I'm a Marine reservist who recently returned from a two-and-a-half week Marine Corps vacation to sunny Dodji, Senegal, where it is 115 degrees on a typical afternoon. My MOS is 0341, mortarman.

The vacation was our annual training period. Shared Accord 07 is the actual name of the exercise, and my unit was part of Task Force 2/25. We trained Senegalese Army commandos how to fire our 81mm mortar system, got used to the heat, drank lots of bottled water, fired a bunch of weapons, and generally had a pretty good time.