Last Day In The Office - (Korea) Day 352

This morning we had to check in with the company at some point and were told to wait for a call at some point between 0430 and 0730. Once we got the call we had to head to the company and bring our NBC gear, our dog tags, and ID card. I had to change my sleeping habits a little last night because of this. Normally I sleep with my earphones in playing "white noise" from my iPhone. This works great to cancel out all the outside noises, but it also would keep me from hearing my work phone when it rang. So I had to sleep without the headphones…which made sleep not as good as it normally is, especially with my new loud roommate.

I got up and showered, grabbed my pop tarts for breakfast and headed to the company. When I arrived there were about 10-15 people standing outside waiting in line I joined the back of the line and waited. Not too much longer after that I hear in a Mexican accent "Son of Bitch….Shit!" (a sound bite from the old movie "Stripes") over and over again. I quickly grabbed my iPhone and turned off my alarm that I set just in case I didn't get a call this morning…LOL. Once in the company the process went pretty quick, they checked the dog tags and ID, because I already turned in my NBC gear yesterday they just marked me off the list, and finally they had to check my medical status to see if I was overdue on any shots…which I wasn't. I then headed to the office and dropped off my paperwork as well as my pop tarts while I grabbed my mocha from Starbucks. I then ate breakfast in our conference control room while watching a little college basketball. Little did I know this would be my only break until almost 1400. At 0800 we started setting up for meetings in various conference rooms. We would be setting up one meeting and then quickly going to another conference room to setup another. It seemed this was never ending with us either setting up or cleaning up from meetings that finished.

Early on there was a point where I left for a bit and took the office car to 1RC to get my PPD shot checked, it turns out I do not have tuberculosis which is a good thing. 1RC has a medical station, but it also has the installation out-processing office as well, so I was able to pick up my papers from there which was the last of my "to do" list before actually starting the clearing process tomorrow. Once back at work it was non stop action until we finally were able to take a break and leave for lunch at almost 1400. I was absolutely starving! Normally I would eat a small snack from my desk at work, but I actually never had any time to stop and do so. I headed to the food court and picked up a foot long subway sandwich, then headed to my room to video chat with my wife. I swear that a subway sandwich has never tasted so good.

Once back at work we cleaned up from a few meetings that finally ended and then setup for another ceremony in our conference room. We then had to do some deep cleaning in our office because the chief of staff (a two star general) will be coming to visit our colonel. So there was lots of vacuuming, dusting, and windex being sprayed all over. After we finished I also did a little IMO work and helped our new LTC move his files from one computer to another and then get everything setup and configured for him. I then tried to make sure PV2 Charlie was up to date on all the open issues and ticket submitting procedures because this will be my last day in the office. Kind of hard to believe after all this time!

We then had a meeting with our NCOIC before leaving to go over everything. Turns out we will not be having a room inspection tomorrow which is good. I also found out that I will not be able to take my PT test on Friday because my CIF equipment turn in is too early. It's kind of ironic because I am probably in the best shape I've been in since I've been in the army. I've been going to the gym almost everyday and having some great workouts. I feel as though I would definitely blow away my old score…I guess we'll have to wait until my next unit and see if I can stay in shape while eating all the good home cooked meals and exercising a lot less.

We left the office around 1745 and I headed straight to my room. I then went through all my CIF equipment and tried to do my best to sort out what I need to turn back in on Friday. We have a sheet that states what we keep and what we turn in, but somethings are more difficult than others to try and figure out what they are. I was able to get a PDF that had most of the items with a picture and description of them, so I think I'm in pretty good shape.

I then sat back ate a small dinner and watched a couple TV shows to wind the night down. Tomorrow is going to be the beginning of the end of my time here in Korea.

A Catastrophe! - (Korea) Day 190

3 building maintenance workers in our bathroom working on our plumbing nightmare

I have to start back a little bit with this entry…back before I went to sleep last night. As I went in to brush my teeth and get ready for bed I noticed our sink was full of dirty water. I asked my roommate if he poured something funny down the drain like ramen or something. He denied putting anything down it, so I just used the bathtub to brush my teeth and planned on calling building maintenance sometime tomorrow to have a look.

About 2330 or so my roommate wakes me up and states that something "is happening" in the bathroom. I get up and turn on the light to find what looks like a scene from some horror movie taking place. What looks like a long black alien tentacle is flailing about all over in the bathroom and dark water is spewing out all over the place. My roommate was a little worried to say the least. I let him know it was only a snake that plumbers use to clear the drain, but this one had punctured our sink drain and was all over our bathroom. The snake was then pulled back and water started coming out of the hole that it left. I went to the next room over and found the door open with the plumber at work. I told him to come over quick and fix our bathroom. Turns out the lady that lives in the room next to us shares our drain and clogged it all up. The plumber stopped the leak, but said he would have to have more people come in tomorrow morning to fix it. At this point I knew I wouldn't be going on the hike this morning, because I had to be there in the morning for the maintenance crew to come. My roommate had a meeting he had to attend. I decided to set my alarm for 0515 to call my sergeant and let him know I wouldn't be in. I then went back to sleep and woke up about 0715 and waited for the plumbers to arrive.

