Conclusion - (Germany) Day 526

During our last visit to Frankfurt...The Myzeil Shopping Mall...has a pretty cool hole in it!

This weekend we are staying at the Sheraton hotel which is connected to the Frankfurt airport. We'll have a lot more available to us including a short train ride into downtown Frankfurt instead of being trapped on "PHV island" without a car for our last weekend here in Germany.

As for my thoughts about my time here….

I had been to Germany as a young lad as part of our high school exchange program and had a blast, so I was excited to come back and visit as an adult. I was also very excited to be assigned to an actual signal unit, I figured I'd be doing my actual job and getting involved in all kinds of high tech information technology…geeky stuff. I figured wrong.

Germany and Europe were a blast as far as being a tourist goes. My wife and I made the most of our time here. We explored as much of Germany as possible and also made our way to England, Holland, Spain, France, Luxembourg, Czech Republic, Italy, Switzerland, and Greece. I loved being able to see all the history and my wife and I really enjoyed our time here. Our hometown of Heidelberg is a great city. The food and beer in Germany is amazing. The people we met were awesome and I was able to visit all three of the German exchange students that had lived with me in America as part of our exchange program.

Professionally my time in Germany was a real bust. Even though I was in an actual signal unit, I ended up being a ComSec clerk…which is actually a glorified librarian that only needs to make sure customer's paperwork is in order and all the signatures are in the correct places. A computer is not even needed to be a ComSec clerk. On top of that there were so many special duties and training that we had to do which had nothing to do with the job I signed up for…an Information Technology Specialist. Truth be told the only I.T. work I did was when I worked on my home computers. When I vented my frustrations via this blog, I ended up in all kinds of trouble. Free speech was thrown out the window. One does not simply shine a negative light on what's going on in the army. If a high ranking someone gets butt hurt, then there is going to be hell to pay. Even without getting in any official trouble, I had to deal with a lot of unofficial punishment…special duty, verbal assaults, and being alienated. Even though I never received any official punishment, my life was a living hell for a while. Ironically during my year and a half in Germany I received 3 AAMs (Army Achievement Medals) and the Good Conduct Medal.

I eventually ended up working as the chaplain's assistant, which helped him out and got me out of the sergeant major's bullseye. It worked out and my stress level went down considerably. During this whole process I did receive my clearance and I also ended up getting recommended for the medboard. So now I will move on to the next and last chapter of my army career as I go through the medboard process. The good news is that I'll be stationed at Ft. Lewis during the process which is only about 40 minutes from my hometown. I'll have the support of friends and family. I'll also be able to be a bigger part of my kids lives.

All the posts in Heidelberg closed down about 3 months after I left. The local newspaper had an article along with a video showing the Germans checking it out for the first time. (The page is in German, but if you use the chrome web browser it should offer to translate it for you. The video is also in German, but you can watch it as it shows you around Campbell Barracks where I worked)

Check out the video here: http://www.rnz.de/heidelberg/00_20140215163000_110629844-Video_Rundgang_durch_die_Campbell_Barracks.html
Edit: Unfortunately the newspaper has since removed the article :(

We did make one last trip via train from the airport to Frankfurt...

Street performers in Frankfurt...I love watching street performers, they

give a city some personality

Taking a break and posing for a picture

Me posing under the giant Euro sign in Frankfurt

Final Out - (Germany) Day 525

 Guest lodging entrance at Patrick Henry Village

This morning PT formation was at the PHV bowling alley parking lot, so I was able to get up and walk over there in my ACUs. The few that were there were doing a ruck march around PHV. I checked in and then headed back home…after a pit stop at the shoppette to pick up some coffee. We no longer have a coffee machine…one of the last things to get tossed from our house. When I got back home, we ate breakfast and got ready for the day. I then took down our bedroom curtains and gathered together all our bedding materials. All this stuff went straight to the trash, which is unfortunate. The recycling center closed down and we can't fit all of that into our luggage, so it all gets thrown away. We then did a quick sweep around the house and spot cleaned a few things. I unhooked our internet and phone, then threw the router and phone away as well. Both devices were 220v so we can't use them back in the states, and I couldn't find anyone who wanted them here.

We put our suitcases right outside our door and hung out until the housing inspector came by at 0845…the moment of truth. Now is the time we see if all our hard work cleaning every nook and cranny of our house really paid off. The inspector came and literally did a 30 second check of everything along with our appliances. He then checked to make sure we still had all our assigned keys and proceeded to have me sign some papers while he signed the required clearing papers. We were all done in well under 5 minutes…holy cow! It went a lot easier than I thought it would.

We waited on a co-worker to bring the TMP and then loaded up all our luggage and transported everything to guest lodging (the army hotel on post). We were allowed to check in early which was nice, this way we didn't need to store our bags and check in later at 1400 when they usually do it. I headed off in the TMP to the out-processing center and finished up my final paperwork there. I also picked up our plane tickets back to the states. They were supposed to email them to me, but I hadn't received them yet. I stopped by the internet provider and cancelled our service and then the bank where I turned in some rolls of coins that had accumulated during our time here. A quick stop by S-1 to drop off copies of all the final-out paperwork and then I was done for the day.

My co-worker dropped me off at guest lodging and I hung out with my wife for the rest of the day. We at dinner at the local restaurant on post "The Village Grill" which happened to be the first place we at dinner here when we arrived a year and a half ago. We've now come full circle and will be heading to the airport tomorrow. We could have stayed in guest lodging for free until our flight out on Sunday, but we decided to get a hotel at the airport for our last two nights here. That way we can get out and see Frankfurt if we want, we won't have to deal with any army base issues, and most of all we will not need anyone to drive us up to the airport very early on a Sunday morning…instead they can drive us on a Friday instead and get out of the office for a while.

Saw these on a tree outside guest lodging (the army hotel) and it made me smile

Cleaning the House - (Germany) Day 522

This morning we had PT formation at the bowling alley here on PHV, which was good because I don't have a car…I could just walk there. So I got up, put on my ACUs, walked to the formation, then walked back home and changed into my cleaning clothes. I then took it easy getting ready for the day with my wife. We ate breakfast, drank coffee and watched the NBC Nightly News video podcast each morning. This keeps us up with what's going on back in the states.

