Licensed to Drive - (Korea) Day 72

Work call this morning was at 0345 for an early meeting that we had to setup for. After we had it all setup and had everything prepared for the next meeting we went back to the barracks where I was able to lay back down for about an hour before going back to work. We spent the rest of the morning preparing for the rest of the days meetings. I left and went to battalion for a Korean drivers ed pre-test at 0800. We spent a little time reviewing and then took the test, which I scored a 100% on…it's pretty easy stuff. We were then told to study and come back to the testing building at 1300 to take the real test (which is the exact same test as our pre-test). I went back to work and helped out. This week has been extremely busy because of the upcoming training exercise, there are more meetings than ever and everyone is getting worn out.

We had to get in our full battle rattle and form up outside for an inspection. Our sergeant checked to make sure we had everything including our weapons card, ID, and dog tags. Our KATUSA forgot his dog tags and was rewarded with some push-ups by our sergeant. He also did not have cat eyes for his helmet, but that was not his fault because KATUSA were not issued them. After the inspection our KATUSA, SPC Roy and I took our TMP van that our office signed out and went to get it cleaned up. There is a place on post that we can wash the cars and vacuum them out without being charged. The normal place we went had all the hoses frozen, so we had to go where the buses are washed and use those hoses. We cleaned it inside and out until it sparkled all because we'll be picking up the general tomorrow at the helicopter pad and transporting him into the bunker. Everything has to be perfect.

I then ate a quick lunch and went to take my real Korean drivers test. I passed without even having to think, but surprisingly 3 people failed! How can you fail a test that you have taken already and have all the answers to for a week before the test? I don't understand. I thought we would be through after that, but we also had to take a number of other tests as well. We had to take a color blindness test, an eye test and a reaction time test. The reaction time test had us use a little machine in the room that had a gas peddle and a brake peddle. The instructor would show a green light and when the red light came on we had to press on the brake as fast as possible to simulate an emergency stop. You basically can't fail this because if you don't score high enough the instructor has you keep trying until you pass.

On the way back I called my wife to let her know it's going to be another long day and there would be no video chat tonight. Yesterday I didn't get to video chat and today I will not be able to either which really sucks. I have had no time to do much of anything besides work. When I got back we had to take another van out and get it cleaned just like the first one. We will be heading out tomorrow to Tango for some meetings and we'll be taking both vans.

When we got back me and SPC Roy headed to the PX. I went to the clothing store to pick up some rank patches (I bought some yesterday, but when I opened them I found they were the sew on kind and not the velcro kind….grrrrr). I also bought our KATUSA the cat eyes he was missing and had them sew on his name and blood type. I did my good deed for the day.

There has been network issues on post all day. Nobody has been able to use email or get to hardly any websites. Strangely people can get to Google, but not much else, so there has been a lot of frustration throughout the staff. I'm sure the 25B people who are actually doing computer work are busy now too!

We wrapped up the day at work by cleaning up from the last meeting of the day and I left around 1930 close to the same time as yesterday, but because we came in earlier it was an even longer day. You can tell the lack of sleep and the long days are already wearing on the staff. I bought me and SPC Roy a big monster energy drink earlier in the day and for a while we were both feeling like we were on speed, then when it wore off we both were dragging. We get to do it all over again tomorrow as work call is again a very early 0345! At least it's Friday, I'm going to sleep in late on Saturday morning.

The night consisted of doing the minimum amount for my schoolwork, checking Facebook, and writing this. Now I'm going to crash and take a nap before I start all over again tomorrow.

I Will Not Quit My Post - (Korea) Day 51

A photo of the Korean Air Force Academy being addressed by General Sharp.
This is one of our bigger conference rooms. (The original photo can be found
on the USFK's Flickr site: http://www.flickr.com/photos/unc-cfc-usfk/5373586441/)

Work call this morning was 0730, but I couldn't remember if it was 0700 or 0730, so to be safe I showed up a little before 0700. I had some notes to update and my Security+ certificate to print out so it worked out. We only have one computer in the main office that the four of us share, so getting time on it can be challenging some times.

After setting up for a morning meeting I updated the CEC spreadsheet. This is the sheet where I look at 4 different calendars and try and guess what we need to prepare for in the future. This was the first time doing it on my own and it took me a long time. When I finished I had our sergeant major look it over. He gave it to me later with a number of corrections. I also had questions about why things are the way they are. It will take some practice working on this before I feel comfortable doing it. It's a daily occurrence though so I guess it shouldn't take too long.

