Big Plans - (Korea) Day 204

A ROK soldier in our sister office trying to figure out the copier. This particular
soldier (doing his mandatory service) speaks English very well and plays basketball
with us at times...pretty nice guy.

This morning we had a 0500 formation in front of the barracks. I was called last night and told about it. One moment I was planning on going to work at 0800, then the next I heard this news. Grrr. We formed up and our first sergeant told us we were going to have a "G.I. Party". For those of you who don't know, a G.I. Party isn't a party at all. It's when a bunch of soldiers have to clean or do some other sort of work...party has no business being in the name. We were instructed to go to our areas in the barracks and start cleaning. I guess our first sergeant saw the common bathrooms in the other barracks and was pretty disgusted, so this is the result. The only common area on my floor of my barracks is the laundry room and it's the only area I even use. I spent a little over an hour cleaning some washers. I had flashbacks of TRADOC (basic training and AIT). We finally were told we could go back to our rooms about 0615 to get ready for work. I took a shower and then got my uniform on before starting to video chat with my wife. Next thing I know there is a knock on my door…we have another formation. WTF?? I go out there and I'm the only one in ACUs, everyone else is still in summer PTs . Our first sergeant told everyone they did a good job and that there wouldn't be another formation tonight or tomorrow as long as they keep everything clean. There will now be a person in charge of each floor of our barracks and they will also be responsible for assigning rotating cleaning duties to all the rooms to help keep everything clean.

Not the way I wanted to start my day. It's really one of the many drawbacks living in barracks. You are at the mercy of someone else at all times. I can't wait to get to my next duty station and actually live off post with my family! I headed to work call which was at 0800. We setup for a meeting in the secret conference room called "U-Staff" which is kind of interesting because it involves all the member states of the UN that is here in Korea. I flipped slides for a while until Special K came down to relieve me. I guess CPT Hooah! was having some technical issues and wanted me to come up to the office. Turns out we had a bad fiber optic cable. After calling the help desk they came and verified it by using one of their cables. The tech then takes his cable and leaves. I was like…hold on there little buddy, we need that good cable. He then told me our office had to purchase our own fiber cables. Holy cow! Luckily a major in our office had a spare in his desk that we were able to use.

I then worked on SkillPorts until lunch. For lunch I headed to my room and ate while video chatting with my wife. After lunch I headed back to the office and started more inventory of the computers. This time I went to the command group and inventoried all of their items. At first the sergeant said they were too busy, but then told me to hold on and then helped me out.

After that I headed back to my computer and did some more SkillPort. I then took a small break and watched a little TV. Before I knew it I was asleep, I guess the TV was pretty boring. I was woken up by my phone vibrating in my pocket, it was Special K telling me to open the door to our conference room. I had fallen asleep with my legs up on the table, so they were elevated the entire time I was sitting there. When I got up to open the door I almost fell over because my legs were asleep! I grabbed the table and slowly made my way to the door. When I opened the door our NCOIC was waiting there for me. As we walked in our KATUSA was fast asleep in the conference room…lol. Our NCOIC was like…"what are you doing?". We all gathered around and had the "sit down" that she promised earlier.

The sit down was a very informal talk with all of us. Our NCOIC basically told us about herself and wanted to get to know us a little better. She then told us about what she envisioned with our office. She has a bunch of ideas and plans, we'll see how it all plays out. So far all my experiences with plans and ideas here have started off with a bang and then slowly whimper out of existence. She wants us to do a lot more PT, we will be leaving work early to go work out. I really wouldn't mind that. She also wants us to do sergeant time training once a week. When we do this training, we each will be responsible to do the training for everyone else on a rotational basis. She also said our sergeant has not been volunteering us for duty anytime the company requests it. So lucky us…we'll get the chance to pull weeds and such in the future. She also wants us to go to the soldier of the month boards and such to get us some experience doing so. I guess we'll see how it all goes. Our office has always been a little different because of our odd and ever changing schedule. We are always flexible because of the various meetings that we have to cater to. It will be interesting to see if and how our NCOIC will be able to accomplish all of these goals. All in all I think she seems like a nice person and wants her soldiers to succeed.

We left after cleaning the office at 1700 and I headed to my room to eat dinner. I then did my normal nightly routine of schoolwork and TV shows. Normal work call tomorrow, so I should get a good night of sleep.

