well spent, according to the Marines.“We needed to do this,” Massey said. “When you see people who can benefit from small things it is only right to provide what you can when you can.”

You can read the full article here. Yep, that is me in the center of the photo. It was not a very pleasant task picking up all the trash. It stank badly in the 100+ degree heat (we started early, but it gets hot early) and there was some nasty stuff in the garbage. Thankfully we all had the gloves and were very careful, I heard of noone getting cut.

Here are some more pictures that did not make the article itself.

Picking up trash, licking the persperation off my lips!

Leveling the field. The Marines used rocks at first to put weight on the section of chain link fencing that they dragged around the field. However they kept falling off, so two Marines hopped on and it worked well. But did anyone do the ORM (Operational Risk Management) for this? I'm pretty sure this isn't covered in any field manual! (I talked to the HMMWV driver & the two Marines...)

And here I am shoveling dirt & trash. We all quickly sweated through our utilities, but we brought lots of cold water. Its not very obvious in these pictures, but the local Djiboutians helped out quite a bit. There is an Army post located in the town and they eventually came down with a bulldozer to remove the largest concentrations of trash, this really helped out a lot!

All in all, it was a good experience and we helped the town out in a small way. Hopefully their opinions of Americans went up.

DominicsDad, in Djibouti

Mis-Adventures of a New Daddy

DominicsUncle Lee & DominicsAunt Rebecca recently were blessed with DominicsCousin Cole. As with all new Dads, DominicsUncle Lee had to make some adjustments. Here are a couple of stories that DominicsAunt Rebecca relates about his trials and tribulations:

I hope you're doing well! I thought you might enjoy Lee's recent mis-adventure in cognitive processing...
Background: Our kitchen is directly beneath our bedroom and sound travels upstairs quite clearly. Since I try to get back to sleep after feeding the baby in the mornings, Lee is normally careful to be quiet.

The incident: I was awoken one morning by the sound of Lee's voice in what sounded like a fast-paced conversation of 5 minutes of non-stop talking. When he came back to the bedroom to finish dressing, I asked if he'd been on the phone. He looked sheepish, then confessed that he'd been looking for a coffee mug. Rather than simply look for the mug, he decided to beckon it by opening every cupboard in the house and call out "Cuppa, cuppa, cuppa.... Cuppa, cuppa, cuppa?"

Typical DominicsUncle Lee! But it does make sense, if you call to it, it will hear you and reply....

Here is another:

Lee's been pretty coherent for a couple weeks, so I haven't had a follow up to my "Lee's Brain Freeze of the Week" series. But he ventured into bonehead territory again this weekend. After watching Cole for a marathon 1 hour on Sunday while I worked out, I came up to check on them. He offered "I can watch him for you for awhile longer if you want to shower."

(For the un-indoctrinated into parenthood, "for you" is code for "watching this child is really your responsibility, but I will generously sacrifice some more of my Playstation time if you want to pretend to have a life for another 15 minutes.")

Poor guy, hopefully he will learn quickly! DominicsUncle Andy and DominicsAunt Laurie are expecting their first baby! We are all very excited for them, both as they get ready to come home from Norway and also for the baby! Of course, this means that DominicsUncle Andy will have the opportunity for a few of his own "Mis"-Adventures.

As a side note, Playstation and similar consoles are very deadly. The Exchange out here in Djibouti actually had 6 of them for sale the other day (they disappeared within 2 days). I was very, very, very tempted. The Marines have several of them here and I've spent a bit of time in the MWR playing Ghost Recon (we consider it Professional Military Education as four of us get together on one machine and practice our Fire Team tactics, coordination, and other skills. No, really, we have to practice to stay current...) Anyways, I knew that if I did buy it and then brought it home, it would be nothing but trouble...so I resisted the temptation. DominicsMom was very happy that I did!

DominicsDad, in Djibouti

Training

This week was a good week.

I had the opportunity to get out to two live fire ranges where I shot my M9 Beretta pistol and my M4 Carbine. The first range I went to was the Djibouti police pistol range where our Section 5 was shooting. I joined them for a string of fire and I didn't do too badly considering I haven't shot the pistol in about 9 months. Here are some photos of the Marines shooting on the range:


A couple of days later I went out with Section 4 down to one of the Djibouti Army ranges near the town of Arta. It was about an hours drive and we actually hit traffic and got stuck in the first traffic jam that I have seen in Djibouti. Two big rig trucks broke down next to each other on a hill, it was a total mess as all the other trucks tried to get around them. The Djiboutians were actually very orderly, a couple of police directed traffic and everyone waited their turn. (This is in contrast to what we saw in Iraq where everyone attempted to get around an obstacle simultaneously with no regard to proper lanes, directions, or sidewalks.) But we eventually got to the range.

