Lieutenant Commander Dan Davidson, US Navy, deployed to the Global War on Terrorism in support of Combined Joint Task Force-Horn of Africa (CJTF-HOA) from November 2002 through June 2003. A naval supply officer, Davidson, who received his commission from the NROTC program at the University of Oklahoma, had a thorough grounding in logistics aboard ship and in shore-based assignments. After volunteering as a naval aviation logistics planner from a shore-based assignment in Millington, Tennessee, the pace accelerated for Davidson who said "yes" on a Wednesday and was aboard the USS Mount Whitney, a command ship, in Rota, Spain, that Friday in 2002. The Mount Whitney, assigned to the US Navy's Second Fleet, was en route to Djibouti off the Horn of Africa to provide full use of its sophisticated command and control suite and other capabilities for the commander of CJTF-HOA. Camp Lemonier in Djibouti, 55 acres and expanding to 500, was austere, small and unable then to support the requirements of the CJTF. Operations during Davidson's tenure as a logistics planner ranged from stability operations in the region conducted by US Army Special Forces and Marines to visit, board, search and seizure (VBSS) operations at sea. One such VBSS operation on 8 December involved the discovery of 15 complete SCUD missiles and warheads aboard an un-flagged freighter, the So San. Operational forces under the command of the CJTF included a combined naval task force of American, German and Spanish warships. Davidson spent some five weeks ashore at Camp Lemonier, part of the advanced party for the CJTF headquarters, coordinating not only the arrival of the staff but the complex air and naval logistics operations. Supply support required fitting together of air and sea platforms from CONUS and Europe. Operations of the CJTF engaged and supported regional governments in a variety of humanitarian and stability activities. The challenges of supporting operations in the joint, combined environment, eventually from a tent in Djibouti, provided Davidson with a rewarding assignment.

Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited