A promotion of sorts...

Hello all,

Well another exciting week in the records books.  My new boss is getting settled and las week was my first full week with him.  I like him a lot and he is everything the last guy wasn't.  Morale is high and everyone is upbeat.

The last guy made a real mess with our organizational chart and the new guy is making inroads to fixing it.  One of his fixes was to but the people with the proper rank and experience in some of the key billets.  I have been promoted (not in rank but position) and am now serving as the Future Operations Officer, one of the key billets within our plans & ops division.  In future ops section is exercises, theater security cooperation (like small scale exercises), and civil affairs (military people who deal with displaced civilians or civilians on the battlefield).

I also got a great deal on a suit and some dress shirts.  Get this...custom made, silk lined suit with trousers and vest plus 3 custom made shirts for $200 USD.  The suit was $110, the vest $10, silk lining $10, and the shirts were $20 each.  I don't think you can go to Wall Mart and buy a dress shirt for $20.

Nothing in Ali's shop is made until a customer orders it.  He has 150 bolts of material on the shelves for shirts and 75 bolts for suits.  Suit material varies from wool, wool/silk and, wool/cashmere.  You go in, get measured, pick out fabrics, and fit a picture in one of his many catalogs for a suit style.  The suit was ready a few days after I ordered it and fits/looks great.

Too bad Jodi is not here because he has a dress maker on this staff also.

Ramadan is in full swing but it has not really impacted me at all.  We were told to wear long pants and long sleeve shirts has been about the extent of it.  There are also heavy fines if you are stopped for eating or drinking in public during daylight hours.  I never really saw many people eating or drinking in public anyways now that I think about it...maybe drinking coffee on the patio of a coffee shop.

Everyplace that serves food is closed between sun up and sun down also.  There again, I don't go out to eat much so no impact on me.  Sometimes if I am out and about on Sat I might stop somewhere for lunch but now big deal.  All the nightclubs are closed for the month and I think that the places that would normally serve alcohol don't serve it during Ramadan.

If you observe Ramadan, I don't think you are even suppose to swallow your our saliva so you see people spitting a lot more.

That's about it from here.  It is hot as hell here.  At 115 degrees,  it is even hotter the Djibouti would typically get.

Michael