• Learn all about the PROPEOPDEMREP, and get a Good Government Job.
• Just want to read other peoples' warstories about DG?  Posted by the year of their arrival.
  
• Send in Your Warstory Today - if you are a Diegonian, or just want to pretend you are, tell the world about it!
• Links to other people's web sites about or related to DG.  Don't forget to check your favorite search engine too!
• Lost and Found.  Looking for someone?  Also Reunion Announcements (if any).
• If you have ORDERS to DG, you might want to check these essential sites
• Want a Job on Diego Garcia?
• Want to Visit Diego Garcia?
• Skip it all, and go straight to the last page.

• Bar Coasters from Diego Garcia's sleaziest dives.
• Beauty Pagent of the Indian Ocean!
• updated 3 May 08!  Berbera Somalia - a small page with some rare photos & stories of that god-forsaken dependency of Diego Garcia's Fuels team.
• new 17 Apr 04!  Blowing Holes in the reef for fun and profit - 1974.
• updated 30 Apr 07!  Blowing Open the Ship Channel, Shark Fishing Nude, and Learning to Waterski, 1974.
• Bob Hope's 1972 Christmas Show!  Find yourself or your buddy in the crowd!  (Lots of photos, takes a while to load).
• new 17 Dec 06! Bob Hope's 1972 Christmas Show, Page 2.  NMCB 62's Newsletter of the show!
• updated 11 Feb 2012! Book Reports - Let the Ministry of Cultural Correctness tell you what to think when scientists and politicians write books about Diego Garcia!
• updated 1 Feb 09! Bottled Beer Banned by US Navy from Diego Garcia in 1982!  No shit. Then in 2008, they run out!
  
• "Brit Club" Page - Photos and stange Royal Navy Rituals.
• updated 20 Nov 06! But Seriously Folks... The Official Gripe Sheet for DG - it isn't all peaches and cream out there!
• updated 12 Jan 07! C-141s In Paradise Page with all the C-141 pictures on DG and Masirah Island, Oman.
• new 21 Feb 2011!  The Chapel in the Palms - a picture essay on the construction of the first Navy House of Worship on DG in 1971!
  
• Coconut Diplomacy.  Wherein sailors are employed for agricultural work at less pay than migrant farm workers.
• New 23 Nov 07!  Crab Whacker.  The Brits won't let you whack crabs with your 9 Iron any more?  Well, you can do it here - the wacky new game where you try to zap 40 crabs in less than 50 seconds!
• Cruel Joke played on unsuspecting Sailors, Marines, and Airmen for decades!
• new 16 Jan 07!  Dallas Does Diego Garcia!  The Cheerleaders visit in 1982 & 1983.  Plus some other photos by Paul Soutar.
• Dear Abby "Letters to Any Sailor" for Christmas 2001.
• Desktop Photos from DG you can download!
• Donkey Gate - the true story of the construction of the barrier at the end of the earth!
• Double Digit Midgit Countdown Calendar:  For when it was finally time to leave.  WARNING:  X-Rated!!!
• PDF FILE.  new 20 Mar 08! Drugs:  Were they ever really a problem?  Apparently the Brits though so in 1981...
• updated 30 Mar 05! Earthquake of 1983!  Even Paradise has its Perils!
• new 12 Mar 07!  The EOD Bar - Wherever you find munitions, you'll find EOD.  Wherever you find EOD, you'll find a bar.  Check out DG's own.
• Escape from the People's Paradise Now!  Move to Little Arabia, North Carolina!
• updated 17 Feb 09! Fishy Stories of the rich and infamous.
• updated 14 May 09! Flags of the PPDRDG! ( and the real things, too )
• new 30 Mar 05!  Flag Clothing Competition!  Girls!  Girls!  Girls!
• Ghosts of Diego Garcia!  See the Ghost of the Point Marianne Cemetery!
• updated 1 Feb 09! Golfing Diego Garcia - is it more than just a rumor?  Also 2008's Pub Golf Championship Round recounted by a participant.
  
• Gorgo Diecia Tattler... Wit and sarcasm from 1989-1990.
• updated 25 Mar 08! Hector the Hammerhead.  The biggest shark in the Lagoon.  Ever.  Plus the story of the famous photos from the guy who took them!
• new 4 Feb 07!  Hit Parade - Lists of the music you loved during your stay in the Republic!
• HITCH'N POST - THE Place to see and be seen!  [editor's note:  The Hitch'n Post was disbanded in early 2000].
• The Home Grown Bands of Diego Garcia:
• new 26 July 08!  Hector's Revenge - the BAND for the New Century on Diego Garcia!
• updated 19 Oct 06! Seven Degrees South - Yes, they are still there!  The Best Band in the Indian Ocean!
• new 31 Jan 09!  The 1972 SEABEE BAND - Join Larry Duran and his friends playing in the very first home-grown island band!
• new 9 Jul 10!  Honchos of Diego Garcia - Just who were the people who had their own staff cars and air-conditioned offices?  And before them, the people who lived in the stone buildings at the Plantation?  The ones who wore shoes...
  