We then spent the majority of the day cleaning the house. Scrubbing the appliances and cleaning the bathroom to make everything look even better than when we arrived. We did take a break and watched a documentary called "Super High Me" on Hulu. This was done by a comic (Doug Benson) who jokingly said he should do what Morgan Spurlock did on "Super Size Me" with McDonald's…only instead of McDonald's food he smoked weed. A film producer took him up on his joke and they decided to do the documentary. It started with the comic going 30 days without any weed or alcohol. During this time he was seen by a doctor and given a series of medical tests. The next 30 days consisted of him getting high from the moment he woke up until bedtime each day. The medical tests were done again and surprisingly everything was about the same…except his oral math skills kind of plummeted.

Hulu has been a great entertainment venue while we've been over here in Germany. Now that we only have our laptops for entertainment…we've been watching quite a bit more on Hulu. I then got back to work cleaning our house. I emptied out our small attic space and our basement. A large air conditioner, a fake Christmas tree, and various other items were all brought out to the curb for bulk pickup. I had a guy pick me up from the office and take me to the car detailer around 1500 to pickup my car…it's never been this clean since we first purchased it! They guarantee that it will pass inspection, I guess we'll see tomorrow.

By the time I got back home the A/C unit was gone…which I'm glad. I hate just throwing good stuff away, but nobody I worked with was interested in it. There are a lot of things that people just end up throwing away because they are PCSing and don't want to take it with them.

Clearing Papers - (Germany) Day 511

This morning I headed to the 0630 PT formation once again in ACUs as I will for the duration of my time here in Germany. I pick up my clearing paperwork today and then will start out-processing. I listened to the announcements in the accountability formation and then headed back home once it was finished.

After eating breakfast and such at home, I headed into the out-processing center and picked up my clearing papers a little after 0800. The paperwork consists of a large number of places I need to visit and get signed. Some of the places like Tri-Care, ACS, ID Card and more are located in the same area as the out-processing office. So my morning consisted of choosing a station, getting a number and waiting for my number to be called. I would then take my paperwork to them and they would sign it. Some would ask me a few questions and others would have me fill out some additional paperwork, while others wanted copies of my orders. I also had to get cleared from both the bank and credit union on post even though I don't even have an account at either of them. I did pretty much everything I could at this particular post, then headed back to where I live on PHV and cleared from the dental clinic, the MPs, and the Self Help office.

I headed home after that and had lunch along with a nap. I headed into the ComSec office after that so I could use one of their computers and check my email. It had been piling up since I'd been on leave. I spent some time dealing with the email and printing off a few things. I then headed to our S-3 office to clear and nobody was there. This may be the most difficult part of the clearing process, with the base closing there are less and less people available. Hours of certain shops have been reduced and there are only certain days available for clearing at other locations. I headed to S-2 and again found nobody there, but luckily on my way out I ran into a worker that was on his way there. He was able to sign my paperwork after I filled out some for him. I then headed to S-4 where again the NCO was not there. After that I decided to call it a day, I'll try and get more done tomorrow. I headed home with about half of everything I need to do complete. Most of these are the easy ones, so I'll be trying to get the rest done here and there as I find people available. As for today, I finished up around 1500 and spent the rest of the day with my wife at home.

New Staff Duty - (Germany) Day 478

This morning for PT we formed up at Campbell gym in civilian clothes. The normal folks did some step aerobic training while those of us on profile hit the gym. I did a good cardio workout on the stationary bike.

I headed into my office and got busy doing schoolwork, studying for my Apple re-certification, and then checked my email and such. I then met up with SPC Mac and we headed to a local car detailer. I booked an appointment to get my car cleaned and detailed before I ship it back to the states. The process for shipping your car back is pretty strict and requires the car to be absolutely spotless inside and out. If there is anything wrong with it, they will deny it and make you come back at a later date. This particular detailer has done a few other folks cars that have recently PCS'd back to the states and there were no issues, so I figure it's worth paying someone to do a job that is guaranteed to pass inspection.

I headed to lunch at home, then headed to the USO office to purchase some tickets for an upcoming trip we plan on taking. They have a lot of trips selling out, so we wanted to make sure to get them as soon as possible. I then headed back to my office, where I cleaned up a little, surfed the web and played on my phone until 1630. I have staff duty tonight, but it's with the new format. With all the reductions in staff, they have finally changed the way staff duty is done. Now we have to show up at 1630 and still do the janitorial work for the S1 and S3 offices…which is still total BS. Why they can't clean up after themselves like every other office I have no idea. Another thing that kind of bothered me was that there were two soldiers there late that had to do extra duty. They had to work until 2200 for this extra duty…so why don't they just assume the staff duty shift as part of that? There was an NCO and a specialist. The NCO of course only has to supervise for his extra duty, which is also total BS. I found out that they both got an article 15. The specialist was a sergeant, but got demoted because he was watching porn on his workstation during work. What is even worse is that this guy works in an open office and his back is towards everyone else…talk about a moron. The NCO (a sergeant) had his wife call the MPs on him stating he was physical with her. He said they only got into a heated verbal altercation, but in the army if there is any mention of domestic violence, the husband will be the one to pay.

Anyway I took out all the garbage, and then I have to wait until the battalion commander leaves. Unfortunately I guess because it is a Friday, he didn't leave until 1830…so I sat there twiddling my thumbs until then. Once he left the NCO on duty with me locks up the building and takes the on call cell phone home with him. I go home as well and keep my phone nearby because I'm on call as well. I can't leave the immediate area and I cannot drink alcohol, but it's still much better than staying there the entire night and feeling like a zombie the next day.

Transportation Brief - (Germany) Day 477

You can tell it's getting warmer out...the ice cream truck is making the rounds. 

This is the view looking down from our living room window

 in stairwell housing on post

This morning PT was at Patton gym in our summer PTs. The normal folks did some circuit training and when they finished they split up and played a few games of volleyball. I headed into the gym and had a good workout with the weight machines. I would have loved to play volleyball with them, but one sudden jerk and I would end up in some bad pain for days, so it's just not worth it.

