USO Surprise - (Korea) Day 302

SPC Mick after receiving his birthday cake from the USO

I had a dentist appointment this morning at 0830. It was only a cleaning, but it was nice to not have to wake up and go in for the early 0730 work call that everyone else had to do. The dentist was a little rough, but still bearable. I'm glad I don't have to go again for a while now.

I arrived at work and did my morning routine of checking my email and such, but was interrupted a few times to do minor things for various people. That seemed to set the tone for the entire day. It seemed like anytime I started anything I was called away to do something else. I tried working on a Windows 7 SkillPort, but couldn't even finish one section the entire day.

I had lunch in my room and video chatted with my wife, then headed back to the office a little early to make sure our conference room was setup for a "brief" from our colonel. This meeting had been setup for a while. Most of the folks knew it wasn't actually a brief, but a surprise for SPC Mick. His parents had worked with the USO here in Korea to help celebrate his birthday. The USO worked with our NCOIC to get everything worked out in advance. Once the conference room was ready, our office, our supply office, a couple from protocol, and our admin office all showed up for the "brief". When the colonel came in he said there would be a special guest speaker…and then came in the USO with a huge cake, balloons, and a bag of USO swag for SPC Mick. He was called up front and everyone sang happy birthday to him. It was pretty funny…especially since he had no clue what was going on until they walked in. What's funny is that the red, white and blue cake turned everyone's mouth and teeth either red, white or blue.

When we finally got back to working, the afternoon went just like the morning. It seemed like I could not get anything done. I started training PV2 Charlie on how to update the events calendar and it must have taken 2 hours because one of us kept getting calls to do something. Everyone except for me and Special K cleaned up and left at 1600. I stayed back and helped Special K study for his promotion board until about 1700.

When I got to my room I ended up not working out…somehow just lost my motivation. I instead went to the food court and ate Taco Bell volcano tacos. I then watched Greys Anatomy & Survivor…I can't help it…I love that show. I then packed my assault pack for a tour I'll be on with the young hawaiian and SPC Mick for the rest of the week. Hyundai gives a couple of tours to soldiers each year and we were all able to get signed up for this one. I'm looking forward to getting out and having some fun away from work. This also means it will be a few days before I update the blog again. I'll be busy taking pictures and soaking in the culture…plus I'm not bringing my laptop.

Back to Ball - (Korea) Day 119

Celebrating Seaman's birthday! Seaman with the ceremonial birthday
candle and his ice cream with our colonel to the left and our sergeant to the right

Work call this morning was at 0800, a bit earlier than our usual time…but still not too bad. I was still able to get up and get ready, then video chat with my wife for a bit. When I got to work I helped our KATUSA finish setting up for the first meeting. I then flipped slides in the control room. It was a KUB meeting and took an extremely long time. I ended up having Special K take over for me because I had to go play basketball during our lunch break.

Basketball was pretty good. I was a little worried since I haven't done anything for a week except be sick. I still have a cough, but I didn't let that stop me. We had SPC Roy, our sergeant, our air force master sergeant, Seaman from the admin office and a sergeant from the command group upstairs. Got a good sweat going and my team won two out of three. After basketball I showered in my room and then went to the PX with SPC Roy to get a birthday card for Seaman. When we got back to the office we also picked up some ice cream from the Sweat 'n Treat which is almost next door. I put the ice cream in the fridge and the card in the plastic shopping bag on my sergeant's desk. (more on that in a second)

I then logged into a computer and updated the events calendar. I then let SPC Mick use it while I was logged in, so he could complete the required IA training. You have to complete the training in order to be able to log into the network here, but in order to complete the training…you have to have a computer with internet access. I then went with SPC Roy to the company to turn in some paperwork and while we were out we looked around for his new office that he'll be moving to. We may or may not have found it, just not quite sure.

When we got back SPC Mick finally finished his training and printed out his certificate. Our sergeant then asked me where I put the birthday card. I told him it was in the bag on his desk. He said he threw it away as there was nothing in it. So me and our KATUSA had to start looking through all the garbage because we had already gathered it all up for the day. A few minutes later we find out that Special K had already removed it from the bag and had everyone sign it. D'oh! So they call Seaman down to our office and we all sing happy birthday to him. He got the ceremonial candle along with the card and ice cream.

After that our sergeant gathered us all in his office. First he asks me if I enjoyed basketball today…I look at him a little funny and say yes…except for the excessive coughing. He then goes on to say that I dunked over him…then he revises it and says I snuck around him and dunked. I would call it more of a tip in on a missed shot where my fingers were on the rim than a dunk. He said after I did it I turned and looked at him…like yeah boy! I don't quite remember that, but I think he may give me a few more lowered shoulders and hard drives next time we go out there. Our meeting continued and he went on to state that we are all doing a great job. We will be doing a PT test soon and when June 1st comes there will be a lot of changes army wide. He wants to make sure we all succeed and wants to push us to do the best we can. It was basically a pep talk, but also a reality check letting us know that we are in charge of our destiny and we need to make sure we do what we can in order to get promoted. Most of it was for the Specialists there because there is not much I can do except wait.

I headed back to my room and did schoolwork as usual. There was no time to do SkillPort at the office, so I did one in my room. I then cleaned up a bit. My side of the room is clean, but my roommate's is still a mess. I guess Housing is taking over control of the barracks tomorrow from our company. They will come in and do an inspection and then have us re-sign for all our furniture. I hear our 1st sergeant is going to be here and I don't want any extra attention on our room. I'm hoping my roommate does a little before tomorrow. Everyone else in the office has a work call of 0630, but I have to be at my room at 0800…so I'll not be going in that early, I'll be waiting until everything is finished with my room.

