Last Day of the Beret - (Korea) Day 196

Looking down at my boot. My job as a door stop. I hold the door open for the
commander (4 star general) so he doesn't have to be troubled with such small things
as a security badge and code to get into the restricted area.

Work call this morning was at 0830. We had no meetings planned until 1030 in the secret conference room. I worked on SkillPorts until the NBA playoffs came on, then I settled in to watch the game. Our KATUSA setup the name tags for the meeting, so at half time we all went down to call stand-by. I of course assumed my position as the doorstop, holding the door open for the commander when he arrives. Once the meeting was finished I was able to go up and finish the second half of the NBA finals. OMG what a game…congratulations Dallas!

We learned today that the SMA of the army announced that we don't have to wear the beret anymore! This is such good news. Nobody likes the beret. It's a stupid hat that takes two hands to put on and does not have a bill to protect from the sun. It serves no purpose except to look stupid. If you line 10 soldiers in a row and look at their berets, you will see them put on 10 different ways. The PC (Patrol Cap) that we will be using is a much more practical piece of headgear. You can put it on easily with one hand and it fits nicely in our cargo pockets. The only issue here in Korea is that we are supposed to sew on our rank. This is fine with me because the pinned on one I have pokes me in the forehead when I wear it.

I headed to my room to eat lunch and video chat with my wife. After eating I headed over to the little sewing shop next to the clothing store and dropped off my two PCs to have their rank sewn on. There was already a big pile of PCs there from previous patrons. I bet this little sewing shop is loving the new policy change! I dropped them off and was charged $6 for the sewing job and the rank insignia. They told me to come back at 1800 to pick them up. Woohoo…no more beret after today. Walking around post you could see most of the people had already stopped using the beret as soon as it was announced. In fact SPC Roy's NCO called him and told him before he left to work.

I headed back to the office and started doing the computer inventory I started last week. I finished our office and our admin office before calling it a day. After that I headed back to my computer and started working on some more SkillPorts. Our sergeant now wants 10+ SkillPorts completed each week. I guess I'm going to shoot for 1000 hours total. Currently I have 280. As I do the SkillPorts the rest of the guys are watching X-Men: First Class. Our sergeant obtained a copy and they played it in our conference room. It's a good movie, but not good enough to watch 3 days in a row.

I got a call from Seaman asking if I could bring our office car and help him out with the mail. I guess our new colonel shipped a number of boxes to the office and they wouldn't all fit in his car. I gave him a hand and also helped carry them all in. I called for help, but the rest of the guys couldn't peel themselves from the movie. No worries…I went back to my SkillPorts and was able to finish up 8 of them today.

We were able to clean up and go home about 1630. I was going to do some schoolwork, but the University of Phoenix website is down. It states that they are having technical difficulties...D'oh!

I ate some dinner in my room and then headed over to the sewing shop to pick up my hats…I can't believe I'm so excited about such a little change. The rest of the night consisted of watching a number of TV shows.

Julie

I know it's working now but what a pain in the ass it was for those few days!

Monday, June 20, 2011 - 04:36 PM

Brandon

I was starting to worry a bit after two days being down, luckily it was still the start of class and we didn't have any big assignments due!

Monday, June 20, 2011 - 07:33 PM

Weekend Wrap-Up - (Korea) Days 194 & 195

Our individual pies at Tartine in Itaewon...mmm mmm good!

Saturday: I woke up with a hangover at about 0930. I guess I shouldn't have mixed the makkoli and the beer. Or more likely I should have drank a lot more water throughout the night! Anyway I did my normal Saturday morning thing which is laundry and a long video chat with my wife which is always nice. I then did schoolwork and took a nap.

I woke up feeling better and was invited to go to the movies with our air force master sergeant and Ms. Q. We went to the theatre on post and watched X-Men: First Class. It was a pretty cool movie and both of them were as big of fans as I was, so it was a lot of fun. The movie shows where a lot of the story lines start and it was cool to see how they tied everything together. Also I learned that it was the mutants who were responsible for the Cuban missile crises!

We then went out to Itaewon and ate at a Chinese restaurant called "Panda King". The food was good and the place wasn't too expensive. We each ordered an item and then shared our plates. After that we had dessert at a place called Tartine which specializes in individual pies…I had mine with ice cream of course. After that we called it a night and headed back.

