Anchors Away

Danny: Djibouti Africa

Today we were escorted by Omar and his driver to the Camp Lemonier Naval instillation in Djibouti. This was originally the site of a WW 2 French North African base.
We were allowed to shop in the instillation store, where coincidentally there was a NY Mets game on the t.v.(I was born and raised in Flushing, the teams home) and there were all sorts of great deals on stuff from the States. We are playing tonight in a giant hall for the enlisted men and women. Everyone is so happy to have a band from home come play for them.

We met Command Master Chief , Loretta Glenn, she is from new Orleans and she was kind enough to pose with us.

We have been working with Command Seargent Major, Ricky Mattix. He is a great musician and educator here in Djibouti. He lent us the base PA in order to do our workshops. He volunteers his time, teaching music to the youth canteen here in Djibouti. He brought us to the camp and we will join his band later when we play. He surprised us all when he gave us a coin that is a symbol of excellence.

We then were escorted to the mess hall, where we chowed down with the troops. There are Navy, Air force, Army and Marines here on the only US instillation in Africa.

Earlier today, the US Ambassador Geeta Pasi, spent an hour with us over coffee and tea. We were thrilled to talk with her about Djibouti, New York state, India
and all the interesting things going on in the world right now. We had a great time and learned so much about this country.