The Blog of Dominic: July 2006

The Lounge, Some Unfortunate Tidings

I have some bad news to pass on. About 2 weeks ago, the blender that featured so prominently in a prior post about the XO's lounge, has passed on to that great kitchen gadget graveyard. In the middle of making another one of the XO's great smoothies, the engine belched some white smoke and expired. All attempts to take it apart, find the fault, and fix said fault were inconclusive, the blender refused to function (although the XO did get a small shock at one point - never poke around inside an electric device that is still plugged in.)

A great depression sank over the lounge, there was ice cream in our freezer, ice in the tray, and all sorts of fruit, just waiting to become a smoothie. But alas, no more...

Good news, the blender is still under the manufacturer's warrenty so all the XO needs to do is mail it out and he will receive a replacement. We should receive it about 3 weeks after we return home.

DominicsDad, in Djibouti

MCMAP

The Marine Corps Martial Arts Program (MCMAP) was started by then-Commandant of the Marine Corps, Gen Jones in 2001. It is a fairly intensive program and each Marine begins the program at Boot Camp or The Basic School, earning their Tan belt there. The old cotton web belt has been replaced with riggers belts, which corresponds to the color that the Marine has earned. The underlying unarmed combat system is a combination of ten traditional martial arts styles. From Tan belt, Marines and corpsmen can advance to Grey, Green, Brown, and several levels of Black (traditional belt colors like Red are not used for obvious reasons as they would stand out in a field situation.) Instruction in unarmed hand to hand combat, instruction in knife fighting and bayonet fighting is also conducted. Beyond the tactical skills, the MCMAP program also stresses Honor, Courage, and Commitment, team building, and ethos.

Of course, us older guys had to receive the training at our current units. Not much of a problem with active duty guys, you can earn a tan belt in a month, training 3-4 mornings each week. Much more difficult in the Reserves where our training opportunities are much more limitied. So I was very happy to finally test out and earn my Tan belt the other day. I've finally replaced my web belt with the Tan riggers belt. So watch out, I am fully qualified!

"Now, watch this, everybody. Grab my arm. The other arm. My other arm. Okay, now watch this. I'm just gonna break the wrist and walk away. Break the wrist, walk away." [Instructor then proceeds to do a simple wrist break...]

From the movie Napoleon Dynamite, here for the sound bite.

Marines practice their skills.

"My name is Rex, and if you study with my eight-week program you will learn a system of self-defense that I developed over two seasons of fighting in the Octagon. It's called Rex Kwon Do!"

DominicsDad, in Djibouti

Old Scuba pictures!

Yeah! I finally have been able to post some pictures from my scuba trip from back in June. Blogger has not liked them for some reason and has always given me lots of problems with them. But here are a couple:

This is me waiting on the boat. Not our boat. But a boat...

This was our boat..... Just kidding, we were being taken out to the big boat.

Here I am jumping into the water. If you look closely you can see my respirator mouth piece dangling behind and to my right. Fortunately, it is the alternate one and I'm holding onto the main one for dear life...

This was our boat, it was pretty big and not too shabby.

DominicsDad, in Djibouti

Wow Time Flies

Wow, it has been quite awhile since I posted last. We have been very busy, right after the MARCENT/Navy Change of Command, we had a whole lot of VIP's come through the camp and we were very busy managing security and holding lots of Dog & Pony shows. (A Dog & Pony show is a military term for the display that is generally set up to show VIP's or a kids grade school field trip the unit's capability. They are generally loathed by all Marines as a waste of time, but we seem to do a lot of them.) The VIP's that have visited us have actually been a good for the Marines as they stop and talk to them for a bit. As in the previous post, it is also the opportunity to get a photo taken with the General or Secretary.

Vice Admiral Cotton, the Chief of Navy Reserves came by the base on July 12th. As we are the largest Reserve unit on the Camp, he stopped by, even though he was not directly responsible for us. He talked to the Marines for a bit and answered some questions, the Marines were interested in the new Tri-Care system for Reservists. I may be a little off on this, but Reservists serving between 6-12 months of active duty time are eligible for a year of Tri-Care coverage, which means pretty decent health care for a relatively little bit of money. So a good deal for the Marines as some of them do not have jobs waiting for them when they return home. Here I am with Adm Cotton:

DominicsDad, in Djibouti

Change of Command

On 1 July the Navy took over Camp Lemonier from the US Marine Corps. A couple of noteable USMC Generals were present: LtGen Sattler and LtGen Mattis. The day before they both came by the QRF lot to meet the Marines, then spoke with the entire Camp afterwards at the Cantina.

The next morning was the Change of Command parade and I was part of the parade staff. The Camp was represented by two platoons, one Marine and one Navy. It was a good parade, it was quick! The two platoons marched out into the 'horseshoe', the small quad formed by the Camp's HQ buildings. The parade staffed followed shortly, the Adjutant formed the parade & passed the report to the Commander of Troops (the Camp XO). After the National Anthem and honors to LtGen Sattler, the orders were read. The Camp's USMC Colors were collected by the Camp Sergeant Major and passed to the Camp Commander, who passed them to LtGen Sattler. The Colors were then retired and the Navy Colors presented to LtGen Sattler. He gave them to the new Camp Commander, a Navy Captain, who passed them back to the SgtMaj. After a series of remarks, the Change of Command was completed and the staff allowed to march off of the deck.

DomincsDad, in Djibouti

Ethiopian Dining

A couple of weeks ago, as we prepared to say good-bye to the MARCENT staff here in Djibouti, a good portion of the staff went out for a final dinner. We went to an Ethiopian-style restaurant which was really neat. The food was served in a communal style. 4-5 people sat around a small central 'table', a wicker basket that looked like a cross between an inverted Mexican sombrero and a shot glass.

A small appetizer was brought out, which I wolfed down because I was so hungry. It had an interesting taste, soft of a herb garlic flavor, but it was very hard while seemingly a bit stale. But I was hungry. They also brought out some roasted coffee beans (I believe coffee originated in Ethiopia). A stone dish was placed on the 'table' and the dish was lined with some Ethiopian bread, sort of like a large pita bread. It tasted like a real thin pancake without any sweetner. Next they brought out all the food and placed it on the pancake. Everyone had a small serving of chicken, beef, some sort of ground meat (goat?), a strong cheese, and some herb dishes. We were provided lots of additional pancakes to scoop up the food. It was delicious, but messy!

The restaurant also played traditional (I think) Ethiopian music with dancing. Sort of interesting to watch. Of course, we had a Lieutenant get up and join them!