Sunday: I woke up at 0800 and video chatted with my wife for a bit before heading out. I stopped by and picked up Starbucks for me and PFC Pickle and headed over to his room to watch UFC 131. This has sort of become a tradition now anytime there is a UFC on. As usual it was a pretty good UFC. We headed to the food court after it was over and had lunch. I then had to get my haircut as it was getting a little long. I had promised PFC Pickle that I would watch X-Men with him, so we headed to the theatre and I watched it for the second time this weekend…lol. It was still good the second time around. We then went to the food court for dinner and parted ways. I did some schoolwork and then watched some TV shows before calling it a night.

Out on the Town - (Korea) Day 193

A 3 foot long egg role on the left and some awesome soup/stew

Work call was at 0745, why it was so early I'm not sure. We had a meeting at 0830 in our conference room, but we had already setup everything for it last night…all we had to do was turn the system on which takes all of 5 minutes (if that). Anyways we arrived turned everything on and once the meeting started we setup for another meeting in the top secret conference room. I went in my sergeant's office and he had me recite the soldier's creed as well as sing the army song. He then had me answer a few questions before turning me loose.

I tried watching the NBA finals game, but there were a number of interruptions. A call here and there, I'd have to go downstairs to see someone for something…very annoying…don't these guys know I have a basketball game to watch??

Our sergeant bought everyone lunch again at the KATUSA snack bar and after we left our KATUSA asked if anyone wanted ice cream. I said of course before anyone could say no, so he bought us all ice cream from the Korean PX. Special K and I then took the office car and ran a few errands. One of which was supposed to be washing the car, but the car wash was closed…grrrr. We picked up some frames for awards and then headed back to the office just in time to help clean up the meeting in the top secret conference room.

I then had to sign a sworn statement about what exactly I saw yesterday with our two officers and the altercation that happened. I actually didn't see much, but I guess CPT Hooah! got a negative counseling statement from it and he's not too happy. I know he doesn't like his job here and doesn't like how everything operates, but I don't think you can really fight the system. It's like banging your head against the wall.

I have been tasked with basically doing an inventory of all our computers as well as computers in various other offices. A lot of these places I have no idea where they are. Our deputy commander of our office found out he might be able to replace some computers out of a special budget if they are too old and if they are classified, so I have to go around and gather all the information. It's going to take a while, especially if these other offices are not organized.

We cleaned up and left after a quick safety briefing from our sergeant (don't drink and drive, use condoms…etc). I headed to my room and did my schoolwork. SPC Roy called and wanted to go out, so I met him at a gate and we took a taxi to Gangnam, a neighborhood in Seoul that I haven't seen yet. The place was pretty amazing with people all over the place and a number of restaurants and bars. We ate at an awesome restaurant and drank some makkoli (rice wine) because I told him I just can't do soju anymore since I wake up with headaches every time I drink the stuff.

We then headed to Itaewon and went to my favorite bar (The Rock 'n Roll Bar) to have a few beers and play some pool. Before too long SPC Roy wanted to leave and show me another bar he thought I would like. It's called "Woodstock" and he was right, they played good rock music and even had a stage for a live band. Unfortunately we left before the band started playing. We came across a sergeant from the command group and he joined us (I'll call him SGT Mex).

We all headed out to Sinchon which is another university district in Seoul which has a lot of nightlife. We went to SGT Mex's favorite bar called "Ho Bar II". It played a lot of hip hop music and techno music. I had a few beers and had fun watching SGT Mex try to pick up girls, but he got shot down every time. We finally left there and called it a night. I got back at around 0200. What sucks about coming back to the post after midnight is that most of the gates are closed and only the main gates are left open 24 hours a day, this means a lot more walking for me after the cab dropped me off.  I finally made it to my room and was asleep as soon as I hit my bed.

Just a normal night in Itaewon...lol

Clash of the Titans - (Korea) Day 192

Our ruck march to Han river in Seoul. Here we are walking right outside of post
(notice the concrete wall with barbed wire to the right)

