Has anyone here paid a vist at Uncles expense to Diego Garcia?  I found this bizzare webiste

[url]http://www.zianet.com/tedmorris/dg/links.html#this[/url]

and these, umh, [i]interesting[/i] links:
[url]http://www.zianet.com/tedmorris/dg/war.html[/url]

[url]http://www.zianet.com/tedmorris/dg/britclub.html[/url]

Is it really this strange??

Yes.  I had the great displeasure of visiting D-Gar in 1985 on my way to the North Arabian Sea to catch my ship.  I flew in on a C-141 from Clarke.  What had been freezing cold at 39kft turned into the hinges of hell in that damn hot green plane after landing as we all (Except for the USAF crew...who all headed for the club!) waited for the official Brit greeter to tell us all about the British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT) and what we couldn't do.  Let's see..."...don't mess with the scrawny chickens, stay on the beaten paths, don't step on the crabs, don't swim here...or here, 'cause you'll get eaten!  There were a bunch more but I just wanted to get to the Q and rest my bones.  Then, I got billeted with a P-3 driver who was whining because he hadn't been home for a squeeze and a brew in about three months!  This from a guy living fat in the BOQ, drawing per diem on deployment...and who gets to go home at least once during his six month deployment!  I quickly told him to look elsewhere for sympathy, since as a surface warfare guy...I was doomed to spend my entire deployment haze grey and underway, sans any extra perks like per diem and trips home for fun.  He was surprised.  Figures too.

Diego Garcia...hot and miserable.  Really the middle of nowhere.  Hope I never see it again.

Like many websites, that one is a bit disorganized and slanted toward the amusing.

Diego Garcia is a long, narrow, meandering atoll. It was first developed as a coconut plantation. Now, it is used as a navy port and a launch pad for long-range bombers in the region.

A tour of the island will show you old cemeteries near the old plantation, wild donkies roaming near various antennae, Harvey the Hammerhead in the lagoon and sting rays in the shallows of the ocean side, asian types riding bicycles to work, the airport, the navy docks, and a bunch of WWII-looking buildings that are the housing, clubs and shops.

It's quite interesting for a short stay, but doesn't offer many amenities like fresh food and fresh beer. I wouldn't expect the lineup pictured in the bar either.

Is that strange? It's actually somewhat typical of a militarized atoll IMHO.

My cousin in the Navy just deployed there 2 weeks ago. I'll have to grill him for info.when he returns. He was promised Hawaii as his duty station if he would deploy to Diego fo 6 months. We'll see if it comes true.

Idaho-ar15

I visited this little piece of paradise back in 1980 as part of a Marine BLT floating around the Indian Ocean.
It was a R&R stop for us, BBQ and 2 beers per man. At that time there were no women there and it was considered "isolated" duty by the Navy, meaning if you agreed to do 1 year there, your detailer would take care of you at rotation time.
I remember a lot of supply type ships pre-positioned there and a lot of SeeBees doing a lot of building. A great duty station to save money at, but not much on the social life side.

I was there in '87 for a few days. Ditto what LWilde said. Lots of chickens, donkies, crabs, and sharks. Hotter than hell.  The manager of the O-club was gay and tried to pick us up. I couldn't get out of there quick enough.

Where in the world is Carmen San Diego?

Spent many months there several different times in the early 80's.  14 officers per wooden hooch and pray the portable air conditioning worked.  No women, if one did happen to stop at the island she had to sleep in the infirmary under guard.  The Chief Petty Officers controlled the ice machine, so they had power.  Hundreds of chickens roaming around and donkeys that could drink a twelve pack of beer in five minutes.  Put the can in their teeth and chug a lug.  Sharks everywhere, big ones.  They would snatch the phillipino construction guys right off the reefs when they went fishing.  Ran out of booze all the time and we would wait for the liquor ship to arrive.  Staring at the horizon.  2000 crazed seabees on one year hitches.

Spend a few months there in '92.  I guess I too was one of the whiney P-3 guys. :-)
I felt it was a great place to visit for a few weeks but after that it slowly turns from a paradise island into something you dream about after a 12 pack and a big all meat pizza.  Still I enjoyed my time at the beach (away from the water), the cheap booze (U$5 for a bottle of Jack) and the pretty girls from my squadron.  Not to forget the PER DIEM, hahaha black shoe loooooosers!
[img]http://members.telocity.com/fritzthecat/images/p3/p3diegofinalbig.jpg[/img]

Fritz

1981 westpac with VP48, I was detached to Diego 4 times for 2 weeks at a time.

Heinikens for 25 cents each, all the beach you can grab, and the shittiest barracks in the world.

Fortunatly, I spent about half of each two week det. in Djibouti, Oman, Kenya, Cocos, or in the air in transit.

Island Fam. was the best part. Crusin' 50 feet off the water "rigging" islands.  That, and follow the leader.  It's amazing what 2 P-3 pilots will do for fun.

I came in low down the beach line past the officer's "club" at the tip of the island.  A bunch of guys were playing football in knee deep water.  Fifteen feet away I could see a line of at least one hundred sharks laying low and letting the waves pass over them.  Called the tower and told them to send the m.p.'s to tell them to get out.  Scared the shit out of me, no more late night raft assaults.

Actually, the stories about the girls making money are true.  When I was there on a hitch in '83 an electronics repair ship arrived that was crewed mostly by females.  At the time, females weren't allowed on combatants and got their sea duty via these support ships.  You need to remember that the island had a huge seabee population, who had not been off the island or seen a woman, in many cases for a year or more.  Plus everyone on the island had a ton of money, because there was no way to spend money there, except for booze.  After about a week my enlisted guys were telling me that there were some girls charging $200 to perform a particular sex act, and that the seabees would pay just about anything.  These rumors persisted and finally an inspection was done aboard ship.  The "winner" on board had close to 20,000 bucks in a shoe box.  After tax, that's more than two years pay for an e-2 for a week's worth of hard work, so to speak.

I spent a year there as a member of the Marine Corps Security Forces Company.

There were lots of Navy and Air Force girls there and they weren't selling it, they were giving it away, because it was one big non-stop party!

From the E-Club to the Brit Club to the parties at the Short Pier it was a wild intoxicated ride!

I did some 3rd Mar Div Schools on Okinawa and I couldn't wait to get back to DG.