• Hope Colt bares all - "no restriction on content"!  The world's funniest comedien tears 'em up in November 2001.
• updated 8 Oct 09! Lost and Found - looking for someone?  Try here.  Also - requests from people who are willing to PAY CASH MONEY for you to send them souveniers, beach sand, license plates, etc., etc.!!!  And finally, any REUNION INFORMATION that anyone sends in.
• Lost Ships of Tuna Hunter Lagoon!  See photos of all the ships captured by Teddy and the Pirates (on film)
• Miss America's 1974 USO Tour of Diego Garcia!
• new 17 Feb 09!  Miss Diego Garcia 1990!  Lisa Lewellyn Severino brings fitness and order to Dodge!
  
• updated 18 Feb 08!  Music of the Republic - Songs and MP3s home-grown on the island and by our fellow travelers.  Download genuine folk art from fellow Diegoians!
• "Official" History of the Provisional People's Democratic Republic.
• New 3 Aug 09!  Ownership!  It's all in the details...  Who really owns our favorite atoll?  Become a claimant yourself!
  
• updated 21 Mar 09! Patches of Diego Garcia!  From the earliest days until the present.  Caution, it takes a LONG time to load if you are dial-up.
• updated 03 Oct  06! Pirate Radio DG - A very brief look at AFRTS/AFN/NBS entertaining the troops.
• updated 14 Aug 05! Plank Owners' Certificates - Some selections from the very, very, very early days, and recently too.
• updated 31 Jan 09!  The Plantation - Tara in the Indian Ocean!  But where was Scarlet when we needed her?
• new 23 Nov 07!  Pop Quiz!  All the answers are on this website (somewhere).  More quizzies are in the works...
• updated 19 Feb 07! Provisional People's Democratic Republic RECRUITING PAGE!  Meet the members of your government!  Get a Good Government Job for Yourself!
• Recipes of the Republic - Betty Crocker, watch out!  Citizens provide their favorite recipes for you to try at home.
• unfortunately, updated 17 Apr 11... Remembering those who have served, and have now passed on.
• San Miguel - the official beer of the PPDRDG!  Also, politically incorrect humor that is GUARANTEED to offend someone.  I update this page whenever some new irrelevancy comes to my attention.
• Souveniers you can't buy without having been there!  Also an ad from someone who wants to buy sand from DG!
• updated 18 Apr 07! Stump the Dumbies - What's the REAL name of our favorite island?  Riddles.  Alcohol Related Incident Testing.
• Sunset Photo Page with the Photos of the Best Sunsets in the World. Also a Sunrise or two!
• updated 18 Jul 06!  Surfing Diego Garcia.  It HAS been done!
• Temple of Doom - Even Fantasy Island has its darker places!
• Transition Assistance for those leaving the Navy.
• updated 12 Sep 07! Tropical Times - The Official Propaganda Rag!  Read all the news the Navy sees fit to print!  You can read the current issue, as well as the Island Breeze MWR monthly newsletter at https://www.cnic.navy.mil/DiegoGarcia/Newsroom/index.htm.
  
• new 15 Aug 05! Tsunami Tour, 2004.  Why weren't we all drowned in our beds?  Why?
• updated 14 Aug 05!  US Navy and Air Force Outlaw Flip Flops and Tank Tops as off-duty wear on Diego Garcia.  Un-freakin'-believable...  And a new policy applies to all dependents, retirees, contractors, etc.
• updated 03 Oct 06!  Warning Letter - Your wild man is coming home!
• new 8 Sep 08!  What are you afraid of?  Find out.
• updated 4 Feb 09! Yacht Club - and the Marina.  Where the Elite Meet!  Also, info on how to join!
• updated 8 Jan 11!  Yacht Club, Page Deux, with lots more photos and info!