We were told during our PT formation that sergeant's time training was today in the ComSec office and had to do with ComSec procedures and such. What is funny is that because it's Thursday, they just have to come up with "something" for training. Never mind that the ComSec vault is actually closed now and they have no customers…let's just do the training anyway. I decided just to head to my office instead. The nice thing about working for the chaplain is that I can get away with not going unless they specifically tell me I need to be there. They didn't tell me and I didn't ask…so there is no way I was going to sit in an office and listen to a bunch of stuff that will never pertain to me again. Besides…I had schoolwork to do!

So I did my schoolwork and studied a little for my Apple re-certification, then headed over to the shopping center food court to meet my wife for lunch. I stopped by the USO first and checked to see if any interesting trips were coming, then met my wife for lunch. After lunch we both headed over to the in-processing/out-processing center and attended my transportation brief. The brief was about an hour and a half and went over everything we needed to do and expect when shipping our household goods and our car. I had to make some minor changes to my paperwork, but everything seems in order. Things are going to get a little crazy now. My mom and aunt are coming to visit and I'll be taking leave to be their tour guide. We have all our stuff to ship and I will also need to out-process. Trying to figure out when to schedule everything is going to be tricky. For instance it will be a lot easier having my car until the last minute possible in order to get everything done. Also once we ship the car, my wife will have to quit her job. Lots of decisions to be made!

So Long Korea - (Korea) Day 365

Woke up this morning at 0645. I got myself ready and then my wife and I headed to Starbucks on the base to get breakfast. Being from Seattle I gotta say that this Starbucks was a total disgrace to the name. The service was so excruciatingly slow we just had to laugh. If the Korean's working at this Starbucks tried to get a job in Seattle they would be laughed at and kicked to the curb.

After breakfast we said our good-byes and I headed to the little terminal while my wife headed back to the room. Unfortunately I am flying "The Patriot Express" from Osan and my wife is flying commercial from Incheon. I waited in the terminal for about 30 minutes reading a book on my iPad, then went through security. The security was the same here as any other airport, except instead of TSA agents they were all air force personnel. Once through security everyone waited in some big waiting rooms for another hour or two. I spent my time switching back and forth from watching TV and reading my book.

The moment finally arrived when we could board the plane and slowly, but surely I was able to get on and find my seat. My excitement about finally flying and saying good-bye to Korea was premature. We ended up sitting on the runway for over 3 hours! We watched a movie and were served a meal before we even left the runway. The pilot kept telling us that due to fog we had to wait. It seemed the fog hadn't changed, but we were finally given the green light to fly. We headed to Japan and had a two hour layover while the plane was refueled and prepared for the flight over the pacific ocean.

The flight back to Seattle was long and uncomfortable. I ended up with a major headache and couldn't wait to get off the darn thing. They played about 4 movies which I watched a couple to pass the time. Once we arrived my brother-in-law picked me up and we headed to eat lunch before he dropped me off at my in-laws. I had about an hour to unwind before I took our car and headed back to the airport to pickup my wife. We are finally back in the U.S. together! Looking forward to spending some quality time with my friends and family.

So Long Yongsan - (Korea) Day 364

I woke up at 0645 so I could get ready and leave to the staff duty desk at battalion. I arrived there and got signed out on leave. Once that was done I headed to 1RC to do my final out-processing, but found out instead of both windows opening at 0800, the finance portion opened at 0900 and I needed their stamp before the final installation out-processing at the adjoining window. I headed back to the room and had a small breakfast with my wife from the deli at the Dragon Hill Lodge. I then headed over to 1RC once again a little before 0900 to finish my out-processing which took only about 15 minutes.

I then headed to my office with my wife so I could show her all the places I've talked about via chat and through this blog. We headed to our conference room, my office, the control room, our office, our admin office etc. Once the tour was done and I said good-bye to everyone, we headed over to SPC Roy's office to say good-bye to him as well. We then headed to battalion once again and I dropped off copies of all my out-processing papers. While I was there I had them add the Overseas Service Ribbon to my ERB. I get this for serving in Korea and wanted to make sure I had it on my ERB before I left.

Once done we headed back to The Dragon Hill and checked out of our room. We ended up buying another suitcase in order to fit everything we had! We then met with SPC Roy and had lunch at Oasis, the Mexican restaurant in The Dragon Hill. I hesitate to call it a Mexican restaurant though because it is staffed with all Korean people and as I've mentioned before...they just don't quite get Mexican food right.

Once finished we said our good-byes yet again and then grabbed our luggage from the hotel and loaded it onto the special "patriot express" shuttle that runs to Osan twice a week from The Dragon Hill to Osan for folks that are taking the patriot express. The ride was a little over an hour and dropped everyone off at the Osan Air Force Base Patriot Express Terminal. This would have been fine except the plane does not leave until tomorrow and everyone needs to stay at the hotel here on base. So half of the folks walked and the other half (us included) took a taxi because we had so much crap to carry.

The hotel here at Osan is called the Turumi Lodge and is actually quite large. We walked around a bit, checked out the PX and then ate dinner at Chilis, a nice taste of American food for a change. We then walked to the terminal once again and I found out that I could actually do an early check in which allowed me to reserve my seat and check in my luggage ahead of time. This will allow me to beat the rush and come in a little later tomorrow. I headed back to the hotel and grabbed my luggage, then checked it all in. I'm ready to go!

We just relaxed the rest of the night in the hotel room planning out the first couple weeks of what we need to do once we get back in the states. 30 days seems like a long time, but I know it's going to go by too quick!

Got Orders - (Korea) Day 345

The start of the Seoul Lantern Festival

Work call this morning was at 0830. We had a pretty hectic morning with the usual Wednesday morning meeting in the secret conference room as well as another in the top secret conference room we had to setup for. I helped PV2 Charlie setup most of the secret conference room, then left him to finish while I helped everyone else setup the top secret conference room. Once that was all finished I went up to my office and checked my email. To my surprise I received my orders! I truly thought it would take them another couple of weeks, but I guess having our NCOIC go over yesterday helped out. I nervously checked them out to make sure they included my wife this time and the shipment of all our household goods as well as our car. Surprisingly it was all in order!