Our sergeant took me, SPC Roy & Special K to some training that was going on at the movie theatre. It was all about the new promotion point system. It was mainly for NCOs and how they need to let their younger soldiers know what to expect and what is changing. I like that our sergeant brought us all there so we could just go through it all and hear it straight from the speaker. SkillPorts are an important way to build up your promotion points and I'm really glad we are offered the time to do them while at work.

We setup for another big meeting and then also for a photo opp in front of our building. The Korean Air Force Academy cadets were coming to get their picture taken with the general. We had to duct tape names down on the ground so everyone would know where to stand. By the time we were done I couldn't feel my fingers…it's so flippin' cold here. When we finished we took off and had a little Mexican for lunch. We are very limited on the Mexican food available, this place is just OK by the standards I've been used to. Since it's all we got it's still pretty good I guess.

When we came back we cleaned up the conference room and then got called into our sergeant's office. I guess Special K has been asked to do something a number of times by an officer in our department. He was supposed to paint over a name in the parking lot. Because of weather and supplies it's been put off for months. He got in trouble because he didn't communicate the problems with anyone. Since he was in trouble, we all had to do some corrective training with him. We got to march out in front of our building and do some push-ups, then do some marching around the field. Luckily I brought my gloves out with me…nobody else thought of doing that. They came in handy while doing those push-ups in the snow…lol

Near the end of the day I was asked by a sergeant in our sister department (admin) to look over some technical specs. What's this? I'm going to actually do some 25B work? There were 10 laptops being ordered and the process is incredibly long. I guess the sergeant who has been working on it has been doing so for months. They had a number of quotes with comparable systems to the ones requested. I gave them my input after looking them all over and doing a bit of research online. The sergeant was grateful and I was glad I could help out. When I got back to the office I sat down at the computer and was updating some of my notes, then all of a sudden my cell phone rang. It was SPC Roy asking where I was. I said "I'm at work on the computer". He asked why I wasn't at the gym for PT and I told him nobody said I could leave…then said "I will not quit my post until properly relieved". He told me to shut up and get down there. I got there, changed and we started playing basketball only to find that after about 3 minutes we had to vacate the court…it was Zumba time.

Went back to the barracks, did a little video chatting and a little school. Now it's time to get a little sleep.

The photo opportunity for the air force cadets. You can see
the steps they were on and the ground in front is where we had to 
duct tape down all the name tags, then rip them up once everyone 
was in place. (The original photo can be found at USFK's Flickr site: 
http://www.flickr.com/photos/unc-cfc-usfk/5373585437/in/photostream/)

On a side note...there seems to be some issues with leaving comments on this blog...at least for Mac browsers. I’ll be checking into it and try to get it resolved soon.

Army Ballin’ - (Korea) Day 20

SPC Roy took my phone and started taking some

pictures of himself making funny faces

Today was a a little different than normal days so far. I woke up at 4:15 AM to hurry up and leave for work by 4:45 AM. There was an early meeting to get setup for. After we were all done getting it setup, I was told we were to go back and get changed into civilian PT clothes to cheer SPC Short and SPC Roy on for their PT tests. Our sergeant scheduled a special PT test for both of them since they failed their previous test. He had to pull a couple favors to get an E-7 sergeant from the company to come grade them.

As I was on my way out of the office it was still dusk. I saw a soldier walking towards me. There is about a 90% chance here that he would be an officer so I stared at him intently and got my hand ready at my side. I saw him doing the same. We kept walking closer and closer. It looked like a scene from an old western movie where the two cowboys are getting ready to draw their guns and shoot. At about 6 paces I still could not see his actual rank, so to be safe I started to salute. The soldier coming towards me did the same. Both of us were in a half salute when he recognized that I was just a private....and I saw that he was a staff sergeant. We both laughed and kept walking.

We met in front of the gym and after waiting a bit, there was no SPC Roy. He ended up calling the sergeant and stated he just woke up...bad news for him. We went ahead with the PT test for SPC Short. He did fine on the push-ups and sit-ups, but unfortunately failed the run. For our two mile run test we run on the road around a baseball field for 4 laps. I didn’t actually run with them because I didn’t bring my road vest (I thought we were staying in the gym). We were all finished we were waiting for SPC Roy. The sergeant had told him earlier to meet us where we were doing the run test. He also told him to be in full battle rattle with his helmet, body armor, his rucksack filled with 50 lbs of gear, and two duffle bags filled with 50 lbs of gear each. It took him a while to get there, I guess because he had to pack all that crap. This whole time we had to stand outside and wait for him. I was starting to get cold. I thought we were just going to be in the gym, so I didn’t have a hat and only had shorts and a sweater on.