Nuttin’ but SkillPorts - (Korea) Day 203

The day was so laid back our KATUSA couldn't stay awake...lol

Work call this morning was at 0830. We had no meetings at all scheduled for today, so it was a pretty laid back day. In fact all I did in the morning until lunch was SkillPorts. I then went to lunch in my room and was able video chat with my wife. When I headed back to work I did a little IMO work as usual. I helped our NCOIC finally get completely setup with her secret account. I also had to put in a work order for the secret network connection at her desk…now it is not working.

The rest of the work day was more SkillPorts. I was able to find on AKO a place where it actually shows all of your accumulated promotion points. It's pretty cool, because you don't have to do any of the guesswork and you can tell what they have in the system, so if there is something missing you can get it updated. I currently have my civilian education portion maxed out even with only an associates degree because I have a number of technical certifications that count as points too. SkillPorts will keep counting towards my military education, so I'll keep an eye on that until it is maxed out as well.

We were let go early at 1600, so I headed to my room and just relaxed. Watched some TV shows, before doing schoolwork and then watching some more TV shows before heading to bed.

Weekend Wrap-Up - (Korea) Days 201 & 202

Part of the folk instrument and dance performance near the Chun-Cheon dam

Saturday: I slept in until about 0800 and then did my usual weekend routine (laundry and video chatted with my wife). I then did my schoolwork before taking a nap. I had plans on attending a Latin American festival here in Korea. Big plans of eating some good Mexican food and perhaps even some beer.

I got a call from the air force master sergeant in our office and we met up at a subway entrance near one of the gates. I am slowly getting used to the subway system here…lol. We took it and made one transfer before arriving at our destination where Ms. Q and a friend of hers were waiting for us. The festival wasn't exactly what I had hoped for. It was basically a few tents and a ton of people crowded into a very small area. There was hardly any food and the live band didn't even play the whole time we were there. We only stayed for about a half hour before deciding to leave and eat some Indian food at a place that Ms. Q liked.

The food was good, then we went to have dessert in Itaewon before calling it a night. I headed over to PFC Pickle's room where we watched "Black Snake Moan". I had seen it before of course. It's a great movie, Samuel L. Jackson had me laughing and any movie where Christina Ricci is half naked you can't complain about. PFC Pickle was drinking quite a bit. I told him to slow down because we had plans tomorrow, but he said he had youth on his side and there would be no problems….lol

The entrance to the Latin American festival in Seoul

This is the entire festival...quite a bit smaller than I had envisioned
before heading here...also too crowded to enjoy yourself.

The subways can get a little crowded at times!

Sunday: I woke up a bit early today so I could video chat with my wife and kids for a bit before taking off. I then get a message from PFC Pickle saying that blood is shooting out of his nose as he's throwing up, so he will not be coming…so much for youth. I played it a bit smarter last night and only had a couple beers. Today I am going on a free cultural tour offered by the ROKs to folks in our office. I think sometimes I get some advantages over the others stationed here because it seems like we get a lot of these types of trips offered to us working in the headquarters, while others don't. I try to take advantage of any that I can because it sure beats just staying in your room all weekend.

I headed down near my office where the bus picked everyone up. We left a little after 1000 and went for quite a long ride. I should have went pee before leaving because by the time we hit the rest area my eyes were yellow! After getting lost once our two busses turned around and finally found the place we were heading….Chun-Cheon Dam. We were all let off and then proceeded to board a boat that transported us across the reservoir to a secluded area where we enjoyed a folk instrument and dance performance. The show was great and the whole time we were offered rice cakes and either makkoli or water…It was pretty hot, so I only drank water with my rice cakes.

We then ate lunch inside some buildings located nearby. Lunch was traditional style where you take off your shoes at the door and sit on the floor. I quickly sat at a table that was next to a wall, so I could use it to lean against. I don't care for the whole no shoes…no seat deal too much, but the food was good. We then headed back across the reservoir and onto the bus. The bus drivers started up this tiny little road that kept getting smaller and smaller the farther we went. As I was looking around there were not even many houses nearby, and the ones that were there had people looking out wondering why there are two big buses heading up their driveway. At one point there was a corner that was a little to sharp and the first bus scratched up the side of the bus on a rock wall. It was after this that we knew we were lost yet again. The bus drivers found a field and were able to turn the buses around, then carefully guided each other around the sharp corner avoiding any more damage.