Now that I have my orders I needed to find out exactly what I needed to do and in what order I needed to get everything done, so I went to lunch with SPC Roy. We went off post to a Chinese restaurant. Chinese food is different in Korea than it is in America. Just like we alter Chinese food in America to better suit our tastes, the Korean's do the same. It was pretty good, we had sweet and sour pork and some noodles that I call "black death". They are good, but they come in this black sauce with various items in it. SPC Roy let me know what I needed to do first and so on, so it was an informative lunch. Even though I'm not technically clearing until 5 days before I leave, there are a number of things I need to get done before hand.

1st I took my orders to our company along with my leave form, a copy of my LES, and a copy of my ERB. This will start the process of getting my leave setup, because I'm doing a continuing overseas tour (COT) I get 30 days of leave that do not count towards my earned leave which is very nice.

2nd I filled out a form at the company to get the process started to get a memo that I will need to take over to our battalion in order to get the out-processing checklist. I will get an email letting me know when the memo is ready to be picked up.

3rd I took a copy of my orders to the official travel office and got my ticket back to Seattle via the Patriot Express. I then got reservations for my wife and I from Seattle to Frankfurt. It's starting to finally seem real!

There were a couple other things I wanted to do, but was unable because Special K had the office car the rest of the day. I'll get back on track next Monday since we have a four day weekend. We cleaned up the office and headed out. I went to the gym and had a good cardio workout. Later on that night our old KATUSA picked up me, PV2 Charlie and SPC Mick. We all took the subway to see the 2011 Seoul Lantern Festival. It was basically a large number of hand crafted "lanterns" all on display along a small river. These weren't just normal lanterns either. There were various characters and themes all along the river.

We then had dinner at Mr. Pizza. I've seen the signs many times, but never visited one. Pizza in Korea is a little different than pizza in America…but as I like to say…pizza is kind of like sex, even bad pizza is still pretty good. This pizza was different but tasty. We headed back to post and I spent the last part of the night doing schoolwork before turning in.

Some of the characters at the lantern festival

More of the characters at the lantern festival

A whole lotta lanterns over one of the bridges over the river

Early Off - (Korea) Day 339

Fall is in the air...my walk back to work after my lunch break.
I think most of the trees in Seoul are located on Yongsan Army Garrison!

So today I woke up at 0430, shaved and put on my uniform…ready for room inspection at 0500. Our room was inspected by a female SFC this time. I stood and held the door open (because you can't have the door closed when there is a female in the room) while she walked around and told my roommate all the stuff that was dirty. She left and that was it. I don't even know what she was pointing at and I don't really care…just glad it didn't last too long.

Work call was 0630 this morning, we had to setup for a KUB in our conference room. Once finished setting up, I headed to Starbucks for a mocha, but I mixed it up a little with actual breakfast and got biscuits & gravy from the American Eatery in the food court. Ironically the American Eatery is run completely by Koreans just like every other shop in the food court.

Once back at work I ate up in the conference control room while watching TV. When it came time for the meeting to start I stayed there and flipped slides. Once it was finished we cleaned up and immediately setup for another meeting in our conference room. This time SPC Mick ran the computer and I hung out just in case somebody needed something. When the meeting was over we cleaned up and then headed out for lunch.

I went to my room as usual and video chatted with my wife. Back at the office I just watched some TV until 1400 when I drove our new KATUSA to the housing office. He needed to fill out some paperwork for his pending move to our barracks since he's still in the temporary barracks. Once our old KATUSA leaves, he's going to take his room.

When we got back it wasn't too long before our NCOIC called us down and told us to clean up and head out early. We left a little after 1500 which was pretty cool. I went to my room and changed for the gym, but decided to go eat first. I ran into PV2 Charlie and our new KATUSA and we all headed to the food court and shared a pizza. I then bought everyone some ice cream for dessert. I picked up some items from the PX and the shoppette before heading back to my room. In order to miss the gym rush hour I decided to watch an episode of Falling Skies, then do some schoolwork before heading to the gym. Once back I watched an NCIS: LA.

Status of my PCS move: I sent an email this morning to S1 asking for the status of my orders. I received a reply stating that "since my DEROS is in November, they will look into it for me". Well no crap I'm leaving in November, I've been trying to get everything in order for months now. The army moves at a snails pace. I also learned that the lady who is working on my packet is leaving and was told who is replacing her. This can either be a good thing or a bad thing, I guess time will tell.

Things That Go Bump on the Door - (Korea) Day 332

I heard a rumor that we were going to have another room inspection today by our first sergeant. I never believe rumors anymore, but sure enough someone was banging on my door at 0500. They didn't say anything and I didn't answer it. They banged on my door a couple more times, but I just laid in my bed. If they can't tell me in advance to be ready by a certain time, then don't expect me to be. Also if you're going to bang on the door say something like "hey this is sergeant John Doe…open up for inspection". How am I to know that you're not just some person just being a jackass? Have I mentioned lately that I really hate living in the barracks?

Work call was at 0830 and I arrived, checked my email and then watched a little TV until it was time to setup for a meeting in our conference room. I had everyone clean up a bit and then we setup. SPC Mick stayed up in the control room to flip slides while the rest of us headed down to setup for another peculiar meeting. I'm not sure why we were doing this one because it's not one of the generals that we support and it's not in any of our conference rooms. Who really cares though…I'm just  a private I do what I'm told.

SPC Roy's major in his office was having a computer problem and he asked if I could come take a look. I was hoping my demigod card would have it's admin powers in his OU, but unfortunately it lost all it's powers when I took it away from my small network. I was unable to help them out. I was rewarded anyway with my choice of hot dog, chili, with a number of sides. I chose a bowl of rice covered with chili…so good and also reminds me of my wife. Poor SPC Roy is in the process of trying to lose weight. He's going about it the wrong way, but he wants results fast. He's basically starving himself and only drinking a ton of water and smoking a lot. He is also wearing some sort of waist belt that helps him sweat a lot in that area. He has to sit in that office while all this food is cooking (all for a fund raiser).