• updated 1 Feb 11! The TRUE History of Diego Garcia - A chronological list of historical facts about Diego Garcia & the Chagos Archipelago.  Forget all those DoD propaganda pages, this is the straight skinny.  If you really want to know what happened when, check out this page!
• NEW 1 Sep 08! PDF FILE.  Chagossian Experience Chronology.  Facts from the UK court casesdetailing the time-line of what happened out there regarding the islanders between 1962-2003.
• PDF FILE.  Chagos Mortality Report - population and death reports through the centuries.
• updated 14 Nov 05! First Americans - the fascinating story of a satellite tracking team on DG 1968-1970.
• updated 26 Jul 09!  "KATIE" - The no-shit, true story of the PBY at the Plantation, and Jim Park, her pilot.
• new 2 Sep 08!  PDF file. The Notes between the UK and US - Ever wonder about the agreements that put you on DG for a year?  Read the details of the 1966, 1972, 1976 and 1982 "Exchange of Notes" between the American Ambassador in London and the Foreign Secretary for the UK that spell out the details (except for the secret ones, of course...).
• new 10 Apr 09!  PDF File.  Exchange of Notes in 1999.
  
• new 17 Feb 09!  PDF file.  NMCB 40's Commander's article in US Naval "Proceedings" detailing the initial construction of the base.  CDR Dan Urish was the first Island Commander.
  
• new 14 Nov 05! NMCB 62's History of the Island.  A GIF of their handout.
• updated 30 Jul 07!  OPERATION EARNEST WILL Airlift Directive (a MAC Mission Directive, for the War We Should Have Had with Iran in 1987).
• OPERATION EARNEST WILL Airflift Schedule for those interested in technical, historical detail.
• OPERATION EARNEST WILL Photos C-5s load up the Marines.  The first operational deployment of B-52s to DG.
• new 14 Nov 05! REAL Official Histories of the Island.  US & UK governmental propaganda.
• updated 8 Jan 11!  SEABEES!  The Boys Who Built the Seahuts: The early SEABEE years - 1971-1973 - It takes a long time to load this one (lots of photos) but it is well worth it if you want to see what Dodge looked like in the "old days".
• new 28 Jun 07!  SEGA PARTY!  Party down with the islanders, circa 1969!  Unbelievable!  Unique!  The songs and speeches from a lost civilization!
• new 2 Sep 06!  Steve Forsberg's Master's Thesis on the History of DG.  Also a short paper about Capt. Thompson and "Only the Sun Remembers."
• TDY in 1982 to Fantasy Island (a journal with some photos of the period).  By the future President for Life.
• new 14 Jun 06! "Under Two Flags" - David Melville's 1976 History, which includes a lot of original source documents.
• USS GRAHAM COUNTY, LST 1176 docks at DG in 1971!  Lots of photos, takes a while to load.  Don't forget to check out Page 2.

• updated 21 Feb 11! Aerial Photos - show your loved ones exactly where you passed out on the beach!
• updated 18 Sep 06!  Historical Maps of the IO and DG!  Serious historical s&!%, man!
• Map of Downtown - amaze your friends by knowing exactly where the Pay and Pay and Pay Phone Company is!
• Map of the Island - this is definitely not the one from the CIA's Country Book!
• Photo Tour of DG, 1999-2000 Got some pictures of your favorite places on DG you want included?  Send them to me!

NATIVES

"However elegant and memorable, brevity can never do justice to all the facts of a complex situation.
But life is short and information endless; nobody has time for everything."  - Aldous Huxley

• updated 17 Sep 08! Chagossians - Who are they and what do they want?  Have you ever wondered what happened to the people who used to live and work at the Plantation?  They got kicked out of the Chagos in the early 70's.  Read the true, sordid story.  Also on this page are links to Pilger's "Stealing a Nation", the Howell Report, the CCT's evaluation of the Howell Report, and the various groups that are contesting ownership of the Chagos, DG, and the Chagossian people.  This is all some heavy shit, man, but if you are interested at all in the political, social, and environmental issues of the Chagos today and over the last 45 years, you ought to read it all.
• new 1 Feb 11!  After you read the history of the Chagossians, you will probably want to help them out in some way.  You have a choice of groups, but after all these years of pondering the situation, I've finally decided that one particular group deserves my endorsement - The Diego Garcian Society, headed by Dr. Allen Vincatassin.  On 26 January 2011, Dr. Vincatassin was elected President of the Provisional Government of Diego Garcia and the Chagos Islands, in exile.   Contact Dr. Vincatassin directly if you are serious in helping out.  Click here for a photo of Allen and me in London in March 2009.  Plus you can help them by buying something from their on-line store!
  
• SEGA PARTY!  Party down with the islanders, circa 1969!  Unbelievable!  Unique!  The songs and speeches from a lost civilization!
• new 18 Feb 08!  Johnny B's Music.  John Bridiane, a Chagossian who worked on Diego Garcia in the late 1990s has an cut a couple albums!  It's on My Space, and takes a while to download, but it's worth hearing, and you should buy it!
• EMAILS between me and Michael Tigar and his team of US lawyers, and with some Chagossians and their supporters.
• RELATED SOMEHOW:  "Cry Freedom -  Rodrigues Island: Case for Self-Determination"  An interesting critique of Mauritian policy and practice that may have implications for Diego Garcia and the Chagossians.

