DADT Fail - (Korea) Day 151

This is my weapon. There are many like it, but this one is mine.
My weapon is my best friend. It is my life. I must master it as I must
master my life. My weapon, without me, is useless. Without my weapon,
I am useless.

Work call this morning was at 0715. There was a big meeting in the secret conference room that we had to setup for. The meeting was to last from 0830 to 1600. After we setup for it I had to stay behind. We were going to take turns flipping slides for it and I decided to go first to get it out of the way. So I sat in the control room and clicked the arrow button each time a briefer would say "next slide". That was my job for about 3 hours. Fun times. SPC Mick came down at 1100 to relieve me.

I then headed to the office and updated the events calendar and printed out my 5 SkillPort certificates for our sergeant. Then I headed to my room and had lunch. As I was video chatting with my wife, my son texted me. He wanted to chat :) He has a new iPod touch and my wife set him up with Skype. So he loves being able to video chat and this was the first time we've been able to do it other than on a weekend. That was pretty cool.

I headed back to work and did some SkillPorts. We then all headed out for some DADT (Don't Ask Don't Tell) training. We all got in the office car and I drove to the post training center (the movie theatre). There were a number of people there and we all hung out for about 15 minutes until someone finally said the training had been moved to the 1RC building. So Special K grabbed the keys and we all headed to the car as quickly as possible to try and beat the rush. Special K knows all the back roads on post and he also can drive like a Korean (aka crazy). We arrived at 1RC and headed in only to be told that the training was only for E6 and higher. LOL. What a waste of time, I could have been taking a nap or something. When we got back I headed to our conference control room and watched some TV. At about 1630 we headed down to the office and cleaned up and then headed out for the day.

When I got to my room I took a nap. I got a call from SPC Roy asking if I wanted to go out with him and the KATUSAs from his office, but I declined. Not that I don't want to go out, but since they are all Korean I think I would be missing out on a lot of what's said and going on. So I just planned on chilling in my room for the night. On the schedule…watching a bootleg of Battle: Los Angeles that Special K purchased. We had started watching it at one point in the conference room a while back, but never finished. The movie is about aliens invading earth and a group of marines that are trying to rescue some civilians from behind enemy lines. They engage the aliens. After many setbacks they finally kick some butt and end up taking out the alien's control center which is the turning point in the war. A decent mindless action flick. Fun to watch, lots of guns and things blowing up…but it will not win any Oscars.

A copy of "Battle: Los Angeles" that Special K bought...I think it's a bootleg. LOL

PMI - (Korea) Day 150

PMI: SPC Mick with his big helmet...lol. He looked like the guy from Space Balls in it.
(It was an XL borrowed from Special K) This was how we practiced our site alignment.

Work call this morning was at 0830. We setup for two meetings, one in our conference room and one in the top secret conference room. After that we all put on our full battle rattle and headed out with our sergeant in two cars. We headed across post to a field for "PMI". It's funny that the army uses acronyms non-stop. Half the time I don't think most of the people even know what they stand for. I knew what we were doing, but I had to look up the acronym. PMI is Preliminary Marksmanship Instruction. Since we are going to the range next week this PMI is required. We met up with other soldiers from various offices and shops that were all planning on heading to the range next week as well. The instructor went over a lot of the basic safety and other important instructions. We then did a couple of drills with the rifles. These drills were the same exact drills that I did in basic training.
One of the drills had us practice site alignment. During this drill a partner holds a little silhouette on a piece of paper and while looking down the site on our rifle, we tell them to move it in a certain direction until it matches up with our site. Once this is accomplished they mark it with a pen. We do this three times and hope to have all three marks close together. The second test was to have us keep the rifle still while squeezing and releasing the trigger. A quarter was placed on the end of the barrel and we had to squeeze and release 6 times in order to pass. It was all pretty basic stuff. The stuff I hated doing in basic because it seemed like we did it over and over and over again.

We signed off on the attendance sheet (the key to getting access to the range next week) and headed back to the office. We setup for a meeting and then Special K and I ran off to the Sweet and Treat snack bar by the office to pick up lunch. I had them make me a sandwich and we headed back to the conference room for a working lunch. I had to flip slides during this conference, but it wasn't too bad, I was able to watch some NBA while the conference was going on. I just had to pay attention and click the little arrow key when I heard them say "next slide please".

After we cleaned up from the conference our KATUSA, SPC Mick and I headed down to the secret conference room for some training. When we arrived we almost caused a security breach. We weren't told, but it was a US only meeting and bringing in the KATUSA was forbidden. Ooops. We had training on how to flip slides for a special meeting that is lasting all day tomorrow. We are going to take turns doing this all day…sounds like fun.

We then all had to turn our "I love me books" into our sergeant for inspection. He wanted to make sure we have been keeping them all up to date. He also found new covers and dividers he wanted us to use because they are cooler I guess. We then cleaned up the office, cleaned up the top secret conference room and then left.

