Snow Again - (Germany) Day 440

This morning for PT we were supposed to go to Patton gym, but as I arrived everyone was being told to head back home, grab our dog tags, then head to the S-1 shop with our ID and dog tags because they are doing a PAI (Personnel Asset Inventory). This is a basically a process where everyone has to report, show their ID and dog tags, then sign next to their name. Why they chose to do it right when PT was about to start I don't know. So I head home, grab my dog tags, then head to Campbell Barracks which is where our S-1 shop is located. Once there they said it was changed to just a roll call, so after they marked me down I headed to Campbell gym to try and get a little workout in. Not too long after I started riding my stationary bike, our platoon sergeant came in and had everyone head back to S-1 once again. It seems that it wasn't just a roll call, it was indeed a PAI. So we all got in line and showed our dog tags, ID, then found our name on the roster and initialed next to it after verifying our personal information. We were then supposed to head back to the gym and finish our workout. This whole morning has been pretty stupid, I sat on the bike for a bit maintaining a slow peddle for about 10 minutes, then just headed home. Everything is so disorganized and lack of communication is rampant here.

It had started snowing when I had left to PT and it hadn't let up. It seems strange to have it still snowing in March. It continued to snow all day and it was worse up north. The Frankfurt airport cancelled a number of flights and the road conditions at Ramstein and other army posts were red. My day consisted of making a couple flyers for the chaplain, studying for my apple re-certification, and surfing the web trying to pass the time. My big mission of the day came when I headed to Subway and ordered 7 foot long sandwiches for a bible study lunch the chaplain puts on every Tuesday. Besides that I was pretty bored.

Training at Home - (Germany) Day 393

A picture of my company doing LandNav in the snow...
glad I didn't have to participate in this event...lol 

This morning as usual for this week, I drove my wife to work then headed home. I continued on the same training I started yesterday. This is the longest training module I've ever done online. I spent a lot of my morning yesterday on it and today I spent from 0800 until 1115. I finally finished the actual training portion and now have to take the scenario based test, I'll do that tomorrow and hopefully be done with it…then I can move on to the many other modules I still have to complete.

I ate lunch at home and then headed into my office where I did schoolwork until it was time to hit the gym. As I was heading into the gym I ran into SPC Mac and we chatted a bit. It turns out they had sergeant's time training in Landstuhl today and it was LandNav in the snow. He put up some photos on Facebook and everyone looks pretty cold, I'm glad I was never called to join them! Being away from the ComSec office and working with the chaplain has eased my frustration quite a bit. I used to get mad at every stupid thing that came up. Tomorrow is my last day on this great schedule where I get to stay at home until after lunch…I'm going to miss it!

Weekend Wrap-Up - (Germany) Day 381 - 382

Just a picture of the snow starting to fall outside our window

Saturday: Today we didn't do a whole lot, it snowed out and we decided not to do any traveling. The only place we went was a local shopping center not too far from post. We were able to pick up some goodies to send friends and family and also grab lunch at one of the little restaurants. We ended up heading over to SPC Mac's house to hang out for a while. He had some technical issues with his AppleTV and wanted my expertise. After hanging out for a while (and teaching him everything he needed to know about his AppleTV), we all headed to our CAM's house where we met up with another NCO from the ComSec office and SGT Mex. Our CAM had a bunch of food and drink that we all enjoyed while watching the NFL playoffs. It was a lot of fun hanging out with everyone, because I don't get a chance to see anybody anymore since I've been alienated from our office.

Sunday: This was another one of those lazy days where we just did laundry and watched TV shows all day long. I did take some time and do some research on a lot of the places we would like to check out here in Germany. We decided we're going to try and start doing a lot more road trips and do some more tourist activities while we can, we don't want to waste away our weekends.

