Photo By Petty Officer 1st Class Christopher Previc | CAMP LEMONNIER, Djibouti (June 16, 2022) Logistics Specialist 2nd Class Jha'Sharai...... read more read more
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CAMP LEMONNIER, Djibouti (July 6, 2022) -
“I've been having the plan to become a judge since eighth grade,” Jha’Shaira Farmer said, “and it's been working out. Everything has been lining up — it's been a blessing.”
In the hot East African sun, on Camp Lemonnier, Djibouti (CLDJ), U.S. Navy Logistics Specialist 2nd Class Jha’Shaira Farmer, assigned to the CLDJ Supply Department, looked over a stone gravel lot of U.S. Army vehicles being prepared to return to the United States. The decision: whether the vehicles are clean enough to meet the customs standards. The costs of getting the opinion wrong are very high.
“The dirt contains bacteria and viruses from this continent that could potentially go back home to the United States,” said Farmer. “That’s a health concern, and there is a nature concern too: bugs and parasites. If we don’t inspect it thoroughly, there can be an outbreak or infestation. The whole customs inspection system, from here through every country along the way, all the way back to TSA in the states is trying to prevent that.”
The land that Farmer envisioned protecting as she scrutinized square inches on a Humvee began with her birth home of East St. Louis, Illinois, where the famous Gateway Arch is visible from across the mighty Mississippi River. East St. Louis has a complicated history all its own from its Missouri neighbor. The crime and poverty statistics from the years Farmer lived there were some of the highest in the country.
“My experience is not what East St. Louis is known for though,” Farmer said, “I had so many resources growing up. I grew up with my great-grandmother. I had a great church family, Mount Sinai Missionary Baptist Church — still love them to this day — sweet people. They really helped create a solid foundation for me.”
Farmer experienced support from a village of teachers and mentors as well. A non-profit organization, East Side Aligned, developed during her high school years through the support of the United Way of Greater St. Louis. The organization focused on connecting residents to after school tutoring, elderly care, meals, and access to other community programs. It allowed Farmer to focus on her education and build her transcript for college.
This experience of connecting available resources with the right patron cultivated a passion for supply within Farmer.
“I went to Navy basic training in July, 2017, and flew down to “A” school in Naval Air Station Meridian, Mississippi, in September,” said Farmer, “I was definitely excited to work in logistics.”
For Camp Lemonnier, customs is just one of her duties. Her primary role in the supply department is as a logistics support representative.
“A logistics specialist (LS) can work basically anywhere,” said Farmer, “but a logistics support representative is specifically working with the ships when they come into port.”
When a U.S. Navy ship is scheduled to arrive at the Port of Djibouti, there will be a long list of standard needs that must be fulfilled to guarantee the Sailors aboard are operating at the top of their game. That begins with food and provisions, and a large order will be placed for multiple pallets with the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) and the Navy Exchange (NEX). Then there is coordination with the post office for mail, American Red Cross for messages, the ID office to update common access cards, and any other request added to the checklist.
“If the ship is at the pier at 10:30 that morning, then I’m getting up at 6:00,” said Farmer. “That’s getting my Sailors together, having breakfast, checking the pallets, and getting into the office for the checklist. There are port passes required to bring any cargo on or off the pier. There are a lot of memos and paperwork in the manifest that need reviewed – it requires some discernment – got to get it right.”
With their own stack of water bottles in the truck for the 106 degree Fahrenheit weather, there were constant checkpoints called over the radio while driving up the road. DLA was bringing a team this time, trailing in another car, and that required additional escort permission work at the main gate. With everything prepped, Farmer and her team passed through the final security checkpoint and stepped onto the pier.
“We’re meeting with the husbanding agency, the folk with the forklifts and cranes,” Farmer said on the hard gravel sand. Ships of all sizes docked nearby and container terminals towered in clear view, a warm breeze gusted off the green-blue water, the team and the agency looked out over the bay as a tiny speck in the distance slowly grew to become a massive vessel being pushed by tugboats into its final position.
When the ship finally docked and the mooring lines tied into place, Farmer and her team walked up the entry ramp, called the brow. After gaining permission to come aboard, they met with the supply officer, coordinated the plan of loading and unloading and how they would transport Sailors to and from base to meet their needs. All items on the list checked, the team returned to the office.