I headed to my room for the rest of my lunch break and video chatted with my wife for a while. Once back at work I was able to do a little more IMO work. I had to restore my NCOIC's personal folders for her Outlook. Her current folders got corrupt and she lost a ton of data. She was freaking out. Luckily I made a backup about a week ago when I moved her to a new machine. So when I restored her files she thought I was freakin' awesome. I then headed over to our protocol office and helped the director over there get his computer squared away. He had some settings he needed changed, but needed an admin in order to do so.

Once back at the office our NCOIC tells me and PV2 Charlie to run to the company and get some shower curtains and that they are giving them out first come first served. We both need them because our current curtains are getting moldy. Not sure what it is about the old barracks, but mold definitely likes it here. When we arrived at the barracks we had to answer 20 questions and then the first sergeant wanted to actually see us. When she asked about our current curtains we told her the condition…then she looks at me and says "I don't remember seeing you this morning". Oh Crap! I told her that nobody told me which is actually the truth. I only heard a rumor that she may come and do an inspection, but was never told a time or anything. She then gave us the curtains. She had paid for them out of her pocket which is why she didn't want to just hand them out to anyone. It's probably a good thing that I got a new one though, mine is starting to show more black mold than it does any other colors…now if only I can get my roommate to spread it open when he finishes showering maybe it will dry between uses.

We then cleaned up and everyone went home except me at 1600. I volunteered to stay a little longer until a meeting was finished in our conference room so I could shut everything down and lock up. I ended up leaving about 1630, still early…but not early enough to hit the gym right away without running into rush hour. I eat dinner at the food court and then watch a CSI: Miami in my room. I then worked on schoolwork before heading to the gym and working out. Once finished I watch an episode of The Ultimate Fighter and then call it a night.

PCS Move Update: Not a whole lot going on. I sent S1 an email today asking if there has been any update or change in the status of my paperwork. They had sent everything to Germany to get everything approved so I can take my wife. I received an email back saying they haven't heard anything yet. I wasn't expecting anything yet, but it was worth a try. I'll check back next week.

Driving Angry - (Korea) Day 326

Work call was scheduled to be 0900, so I woke up and was planning a long video chat with my wife, then I see my phone rang while I was in the shower. A few minutes later it rings again and I find out i have to come in as soon as possible to drive everyone to the range. So much for a nice relaxing morning. I headed into work and after waiting around for about a half hour I find out nobody will be going to the range because the arms room would not check out weapons to anyone in our office…lol.

I headed to the conference control room and watched some TV. I then checked my email and found that I received a reply from S1 concerning my status request on my orders. They said since I want to take my family that I need some extra forms, then listed forms I sent to the company. I guess they didn't pass them along when they put in my request. Luckily I had digital copies of all the needed forms and replied with them attached. WTF? Sometimes I think Murphy's Law is all about me. They said they will forward along the information to Germany…now I wait…again. I'll check back next Thursday for a status update to see if they've heard anything. I watch some more TV.

I head to lunch and video chat with my wife, then head back to the office and watch some more TV until it's time to setup for our only meeting of the day. Our KATUSA calls "stand-by" for the last time in his army career. Today will be his last day at work. He'll be going on leave, then when he comes back he'll be out-processing. He's been so happy all day long. His two years of virtual slavery is finally almost over.

I then did some IMO work helping our admin office setup a couple of new monitors and then I watched as the tech from the secret network worked on our colonel's laptop. I did some basic troubleshooting yesterday, but couldn't do much more without any elevated privileges. He troubleshooted for about an hour and then decided to take the laptop to re-image it. I'm glad it wasn't anything simple…makes me look a little better!

We then cleaned up and I headed back to my room where I ate dinner and watched a movie called "Drive Angry". I strange action movie about a guy who escapes hell to revenge the death of his daughter and save his grandchild. Not very realistic, but entertaining. After that I did my schoolwork and then called it a night.

More Frustration - (Korea) Day 318

Work call this morning was at 0645, we setup for a KUB in our conference room. After setup, I headed to Starbucks to get some coffee and a bagel for breakfast. I forgot to bring in my granola nut mix….grrrr. I guess I just wasn't quite awake when I left my room. When I got back to the office I had my breakfast and watched a little TV until the meeting started. After that I headed to my office and checked my email.

Once the meeting was over we cleaned up and then I worked with people in our office on getting them through the email pre-migration checklist. I then headed to my room for lunch and a little video chat. Unfortunately I got called back into the office before my lunch break was over, so it cut our video chat time a little short.

Back at the office I had to setup our conference room for an unexpected meeting. Donald Rumsfeld (the former secretary of defense under George W. Bush) was on post for a book signing and he had a little question and answer session with some of the officers in our building. I don't know too much about the guy, but I thought it was nice he stopped at the door and took time to shake my hand before heading in the conference room.

I then took our new KATUSA and PV2 Charlie to try and get a security card in order to access the secret conference room. What a nightmare! We've been trying to get them access for a couple weeks now and have been given the run-around. This time was no different, when I went down armed with memos for their badges I was told they don't have anything to do with it anymore. If anyone did help out from their office before, they were just being nice. I was a little frustrated and found myself called into the LTC's office along with one of their workers. I had to listen to this guy go on and on about how things have changed blah blah blah. The guy would not stop talking and all I could do was say "yes sir" and "no sir". What's worse is we left the place not knowing where to even go from this point on. Our NCOIC made some calls and now we have plans to go to another shop tomorrow. What a pain in the neck. When I got mine it was such a piece of cake.

By this point I'm already pretty frustrated and I had to head over to the company to drop off my levy packet. My NCOIC thought it would be a good idea if I turned in the actual paperwork as well as her email. This way we can make sure the documents don't just sit in someone's email box. Great…I thought the process was started, but it turns out I may still be at square one with this issue. On my way over to the company I ran into SPC Roy who wanted to take a look at my packet. He found a number of errors and offered to help. He does this kind of stuff all the time, but when I was gathering all my stuff together he was on leave. He straightened me out and told me all the extra forms I needed before turning in the packet. I'm thankful for his help, but I'm frustrated beyond belief at how little anyone is told here on how to do anything. I had no idea of all the different forms I needed in order for the packet not to get sent back for various reasons. The company only told me the bare minimum. One of the forms I needed was a leave form and it had to get signed and approved by my NCOIC. With any leave form you need to add your LES, PT Card, and Weapons card. I was able to get everything needed and ready to go by 1600, but by then everyone at the company is gone. I will have to turn it in tomorrow morning.