Weekend Wrap-Up - (Germany) Day 340 & 341

A view out our window of the new snow

Saturday: Kind of a lonely weekend for me without my wife here. I just cleaned up the house and did laundry all morning, video chatted with my wife and then watched TV until the evening. I met up with SPC Mac at about 1930 and we headed to the bowling alley here on PHV. We had a few beers, played darts, some pool and then watched the SEC football championships…all the typical bar stuff. It was cool to just get out and do something and try to forget about all the drama that has been going on in my life lately. There ended up being a couple others from our platoon there and we all had a good time just hanging out. The game turned out to be pretty good and I didn't have to worry about drinking and driving because we walked there…a good night.

Sunday: A pretty relaxed day, I didn't do much of anything except hang out and watched some basketball on TV. It snowed quite a bit…the first time this season. I try not to think about everything that is going on with the investigation and all, but it's hard not to dwell on it. I did have a chance to video chat with my wife for a bit, it will be nice having her back tomorrow.

No IT for You - (Germany) Day 36

The light dusting of snow we received this morning

This morning I got ready for PT and when I looked out the window I was surprised to see a dusting of snow everywhere. This didn't stop our PT formation, but we did have PT inside (in the racquet ball court) and they also cancelled the scheduled PT test that some in our company were scheduled to take. Our PT this morning was PRT (Physical Readiness Training) which is the newer method of conducting PT and the same method I did in basic and AIT. A lot of units are still working it into their PT schedule and there is a lot of resistance because a lot of soldiers do not think it does much for them, and a lot of others just think it's pretty gay. I was just glad we were inside because it was freakin' cold outside.

Once finished with PT, I was dropped off at my place and had to make a somewhat quick turn-around to get ready and leave. We had to be at the office before 0900 and then head to some training session in our battalion conference room. We arrived in plenty of time and then made our way to the conference room only to see it filled with another meeting. After waiting a bit we were told to come back at 0930, so we all head back to the office and hang out for a bit before heading back. We wait…and wait…and wait, then at almost 1000 we're told that it has been cancelled and to go back to the office. A great waste of time.

In the office we have three machines that are inoperable because they are being migrated to Windows 7. One is a sergeant's machine who is on leave and two others are in our main office, which leaves only one computer for 6 or 7 people. It's great that the army is finally rolling out Windows 7, but however the way they are going about it is pretty bad because the computers were down all last night and all day today.

My big job today was to find a big unused binder and take a huge stack of papers (the entire manual for PRT), then use the 3-hole punch on them before placing them all in the binder. The entire time I was doing this I kept thinking to myself what the heck am I doing? Here I am taking a few sheets of paper at a time, punching holes in them, then placing them in a binder. This has become the extent of my job. I'm a highly qualified I.T. technician with management experience who wanted to serve his country thinking my talents could be put to good use…hold on for a second I have to punch some more holes…I have a number of technical certifications, I have years of experience working with computers…hold on I have some more holes to punch…OK you see where I'm going. I can't believe I'm doing this job, this is such a joke and waste of my time…definitely not anything I had envisioned when I joined the army. In fact I think my previous job in Korea was better. Yes most of it was setting up meetings and serving coffee and water, but at least I was the IMO and I fixed a computer problem here and there. I had the "demigod" card with all the admin rights to all of our computers. People came to me with computer questions all the time. Here…I punch holes in paper and stick them in a binder. Oh yes I also have a lot of paperwork to look forward to doing once I learn the "real" job here…that is all it is…paperwork. I really can't believe I'm in this situation right now. I have no motivation or desire to stay in the army past my contract date, I have no desire to move up past the rank of Specialist. I don't want more crap duties and responsibilities placed on me while still not doing the job I signed up for…..Wow, enough of that…enough complaining…I just had to get that out.