This morning's PT was a ruck march. We didn't exactly have a ruck sack though, but we did have to wear our body armor as well as our assault pack filled with stuff. We were to report in front of the office at 0535. Everyone arrived (along with a special guest...the LT from our Protocol office) except for our sergeant. He overslept and when Special K called him, he said he'd be right there…LOL. While we were waiting the Protocol LT told us about one of the KATUSAs in the protocol office. First let me state that being a KATUSA is a coveted position by ROK soldiers because they get a lot of special privileges that normal ROK soldiers do not get. Second, protocol KATUSAs have one of the easiest jobs here, they just drive VIP guests around. Well one KATUSA told everyone that he was going to his barracks to sleep because he had a mission coming up. The actual mission got pushed back a day, so when their sergeant found out where he was he called him and told him to get back to work. When he didn't show up right away their sergeant called and asked what was up, it turns out that particular KATUSA took an office car and drove it to his parents house thinking that he wasn't going to be needed until later. The sergeant flipped out because it's basically stealing the office car and using it for your own personal use…and the KATUSA was lying about where he was and left post without permission. Turns out this KATUSA will be going to jail for 15 days and then will be put in the normal ROK army to serve out the rest of his mandatory time which is still over a year. He's going to be hating life.

We ended up going for a little over 4 miles for our ruck march once our sergeant arrived. It didn't feel like much while doing it, but when I got back to my room and took everything off I was soaked in sweat. I was able to get ready and video chat with my wife for a bit before heading to the office for a work call of 0830. Once there I did basic office work checking email and such. Special K and I took off with our office car to check it out for another week at the TMP.

At lunch our sergeant gave us money to go eat at the KATUSA Snack Bar and asked us to bring him back a to go plate. Me, SPC Mick and our KATUSA left, but it turns out our sergeant didn't give us enough cash. I had some extra Won on me, so I chipped in and settled the difference. No worries, both our KATUSA and SPC Mick have bought me lunch before.

While I was updating the events calendar, SPC Mick and our KATUSA setup for a meeting in the secret conference room. I heard when they got back that SPC Mick called "stand-by" for a two star general that was hosting the meeting, but there were already other two star generals in the room. The two star that he was calling "stand-by" for looked at SPC Mick and said "Are you crazy? There are already two stars in the room" and then proceeded to enter the room. It was all pretty funny when he was telling me about the incident. I was laughing about it the rest of the day.

When we got back we had to do some spring cleaning. We focused mainly on the colonel's office. Our new colonel is coming soon and there was quite a bit of dust around. We dusted, windexed, and vacuumed everything. We then went to setup for a KUB in our conference room, but the ROKs were still having a meeting in it. They were scheduled to be out, but showed no signs of leaving. I'm not quite sure what happened next but this caused a lot of tension between CPT Hooah! and a major in our office. At one point I thought they were going to come to blows! We ended up setting up for the KUB in an alternate conference room. The whole incident was pretty crazy. I'm sure CPT Hooah! wanted to just go in and kick the ROKs out, but the major wouldn't let him. Pretty Crazy.

We ended up staying until about 1730 waiting for the last meeting to end so we could clean it up before leaving. After we left SPC Mick and I headed to the food court where we ran into PFC Pickle. We all ate some Taco Bell together and then headed our separate ways. I headed back to my room for some schoolwork and then proceeded to watch Apple's WWDC…some awesome stuff coming out soon…I can't wait!

The Way of the Iron Hand - (Korea) Day 191

I guess I found the hang out spot for all the DFAC workers. This is the hill I
walk down to my office. I happened across this bunch after eating my lunch.

This morning we were supposed to go on a ruck march for our office PT. I got up and got ready, loaded my assault pack and headed to the office. I filled up my bottled water and then waited…I checked my phone and saw there was a message sent at midnight stating that we would not be going on the ruck march and that work call is 0830. D'oh! I should have checked my phone before leaving my room!!! Now it's 0530 and I headed back to my room to take a nap before having to getup and get ready for work.

This morning we setup for our normal Wednesday meeting in the secret conference room and I ran the slide shows as usual. The meeting was a little shorter than normal, which I was grateful for because the NBA playoffs were on!! I headed up to my lair and had to flip slides in there for another meeting in our conference room, but that was OK because I could watch the game at the same time. What a game it was! It's been a while since a finals has been so good. It seems like every game is so close and tightly contested. It's been a blast to watch.

I then left for lunch in my room and was able to video chat with my son and then my wife for a while before heading back to the office. The rest of the day was pretty mellow. We met our new NCOIC (Non Commissioned Officer In Charge) today. Our sergeant has been acting as our NCOIC, but technically he is the colonel's executive assistant. He just stepped up to the plate when the previous NCOIC left, which was shortly before I arrived. I'm not sure what has taken so long to fill the spot. In fact I'm not sure why they even need a person in that position to tell you the truth. It seems like a waste of manpower. She was in the office to start training and meet everyone. She's going to train for a few hours this week and I think they said she'll start next week. She seems nice, but I guess we'll see how it goes when she really starts. I'm hoping she is a good NCO…time will tell.