Valentines Day - (Korea) Day 76

A photo in our office of SPC Roy getting his birthday ice cream
while holding his birthday candle...a tradition instead of cake in our office

Work call this morning was at 0830 which was nice. It's nice to be back on a normal schedule. The general is back in Washington DC this week, so the meetings are going to be less and everything will be a bit mellower. With that said, not a lot went on today. Me and SPC Roy worked on a number of SkillPorts together. We setup for the one scheduled meeting today and left for lunch. Lunch consisted of SPC Roy taking me with him to get a haircut. We swung by Burger King and picked up lunch to go. We then went to his special barber shop which had two cute girls working there. Now I know why he always comes to this out of the way shop. He also brought them lunch as well. I sat down and ate mine while watching some college basketball on TV. After what seemed like an absurd amount of time SPC Roy was finished. He said if that major didn’t come in, it would’ve been longer. They not only cut his hair, they trimmed his nails and gave him a massage. He says he’s been coming here ever since he’s been here, they have him hooked...lol

After lunch we cleaned up the office and I updated the event schedule. It looks like the meetings at Tango will be pretty basic as well. I received an email (I guess since I'm on the IMO list now) stating that there will be a week long training session for CISSP (Certified Information System Security Professional). I hadn't heard of this certification before, but I'd like to check it out. Getting another certification will only help my career both in the army and in the civilian world. I checked with my sergeant and he looked at the dates and said I could go to it. I sent off the paperwork, so we'll see how it goes. Knowing the army I'll get it sent back and find that I have to fill out the form differently or something stupid…we'll see.

Near the end of the day we celebrated SPC Roy's birthday. As always in our office they get a little candle to blow out and some ice cream to eat. He also got a few cards and some sort of Korean alcoholic drink from the ROK army. After that me and the air force master sergeant left work and purchased tickets to see The Eagles in concert. They are coming to Seoul of all places, and there will be a free bus ride to the stadium. That will be a lot of fun.

The night consisted of me video chatting with my wife and then finishing the last day of schoolwork for my current class "Fundamentals of Programming". I'm so glad this class is over. I don't even care what grade I got as long as I passed. I've been in the I.T. field for years, but programming is something I've never been able to do. I understand the concepts, I just can't actually do it. Tomorrow I'll start the new class… "Business Systems". We'll see how that goes, it has to be better than programming.

A Day of Reflection (AIT - Fort Gordon) Day 64

Wow...today is day 64 of AIT. Day 64 of basic training was graduation day. It’s kind of hard to believe that I’ve now been in AIT as long as basic training. Time at AIT definitely seems to be moving faster than basic. There are definitely benefits of AIT over basic. It’s nice to be able to enjoy my food at a decent pace and talk to people at the table we’re eating at. It’s also very nice to be able to talk to people on the phone and have internet access. I don’t feel so cut off from the world like I did in basic. We don’t have the drill sergeants yelling at everyone all the time. 

AIT is still no picnic. AIT is still a training environment and as SGT Kent stated appropriately enough today “training is supposed to suck, that way when you get to your unit you’ll appreciate the liberties you get”. We have sergeants who like to yell at times, but more often just make up stupid rules. It seems that most of the sergeants here don’t give a damn about the soldiers. Don’t get me wrong there are a few who care for the soldiers, but most seem to just look for things to pick on the soldiers about. It can get pretty annoying at times. I still can’t believe I have to be escorted to the bathroom when in school. We also have to have an NCO anytime we have a formation crossing a road because they don’t trust us to cross by ourselves (I’ve made it 36 years so far without getting hit by a car). We can’t go anywhere without a battle buddy and we need a little permission slip anytime we go away from the barracks. It also sucks living in barracks because you are at the mercy of the sergeant’s whims. If they are having a bad day, they can make you come out for formations at anytime for any reason. Another reason I can’t wait to live with my wife in a house far away from barracks once I get a normal post.

Speaking of stupid formations...today everyone had to come out at 19:30 from the barracks for a formation. We had to listen to how 4 people got caught away from the company area without a pass. When an NCO starts talking it just goes on and on stating the same thing over and over. 

At times this place can get me down. I wouldn’t go so far as saying I get depressed, but without having anytime to go home and “recharge” with my wife and family can be draining. There is a lot of negativity here and it can wear on you. 

Today also happens to be my birthday. Usually a day of fun and happiness for me. I always look forward to hanging out with family and friends and at least going out for a drink or having a special dinner. Here it was just me and I felt pretty alone. I am 37 now and I’m usually the oldest in all the classes, sometimes older than the instructors. I can feel the aches and pains in my body from all the intense workouts that we have been doing. This is the first time in my life that I’ve felt old. Strange.

We tested out of Exchange Server 2007 today. I got a 95 on the test. It showed that I missed one part of the exam which I know I did. I had to show the instructor on the virtual machine that it was indeed done correctly, then he changed my score to a 100%. Next up is Sun Solaris CLI (Command Line Interface).

mom

Sorry you had to be so far away on your birthday. We will have to celebrate even harder on you next one to make up for it. Happy Birthday, miss you, mom

Thursday, August 26, 2010 - 06:38 PM