My roommate's friend came over and saw everything…then slowly stated "It's a catastrophe!" The Plumbers showed up about 0800 and after fighting with the leak and the water they were able to fix and replace what was needed by 1000. I called in and let Special K know I was now going to get ready and would be in shortly. What a crazy night and morning so far!

My sergeant wanted to play basketball, so we left work about 1115 only to find the gym was being used for a ceremony…no basketball today. I went back to my room and had lunch while video chatting with my wife. When I got back to work I did a little SkillPort and a little studying of the army study guide material. Sometimes I think my brain might explode with everything I’m trying to cram in it. After talking with my sergeant I found out that CPT Hooah! didn't even show up this morning for the hike. After all that talk yesterday, he didn't even show up. I told my sergeant that he shouldn't even bring it up when he's around.

I headed over to our battalion to visit the MedPros office. I went there because I received an email a week or so ago letting me know that I was due for my next anthrax booster. When I arrived, they informed me that I needed my tuberculosis shot as well. So a KATUSA working there gave me my shots, I had to hold some gauze over the anthrax shot for a while because I'm a bleeder. I then checked about my vision and was told I could make an appointment at the optometrist to get my eyes checked and get new glasses. That's good because my civilian glasses are all scratched up. So I called and made an appointment for next Tuesday. I also have to come back to MedPros in two days to have them check on my tuberculosis shot.

When I got back to the office we setup for today's only meeting, a KUB in the top secret conference room. Then Special K arrived with a van full of office supplies that I helped unload. I watched a little news before leaving to clean up the meeting and then the office.

Back in my room it was dinner and some TV shows as usual. I finished my class yesterday, so I'm taking a little break tonight. This last class has been the most difficult I've had. I know I would have done much better if it were in a traditional classroom, but just online was tough. It seemed all my individual projects were ripped apart by the instructor. My learning team was the worst I've ever had. There was only one other person that did anything. One person quit and the other two were worthless. I just hope we get at least a C on the project, because I need a C overall in order to have the army pay for it. I never thought this would be anything I'd ever have to worry about. I'm looking forward to starting over now with this next class!

POR Shots (AIT - Fort Gordon) Day 124

Outside of the medical clinic I saw some random soldier asleep.
That can't be comfortable!

Today’s PT consisted of circuit training. Normally circuit training is a piece of cake and all is well, but today we had the very de-motivational sergeant that has come a few times in the past. I swear this sergeant is the worst one on post. He is just horrible. Everyone hates this guy. So my day started off pretty crappy just dealing with this sergeant and it made me start off the day demotivated. It was one of those days I just didn’t feel like doing all the army things...I just wanted to hang out in my room and maybe watch a movie or two. 

Class was pretty boring in the morning...so boring in fact that PFC Metal created a projectile weapon out of his mechanical pencil. He then became a sniper and started shooting people in class which was pretty funny. The things we do to entertain ourselves...lol

After lunch me and all the others in our class that are going overseas (with last names starting with M-Z) had to go to the medical clinic for shots. We arrived and were given a small brief to let us know what we needed to do. I had to go to the lab for some blood work. I then had to get smallpox, typhoid, and anthrax shots. The smallpox shot will end up turning into a blister on my arm and then fill with puss. It sounds pretty crazy what we have to do after this shot. We have a bandage that we leave on for three days and then we change it daily after that. We are supposed to take the used bandage and put it in a baggy with some bleach to keep it from spreading. We also can’t be around kids under 1 year old and a host of other warnings and precautions. Holy Cow! We have to go back in a week and have it checked out. Right in the middle of this with about 40 people in the clinic they had a fire drill of all things. We all had to go out wait for a specified period of time before going back in. 

After we finished at the medical center the young Hawaiian and I went to the IET center. There wasn’t enough time to head back to the schoolhouse, so we hung out in the IET center for a bit and then went to the DFAC to eat dinner.

Tonight we had yet another mandatory training. It was the last in the series that we’ve been doing for the last few weeks. This one had to be the best though! We learned how stress is bad for us and how to deal with it. He had everyone close their eyes and take some deep breaths, it was the first time during training we could close our eyes and relax without having to worry about a sergeant yelling at us....lol

We were told after training that Charlie doesn’t have any PT tomorrow, instead we have some sort of accountability over at the company. All we know is that we have to be in ACUs in formation at 4:30 in the morning. I’m glad we don’t have PT because my right arm where they gave me the two shots is pretty sore, it hurts every time I move it.

When we arrived back at RBK we found out we have a formation tonight at 20:30. WTF?? I hate living in barracks! I hate having my personal time taken for granted by whatever NCO needs his ego stroked. It turned out after we all formed up that it was the same exact message we just heard at the training we just came from. (We will not be doing PT and will need to be in formation at 4:30 in our ACUs). What a waste of time.

Overheard Quote: “Wow look at that bubble up! Don’t worry, that’s normal. Even if it wasn’t we would say it is” (The doctors who were giving me the anthrax vaccine said this after they gave it to me.- My arm started to bulge out where they gave me the shot)