We cleaned up and everyone left around 1645. I stayed back for about an hour helping Special K study for the promotion board. By the time I got back to my room it was a little too late to work out. I did my schoolwork instead and then watched a Vampire Diaries and a CSI Miami. An end to a very frustrating day. I'm just so pissed that things can't be normal and easy in the army. Why do they have to make things difficult? How hard would it be to have things documented? There should be a clear concise procedure in order to get access cards to this place. Even more amazing is the issues with the levy packet. Why isn't there a website or a checklist somewhere that all soldiers must do at certain times before they leave. Instead we are left to fend for ourselves finding out little scraps of information from whoever will give it. We then have to try and find out what is good information and what is bad information. It's all pretty stupid!

Which leaves me to the status of my PCS: I'll turn in my "real" final packet tomorrow to the company and then who knows. I'm going to try and forget about it for a while after that. It's just too stressful.

Holding Pattern - (Korea) Day 317

What I thought was a pretty neat tribute to Steve Jobs while walking near Myeongdong
yesterday at a store called "Willy's", which is not quite an Apple Store, but they are
an authorized Apple reseller...and try to make their store similar to the real Apple stores.

Work call this morning was at 0645. We setup for a KUB in the top secret conference room. Once that was done I headed to Starbucks to grab some coffee. The other guys headed to the DFAC for breakfast. Back in my office I had my grande mocha and my "breakfast on the go nut and granola mix". These days we have early meetings I don't eat a normal breakfast.

I then checked my email and also sent one off to the specialist at our company asking him what the usual wait time is for a person to get their orders, once the levy packet is turned in. After that I headed down to the secret conference room with PV2 Charlie to setup for our normal Wednesday morning meeting. He's going to be taking over for me which means he'll be in charge of this meeting. He's seen it run a couple of times and this time I let him run the show and just supervised. It went off without a hitch. Next week I'll have him use his login and do it from scratch with minimal supervision by me.

Once finished we cleaned up and had to setup for another meeting in our conference room. PV2 Charlie flipped the slides while I went to my office and did some prep work for the upcoming email migration. There is a number of pre-migration checklists that all our users are supposed to finish before Friday. I sent everyone instructions, but I am also planning on visiting each user's computer to make sure this has been done.

Once the meeting was over we took off for lunch. I headed to my room and video chatted with my wife. After lunch I had PV2 Charlie work on some other miscellaneous items making sure he knew what he was doing. Seems strange now that I've finally got everything down, I'm training someone to take over.

I then went to our admin office and worked with our IMO to get her mailbox through the pre-migration checklist. It's funny that she's an IMO, because she doesn't really know too much about computers. She was only made IMO because they needed another higher ranking person to be an IMO as well. I then went to our main office and helped the folks that were there get through the checklist. I'll be doing this as well tomorrow because of the missing people.

We left about 1630 after cleaning up and I headed to my room to change and work out at The Point. This would be my last trip to The Point to work out. The weather is starting to get a bit cooler, so the walk to and from is a bit chillier. Trent Gym which has been under renovation for a while is finally open once again, and it is located almost right across the street from my barracks so there is no reason for me to keep paying to attend The Point…even though I've really enjoyed working out there.

I ate dinner in my room and watched the TV show Terra Nova. A new series that looks interesting. I'll have to watch a few episodes, but it has lots of futuristic gadgets, guns, and dinosaurs…what's not to like?

I started class once again now that my tuition assistance with the army has reset. I plan on taking one more class before I take another break during my transition to my new unit in Germany. Once I get settled in there I'll resume classes.

Status of my PCS: Right now I'm in the waiting mode. I've sent the email to the company just to ask about an ETA on my orders, but haven't heard anything yet. I've heard from various people that it can take a couple weeks. Until I actually get my orders we are stuck in waiting mode. We cannot do anything without orders now. So here I find myself waiting once again on the army. I have about a month and a half left here in Korea and I know this time is going to fly by.

RIP Steve Jobs - (Korea) Day 311

This morning work call was at 0730. We had to turn on the system and open up our conference room. After everything was ready, I took off to Starbucks to get my morning coffee. Once back I did my usual morning email check and found that finally the folks from Ft. Lewis emailed the DA Form 5888 that I needed for my wife's health screening. I then went about printing out and getting everything ready to turn in my packet so I can finally get the process started to get my orders.

I then worked on a Windows 7 SkillPort before setting up a meeting in the secret conference room. Once finished I headed up and out of the blue heard the news about Steve Jobs death. I knew he was sick, but I didn't think it was going to happen so soon. He was a great man that really changed the world with his innovative ideas and his relentless drive. What a loss. We all ended up just watching the news for a while soaking it all in.

We then cleaned up the meeting and headed to lunch. I video chatted with my wife for a while and headed back to the office. I gathered all the paperwork and forms for my packet and headed to the company to turn them in. When I arrived there was only KATUSAs there, everyone else was either at lunch or doing a check at CP Tango. Grrrr. I wasn't about to leave something this important in the hands of KATUSAs. They have a habit of losing things and don't inspire much confidence when talking to them. Of course that is just a generalization…our KATUSA is actually a very good and hard worker.

I was going to head back after an hour or two, but our NCOIC said I should just send them digitally. That will leave a record and there will always be digital copies if something goes wrong. She then said to send them to her so she could send them and let them know it's urgent, so I can get the orders earlier. I'm hoping that is the case. I scanned all the documents and then sent them all to her…we'll see how it goes.