He finally arrived and instead of letting us go, the sergeant had to chew SPC Roy out for what seemed like an eternity. SPC Roy then had to stand in front of our small formation and apologize. Finally me and our KATUSA were allowed to sit in the car while the sergeant chewed him out some more with the rest of the E-4s. We finally all headed back to get changed and go back to work. SPC Roy had to go to work with all his gear and in full battle rattle. While in the office everyone that came in did a double take because there is SPC Roy doing his desk job in full battle rattle. It was actually a little funny watching this all take place...not funny that SPC Roy had to work in full battle rattle, but all the people’s looks and such.

Today I did not even touch a computer once again. Instead I had the privilege of helping our KATUSA and SPC Short clean the office. I guess we’ll be doing this the whole short week of half days. I used pledge on all the wood and Windex on the glass and windows. Tomorrow I hear I get to learn how to shampoo the carpet, I’m so excited...I just can’t hide it!

We all had to go to the gym after work, which we got off at noon as planned...surprisingly. Our PT today was basketball. We played along with some other folks from our building against another unit that happened to be in the gym already. We then just played anyone that came along. It was an awesome workout and we won all our games, but I think I overdid it. Not only was I physically exhausted, but (warning...I’m going to talk about my private area here) I was wearing boxers. I didn’t think much of it because when playing half court one-on-one with the sergeant everything was fine. Now running up and down the court playing full court basketball something horrible happened. At first everything was fine, but during the second hour of playing my balls were chafing against my legs. It got so bad I could barely run up and down the court. It felt like someone was rubbing sandpaper on my balls with each stride. Next time I’ll have to make sure everything is more secure by wearing my tan tighties they issued in basic. I could barely walk when we finished. I got back to my barracks and nearly passed out from near exhaustion.

After I ate a late lunch and showered I was able to video chat with my wife, kids and extended family. They decided to open Christmas presents early since they were all together. (The kids will be with their mom for this Christmas). I was able to watch them all open presents and talk with everyone via video chat. Sometimes technology is so awesome. It was so nice to see everyone, but it also makes me so homesick. I miss everyone so much. Video chatting is like giving a meat eater some tofu...it may satisfy them, but it will never fill that desire to bite into a nice juicy steak.

More In-Processing - (Korea) Day 8

Our office door at work...I used some of my arts and crafts

 skills to put on the finishing touches...my first job at my new post

Today I woke up with plenty of time to get ready at a leisurely pace. I then walked over to the food court and purchased a coffee from Starbucks and talked with my wife via Skype. So far the morning has been good, but I have to say the thought of going into work today almost made me throw up. I have been nervous as hell doing this job with all the brass around. It doesn't help either that I'm the only 25B (IT Specialist) there. That means no collaborating or backup for me.

I arrived to work 20 minutes early (don't want to be late and leave a bad impression). The day went much better than yesterday. We spent most of it doing in-processing. We walked from spot to spot on my checklist and had the people sign off on it. I was input in systems and I received gear. By the time I got back to the office I had my arms full of gear and paperwork. I was shown around where I will actually be working and what my responsibilities will be. My first task today was some arts and crafts! I helped decorate the office door for a Christmas contest. LOL.

I also had to read and sign a statement that said I cannot let out secret information or compromise any operations that are going on. This means I'll have to be careful about what kind of stuff I post here. I had planned on telling all about my job and what exactly a 25B does in the real army, but at least with this job at this post I may have to limit it to my feelings and more general things that are going on.

I had my initial counseling session with my NCO today. He is a sergeant (E5) and is a very cool guy. Really wants his soldiers to succeed and sounds like he'll do anything to help them do so. I think this guy will be a great guy to work for! He did however have to give us all some "corrective training" today. The specialist that was walking around with me showing me all the places to go, missed a very important meeting. There was a general involved so our sergeant was pretty much required to take some action. Since we are a team we all had to go out and do some push-ups as well as some marching around in circles (well squares really) for a while. Not too bad though really.

Speaking of push-ups I found out today that we are pretty much responsible for doing our own PT in this unit. This is great, I've always wanted to do my own instead of some of the stupid army PT that I've had to do in the past. I just have to make sure I'm responsible and do it each morning. One of our specialists said he hasn't done any in 2 months. He also failed his last PT test, so now the sergeant was on him a little more today. I haven't done much at all since leaving AIT, so I need to get back in action. I plan to do so tomorrow morning!

I went back to my room after work today and found my roommate was gone. He had completely moved out! I wonder if I snored or something. He seemed like a really nice guy and I thought we were going to get along great. (He was really quite which was perfect for me!) Well that means for now I'll have the room to myself…no complaints about that!