• First, an appeal to help my favorite conservation outfit - Coral Cay Conservation.  The CCC is the Gold Standard for the application of scientific research to resolve real-world environmental issues locally and in real-time.  Coral Cay, and especially its volunteers, provide local communities which rely on critical ecosystems one of the most versatile tools available today to ensure conservation of local  natural resources.  Please join with me and support the CCC with a generous donation - ask your friends to do so as well.  You won't find a more important cause, and neither will they.

• The Brits have established a Marine Protected Area (think of it as an oceanic wilderness area) for the entire CHAGOS ARCHIPELAGO!  It's as big as FRANCE!!  Naturally, some people and groups don't like it, but the PROPEOPDEMREP loves it, and you should too!!!   Click Here To Read All About it.  Updated 14 Apr 2011...

• General Ecological Observations of our favorite island.  See a Strangler Fig strangle a latrine.
• new 17 Mar 07!  Appeal for your help getting photos of wildlife on Diego Garcia!  Please help!  Before they make everything off limits and you can't go looking.
• Brown Tree Snake Invades Paradise... Population flees in terror, then naplams the little sucker.
• New 23 Nov 07!  Crab Whacker.  The Brits won't let you whack crabs with your 9 Iron any more?  Well, you can do it here - the wacky new game where you try to zap 40 crabs in less than 50 seconds!
• new 26 Mar 07!  Birds of Diego Garcia - a whole series of pages about our fine-feathered friends.
• new 26 Mar 07!  Nesting Pelagic Birds - See the pictures of Boobies!
• new 27 Mar 07! (but not quite done)  Herons and Land Birds - The birds you might stumble over.
• new 17 Feb 08! (but not quite done)Terns of Diego Garcia.
• new 17 Feb 08! (but barely done)Shorebirds of Diego Garcia.
• updated 17 Feb 08! Coconut Crabs and other land crabs.  Learn all about the most unique resident of the island.  Race your favorite in the Diego Garcia Downs Handicap!
• new 20 Nov 07!  Commercial Fishing - who is watching the watchers???
• updated 21 Feb 11! Fauna - the insects, birds, mammals, and reptiles of Diego Garcia.
• updated 12 Mar 07! Marine biology - Meet the denizens of the sea, reefs, and lagoon.
• new 5 Mar 11!  Locations of freshwater marshes and ponds on Diego Garcia.
  
• new 17 Feb 08!  Really great photos by James Cox of various things around DG.
• Really great photos of creatures large and small... Taken by official photographers on DG.
• new 20 Nov 07!  Sea Cucumber pirates raid the Chagos!  Read all about it!
• new 20 Apr 07!  Sea Turtles of Diego Garcia!  Learn how to tell the players with this handy program.
• new 20 Nov 07!  Shark Poaching!  Shame of the Indian Ocean.
• Vaguely natural pages (also linked elsewhere on this page):
• Fishy Stories of the rich and infamous.
• Hector the Hammerhead.  The biggest shark in the Lagoon.  Ever.  Plus the story of the famous photos from the guy who took them!
• new 15 Aug 05! Tsunami Tour, 2004.  Why weren't we all drowned in our beds?  Why?


If you are really interested in mind boggling amounts of information about the natural science of DG and the Chagos, be sure to read the Chagos Conservation Trust's biennial newsletters.  Click here for links to PDFs of the "Chagos News" from 2000 - the present are available for download from their website.

Wonderful Nature Videos of DG and the Chagos you should watch!  By Jon Slayer, Royal Marine and DG alumni.

Other PDF files about the archipelago's natural history that are well worth reading:


• Here is the 2009 Booklet "The Chagos Archipelago:   It's Nature and the Future"  which is the genesis of the British Government's Proposal to make the islands and surrounding waters into the world's largest Marine Protected Area!
  
• Be Sure to Read This: THE BEST EXPLANATION FOR THE ENVIRONMENTAL AND SCIENTIFIC VALUE OF THE CHAGOS AND DIEGO GARCIA THAT YOU WILL EVER READ!
• Marine Conservation in the BIOT:  Science Issues and Opportunities.  From the big workshop in August 2009.
• Science In The Chagos:  What we know and what we need to know.  From January 2009.
  