The Marines were working on their Enhanced Marksmanship Program which emphasizes shooting techniques, tactical reloads, and shooting while moving. The ranges are all at pretty close distances: react, acquire the target, shoot, and assess. It is some pretty fun stuff and you generally get a good number of rounds to shoot. The following three photos are screen-captures from a short video one of the Marines took while I was shooting, so they are a bit grainy.


Waiting for the commands from the center of the line. I'm actually standing a bit too tall and am not bending enough at the knees. The Marine behind me has a better stance. I'm shooting my M4 carbine.

Engaging the target. If you look closely you can see the expended shell case in the foreground and another just leaving the rifle.
This drill involves shooting and moving. Its a lot tougher to keep the sights on the target when moving. "Slow is smooth & smooth is fast."

And the celebratory cigar afterwards.

The Marines were great, the heat was up over 100 degrees in the middle of the desert, but they kept training through it all. When they finished the EMP training, they did a couple of MG shoots and then headed back to base.

Any week I can get out and do some shooting is a good week.

DominicsDad, in Djibouti

Retraction

Ok, I have been forced by DominicsMom to offer a retraction to an earlier post, wherein I allegedly labelled Dominic a "little terror." We all know that in today's day and age, labels can be cruel and demeaning.

So Dominic is not a little terror, just a loud, very (very) active little 2 1/2 year old boy. Who will occasionally run his Thomas the Tank Engine scooter into Jocelyn's baby rocker while she's asleep. Or demand that you sit and watch Finding Nemo with him, then smack you awake when you have the temerity to fall asleep during the course of the movie. Then demand that you watch it with him again. And again. Who cannot seem to sleep past 6:30 am on Saturday or Sunday, but will go until 8:30 am any other day... So no labels allowed, just very very detailed descriptions.

Just kidding. Here are some more photos:

Dominic gets a thrill out of sitting in a box as DominicsGrandma rocks him back and forth. Go DominicsGrandma!

Still playing with the box. I keep telling DominicsMom, don't buy him anymore toys! Just a couple more boxes and he will be happy. He's been playing with the boxes for awhile as he's in different clothes now...

Yep, that's still him under the box.

DominicsDad , in Djibouti

Some New Pictures

Dominic, who can be a little terror, appears to genuinely like and care for his little sister, Jocelyn. He gently wipes her mouth when she has a little spit up (when his gagging reflex stops...) and he likes to hold her on his lap. Although she is starting to get a bit big for his lap as she is growing quicker than he is. When of favorite phrases around Jocelyn is, "Ahhh, cuuuute." What a little cutie.

Ok, here is what you are waiting for:

Dominic sitting w/ Jocelyn, he must be telling her a joke..

I don't think that she got it...

Here Dominic tries to explain the joke to her again. She's obviously fascinated by the golf club because she isn't listening...

We had our first comment here at The Blog of Dominic (at least the first one that wasn't a spam message.) So I'm excited! Keep them coming!

DominicsDad, in Djibouti

Volleyball vs the DJ Air Force

Yesterday we invited the Djiboutian Air Force on base for a friendly game of volleyball. The Camp has a very recently completed volley ball court, with a very nice sand court and some bleachers, all protected by the sun by a roof.

We have been playing steadily for the last three weeks and so were pretty confident going into the game. When the Djiboutians got off the bus, we all said, "Uh-oh." They all had on team jerseys...We had already warmed up so we let them have the court while they went through some drills. "Uh-oh, they look good."

We played a decent game, but they definitely outplayed us, taking 3 games to 1. They actually ran plays, fake blocked at the net, and did all the things that a good volleyball team does. We struggled to set the ball properly and never really got a good offense going. But it was a good time had by all and we all got to meet them in a social setting. We patrol with them around the Camp several times a week and hopefully this game will foster a closer cooperation with them. So all in all, it was a good couple hours spent (and it kept me out of the office.)

Here are some photos. In the first one I am watching the serve.

Here I am watching one of our Staff Sergeants smash the ball.

I promise, I was able to contribute a lot!

Tonight, we had another game against HOA J-4. We actually won this match and I did really well, spiking a number of balls, making some good sets, and saving a couple of tough balls. So I was very happy with my performance.

DominicsDad, in Djibouti

Another Story of D & J

DominicsMom relates another story to me:

Today Jocelyn was lying on the couch and a little spit-up started to run out of the corner of her mouth. Dominic was standing right next to her talking to her (all he really says to her is, “Baaaybeee”.). When he saw the spit-up, he used her bib to wipe her mouth…and he did a good job, too!! What a cutie pie!

I thrive on feedback, so please leave comments for me, DominicsMom, Dominic, and Jocelyn! You can do so by clicking on the word "comments" at the bottom of each post. All your feedback is appreciated! I've even started the first one for you all...

DominicsDad, in Djibouti