Djbouti Report

Our Marine, LCPL Brian Weiss, has arrived in Djbouti, Djbouti. Here is his first post from the field. His address is at the bottom. I'm sure Brian would appreciate some mail from his friends.... all of us Americans.

Hi All,

So it was quite the adventure getting here. We flew into Bangor, Maine from March AFB, and then Maine to Frankfort, Germany. We got snowed in Germany, and ended getting delayed by 8 hours. The snow ball fights were awesome! Nothing like 8-10 inches of fresh snow to prepare Marines for the heat of Africa. Once we got here and got settled we spent a full day of orientation, classes, rules ect.

So far so good, the base is pretty nice, the chow is good and we can eat all we want when we want, they even have a midnight seating. We hope to see about 8 hour shifts and then the rest of the time off, minus one full day of training, and one full day off. We have just started our rotation with the posts, and we are learning the ins and outs of the job from the Marines that we are relieving. They were sure happy to see us, they even had signs made to welcome us. We will officially take over in a few more days.

It has been pretty hot most days, between 90-100 degrees, and the heat index is even hotter. The humidity is high also, but the breeze kicks up in the afternoon and blows cooler air in off of the Gulf. I have taken some pictures, I will send just one now and more later, but I took it today while on a patrol, good to see a little red white and blue all the way over here. The one thing that hits you as we travel around this country is the poverty, the average income is less than $1500.00 a year in the cities, while the host country nationals who work on base make 5 to 6 times that. Almost everything is reused and if not it is burned. I got to spend some time out in the sticks today and far from the towns and in the tribal areas, the people are less friendly but still welcoming. I saw a local man with a Disneyland shirt on, if he only knew what a small world it is after all.

We hope to see some liberty time off, the countries are limited but, Kenya is looking like the most fun, and we can save cash by flying military planes and booking hotels ect through the embassy. I have seen some of the photos the other Marines took on their “safari’s”, and they really look fun, not to mention the bars and night life seem to be exciting. I just got off of post and I'm trying to get some things taken care of before I hit the rack. Last but not least, another stupid address change, this one should stick, cross your fingers, this is directly from the postal commander here on base. I hope all is well with all of you!

B

The new address is

LCPL WEISS BRIAN C
4TH PSC 5TH SECTION
O.E.F.
APO AE 09363