• Atoll Research Bulletins - The Smithsonian Institution's official journal of, well, atoll research.
• No. 149; the report of Stoddard and Taylor's 1967 expedition to Diego.  Download this critically important 288-page book - it's huge (22mb) but worth it.
• No. 175, Birds of Diego Garcia as of 1971.
• No. 313, Flora of Diego Garcia by John Topp, Brit Rep out there 1984 - 86.
• Bioslurping!  The latest craze on and under the airfield!  Learn how to recover fuel from the freshwater lenses!
• Chagos Conservation Management Plan; For the BIOT Administration; by Dr. Charles Sheppard and Dr. Mark Spalding; 2003.
• Ghyben-Herzberg Lenses on Diego Garcia, by CDR Dan Urish, the first Island Commander.  Did you know that when the SEABEEs first got to DG, they didn't think there was any fresh water, and that's why they had those unreliable and deadly desal barges?  We can all thank Dan for finding the water in the lenses!
  
• Joint Nature Conservation Commission's profile of the Chagos; from 1999.
• NSF's Nomination for Best Natural Resources Management Program in the US Navy; 2001.
• "Effects of the Tsunami in the Chagos Archipelago" by Dr. Sheppard, the pre-eminent scientist of DG and the Chagos.
• World Atlas of Coral Reefs - BIOT & Diego Garcia.
• The COMPLETE 2005 Natural Resources Management Plan - this is the latest and greatest survey of the island and its environmental health.  Also included are the various DoD, Navy, and Air Force environmental regulations.
  

Here's a special pitch for the helping the environment of our favorite island:

Chagos Conservation Trust - If you are serious about protecting the wonderful environment of our favorite island and the rest of the archipelago, with out going too Greenie-Weenie, go to this site and read all about the CCT! JOIN TODAY!

If you want to join the U.S. affiliate, it's called CCT/US, and it's up and running now!  Join today at The Chagos Conservation Trust - US!

• Postage Stamps Proving the legitimacy of the PPRRDG government and My Claim To Life-Long Presidency of the Republic!!!
• 1968 - from Kirby Crawford
• 1973 - from Vig Villanueva
• 1973 - from CATFRANKIE (Dave)
• 1990 - from Andrew Young
• Varios Dates - from Francesco Fantozzi
• The REAL Postmaster General of the BIOT - buy your souvenier stamps here!  (It's run by Cable & Wireless)

• Provocative Post Cards from the PPDRDG Ministry of Post-Feminist Arts and Crafts.
• Semi-provocative Post Cards from paradise.
• XXX - French (Naked Women) Post Cards of Diego Garcia - XXX!

ALL SORTS OF SOUVENIERS YOU CAN BUY WITHOUT GOING TO DG!
(Including Some Crass Commercial Advertisements)

•   FOR SALE - I've finally given in and joined the bourgeois money-grubbing masses with a CafePress.com store.  On the "FOR SALE" page you'll find a link to that store, plus Tom Lawson's store (DG Class of '79), Dan Urish's artwork, Northwest Embroidery that makes polos and caps for the Yacht Club and others on the island.  Also, links to the on-line store for the Diego Garcian Society in the UK, the official BIOT post office (to buy stamps & stuff) and Larry Bowman's site where you can buy and sell Indian Ocean books, prints and maps.  BTW, I don't get paid to plug these site, damn the luck... I do it because so many people ask where they can get DG stuff.

• NPR Interview by Scott Simon with the Author of this Web Site- Not officially a page on this web site, but a critical piece of PPDRDG lore - aired on National Public Radio 10/13/01.  You can also listen to the interview right from that page!  NOTE 30 APR 10:  I couldn't get the interview to play when I checked it today, so if you can't either, here's another location:  http://www.zianet.com/tedmorris/dg/ted-on-npr-01-10-13.mp3.
  
• Photos of Brits c. 1988 - Strange People in Foreign Places!
• updated 19 Nov 07! Photos of Det. 1, 374 TAW Personnel.
• Photos of FEBROIDS c. 1988 - Just a few pics of the people who ran the island on behalf of the Navy.
• Photos of Space Commandos c 1988 - People somehow related to Det. 4, 1st Space Wing.
• new 12 Feb 09!  Meet your President For Life.  My life's story, more or less to date.