We finally made it to dinner which was yet again traditional style. We cooked our food on the table in front of us and wrapped it all up in lettuce to eat it. I'm not sure exactly what all was in it, but I do know some of it was chicken…at least I think it was chicken. I had to get up shortly after I finished and waited outside until everyone finished. I just couldn't sit on the floor anymore. The food was good though.

We headed back and hit traffic, so the ride seemed to take forever. We didn't get back to the post until after 2200. I hit my bed and went to sleep right away!

A short video I took of the Korean folk performance

The scratches on the bus from the rock wall incident.

The bus drivers futilely trying to fix the scratches with wax and water...lol 

Pizza Day - (Korea) Day 200

SPC Kim and I were here cheering on SPC Mick who was leading a pack during
this morning's PT test. Unfortunately they do not close the road, so you do have
to dodge the occasional car (or bus) every now and then.

Work call this morning was 0500 (for all of us except SPC Mick, he had a PT test). We setup for the meeting in the top secret conference room. After that we left to go cheer SPC Mick on while doing his PT test. When we took our PT test it was quite a bit different. It was a special PT test for just the four of us taking it at the time. This was the normal company PT test, so there were a number of folks there to take the test. Everything was normal until the running portion. There were a ton of people with permanent profiles, so they didn't have to run. They had to walk instead…lol. They had to walk a certain amount in a certain time…pretty stupid. These were all the folks I see around post and wonder how they can pass their PT test, now I know how…just get a permanent profile.

On the opposite side of the spectrum I was so impressed with our master sergeant from our admin office. She maxed out her push-ups and sit-ups and got a 97 on her run. She's 50 years old and scored a 297! I couldn't believe it. I think my jaw dropped when I found out she did 50 push-ups! As for SPC Mick, he passed everything. He actually ended up with the same score that I got during my last test…a 224. It's decent, but I guess we both need a little work. Our new NCOIC said she wants everyone to score a 300 by our next PT test…and she was serious…lol. She just needs to solve the issue with scheduling PT and working around a lot of the crazy meetings we always seem to have.

Special K and I headed to Starbucks afterward to pick up some coffee and a bagel. We then headed back to the office and cleaned up from the early morning meeting before sitting down for a few and enjoying our coffee and breakfast. We then setup for a KUB in our conference room. This KUB was a little different than most because it consisted of a bunch of old US Korean war veterans.

Special K and I headed over to the S1 shop to get our ERBs updated. I had them add the total number of credit hours that were figured out from my transcript yesterday at the education center. I also had them add the Korean Defense Service Medal to mine. Now that I've served in Korea I can have that added, when I wear my dress uniform I'll have three ribbons to put on there. I guess I should go purchase the ribbon so I'll have it now.

We then took the office car and ran a couple errands before going to Pizza School off post to order 8 pizzas for our Friday pizza and movie ritual we have started. Our office, admin and supply all came to our conference room and Special K put in a movie called "The Tournament". The movie was OK, it's about a deadly tournament that takes place in a city between a number of assassins where the winner is the last one left alive. They are being watched at all times and people bet on the winner. There is a lot of blood and guts…just mindless entertainment. Surprisingly we weren't interrupted and we were able to watch the entire movie.

After the movie I went to our admin office to keep learning how to get someone setup in all the systems. I'm trying to get our new NCOIC all setup on our secret network. I figured I would learn better if I actually do it instead of watching someone do it. It's quite a process to get anything done. Lots of paperwork that needs to be signed by many individuals, when it's all finished we can submit it all to have the account actually setup.

We then cleaned up from a conference that was setup earlier in the secret conference room. I accidentally mistook CPT Hooah!'s almost empty can of Monster as trash and threw it away. He was looking all over for it and then finally asked us if we saw it…LOL. We then cleaned up the office and our NCOIC gave us the safety brief for the weekend. She also tells us she wants to have a "sit down" with each of us at some point next week. I wonder what that will involve???

I headed to my room and ate dinner (a microwaved pot pie) and then did my schoolwork before settling in for the night watching a few TV shows. I decided not to go out or do anything tonight since it's been a long day, I just want to get a good night's rest. I'm looking forward to the weekend!!!!

