Exciting Mongolia!!

WARNING!! THERE ARE NO PICTURES OF CALLIE ON THIS BLOG POST, DO NOT GET EXCITED!!

Hello all. For those who don't know, I came across a very unique opportunity to take my platoon and train with various countries in Mongolia in August. It is a US/Mongolian hosted, United Nations event, if that makes sense. Basically my platoon will travel to Mongolia in August and we will conduct peace keeping operations alongside soldiers/Marines from about 10 different countries. We will not be taking/using AAVs, this is strictly infantry operations, but many are applicable to any deployment security operation, so to that end, I decided it would be a great opportunity for myself and the Marines to travel abroad, conduct some good training and maybe even have a little fun. In June, my Platoon Sergeant and I travelled to Ulaan Baatar, the capitol city, to conduct a final planning conference. It was a great time, we were there for six days/six nights and only worked from about 8am to 2pm everyday. We took advantage of the off time seeing sights, enjoying the local pub fare, hitting the country side and we saw some museums too. Also, of note, we were eating breakfast one morning in the lobby cafe and in walks a private security detachment like secret service, following them was about 6-8 North Korean generals, colonels, and senior staff officers in their dress uniforms. I don't know why they were there, but there were some major looks coming our way and some nasty looks going back, as some of us were in our U.S. Marines uniforms. It was a little awkward.

Finally, you may look at the pictures and think, wow, these aren't as good as Karyn or Keith's pictures. You're right, us Stocker's are not that artistically talented. You may also notice that I'm wearing the same blue polo shirt in every picture. That is because the fine Mongolian Airlines, MIAT, lost my luggage for four days, but it was cool, we had a great time anyway. Enjoy.

This is the State Department Store, the only place to shop before they adopted capitalism/democracy in 1990. They kept the name and it was still a pretty decent place, think low rent Sears.

This was their version of Red Square, I think it was called Suhkbaatar Square, but directly behind me (in the next picture) is their parliament building, where the newly elected president and parliament work. Speaking of Red, there was a statue of V.I. Lenin right around the corner, but I didn't get a picture of it. Mongolia was communist and sort of under Soviet rule until 1990. That building in the background is a nice new hotel being built (There is new construction everywhere in the city). The statue of the guy on the horse (kind of tough to see on right side) is none other than Ghengis Khaan, they write it Chinggis Khaan. He is pretty popular as you will figure out.


The Parliament Building. Two Mongolian soldiers on horseback and you can kind of see a guy in a chair behind those columns. That is another statue of Ghengis Khaan.

This, as you can see, is the Grand Khaan Irish Pub. Many a beer drunk here as well as some good Mongolian BBQ/Kabobs out on the patio. Their skewers were about 3 feet long, they don't mess around.

This is a look at the training area where we will be in August. The big building is the chow hall and as you can see the scenery is quite nice. It has all you need, there is going to be tents for us, a little PX for snacks/goods, laundry facilities, a mini-gym, an Internet cafe, and showers, which is nice. The guy in charge for the Mongolians told me like five times "Marines, not drink alcohol and not break anything right?" Clearly he has met our kind before.

This was a picture taken while driving back to the airport to pick up my luggage. There are no fences anywhere outside the city, it is all government land and you just stake your claim and let your herd graze. This was a roadside auction. Mongolia's primary export is cashmere, hence all the sheep. This is what the terrain looks like in every direction outside of Ulaan Baatar. In the background that is the Mongolian version of the Astrodome. It will host wrestling matches, which is their national sport, volleyball and basketball games upon completion.

This was just a pretty shot crossing the Tuul river, also pronounced Tuus I think, which runs along the outskirts of the city.

This is a sweet view down the UB mississippi river. I would assume a tributary to the major river, but also a good view of what the outskirts of the city look like.

This is me outside our first hotel, the Chinggis Khaan hotel. We stayed there for the first two nights, then moved over to the Khaan Palace. Noticing the Khaan theme around here?

This is me in the Seoul/Incheon International Airport where we had a layover and some excellent sushi on the way to Mongolia.