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Further Reading

Camp Le Monier / Lemonier / Lemonnier, Djibouti (CLDJ)

Camp Le Monier is the location from which US forces are operating from in the Horn of Africa. It is the only U.S. military base located in Africa; this forward deployed location allows CJTF-HOA to pursue its mission of building security and stability in the region. This facility is an ex-French military barracks, reportedly located near the Djibouti airport and that the Djiboutian government is allowing the United States to use for demining, humanitarian, and counter-terrorism efforts. The agreement for this arrangement was reached in February 2001.

The facility has not been used in a number of years and was reported to be in some disrepair. Buildings had reportedly been stripped of pipes and wiring while the roofing of several structures had collapsed. Goats roamed the property and birds had taken to roost in several of the abandoned structures.

Renovations on the facility began sometime in mid-2001 following an evaluation by CENTCOM personnel. Work on the facility are expected to be completed by November or December 2002. This involved building new concrete pads, maintenance facilities and living areas.

The Central Intelligence Agency also reportedly used Camp Lemonier as a staging ground for unmanned "Predator" drone aircraft used to track and attack al-Qaida terrorists.

Combined Joint Task Force-Horn of Africa (CJTF-HOA) began moving all headquarters personnel and equipment from its flagship, USS Mount Whitney in the Gulf of Aden, into facilities at Camp Lemonier in Djibouti on May 6, 2003 in a move expected to take about one week, with completion of the move scheduled for mid-May.

The newly renovated 88-acre camp, a former French Foreign Legion post owned by the Djiboutian government, serves as CJTF-HOA's expeditionary headquarters. CJTF-HOA presence in Djibouti and the duration of operations across the region are tied to accomplishment of the counter-terrorism mission, not a fixed period of time.

Djiboutian workers were instrumental in preparing Camp Lemonier for movement of the CJTF headquarters ashore. More than 300 local construction personnel currently work aboard the camp each day and nearly 300 day-workers are employed in other camp support operations.

The new communications network at Camp Lemonier, the backbone of information flow for the operation, has three times the bandwidth capability as the USS Mount Whitney. In practical terms, CJTF-HOA can now connect to more coalition partners and agencies and move more information faster than at any previous point in the operation.

As of mid-2005, Camp Lemonier offered an AFFES PX; a Dining Facility, named the "Bob Hope Dining Facility"; a Chapel; and a fully-equipped fitness facility with a swimming pool. Living Quarters consisted of air-conditioned tents which, depending on rank, housed between 4 to 12 personnel.

Camp Lemonier's prime power plant began producing power the first week of February 2008 and is the largest expeditionary power plant installed by Mobile Utilities Support Equipment (MUSE), a division of the NFELC, since the Vietnam era. The plant, capable of powering nearly 4,000 residential homes, constitutes a 50 percent increase in the Joint Task Force-Horn of Africa power generation capacity and was to meet all current and near future needs of the facility. Six 1,200-kilowatt power plants and two 5-mega volt amp substations were planned to be tied into the camp power grid. The project combined older generation power plants, capable of producing 50-hertz power, with state-of-the-art substations designed specifically for this mission. The two-year, $5 million installation was $25 million less then the estimated contract cost.

As of late 2008, a large number of Containerized Working Units (CWU) had been set up throughout Camp Lemonnier. Consisting of double wide containers, these served as offices. Other amenities included a barber shop, laundry facilities and a Navy exchange. Camp Lemonnier's recreation center is named "11 Degrees North".

As of mid-November 2008, Camp Lemonier had approximately 2,400 personnel from the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps and DoD contactors, including the U.S. Army 218th Field Artillery Regiment, a detachment from Naval Mobile Construction Battalion Unit 4, and the Marine 9th Provisional Security Force. Most camp personnel serve six- to nine-month rotations as individual augmentees (IA).

As of mid-November 2008, a new post office, chapel, ice plant and on-site potable water supply were among the projects recently started or about to start at Camp Lemonier, Djibouti, to improve the quality of life of service members deployed there. Work on the ice plant, post office and chapel was expeected to be completed by April of 2009.

Ground was broken on the camp's new post office on Nov. 13, 2008. At 6,500 square foot the post office would consist of eight offices, a lobby approximately six times the size of the office it was meant to replace as well as a processing area four times larger, capable of processing mail for up to 5,000 people; twice the number of personnel located at the base at the time. Prior to that, postal operations were performed by five personnel working out of four storage containers and two offices. During 2008, some of the lobby operations were performed outdoors, exposing postal personnel and customers to extreme temperatures while processing nearly 700,000 pounds of mail.

Seabees from Naval Mobile Construction Battalion (NMCB) 4 were tasked with working on the camp's potable water supply; constructing a second reverse osmosis water purification unit (ROWPU). With the help of the Pacific Architects and Engineering (PAE) contract employees, the Seabees installed three, 63 inch by 113 inch reverse osmosis elements water filters, mounted on a concrete foundation that the Seabees previously constructed. The water for Camp Lemonier's ROWPUs is supplied by six wells located in the surrounding Djibouti area and one well on camp.

As of December 2008, CLDJ used an estimated 190,000 gallons of water per day produced by the main ROWPU. With an scheduled fully operational date of February 2009, once complete, the second ROWPU was expected to produce an additional 350,000 gallons of potable water per day and also act as a backup system for when the main ROWPU is being cleaned or serviced. The camp's drinking water supply was certified as potable Oct. 27, 2008, potentially saving the military more than $3 million a year in bottled water needed for the camp personnel's daily needs according to Camp Lemonier's Supply Department. Before the certification, Camp Lemonier depended on several outside vendors to supply potable water resulting in issues related to rising costs, uncertifiable water and the dependability of on-time delivery. Work on the CLDJ's potable water supply was also expected to help lower trash and recycling operational costs.

Ground was also brokine on a new chapel on Nov. 21, 2008, thereby consolidating chapel personnel's offices into one location and increasing the seating capacity to 300 people; an increase of 500 percent. The new chapel would also feature classrooms for discussions and training. The previous chapel consisted of a 10-by-10 room.

As of mid-November 2008, CLDJ also intended to break ground on four airfield storage facilities, a recreation center expansion, a water plant, a new dinning facility and more laundry units, at a resulting cost of between $10 and $15 million dollars.

After more than nine months of work and $12 million in funding, a U.S. Air Force C-130 Hercules became the first aircraft to utilize a new apron at Camp Lemonnier, Djibouti (CLDJ), December 22, 2009, marking the beginning of operational missions on the apron known as 'Enduring Ramp'. The ramp's name was meant to reflect Camp Lemonnier's transition into an enduring role. The apron is 219 meters by 126 meters and is designed to provide three parking spaces for C-130 Hercules aircraft as well as a parking pad for the CV-22 Osprey aircraft. Enduring Ramp will also support parking for aircraft as large as the C-17 Globemaster III and C-5 Galaxy. Previously available ramp space didn't support transit aircraft needs, forcing them to park on the less secure commercial Ambouli Airport. The enduring ramp allows transit aircraft to park on the secure military side of the airport.

As of December 2009, Camp Lemonier was pursuing a massive full-length taxiway project slated to be completed early the following year.