Clash of the Titans - (Korea) Day 192

Our ruck march to Han river in Seoul. Here we are walking right outside of post
(notice the concrete wall with barbed wire to the right)

This morning's PT was a ruck march. We didn't exactly have a ruck sack though, but we did have to wear our body armor as well as our assault pack filled with stuff. We were to report in front of the office at 0535. Everyone arrived (along with a special guest...the LT from our Protocol office) except for our sergeant. He overslept and when Special K called him, he said he'd be right there…LOL. While we were waiting the Protocol LT told us about one of the KATUSAs in the protocol office. First let me state that being a KATUSA is a coveted position by ROK soldiers because they get a lot of special privileges that normal ROK soldiers do not get. Second, protocol KATUSAs have one of the easiest jobs here, they just drive VIP guests around. Well one KATUSA told everyone that he was going to his barracks to sleep because he had a mission coming up. The actual mission got pushed back a day, so when their sergeant found out where he was he called him and told him to get back to work. When he didn't show up right away their sergeant called and asked what was up, it turns out that particular KATUSA took an office car and drove it to his parents house thinking that he wasn't going to be needed until later. The sergeant flipped out because it's basically stealing the office car and using it for your own personal use…and the KATUSA was lying about where he was and left post without permission. Turns out this KATUSA will be going to jail for 15 days and then will be put in the normal ROK army to serve out the rest of his mandatory time which is still over a year. He's going to be hating life.

We ended up going for a little over 4 miles for our ruck march once our sergeant arrived. It didn't feel like much while doing it, but when I got back to my room and took everything off I was soaked in sweat. I was able to get ready and video chat with my wife for a bit before heading to the office for a work call of 0830. Once there I did basic office work checking email and such. Special K and I took off with our office car to check it out for another week at the TMP.

At lunch our sergeant gave us money to go eat at the KATUSA Snack Bar and asked us to bring him back a to go plate. Me, SPC Mick and our KATUSA left, but it turns out our sergeant didn't give us enough cash. I had some extra Won on me, so I chipped in and settled the difference. No worries, both our KATUSA and SPC Mick have bought me lunch before.

While I was updating the events calendar, SPC Mick and our KATUSA setup for a meeting in the secret conference room. I heard when they got back that SPC Mick called "stand-by" for a two star general that was hosting the meeting, but there were already other two star generals in the room. The two star that he was calling "stand-by" for looked at SPC Mick and said "Are you crazy? There are already two stars in the room" and then proceeded to enter the room. It was all pretty funny when he was telling me about the incident. I was laughing about it the rest of the day.

When we got back we had to do some spring cleaning. We focused mainly on the colonel's office. Our new colonel is coming soon and there was quite a bit of dust around. We dusted, windexed, and vacuumed everything. We then went to setup for a KUB in our conference room, but the ROKs were still having a meeting in it. They were scheduled to be out, but showed no signs of leaving. I'm not quite sure what happened next but this caused a lot of tension between CPT Hooah! and a major in our office. At one point I thought they were going to come to blows! We ended up setting up for the KUB in an alternate conference room. The whole incident was pretty crazy. I'm sure CPT Hooah! wanted to just go in and kick the ROKs out, but the major wouldn't let him. Pretty Crazy.

We ended up staying until about 1730 waiting for the last meeting to end so we could clean it up before leaving. After we left SPC Mick and I headed to the food court where we ran into PFC Pickle. We all ate some Taco Bell together and then headed our separate ways. I headed back to my room for some schoolwork and then proceeded to watch Apple's WWDC…some awesome stuff coming out soon…I can't wait!