She then wanted to switch laptops with one that had just been imaged. Then I would image her old laptop sometime before a new person comes. What should've taken a few minutes just copying her profile to the server and then to the new laptop took much longer. I should know better than to ever think a simple I.T. project is going to be so easy. When I switched the laptops I had no network connection at all. I thought something crazy like her cable went bad or something. I tried another network cable and still couldn't get it to work. Finally I asked another I.T. civilian across the hall if he had any ideas and he said he would check it out. Well after some digging he found that the network folks decided to implement some increased security and will only allow one physical computer to each network connection. In the past we've moved computers from station to station without issues, but now we'll have to call the help desk and give them the MAC address of the machine so they can update the switch before it will work in another port. I'm all for security, but I wish they would have passed out this information so I wouldn't have wasted so much time troubleshooting.

Once that issue was fixed I had my NCOIC up and running in the few minutes that I originally planned. She then said she would email my packet to the company, but first she was going to do a surprise room inspection in all of our rooms because she forgot yesterday. We were not allowed to go clean up or anything. My room was a little unorganized, but not too bad…well at least not my side. My NCOIC said if my roommate doesn't start cleaning up and at least taking out his trash bag on a daily basis she's going to talk to his sergeant major and I will also get smoked. WTF? I am not going to clean his side of the room, I'll tell him to clean from now on…but I'd rather do some push-ups and stuff than clean up his crap. Also when our NCOIC tried to check our bathroom the light didn't work. Great…now we have no light in the bathroom. I'm so ready to get out of these crappy old barracks. I tried calling maintenance, but nobody would answer the phone…wonder how long this is going to take. It's going to be difficult to shower and shave…and poop in the pitch black.

I changed and headed to The Point to workout. After the workout I made sure to take a nice thorough shower, that way I will not need to take one in the morning. I think I can manage shaving in the morning with the door open and the room lights on. When I got back to my room I ate dinner and watched The Ultimate Fighter. After that I finished the finally Windows 7 SkillPort I needed to do. I'm now ready to go for the class at the end of the month. I finished up the night with an episode of Vampire Diaries. Can't help watching that one, my wife and kids all watch it…so I have to keep up on what's going on. :)

Status of my PCS: (Decided to start using the correct terminology…PCS is what it's called when we move from one assignment to another "Permanent Change of Station"). My stress level is down quite a bit now that I received the paperwork that my wife needed to get done. I've turned in everything that I needed to do. Now it's just a waiting game on the company and asking my NCOIC to get updates for me at certain intervals. Since I was able to do all that my stress level is now only about a 4 or so, but that will start to elevate as time goes on until I get my orders.

Pizza Party!! - (Korea) Day 45

The very cool PCS gift SPC Short received at the pizza party

Work call this morning was 0830. We had a meeting to setup for at 0930, after that the day was clear as far as meetings go. During the meeting I was in the control room making sure nothing went wrong. The microphones we have out on the tables are little omnidirectional ones. They work and pick up all the people around them, but they sit on top of the table which is glass and a lot of times there is feedback. I have to listen and slowly turn down the microphones if it starts getting bad as was the case during this meeting.

I had the TV on as well in the control room watching some college basketball. It's funny how every commercial they show here is either for something on post, or a public service announcement…don't steal from the PX, be aware of spies when off post, don't drink and be stupid, sexual assault is bad…etc. The commercials are low budget and very cheesy. They throw in little news bits now and then just to mix it up a bit I guess.

After the meeting I had to do some more mandatory training with the rest of the office. Similar to the human trafficking training we did the other day, there were slides and we all took turns reading the content. The training was on spies and how we have to be very careful about what we post online and who and what we say when talking to people. I paid close attention to this since I actually do blog online, of course I don't put any sensitive information in my journal…but I still have to think twice when posting anything. We then did training on drugs and specifically Oxycontin. I guess there has been a problem lately with people abusing this drug. It is being randomly checked for in the urinalysis tests. The last training was on underage drinking and binge drinking. Don't do it was the basic message. Don't drink if you're underage and don't supply alcohol to minors, you can get into big trouble for it.

For lunch we had a pizza party in the protocol office. There is a sergeant who is retiring and of course SPC Short is leaving Korea. There were some speeches made and some pretty cool awards given out. The funny thing is that SPC Short got a very nice gift from everyone in the unit, the sergeant who has been in for 20 years and is retiring got a very small one. I guess he isn't well liked.

After the pizza party I turned in two certificates of completion for some SkillPorts to my sergeant. He said we were going to get a negative counseling statement if we didn't do at least two SkillPorts each week. That is some good encouragement to get them done I guess, and it's only benefiting us in the future.

After work I hung out in the barracks for a bit and ate dinner. SPC Short gave me a call and said he took his PT test again after work and finally passed! This was great news because he is leaving next Wednesday. He has an award waiting for him as well that he would only get if he passed his test. I went over and hung out with him for a bit and congratulated him. He is very excited to finally go home and spend time with his family.

Later on in the night the young hawaiian called and asked if I wanted to head out to Itaewon. I said sure and called PV2 Pickle to see if he wanted to join us. We all ended up leaving a little after 2200. It was very cold…so cold our faces started to go numb. I think this will end up being a lot more fun in the warmer months of the year. We still had fun even though we wound up getting totally lost venturing off the main road and going up and down a few alleys. We had to use the young hawaiian's GPS to find our way back. We ended up going to a bar called "Rock and Roll Bar". I thought it was very cool. It was an intimate bar with a pool table at the end. The music they played was great (lots of 80s to present rock). The music was also not too loud, it was nice to be able to talk to the people next to you without yelling. And perhaps best of all…the pool table was free to play. We drank and played pool until we realized that it was already after 0200. There is no last call in Itaewon. We finished our beers and headed out. The guys were hungry so we stopped at a street vendor and picked up some sort of meat on a stick…not sure exactly what it was, but it was good. We also ended up going in the McDonalds on the way back. I didn't get anything…I couldn't find their 1000 Won menu. PV2 got a special Big Mac that had bacon on it…how cool is that?

We made our way back to the barracks and after finding out that 2 of the gates were closed we finally found a way in. It was a long cold walk, but we all had a good time. I think it was almost 0400 before I got in bed. I think we'll have to start a little earlier next time for sure!

The Flight - (Korea) Day 1

A picture from my window seat after we landed in Korea.

