my second unit

Marine Corps Logistics Base - Albany, Georgia



Summer 2004

This is my next duty station and I should get there around September 14, 2004. I don't know anything about Albany other than it is the smallest Marine Corps base and has a lot of civilians working there. I've never lived in the South (no, Maryland is not in the South!) so it should be interesting!



Spring 2005

Well I'm definitely in Albany now! When I flew in last September, it was on a plane just above crop duster size and from the direction we arrived, all I could see was swamps, farms, and forest. I thought to myself: "They said it was small, but GEEZ, where's the town?!" I started thinking maybe everything I heard was right...

"Albany's horrible!" - Captain Salm

"You'll have fun in Albany if you like to hunt and fish!" - Gunny Ferkel

"Ha, ha, ha! You're going to the middle of nowhere!" - a lot of people

"Albany...New York?" - a lot more people

A few days later when I checked in with the XO he told me: "Get out of Albany as soon as you can!" I was a little shocked...I mean, I thought it must really be bad if the XO is telling me this the first week I'm on the base. Thanks sir, thank you for the optimistic greeting!

It's not as bad as I'm making it sound. In some ways it's worse, but in some ways it's all right here. My first happy news was that there is no chow hall, everybody's on comrats. A friend's mom who picked me up from the airport told me that while giving me my first tour of the base. I was very excited about buying my own food and not having to walk half a mile in 100 degree weather just to eat.

Then I spent two days straight scrubbing mold and mildew off the furniture in my fourth room in two days. Civilians have taken over the barracks and things were a little...unorganized.

First I worked as the assistant military coordinator, where I helped keep track of all the Marines in our section of the base. Then I got moved to a new department to replace a sergeant who PSCed a couple months ago. Now I wait for the civilians to run out of paper and Post-Its so I can fill out an order form and hand it over to another Marine who actually goes and buys supplies. I also receive and forward out tasker emails and when I get responses, forward them back.

Albany itself is small compared to the DC Metro area but not so small you'll die of boredom...well depending on who you ask I guess. The most annoying thing about it is when you need something and you KNOW you can't get it in Albany, or you know you can, but you have to choose between two crappy stores or between one crappy store and giving up and buying it online.

The base is tiny and only has around 500 Marines. I'm not sure where about 300 of them actually work because I only see what seems like the same 200 people all the time. I think the rest are out hunting and fishing. Also, people seem to retire here left and right.

This place is overrun with civilians who are understandably disturbed with the idea that Albany could possibly be on this year's BRAC chopping block. I personally don't care if it is or not because by the time anything happens I'll be gone.

Albany is a good place to get things done if you're the kind of person who can get things like college done. There's a four year university, a community college, and a technical college out in town. Eventually I will probably start taking some classes, either here or online.

In Okinawa, everybody got in trouble for drinking violations. In Albany, it's mostly drugs. People get kicked out all the time after popping on the nearly weekly urinalysis tests. There's still a lot of alcohol problems but it's not as bad as in Japan, probably because they aren't as strict.

On the weekends and holidays, a lot of Marines escape Albany and head to places like Atlanta, Tallahassee, or Jacksonville. There just isn't much to do here. Some male Marines used to other Marine base towns will be shocked to find out there isn't even one strip club! You can still get plenty of tattoos though.

The thought of Marines for whom this was their first duty station leaving Albany for another duty station amuses me greatly. Boy are they in for a shock!

That's all for now, eventually I will put pictures up!



Photography Page: See pictures of my Albany adventures!