No More TA - (Germany) Day 436

This morning we had PT at Campbell gym. The normal folks did step aerobics while those of us on profile went to the gym and worked out. I did my usual weight machine routine, but it seems like it's not so usual anymore. Something always seems to be coming up on the days I normally do weights, so when I do end up doing them it turns out to be pretty tough.

I headed to work this morning and after checking in with the chaplain, I headed over to SATO. This is the travel agency on post that does both official travel as well as travel for fun. I brought the required 3 copies of my orders and was able to get my itinerary for my flight back home in July. I then headed to the out-processing center. My orders state that I needed to head there immediately upon receipt of my orders, but when I arrived they said to come back April 15th.

I headed back to my office, checked emails, and surfed the web for a bit. I then headed home for lunch. When I arrived back at work I did a little more revising of my "to do" list. I want to make sure I get everything done as soon as possible when it comes to getting out of here. With the post shutting down for good, it may prove to be a little difficult if I wait until the last minute to do everything. We received official notice that because of sequestration, the army is suspending all TA (tuition assistance). I have already signed up for my next class and actually planned on not resuming after that until I arrive in Ft. Lewis. Hopefully by then they will have the budget issues all figured out. TA is a great benefit to soldiers. Soldiers can use TA to pay for college while serving. It's free and soldiers can use up to $4,500 a year for this purpose. I've been using it quite a bit and now have only 7 classes left until I get my degree. I just hope I can finish it up before I get out.

I spent the rest of the day studying for my Apple re-certification and doing some general web surfing. Not a whole lot going on…just waiting to get the weekend started.

Got Orders? - (Germany) Day 434

This morning PT was at Campbell gym in civilian clothes. The normal folks went for a run off post, while those of us on profile worked out in the gym. I rode the stationary bike and chatted with SPC Mac the entire time. We are both on what we call the "WTU Train" (Warrior Transition Unit) going through the medboard process.

When I came to work I went through all my emails and filled out some required medboard paperwork that the transition office requested. I chatted with the chaplain and did some more admin work for him. Before I left for a hearing appointment, I took the transition paperwork to our S1 shop and dropped it off for them to sign. My MedPro status had changed earlier from green to red because I needed a hearing test done. I need to have everything green in order to put in for a pass or leave, so I wanted to get this taken care of as soon as possible. The last time I went, I couldn't find anyone there. This time the door was unlocked to the audiology office, but when I stepped in it looked like a ghost town. There was nothing in the room except some sparse furniture and phone wires with no phones attached. At this point I started to get a little worried that I may have to head to Landstuhl in order to get this hearing test done. I went to the information desk and inquired about it. The guy made a call, then escorted me to an unmarked door where a man greeted me and started the process. Strange that they would not put a sign up or something, but no worries…I'm there and ready to get this done with.

The hearing test was a standard test…put on some headphones and listen to beeps, clicking a button each time one is heard. My hearing has degraded since my last test in basic which is no surprise. I'm older and have heard a lot of loud noises while in the army. I got my slip stating that I had my test done, then headed home for lunch.

Once back at work I went by S1 and picked up my paperwork. I then headed over to the reassignment office to turn all the paperwork in. To my surprise they already had my orders ready. The guy gave me multiple copies and wished me luck. It seems that much more official now that I finally have orders to Ft. Lewis! I then went back to my office and started making an electronic checklist of everything that I need to do both at work, for my PCS, and the passes and leave I want to take. There is a lot of stuff and I want to stay organized and on top of it all.

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

Gear Turn in Day (Basic Training) Day 69

This entry was a little delayed...the letter took a while to reach it’s destination, but it did finally arrive

This morning I almost had to get up at 4:40am… oh what a bummer. I've grown to love the days we get to sleep in until 6:00am. They wanted the 4 tallest people in our platoon and had me down as one of them. I made sure or PG knew that I was like the 6th or 7th tallest and named everyone that was taller. So I was able to sleep in after all...LOL.

After breakfast the company had to all go to the classroom and we were given our orders for AIT and copies of all our paperwork that has been done. We verified the info on it and when we got back to our bay we had to turn it in to our DS so it got filed away with all my other paperwork. 

We then listened to the radio and cleaned our rifles until lunch, a little while after lunch our company went and turned in all the gear we were issued when we arrived here so long ago. It was a long hot process. The weather was hot and humid… the norm at Ft. Benning in the summer. We had a big duffel bag full of crap and the rucksack full or crap. We had to wait in line outside the big warehouse (in the hot sun) and slowly, but surely make our way through the return process. The horror stories the DS kept telling us about everything being thoroughly checked and sent back were a little over blown. The people there have so much to process, they could only give everything a quick "once over". Our platoon had nothing sent back.

We then came back to the bay and cleaned our rifles some more. We also pinned on our rank and stuff to our class B uniforms. Then we got dressed from the top up in our Class A uniforms. So we had on the shirt & jacket with tie along with PT shorts and tennis shoes it looked pretty funny. I ended up having to help out a lot of guys with their ties. I guess being the older guy they all came to me. LOL.  We did this because we had to get our pictures taken (from the waste up). Unfortunately, they didn't give us much time before the pictures, so I didn't have a chance to shave. I had the complete 6:00 shadow. We'll see how the pics turn out.

Later on in the night, PVT Lurch started screaming at our PG. Lots of words were exchanged and PVT Lurch's face was all red… our APG had to take him outside to cool him off. Turns out it was about fireguard shifts and sleep.

Speaking of sleep, I'm gonna get some now… we had to stay up late cleaning tonight. 

Random DS Quote: "Oh My God… Did you put butt juice in there?" ( Our cool DS talking to a guy after inspecting his rifle).