Lunch today was a quick one at the food court and then I joined the guys in a room adjacent to our office that houses a ping pong table. The guys here play a lot of ping pong during their lunch break. I joined in and quickly realized that I was outgunned. Mind you before this moment I thought I was a decent player. I had just come from Korea and I beat two Asians while I was there! In my mind I was even more than decent…I was the great white hope! I stepped up to the table and across from me was a ginger from next door (43rd Signal HHD). We started playing and as I was running all over the place hitting balls everywhere, the ginger calmly stood in the middle of the table returning everything I sent at him. The guy was like Forest Gump! He used all kinds of spin and speed and at the end of the game I counted myself lucky to have even scored 2 points!

The afternoon went by pretty quick, I watched SPC Whirlwind give another security brief to some customers. I will be doing this soon. The first sergeant came in and went over some counseling statements that the NCOs where giving. I am supposed to have an initial counseling soon, but I think my boss has just been too busy. AT 1600 we all started getting into our dress uniforms. We are a mixture of the Class A's (the old green uniform) and the ASU (Army Service Uniform - the newer dress blues). For some reason mine felt a little tight…I'm not sure why :) I still had to finish getting mine ready, then when it was time for me I was docked on my shoes being a little dirty and finger prints on some of the buttons I had just put on. It feels nice to have a couple more ribbons on it though. Last time I wore it I only had the three given to everyone in AIT (Army Service Ribbon, Global War on Terrorism, & National Defense Service Medal). I added the Korea Defense Service Medal and the Overseas Service Ribbon. Not much, but it looks a little better.

Weekend Wrap-Up - (Korea) Days 52-54

A picture inside the IPARK Mall on the camera floor

Friday: Work call today was 8:30. There were no meetings scheduled all day, so I just worked on SkillPorts. We all went over to the snack bar and grabbed lunch to go, then brought it back to our conference room and watched some TV while we ate lunch. Later on I went to the S1 shop at battalion and had them update my ERB (a quick snapshot of your service record). Mine was all messed up, it didn't show hardly anything that it was supposed to have on it. I had them add the three service ribbons that every soldier should have coming out of AIT right now. (Army Service Ribbon, National Defense Service Medal, and the Global War on Terrorism). I also had them add all the info about my associates degree and my security+ certification. I wanted them to add all the hours that I did last year in SkillPort but I guess until the new promotion point system is all switched over they can't do anything. He also told me I will get another ribbon in a month or two for being here in Korea. On the way back into our building the sliding doors were shut for a strange reason. I was told I had to scan my ID card in order to open them…this is something new. I guess they only open the doors for O6 and above, everyone else who's card doesn't work in the front door has to come in the side door. Mine works so I guess I'm special…lol

When I got back I filled out some more paperwork to become the IMO assistant. I'll be able to help out the IMO in the admin office which means I will be able to actually do some computer work now and then. We then headed to the gym for PT. There wasn't any basketball going on so I just did some chest and abs workout. My sergeant asked how I'd like to take the PT test in March…I said that would be fine. He thought it would be a little better because it'll be a little warmer. That's fine with me.

The night consisted of me and the young hawaiian going to the theatre which was packed with what I think was the entire high school student body here on post. We saw The Green Hornet which was a pretty good flick. We had a few laughs then called it a night.

Saturday: My Saturday ritual was a little mixed up today. I slept in of course, but I wasn't able to do my laundry because they were all full. I met up with the young hawaiian and we headed off post to go to the IPARK Mall. This is the same mall we had visited before with PV2 Pickle. The young hawaiian and I thought we would be pretty smart and take the subway this time since it is a bit of a walk. The young hawaiian had ridden it before and said it's pretty easy to figure out. I'm not sure what or how it happened, but we got on a subway train and when we got off instead of being close or even near the mall…we ended up quite a bit farther away. We decided to just walk to it and take the subway when we have a Korean to come with us and guide us until we get a little more experience.

We arrived at the mall starving, so we headed to restaurant row and picked out a place called "Fusion Fried Rice". I had a dish called Pizza Fried Rice...and it was awesome! With our stomachs full we browsed the mall. They have a big open floor plan for all their electronics vendors. There is an entire floor for cameras & MP3 players, 2 floors for computers, a floor for cell phones…this place is crazy! I was looking for a desk lamp so I could get ready a little easier in the morning when my roommate is still sleeping. I found a lot of them, but they were charging 50,000-60,000 Won (roughly $50-$60). We finally found a cheaper model that I got for 15,000 Won after the young hawaiian talked him down from 20,000.

