DAY 12: Out of Africa

Swimming like tadpoles

In the morning, I finally have a few free hours and head out to the pool to swim some laps. Swimming is one of those activities that I truly enjoy – it provides a workout not only for my muscles, but my heart and mind as well. However, the local pool is not in great shape – the pool maintenance is poor with chlorine chunks quite visible and a blue murkiness that reduces underwater visibility. Pool markings are almost non-existent and with no lane markings my swim turns out to be more of a game of survival than an enjoyable physical activity.

A time to ponder

Later in the day, the customs guys perform a 100% search of our personal bags to be checked in and I finally relax and enjoy one last meal before our 10pm showtime. During this downtime, I realize that I had a very unique deployment: I spent more days in transit in Qatar (5) than at my final deployment location of Djibouti (4). Also, the last four days have been intense as I scrambled to ensure that everything happened according to plan. One of my co-workers observes and informs me that I worked more in the four days I was here than some of our team members that were deployed the entire month – I think that was a complement!

Customs-go-round

The last customs inspection for our carry-on luggage turns into a farce. A disagreement between my troop commander and the customs’ personnel devolves into a merry-go-round with the inspection table moving from the inside of the building to the outside and then back inside again. Since I have all of the cargo lock combinations memorized, I am separated from the group and brought directly to the plane – a just-in-case measure if the aircraft loadmaster requires another cargo inspection as it is loaded. After a long delay, the rest of the group finally arrives at the plane 4-1/2 hours later. At a few minutes before 4am on the 4^th of July, we finally take off and head out of Africa!