• updated as messages are received!  Best Wishes Page to the troops that may or may not be deployed to Diego Garcia for which ever Operation we're conducting now...
• Bomber Ops during ENDURING FREEDOM and IRAQI FREEDOM; 14 Sep '01 - 15 Aug '06 (1 year and 2 months longer than the US was in WWII).
• updated 6 Mar 07! Bomber Ops, Part Deux - USAF planes and crews go about their intended purpose.
• updated 6 Mar 07! B-1 Operations
• updated 6 Mar 07! B-2 Operations
• updated 6 Mar 07! B-52 Operations
• updated 1 May 08! Bombs and Bomb Dumps.
• Geopolitical Lesson #1:  Why are we on Diego Garcia anyway?  More importantly, why did I have to spend a year there?
• updated 15 Apr 08!  Final Flight of B-1 "ICECUBE 44" and the rescue of her crew by the USS RUSSELL.
• new 22 Oct 07!  Interservice Rivalry at work.  B-52 Wing Attack Plan Romeo.  Gilligan promoted to XO.
• updated 6 Mar 07! Leaflets dropped on the Helpless Taliban during OEF.
• NSF earns the MERITORIOUS UNIT CITATION for outstanding support of bomber ops. A .jpg file.
• updated 31 Oct 06! Nuvo-communists criticizing America's use of DG following the WTC attack.
• updated 6 Mar 07! Personal Statements To The Terrorists delivered to the bad guys by airmail.
• R & R on DGAR - Consider the possibilities!
• updated 2 May 07!  Recovering from a Gear-Up Landing.  Ooops, I forgot, you can't recover from a Gear-Up Landing...Until you rebuild the airplane - which they did!
• Stars and Stripes article about DG and this web site on Oct. 10, 2001 (by Ward Sanderson).
• new 13 Mar 07!  Tanker Operations - Crews of KC-135s and KC-10s pass gas on Diego Garcia.
• USNS COMFORT, a hospital ship, puts in for Liberty before steaming north to the war.  A PDF file.
• WAR NEWS (Enduring Freedom) from Diego Garcia - Warning!  Not for the faint of heart!
• updated 21 Mar 09!  Wing and Squadron Emblems of the OEF/OIF Participants.

• WAR STORY ENTRY FORM - (a.k.a. My Guestbook)  Share your story with the world!  DO IT TODAY!
• updated 2 Sep 06!  WAR STORIES - intro page!  Personal Reminiscences by Citizens of the PPDRDG.  This page has entries from as early as 1942, and includes some TCNs who were out there as long as 20 years!  (Called 'Troglodytes' in the table below)
• CONTINUOUSLY UPDATED!  Links to Warstory pages by year - Click on the Year in which you have an interest:

Entries are posted by the year the writer arrived, so be sure to check either side of the year you're looking for to find your old buddies, shipmates, and sweethearts!

You can contribute to a book about DG too!  Maggie Mae Clay is writing it, and was pretty far along when, poof, her hard drive crashed.
So she'd like you to contact her again (or for the first time) at maggiemaeclay@aol.com

Want to use something from this site?  See the TERMS OF USE.
This, and everything else I write and every photo I produce is copyrighted by Ted A. Morris, Jr.

If you've never been there, you probably want to know,
"Where the Hell is Diego Garcia?"  Well, its right at the tip of the spear!
Now that you know, you'll want to read all about it!

 

Are You Destined for DG?

Besides the wealth of information you'll find on this site (ahem!  back-patting!  praise and adoration!),
there are a few other sites that contain info that may be of interest to you BEFORE you arrive!
For you USAF folks - none of their sites are on the NIPRNET.

• CIA World Factbook entry on the BIOT.
• Diego Garcia Online - someone has come up with a cool site, complete with menus and prices at the CDF, Pax Terminal, etc.!  Stuff you want to research before you get there.
• globalsecurity.org's web page about DG - LOTS of info and photos.   Updated regularly.  Really an interesting site.
• COMPSRON TWO (the boys and girls in charge of pre-positioned ships in the Lagoon) official site.
• Naval Support Facility Official Site - Navy Support Facility, Diego Garcia.  Provides the official answers to all your questions!
• Naval Support Facility Official ICE Site - DoD's Interactive Customer Evaluation service.  Rate the facilities and services on DG!  Your responses will be e-mailed to the appropriate facility/service manager to improve the services available to you.   Ed. Note:  Boy are they opening themselves up with this one!!!
• Weather on DG as Reported by NOAA.
• Weather on DG as Reported by Weather Underground.

 

OPWPs  (Other Peoples' Web Pages)
If you've got a DG site, or just a site with some personal info about the place, let me know so we can link up!

Don't forget to check facebook and those kind of sites for Diego Garcia groups!  Click here for one of them.

