Germantown (LSD 42) - Naval Cruise Book

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, , - --kg out DC2 Garoutte Cbblolll Emi .Q thc .. , Q, ' '3' 1lI'CCl- Bahrain s Tice oi bile! T LV -ll mcg only natural vegetation for sevcia ll -- Ugialqtj C52 Challburg relaxes at the Desefl C : f iin. Dottie on Naval SUPPOH I auml ' Bam L 11 CTop to Bottomj ENS Berry. HM3 Hernandez, and BM2 Bruns all on base at the 'Desert Dome' B h I We worked. We partied. We worked some more. Bahrain was a working port. We were there for about 200 years, give or take a few decades tmaybe just two weeksj, and we had a lot to do. Before pulling in, our mighty ship experienced some engineering troubles. The visit to Bahrain gave technical experts the chance to come aboard and help us tix a few things. As other ships from Ex- peditionary Strike Group One came and left, the mighty Germantown re- mained tied up to the pier. lt wasarough time. Butthanks to the hard work of Engi- neering Department we got underway again. V CAnd thank goodness we did. Our Marines were on the beach in Iraq during our visit to Bahrain. They probably wouldn't have liked being stuck therej While in Bahrain, Germantown sailors sneaked away for a few hours of lib- erty here and there. We vis- ited Bahrainls Gold Souk and Gold Mall--large build- ings filled with jewelry stores. We also spent some time at Bahrain 's mod- ern shopping mall, where veiled women covered in abayas from head to toe shop forlingere and designerjeans in Western-style stores. Sorry we eanlt show you any proof. They're not keen on posing for photos. tAboveJ SK2 Baugh Sehoen do something ofthe camera. Who's let them leave the ship CBelowJ QM3 Erb and lT2 Montero cut a rug at the Dome. Fortunately, they one ofthe Persian rugs 'Rug Souq' taka 'Rug Theyid be out a whole lot if they did something Al 521110: Chl, Q

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THE - - Who would have thought the Middle EH-St could be so much fun? - i l T I DC Q Scuba Sanders J b Rogers. and ENFN lnsco e 9 I ebrate the end ofHT2 5 four the ship in the Sand Box Daytime vrs. Nightlife UAE has a lotofcool stulifto do during the day. There are shop- ping centers.cultural sites. and even a wa- ter park. If you re- ally want to get into the spirit. dress the part like FN Peralta. For an Islamic coun- try. UAE also has a pretty hopping night scene. There's a Hard Rock Cafe. several western- style clubs. and oli course, the .lebel Ali Seamen Center. Ben Affleck No, your eyes aren't deceiving vou. Above is a photo of PN3 Fraga, Ben Affleck, and FT3 Smith. Affleck vis- ited ,lebel Ali on a Christmas USO tour. At the time, he was still 'in volvecl' with jennifer Lopez. lf not, PN3 Fraga might just have had a shot... Beer on the Pier ET3 Parsnel, SK2 Pich, FC2 Clarrido, ETZ Boliva r, and Ell Sgnipilty ruldx at the Sand Box in ,Iebel Ali. .lebel Ali isa port city in the United Arab Emir- ates. a wealthy little country on the southeastern edge ol' the Arabian Gulf. It has the distinction of being very close to Dubai. a city ol' international trade. We visited Jebel Ali twice during our deploy- ment. First in November. right in the heart ol' Ramadan when none of the locals ate while the sun was up. and again for Christmas. a holiday that isn't celebrated much there but is well decorated for. Dubai has beautiful beaches which attract Euro- pean tourists. You can visit huge, western-style shopping malls there and see scantly-clad Scandina- vians shopping among aba-covered Arabians. tUn- fortunately. the locals frown upon American Cruise Book stafl'ers snapping their photos.J For many Germantown sailors. Jebel Ali's great- est asset is the 'Sand Boxf lt's a county-fair style block ot' shops and American restaurants specifi- cally lor US Sailors visiting the port. The Sand Box's biggest appeal: a beer garden right in the middle ofeverything offering Beer on the Pier. Perhaps FN L u n d b u r g looks grumpy because his grandma's last batch ofcookies haven tBelowj DCI Osmundsen her darndest to convince a oil sheik to marry her. Oh Better luck next time. DCI