When we left we went through an alley that has a bunch of what I'm told are called "glass houses". This place was less than a block away from the mall right in the middle of town. It is also more than just an alley, it's more like about half a city block. It consists of girls (prostitutes) sitting behind a glass window showing off themselves for people walking by (or driving through the alley). We were both surprised that there were a number of girls already in the windows and it wasn't even night time yet. I pictured them being empty until it was dark and shady out. Anytime one of the women would look at us and smile or wave we would both giggle like little kids and keep walking. It was a very surreal experience. I've read about places like this and even envisioned what they would look like, but I never thought I would see one myself.

After the glass house experience we headed back and I did schoolwork for the rest of the night. I also had a chance to finish my laundry.

Sunday: Did a little cleaning and some SkillPorts as well as some schoolwork along with video chatting with my wife. I spent the entire day inside my barracks. I got a call from my sergeant saying that there would be no PT in the morning because it's snowing…holy cow! I didn't even know it was snowing!! I had just been on the computer alternating between SkillPorts, school, and episodes of season 3 of "Chuck". Our work call is at 1000 tomorrow, but I have to go see if I'm having a driving class at battalion at 0800. Sucks because I would love to be able to sleep in again. If there is no class, then I can head back to my room and wait until the 1000 work call.

A photo half way down the alley with a number of glass houses. You can
see on the right there are a couple that are lit up, they had girls in them.
I tried to get the young hawaiian to pose next to the window, but he
wouldn't do it for some reason.

Here is a photo of what you see in the glass house from the alley. The women
will sit on the chairs waiting for their customers to come by. This one was
busy at the moment behind the closed door...with who I'm assuming is the
owner of the car that was parked here in front of the place.

Snow Day - (Korea) Day 28

A quick photo I took of the snow from the door to my barracks
(didn't go outside with only slippers on)

This morning I woke up as normal and took a quick shower and shaved. What I didn't notice when I got out was that I had already missed 4 calls! Holy cow. I grabbed my iPhone and started checking twitter which I use to keep up on the news both here and back home. I saw a couple of alerts for Yongsan stating that road conditions had been red (which means an O6 or higher needs to sign off on you driving a government vehicle) and were currently amber (which I believe means that you should only drive if it's very important - my interpretation). I still expected that I would be going to work though, I'd just have to safely make my way down the slick road on my feet as usual. I was eating my pop tarts and brewing coffee when my phone rang. SPC Roy was calling me to tell me that as far as him and our sergeant were concerned….The Base Is Closed! Don't come into work, just be available on standby until noon just in case. OK…no problem!

I put these links on my Misc Links page, they are what I check out for notifications and news about Yongsan post.

Facebook:

Yongsan: http://www.facebook.com/youryongsan

USO Korea: http://www.facebook.com/pages/USO-Korea/118439231514980

Twitter:

Yongsan: http://twitter.com/USAGYongsan

USO Korea: https://twitter.com/usokorea

US Army: http://twitter.com/USArmy (Not Yongsan, but generic US Army info)

This meant it was going to be a lazy day. I did some SkillPort (Rosetta Stone) and a lot of video chatting with my wife. Because of the time difference we don't usually get to talk this much. Sometimes we even do other stuff while video chatting, but just having each other on the other end is a nice way to feel close. I watched the movie "Inception". Wow what a mind trip! The movie is about dreams and our perception of reality. It was a pretty cool action packed movie. When I first saw the previews I didn't know if it was a movie I wanted to see. It seemed a little too far out there, but after watching I would say that it was a great movie and I would recommend it to anyone. It keeps you guessing at the end…but for those that haven't seen it yet, I'll leave it at that.