Jeanne D'Arc

So yesterday for the first time in my life I set foot upon a surface ship that went to sea and was not a museum relic. It was an interesting experience. Not only that but it was a French warship. The Jeanne D'Arc(Joan of Arc) a helicpoter carrier that houses 8-10 helicopters and is a member of the French Training Squadron.

This ship's sole purpose is to take Officer's-in-training(Midshipman) a chance to go out to sea participate in real Navy exercises and get a feel for what it is like to be a Sailor. This ship is on a 6 month tour that started in December. Some of the comm and's most recent success involved the Jeanne D'Arc's successful attempt at thwarting some local Somali pirates.

What amazes me the most is the lack of security in the deployment schedules. Being a Trident Submariner we are not allowed to tell anyone outside of parents/spouses our deployment schedule and dates. But behold it all here I am sitting with a pamphlet that has the entire deployment schedule of the Jeanne D'Arc and what port it will be at and when it will be there.

It blows my mind!

But back to traditional submarine mentality. Another pamphlet has information on the Submarines in the French Fleet. Naturally I compared the French SSBN to American SSBN's. Here is the French stats:

Nuclear-powered Ballistic Missile Submarine (SSBN) Le Triomphant class
Length: 138m
Beam: 12.5m

14,200 tons submerged
1 nuclear reactor, steam turbines, 1 electric motor 30.5 mw
speed of 25 knots with 2 crews of 110

16 M-45 strategic missiles
4 x 533mm weapon tubes for F17 torpedoes or EXOCET SM-39 sub launched anti-ship missiles

1 multifunction sonar
1 very low frequency towed array sonar
1 acoustic telemeter
SYRACUSE communications system
SET combat system

Now all I need to know is what they are having for lunch tomorrow.

P.S.

This is pretty comical


YN2 Hurt with his new French cover he acquired.

Pessismism and the ballod of life

I often joke with my wife that I am going to be a Polygamist and have multiple wives. All this originated with Ron Paul (the Mormon) running for President. The latest face to this joke is that my next wife will be a Djiboutian. Last night while at the EDG that I attend regularly now on Mondays. One of the boys told me that the women love me and I did notice some peculiar looks from some of the women that attend the school.

Things are back to normal in the aspect of my job. My momentary lapse of unhappiness with my rate has passed and sunk in. So much that I decided to bounce out of class after my quiz in order to participate in more positive things such as writing this and shortly afterwards reading.

My unhappiness with my rate comes from the fact that I find the work bland. It is the same thing day in and day out. No variety and more importantly I get no satisfaction out of it. What is the product of my work? A signed piece of paper that will be forgotten about for the most part.

Even the customer service facet of it reeks of horribleness. My CLU mate Pelfrey (who is a PS) and I figured out earlier in this IA what is one of the significant reasons people hate being in Admin. Our interaction is rarely on a positive note. When people come to talk to us it is because they have a problem. Something that needs to be fixed and most likely has already soured the mood for the day. Very few people come by just to talk and when they act like that is the reason they come by you later find out that they want something and are trying to be subtle about it.

I know the saying all to well “pick your rate pick your fate”. I think if I could I would have quit by this point in time, and I have another 2 ½ years until I can reconsider doing something else inside or outside the military. I just thank my luck stars that I have an understanding and compassionate wife who is willing to listen to my gripes.

Even this IA has been a sad disappointment. I agreed to it in an effort to advance my career prospects. However that hardly seems the case here at Camp Lemonier. I would be lucky to walk away with a lowly Flag Letter of Commendation. This place is hardly exciting, and leaves you with little free time to enjoy yourself or your surroundings. I do even less here than I would back at the boat. No matter how bitter I seem toward the boat environment I miss it immensely as of late.

Whiskey Tango Foxtrot

First of all, last night while waiting for our van to depart for our English Discussion Group this Air Force Technical Sergeant walked right by me and the first thing I noticed was that my 'Dolphin Sense' was tingling and sure enough. This Chair Force guy had Dolphins on his chest. It's been blowing my mind since then that 1. You care wear Navy warfare qualifications in the Air Force and 2. That you left it for an obvious reason and would have enough pride to continue wearing it.

But now onto something more humorous. Check out the Djiboutian President and tell me what you see that stands out in this picture!

Do you give up? I thought so not many have been able to notice what stands out. Look at his feet and note that he is 'walking on water.'

Snaps to him!

The Djiboutian People

This last week was quite the memorable one. Through the local Embassy we participate in a English Discussion Group that allows us to the chance to visit the local schools where we sit, speak and converse with the Djiboutian High School population.

Perhaps it could be narrow mind-ness on my behalf but never before have I witnessed a group so ambitious. An ambition that makes me jealous that my ‘great’ country lacks it. These are people who not only wanted to be Doctors, Lawyers, Educators and all those great careers. But they wanted to make Djibouti better. They wanted to be a catalyst for change! That is something I’ve never heard. Sure American’s say I want to do this and that. But few will openly say that they want to do it to make the country a better place.

It’s caused me to wonder, why we don’t do more to make suffering countries like this prosper. Sure we send our military forces in to partake in humanitarian work, to rebuild the country and the such. But we are doing it wrong. Sure it is great we are doing this. But how much are we doing to provide the local’s with the skills to do it themselves. We have Corpman and Doctors here who could teach the locals. Seabee’s who could teach them how to build and operate equipment. Electricians who could teach them how to do electrical wiring.

When I look at what we do and compare it to what we could do it all seems inadequate. Like we are saying that we care but acting like we only care to a degree. But the ambition and drive that these children demonstrate is par none. I only wish that I could sit there and record it for the rest of the world.