Burning Calories - (Korea) Day 199

Walking along the far side of Han River heading towards that bridge you
see in the distance to head back to the base.

PT this morning was at 0545. We had another ruck march (with body armor and assault pack) across the Han river, then made our way along a path down the river to another bridge where we crossed back. We ended up coming back through Itaewon which looks so different in the day, I just can't believe it. The whole thing was a little over 6 miles and by the end my legs felt like rubber. We climbed up a long flight of stairs and I could see my legs moving, but I couldn't feel them anymore. When I got back to my room I was totally drenched in sweat.

I got ready and ate breakfast in my room before heading to work at 0830. It was a pretty mellow morning with no meeting scheduled. In fact we had no meetings scheduled all day long. The first thing we did was re-clean the colonel's office. We did a bit more of a thorough job this time, even taking off the glass from the desktop and cleaning underneath. The new colonel is coming in this Sunday. I then checked my email and such for a bit. Some medical folks came into our conference room to pick up a lot of their stuff they left behind yesterday. The master sergeant was grateful for the work we did (which is the same for every meeting), but she hasn't had any meetings in our conference room before. She presented us all with a coin which was a very nice gesture. Sometimes people don't even notice everything we do to try and help everything run smoothly.

Shortly after that my sergeant asked me if I was going to play basketball. Holy cow…I wasn't sure how much I would have left in me, but I went anyways. It was about 1115 and I headed to my room to change really quick. There were some guys from honor guard there as well as the air force master sergeant, Seaman, and a ROK soldier in our sister office that wanted to come. The teams turned out kind of strange with all the young athletic black dudes on one team and all the other people on the other team. I can say we beat them the first time, but their athleticism won out in games two and three. Full court can be a great workout. I think I'll go pass out now!

I headed to my room to shower and eat lunch. As much as I wanted to, I didn't fall asleep. I was afraid I wouldn't get back up. I packed up a box and a letter to ship out, then promptly left my room without them. All that working out fried my brain I guess.

After lunch each day I've been trying to set aside some time to do IMO (25B - computer stuff). Today I was able to help our NCOIC get one of her secret accounts setup. I also got ready to do some more inventory, but Special K needed me to run some errands with him. We took the office car to get dispatched (checked out for another week). We also picked up a sergeant from the command group and drove him around the post to a few places for some of his errands. Once done we dropped him off and headed to the education center. We both had copies of our college transcripts. The education center will take those and create a memo telling our S1 shop how many hours to put on our ERB. I had my Associate's degree put on it, but I didn't realize the number of hours was important as well. While I was attending the junior college I did almost twice as many courses as I needed for the degree because I just kept going after I got the degree to further my personal education. The number of credit hours you have on your ERB factor in to how many promotion points you receive, so the more the better.

This entire process of errand running and going to the education center took the rest of the day. When we got back to the office we basically just wrapped everything up and left. I had dinner in my room and then was finally able to log into the University of Phoenix website. They had some major issues the last couple of days, but it looks like everything is back up and good to go. I received a few letters during the incident assuring me they were working on it and then finally letting me know it's fixed.

I then sat back, relaxed and watched a few TV shows to wind down the night.

USO Lunch - (Korea) Day 198

Free Lunch at the USO! I guess it was sponsored by Volvo because they had their
cars out on display and we each received a little Volvo brochure along with our plate.

Work call this morning was at 0830. We setup for our normal Wednesday meeting in the secret conference room where I run the slide show. The meeting lasted until about 1100 and after that I headed to our admin office to check on our new colonel's account setup. What I walked into though was some deep conversation about how all insurance companies are frauds. The chief had a number of interesting theories about insurance companies. I too think insurance companies suck as well. I think they love to take your money and try to get out of paying you anything, but the chief hates them more than I do…a lot more!!

The admin office found out the USO here was giving a free lunch to service members, so I grabbed Special K and our air force master sergeant on the way out with the chief and Seaman and we walked to the USO. The food was a small plate of barbecued chicken and pulled pork along with potato salad. It was all pretty good and definitely worth the walk.

When I got back to the office I grabbed my paperwork and did the inventory of computers in our protocol office. After that I did some SkillPorts and then waited for a meeting in our conference room to end. It ended a little before 1800 and after we cleaned it up, we left the office at about 1800.