It kind of looks like a prison...hmmm

We boarded a big Boeing 747 plane and I was glad that there was a blanket and pillow on the seat…it turned out to get pretty cold in the middle of the flight. I'm also glad I brought a little U-shaped blow up pillow. That thing turned out to be awesome and after you take all the air out of it, I was able to store it in my pocket. I was very lucky to get seated in an exit row. This row had more leg room than I've ever had on a plane. I swear I could have laid down on the floor and took a nap there was so much room. Speaking of naps, I ended up sleeping quite a bit on the flight. I was drifting in and out of consciousness the whole flight. Each time I opened my eyes there was a different movie or TV show playing. One of the times I woke up just in time to get served food. Imagine that…getting free food on an airplane. I haven't had that happen in a long time. Chicken with some pasta in a white sauce…not too bad. Ironman 2 was playing, but I have already seen that movie. After that Toy Story 3 came on which is a movie I want to see, but I wanted to see it uninterrupted so I just listened to my music and fell asleep again. I'll be able to enjoy that movie at a later date.

We landed in Japan at Yakota air base. Everyone had to get off the plane at this point. Those who were staying in Japan went to one room and the rest of us went into another. We waited for a couple of hours I guess for the crew to clean the plane and unload some of the luggage. After that we were loaded back into it. The flight to Korea was almost two hours. This was enough time for them to show Alice in Wonderland, I did the same thing I always did and just fell asleep.

We arrived at Osan Air Base in Korea where we all unloaded and then had a customs brief. We had to fill out some forms stating that we were not bringing anything illegal into the country such as swords. Just in case you had a sword or other contraband such as drugs, guns or porno, there was a box where you could drop it all off before going through customs. Once through we boarded three buses that took us to Yongson base. The ride was an hour or so. For most of the trip I just stared out the window looking at the landscape, the architecture, and all the signs that had crazy writing on them that I couldn't read. Holy cow I'm in Korea!

Once we arrived on base we were all given a brief and had to fill out a few forms. We were then given a room in a hotel on base. This was nice, I was able to take a shower and then grab a bite to eat. My first meal in Korea…a personal pizza from the Pizza Hut in the hotel! I plan on experiencing the food and everything that Korea has to offer, but just not today. I am tired and I just wanted to grab a quick bite and get back to my room to crash. I have to be up tomorrow at 6:30 AM for breakfast, then it's a day of in-processing. The strange thing is that the uniform tomorrow is civilian clothes…interesting…but I'm not complaining.

We had a great view of Mt. Fuji while flying over Japan

robbijaq@comcast.net

I wish you the best of luck as well as the best of everything else.  I have been tracking your progress since the beginning and have been extremely grateful for all that you've shared.  My 18-year old son started basic at Ft. Benning around the time you were leaving there and your writings have been very insightful to me, and I can't tell you how much I appreciated them.  You assisted me in my quest to become a knowlegeable and good soldier's Mom.  I shall keep you, your wife and children and all your families (yours, your wife's and your Army family) in my daily prayers as you begin this new journey as a well-trained brave American soldier.  "Thank you" are two very small words but filled with an overflow of gratitude for you and all soldiers in all branches of the military.  Do take care.

Wednesday, December 1, 2010 - 05:54 AM

Rick Clark

Thanks so much for the updates, I'm a 36 year old contemplating joining the Army and these journal entries have been awesome.  Thank you and good luck in Korea!

Wednesday, December 1, 2010 - 07:45 AM

Brandon

Thank you both for the comments. I started the journal because I myself was trying to find information about what it's like going through basic and just being in the regular army. I thought it may be a good resource for others and it gives my friends and family timely updates on what I've been doing. I think it also is a great way for me to vent sometimes to relieve some stress :) The updates may be a little sporadic at times until I get into some permanent party barracks here and get internet in my room.

Your thanks are very much appreciated. I never realized all the sacrifices our military personnel made until I joined myself.

robbijaq* I wish your son the best of luck and thank him for his service to our country.

Rick - It's been quite a ride so far. I'm glad I've been able to give you some insight as to what it's like. Let me know if you do decide to go in :)

Thursday, December 2, 2010 - 11:48 PM

Saying Good-Bye is Never Easy (Korea) Day 0

Today started off like every other day for the past couple of weeks…sleeping in with my wife by my side. The only thing different was that I knew this would be the last time for a while that this would happen. I had a nice breakfast made for me by my beautiful wife, then I just kind of hung out for a while taking it easy. For lunch I had an awesome pizza from Papa Murphy's called the "bacon bacon bacon" pizza. With that kind of name you cannot go wrong! We did all my laundry and then started getting everything out of my bags so I could re-pack it. I laid it all out and then had to carefully pack everything I could into my duffle bag, my luggage bag and my laptop bag. After a couple of times pulling things out and re-arranging I was able to get about 95% of everything I wanted in them. I made sure I had my orders and all my paperwork that I needed in my carry on bag (the laptop bag). After some tearful goodbyes to my wife's family I headed over to visit my mom and sister before we headed to the airport. My mom and sister gave me some comfort candy to take with me on the plane :) (they know me too well). We left there about 7:30 to make sure I had plenty of time to get to the airport which is about an hour away. Even though the flight out is at 3:00 AM, I had to arrive and check in six hours in advance. I'm sure there is a reason for this, but it just seems like some more "hurry up and wait" that seems to be the army's motto. At the very end of the check-in terminals is where everyone for the chartered military flight was checking in. For the most part it was very similar to any other check-in only I needed to show my orders and they had to check me off a list. They took my bags and weighed them, then we were off to the gate. My wife was able to get a pass to the gate, then came and hung out with me for about three hours. That was a great surprise. I wasn't sure how far they would let her go because of security and such. Saying good-bye was tough. I hate that so much. It kills me to see my wife cry and there is nothing I can do to fix it. It's times like these when I wonder again "Why did I join the army?". Right now I'm still in the terminal at 1:27AM with a guy who is also a 25B heading to Korea. I went to basic with him (a terminator) and he also of course went to AIT with me at Fort Gordon. Nice to see a familiar face. There are people laying about the terminal trying to catch a little sleep before the flight. There are mostly military personnel, but there are also dependents flying as well. The flight is going to be long, hopefully I can get quite a bit of sleep while on the plane.