“There are emails coming in, because there are other ships in port as well,” said Farmer, back at her desk, a stack of folders in her inbox. “It’s constant correspondence and recaps, because we need to make sure we are all on the same page.”
Logic, processes and application: It is times like this, Farmer said, that she is glad she obtained a bachelor’s degree in accounting.
When Farmer graduated from Logistics Specialist Accession training in Meridian, she shifted her sites and energy to the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff (UAPB) a satellite campus in the University of Arkansas system and a legacy HBCU (historically black college or university). She was ready to start the Spring 2018 semester.
“I didn’t have anything in writing,” said Farmer, “but I knew my transcript would speak for itself.”
Farmer had toured a lot of different colleges and universities during high school. She also knew she did not want any student loans, and another school had offered close to a full-ride scholarship to attend. Farmer got the sense though that she may be treated like a number there, and trusted her gut to keep looking.
While touring UAPB, she had run into students that she had played basketball with back in East Saint Louis. Throughout boot camp and “A” School, she kept feeling that Pine Bluff would be comfortable fit, a place that would invest in her as a person, even though it was all the way down in Arkansas.
“I went right to the recruitment office, and found out that the people working there had really close ties to my high school,” said Farmer. “I mean, really close. They knew my counselors by name and got right on the phone with them.”
Sitting in the office that morning, Farmer qualified for “The University Scholarship,” a high requirement, competitive scholarship.
“The only thing that wasn’t covered was books,” she said.
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“I truly believe everything connects — it just helps bring that extra knowledge.”
As serious as Jha’Shaira Farmer is in her professional development, she said she pays even more attention to her self-development, what she calls a “student of life” mentality.
“I'm big on self-awareness, on really understanding where I am in my reality and trying to make the best out of every situation that I'm in and learning how I may need to grow in that process,” said Farmer.
With that charge, Farmer also made time to become an assistant suicide prevention coordinator on Camp Lemonnier. The gravity that pulled her to that calling has personal roots.
“It’s not a secret,” said Farmer. “Yes, my mom was diagnosed with an extreme version of bipolar schizophrenia. Our family was able to get her the supports she needs. She’s in a stable place now — this is where my passion for mental health stems from.”
Farmer pulls from the experiences of different family members, of different friends that also deal with different challenges. She leans on experiences as a tutor with East Side Aligned for children at Mount Sinai Missionary Baptist Church, a labor of love that earned her a Governor’s Volunteer Service Award just out of high school. She draws on the emotions she experienced when a close university classmate passed away in a car accident her sophomore year.
“So my thought process on that is, you know, in what ways can I help people realize everything that they need to have,” said Farmer. “Even in the military, we have all these resources, but a lot of people don't take advantage of them.”
“Maybe they don't know that they're there.”
And that is where is all culminates for Farmer: the land she wants to protect, the resources she wants to distribute, the information she wants to discern. After a year of preparing for and deploying to Africa to perform her duty as a U.S. Navy Reservist, it is time to take the next step.
“I’ve been enlightened by different officers on this deployment on how being a Judge Advocate General (JAG) will give me the responsibilities and experiences I need to become a federal judge,” said Farmer.
Farmer’s next step in the plan, the plan that has been a blessing since the eighth grade, is to use her G.I. Bill to attend law school.
Camp Lemonnier, Djibouti serves as an expeditionary base for U.S. military forces providing support to ships, aircraft, and personnel that ensure security and stability throughout Europe, Africa and Southwest Asia. The Department of Defense supports our African partners with capacity building, strengthening defense institutions, and supporting a whole-of government approach in the region, so diplomatic and developmental solutions can take root.
| Date Taken: | 07.06.2022 |
| Date Posted: | 07.08.2022 10:24 |
| Story ID: | 424589 |
| Location: | DJ |
| Hometown: | EAST ST. LOUIS, ILLINOIS, US |
| Web Views: | 520 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
This work, Here Comes the Judge: Camp Lemonnier Sailor Supplies Her Goals, by PO1 Christopher Previc, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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