THE BELOW WERE LAST ACCESSED ON 28 AUG 2010

• 40th AEW's unofficial home page by Bennie Moore!  The story of bomber ops during Enduring Freedom!
• Behren, Chris website with photos of a box lunch from Diego Garcia.
• Carling, Eli - Has been on DG since 2003, and has GREAT photos on his site.
• Chase, Richard - Was the Public Works Director & the best lead guitaristin Indian Ocean!
• Clonts, Jim - B-52 Nav-Bomb who was on DG during Desert Storm.  He's written a book about it too that you can order from his web site.
• Ellison, Max - The Infamous Mad Max's own page with lots of WMV great videos from DG in 1996.
• Felhofer, Mark - he was with the Foo Dog deployments back in the 80's and has a great veteran's page.
• Glaab, Tom - has some photos of when he was there (1995 the first time).
• Gonzales, Joel - lots of pictures from 1999.  From a Filipino perspective!
• Ham Radio Club on Diego right now!  Includes a web cam of their clubhouse and a full list of every HAM ever registered out there!
• Hanthorn, Roger & Tess - pages with lots of pictures from his tour in '77-'78.
• Hartlaub, Don - a really good bunch of photos taken in 2004.
• Hasenkamp, Phil - Videos of the island from 2007!
• Hines, Cathy - NBS on-air personality from 1985!  A LOT of her vidoes on YOUTUBE.  Check them out!!!
• Hoffman, Melita A great tribute to the land of the Southern Cross!
• Jah Works, the Raegge band visits DG.
• Lawson, Tom - Tom contributed a lot of photos and stories to this site - he was there in 1979 - GO READ HIS PAGES!
• Tom Also has TONS of more recent photos taken by Bob Ralph posted too.
• See the 1979 "Distant Gazette"!
  
• So check them out on his Webshots site!
• Check out his on-line store for DG T-Shirts, etc.
• He also started 2 DG e-group where people can leave messages and post photos:
• http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Diego_Garcia_BIOT/?yguid=188954506
• http://groups.yahoo.com/group/usnavalstationdiegogarcia/
• JD's page - Some photos.
• Larkowski, Matt - Electronic Warfare Officer on B-52 "Appetite for Destruction" on DG for Operation Southern Watch.
• Leipolds, John Daix - NMCB 5 from 1979.
• Lucarelli, Mike - lots of photos from his tour there in 2001/2002.
• Mann, Douglass photos of DG (and a lot of other cool places) - all copyrighted.
• 
  
• Matt, Conrad - account of his stay there as a computer geek in 1997.
• Novak, Mike - www.c141heaven.com's page about his punishment for grafitti - PAINT THE LATRINE!
• Parisi, Paul -  lots of photos from his tour there in '86.
• Permann, Gordon -   Great stories including where the P-3 he was in clips palm trees and jettisons a bombbay load of booze to keep from crashing into the lagoon and another about tracking the Soviet ship MINSK using P-3s from Diego Garcia.
• Reardon, Travis - From Travis 1 Feb 07: "got more pics i'm gonna scan soon hope but heres my start."
• Rushing, Eric - was there '89-'90.
• Santandrea, John - from early 2006.
• Scott, Jason - a yachtie on the REBEL YELL who managed to spend a month in the lagoon one week.
• Sellers, Larry - A FANTASTIC set of 127 color slide photos from NMCB 40's Chaplain during the 1971 deployment - lots of photos of the USS VERNON COUNTY's arrival AND the final days of the East Point Plantation and the Chagos Islanders on Diego Garcia.  Also beach baptisms and the very first "Chapel In The Palms"!  Larry - if you read this, please drop me an email!
  
• Slocum, Jeff - lots of photos.
• Smith, J. R. - some photos (looks like its from the 70s).
• SOULFLOWER - Asia Tour, 2002.  Rock Stars on Drugs take pictures of Diego Garcia!
• Swayne, Steve - My good friend's page of photos from 1982.  These are great!
• Talbot, Joel - lots of pictures from 2004 = 93 pages with 15 pics per page!  Recovering the downed B-1.
• Todd (from ammo) and some cool B-52 pics from 2001.  Check out the Terrorist Hunting License on the BUFF.
• Thompson, Stan - Photos from his tour there in 1976-77.
• USMC Security Forces Unit on Military.com.  If you were there as a Marine you need to check out this site!
• Villanueva, Carl "Vidge" - Vidge contributed a lot of the best photos for this site, and YOU NEED TO CHECK HIS SITE OUT!  Vidge was interviewed by Canadian TV in 2005, but unfortunately, they didn't leave the story on the web very long.  You can read about it on his site, though.
• Wall, Dave - A Brit there in 76-77.  Some really cool pictures!
• Whetzel in Wichita - 10 photos from 05/06.

• BigMac7T's Photo album from 2004.
• Diego Garcia Online - someone has come up with a cool site, complete with menus and prices at the CDF, Pax Terminal, etc.!  Stuff you want to research before you get there.
• Dude, The -  I think he was there in 1987.  Has an underwater recording of the tsunami!
• Photobucket site with lots of fishing pictures.
• Virtual Tourist - 77 photos by various folks.
• Yachties Jeff, Bill and Alex invade BIOT - be sure to check out their pictures of the "outer islands".
• zdpka's photos from 2003.
• xpistina00 at Tripod - looks like a fairly cute girl!
• ?????, with great pictures, but I don't know who's it is!
• ????? - some photos.
• ????? - 7 small photos.