I headed back up to my lair to check in with my new class at University of Phoenix and also check on my SkillPorts. I then got a text from SPC Roy asking why I haven't visited him yet. I didn't know he was back at work. This past weekend he cut the heel of his foot so bad that he's now on a "soft shoe" profile and is taking pain medication for it. (a soft shoe profile lets you wear tennis shoes with your uniform instead of boots). I headed over to his office and he told me the story of how he cut his heal…it's a long story so I won't go into it now, but needless to say it hurts pretty bad.

When I got back to the office I shut everything down in my lair and then headed down to the office to clean up. Sounds like we are going to do the ruck march tomorrow morning at 0530 once again. This time I'll check my phone before leaving!

After I got to my room and changed, SPC Roy called and asked if I wanted to go to the commissary with him. I was going to go this weekend using the bus, but having him drive me is a much better solution. He came and picked me up and I was able to resupply all my groceries for the month. I always love the first week after I go shopping because I have fruit, OJ, cereal & milk, and chips.

When I got back to my room I ate dinner and watched a movie I obtained. It was Bloodsport 2! After watching Bloodsport I was in the process of adding some tags to it in my iTunes library and saw that there are actually 4 Bloodsport movies! Holycow I had never heard of any of them. The movie of course is a B movie, but it wasn't too bad. Lots of fight scenes, and I enjoyed watching it. I wasn't expecting much, so it was a pleasant surprise. A guy in prison gets taught by a martial arts master the way of the "iron hand". He eventually gets out and fights in the kumite as a promise he made to his master.

What I totally forgot about was Apple's WWDC keynote speech I downloaded…D'Oh! I wanted to watch that as well to see all the new stuff that will be coming out. I guess I'll be watching that tomorrow.

the wife

What? I thought the keynote triumph everything else especially Bloodsport 2. LOL!!!!

Thursday, June 9, 2011 - 01:08 AM

Brandon

LOL I know...I totally forgot that it had finished downloading on my computer. I'm going to watch tomorrow for sure...although I have to say that Bloodsport 2 was a pleasant surprise :)

Thursday, June 9, 2011 - 10:11 PM

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!

More NBA - (Korea) Day 189

It's a rough life...SPC Mick taking a nap in our conference
control room...a.k.a. "our lair"

Work call this morning was at 0800. It’s a ROK holiday, so our KATUSA has the day off. The rest of us had to setup for a KUB in our conference room at 0900. After we setup and had everything ready each one of us had to report separately to our sergeant's office. He had us recite the soldier's creed and then sing the army song. He then asked a few questions from the army study guide book. This time I was able to recite the soldier's creed without freezing up…not sure what happened last time. I was then told that I didn't have any harmony when I sang the army song. I was going to blame it on me being white, but our sergeant said that SPC Mick sang it well. I know I didn't get the answers to some of the questions correct, but our sergeant is stressing on us how important it is to remain confident no matter what. If you tell the board the sky is pink, don't let them make you second guess yourself. Stick with your answer and be confident in it. I guess most of the boards are more about how you present yourself and not whether you get the answers correct or not.

I then watched the NBA finals up in my lair. What another great game. I'm still hoping Dallas can win the series before Miami starts their dynasty which I'm sure will reign for years to come. After the game was lunch in my room. When I got back to the office I did some office work…check email and update the events calendar. I then worked a little down in our admin office with the IMO. I'm trying to learn everything that needs to be done in order to setup a new person on the network. It's a real pain in the butt, especially when that person is not here yet and we have to keep requesting documents from them.

The rest of the day consisted of working on SkillPorts. I was only able to finish 7 of them, so I have 3 more to go before the end of the week to meet my sergeant's quota. We cleaned up the office and then our sergeant starts talking about resuming our hikes in the morning. Instead of Seoul Tower he wants to hike to the Han river. CPT Hooah! overheard and started putting his two cents in. He said we should first just hike around post with our rucksacks instead of the assault packs. He then starts talking about longer and longer trips, then eventually doing them in our uniform. Ugghhh….I wish he would just let our sergeant take care of his own troops.

I headed back to my room and did schoolwork and watched some TV shows before turning in for the night.