When I got back to my room I found that University of Phoenix is still down. I'm not sure if they're going to extend our class time or what, but I couldn't log in and do any schoolwork which sucks. I ate dinner in my room and watched a TV show, then I decided to finish the Bloodsport movies with "Bloodsport 4". I'm all for cheesy action/fighting movies, but this one had to be even worse than the previous movie. OMG it was like watching bad porno actors, but without any sex scenes. I felt sorry for all the actors and actresses in this movie. Even the fighting scenes weren't that good. I really can't believe they actually made this movie. Short plot summary...a cop goes undercover in jail to find out why convicts are going missing...it’s the “Dark Kumite”. They are taken to fight and he goes and wins. I can't believe I watched the entire movie, but I had to finish, just to say I've watched them all…no matter how painful it was. I guess there was a reason I never knew there were any sequels to the original Bloodsport movie….lol.

the wife

You and your B movies. (LOL) Watch as many as you can --- I can't handle corn-diggity fighting unless it's a karate classic with Bruce Lee. Remind me to ask you about UOP. I wanna know what their game plan is with you missing classes.

Love you!

Thursday, June 16, 2011 - 02:26 PM

Eye Check - (Korea) Day 197

The Garrison Flags up for the change of command ceremony. There was just never
a big enough gust of wind to get all three flags up at once.
(South Korea, United Nations, & of course the U.S. flags)

We had PT this morning at 0545 and hiked to Seoul Tower with our body armor and assault packs on. It seems like every time we go up we find another way to get there. This time we actually hiked up trails instead of using any paved or padded paths. It was a lot quicker, but it was also a lot tougher…a good workout! On the way back our sergeant bought us all a kimbap for breakfast.

Everyone had work call at 0830 except for me, I had an appointment to see the optometrist at 0815. When I arrived I only had a short wait and then a KATUSA did the initial exam on me. An LTC then took me back to his room and did a more thorough exam. I guess the machine the KATUSA used wasn't very accurate for me. It also turns out the exam I received in basic ended up giving me a prescription that was a little too strong for me. The LTC did an exam the old fashioned way and was a very nice guy. I got my prescription and ordered my glasses which should arrive in 4 or 5 days. The frames they had were decent and I was extremely happy with the service. I didn't know what to expect because I think with military health care it can be hit or miss. So far every time I've done anything it's been in a TRADOC environment and it hasn't been a very good experience.

I arrived back to the office shortly before a change of command ceremony was about to start, so Special K and I hung out at the entrance to stop any cars that tried to get in during the ceremony. (Just one of my many side jobs here…directing traffic). I then headed up to my computer and worked on SkillPorts until lunch.

Lunch was in my room and I was able to video chat with my wife. It's always nice to see her and chat. I really can't wait to go back on leave! I headed back to the office and did a little IMO work. I setup our new NCOIC with her new computer. Mapped our shared drive for her and gave her permissions to access it. I also did the inventory for our supply office. I had planned on doing our protocol office as well, but supply took longer than expected. I'll try protocol tomorrow. I then had to figure out the procedure to wipe a blackberry for our new colonel that is coming soon. It turns out he pretty much has to be here in order to do much, so I guess I'll be doing that next week.

I worked on SkillPorts a little before calling it a day. I only finished 3 or 4 today, but that does put me over the "10+" limit that we now have each week. I turned on the TV and watched MTV Hits. This is kind of unique with AFN I believe. They actually play a segment for an hour or so of just music videos from MTV. There are no stupid "VJs" or cutting off videos before they finish, just a few videos with some normal commercials, the way MTV used to be back in the day when they actually played music.

We then cleaned up and took off for the day. I headed to the PX to pick up some last minute stuff to mail. I then headed to my room and relaxed. I take Tuesday off from school and just watched TV shows and one movie…."Bloodsport 3". This is a total B movie…maybe even a B- because the story line is just so bad. It has the same actor as in Bloodsport 2, but the acting seems to be even worse with everyone. The Kumite does take place and the fighting scenes are OK, but it seemed as even these were not as good. The basic storyline is that the main character's teacher gets killed by the host of the Kumite, so to get revenge the main character trains and wins it. I really wouldn't waste your time watching this one unless you are a diehard bloodsport fan.