VIDEOS:  Be sure to search YouTube for the latest and greatest - most of the youngsters out there share DG that way, rather than with old fashioned websites like this...

Here is the premier video - taken by Jon Slayer, ex-RM on DG and now a world-class undersea videographer.

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=37287159865 - Approach to the island from the cockpit of an inbound C-5.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Kb6V2h_7fA&feature=related - A great 5-min slide and video show from January 2009.
http://www.dibdias.com/2009/07/diego-garcia-air-traffic-controllers.html - Air Traffic Controllers (official propaganda).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uWYCcdiqsBA - U.S. Navy official video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s1211xF65ac - Amateur video of the beach at Cannon Point.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WyuuBQMgm_E&feature=related - Beebe Barton's video of various scenes from 1985.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pqZqtkQW4Wk&feature=related - Survivor Diego Garcia - a nicely done parody of a Survivor lead-in by Filipino contractors on the island.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GeIR1GZrxwY&feature=related - The Doo Be Doo music video. Beautiful singing in Tagalog by one of the contract bands.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=phX2Y1B2Xtw&feature=related - Video around the island on a Sunday morning.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KUrGHwDBLz8&feature=related - VP Video of P-3 deployment personnel.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wg92cAeER9U&feature=fvw - British Ministry of Defence Police video - a slide show set to music.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EGnohkykXd0&feature=related - VP-4 Crew 6 deployment video from 1992.  An aerial tour of the island is included.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=veSHGYFegZ4&feature=related - Features hand feeding Bruce, the huge moray that lives in the coral head just off the beach by BOQ7.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S0d-qZZD-eI&feature=related - Turtle Cove with lots of turtles feeding that day.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qirLOo-3rbY&feature=related - DG21 (contractor) personnel lip-sync the sound track of Grease (Part 1 of 4).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_KD95P9YMps&feature=related - VP-46 Deployment to Diego Garcia in 1992.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XWJ0DH1kjIc&feature=related - Goodbye video of favorite island places by P-3 guy (before 2001).

If you are REALLY serious about joining the People's Revolution on Diego Garcia, the USN has contracted for the Base Operations and Support on the atoll to DG21 - a limited liability company joint venture comprising three partners:   Day & Zimmerman Svcs, and W.S. Atkins Facilities Mgt., Ltd., and SKE International, which is reportedly a shell company of SKE Maintenance Gmbh (www.ske-online.de), a German company owned by SGE Groupe (www.groupe-sge.com), a French company.  So the money on DG is really getting an international flavor.  DG21 is the successor (somehow) of IPAC (BOS Contractor from 1989-1994), and won the contract from BJS International Associates (nee FEBROE, 1984-1989, and 1994-1999).  Round and round it goes!

If you play your cards right, DG21  will actually PAY YOU MONEY to spend years on the Provisional Peoples' Republic of DGAR!  Remember, if you get out there, and find that they need somebody to run the airport, or wash your cars, or just sit around the Expat Club and tell war stories, and are willing to pay me LOTS of money to do it, let me know!

If you've got your own yacht, you can get close & stop in at one of the atolls NW of DG.  Here're the new rules (a/o 2007):

NOTICE TO ALL MARINERS OF THE NEW PROCEDURES WITHIN THE BIOT

As of 1 January 2007 anyone wishing to visit the British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT) by yacht will need to apply for a permit in advance from the British Indian Ocean Territory Administration (BIOTA) in London. e-mail: mailto:BIOTAdmin@fco.gov.uk The mooring fee will also be increased from USD $ 100 for 3 months to GBP Pound 500 for 1 month, payable in advance.

On receipt of a request for a permit (sent by email, Fax or post) a Visit Permit Request form will be sent. Once the completed form and mooring fee (by bank transfer) have been received by the BIOTA office a Permit, Laws & Guidance for Visitors and maps and co-ordinates showing where yachts may be moored will be issued.

Please note, that under BIOT law any person who enters the Territory, including its 3 mile wide territorial waters, without a permit is liable to imprisonment for up to 3 Years and/or a fine up to 3000 Pound.

Mariners are also reminded that BIOT Customs will be enforcing British India Ocean Territory "The Imports and Exports Control Ordinance 1984" and "The misuse of drugs Ordinance No5 of 1992". The BIOT Drug dog will be deployed on future BIOT Patrols of the area. You are reminded that any breach of these ordinances may result in a fine or imprisonment.