When I got to my room I just kicked back and relaxed. It's a little strange not having any schoolwork to do. I ended up downloading some entertainment and went on a TV show watching marathon. I'm still trying to get caught up on all my shows that I've fallen behind on since going to basic training and AIT. It's nice just to sit back and veg out for a while.

Overheard Quote: "Oh Prick! Why did it do that?" (some civilian intelligence guy trying to fix some of his PowerPoint slides during our "slide show training")

A view of where we were conducting PMI. This shows you just how 
close we are to downtown Seoul.

Bad Mood - (Korea) Day 149

A statue in front of the 8th army building. Not sure what he is pointing at

Work call this morning was at 0800. I don't mind 0800 or 0830 because it gives me time to get up early and video chat with my wife. When I arrived to the office we setup for a couple of KUB meetings. One in our conference room and one in the top secret conference room. This had us a little busy at first since they overlapped. We did a little planning yesterday before we left and setup as much as possible in our conference room.

After flipping slides for a while in our conference room I had SPC Mick take over and I went down to our office to get the car and take off to get my passport. When looking for the keys I found out that Special K was driving our colonel around, but would be back shortly. I updated the events calendar and then started looking for my beret. WTF? I couldn't find it anywhere and I can't go outside without it on. After looking around the office and going back and forth to the conference room control room I finally found it. Sometimes it can be hard to see things during conferences because we turn off the lights in the control room for better projection on the screens.

I headed out to the US Embassy on post with all the documents I needed. I had my photos, my money order, my application,  a copy of my birth certificate and copies of the court documents for my name change. When I arrived I was told that I can't use copies. I told them all of the original paperwork was in storage, they didn't really care so I left empty handed. Looks like I will not be traveling to any other country while I'm here other than the US. This really pissed me off to no end. I'm so tired of nothing ever seeming to work out. It seems every time I try and have any paperwork processed in the army, there is always roadblocks or the paperwork simply vanishes. I'm so sick and tired of it. This wasn't necessarily the army, but it is just the same as I've been dealing with since joining. I have no faith in any paperwork the army has in it's possession. Each soldier is encouraged to make an "I love me" book. This book is used by the soldier for the sole purpose of keeping originals and copies of every single important document that they ever come across in the army. This is done because all too often paperwork gets lost. It's pretty sad that is the case. Anyway, let's move on…

Me and Special K headed off to check out a framing shop located in Iteawon (which looks so different in the day). They are cheaper than the one we use on post, but they are slower as well. (Our office also puts together a number of awards and such and frames are always being ordered). In this case like most of the time the frames were needed right away. We ended up getting them from the arts and crafts store on post which would have them all ready tomorrow after lunch.

Speaking of lunch we met up with SPC Roy and ate at the food court. We got caught up on all the gossip and then headed back to work. We cleaned up the conference rooms, then I did a little SkillPort before watching a little NBA. We then got ready to head over to the 8th army building to setup for a conference there. Before we headed out CPT Hooah! looks at SPC Mick and states "you're going to get that fade before Monday right?". He was talking about getting the hair cut shorter on the sides and have it fade up to the longer hair. The first time he mentioned this I thought he was joking because like me SPC Mick shaves his head once a month. Currently it's still pretty short, but I guess not short enough for CPT Hooah!. That means I'm going to have to cut my hair every two weeks so he doesn't say anything to me. Just another annoyance to deal with.

We made it over to the conference room and had everything setup, then minutes before the meeting they want to move people around. Then they want to add people and remove others. WTF? We come over with pre-printed labels, it's not like I can shit one out for them. Sometimes people can be so stupid. We headed back and our sergeant gathered us all together go go over the schedule. I guess we are going to do some weapons training tomorrow to get ready for the range which is scheduled for next week. Also our PT test has been rescheduled for May 12th. That will be good because once I get both of those done, I can put in for leave.

After work I headed to my room and had some trail mix for dinner. I may be turning into a squirrel. I watched some TV shows and then logged on to do some schoolwork only to find out that my new class doesn't start until next week…cool I get a little vacation.

Itaewon in the day looks much different

In the 8th army building...You are not the exception!!

mom

The title of this one suits the writing. Sounds like you are getting just a little frustrating. Sorry, wish I could help. This one also was a pain copying. Had to copy and paste most of it and could not print any of the pictures except the top one of the statue. The top one always seems to print fine. love you

Thursday, April 28, 2011 - 02:10 AM

Brandon

So much for trying to be creative.

Thursday, April 28, 2011 - 10:04 PM

Bringing Up The Rear - (Korea) Day 148

The hike down from Seoul Tower this time of year is not too bad...lots of trees
in bloom. (Our KATUSA, our sergeant, SPC Mick, and the LT leading the way)

We had to meet for PT this morning at 0535 in front of the office. As my little sister would say…"That is the butt crack of dawn". We had to wear our full body armor with plates as well as an assault pack which I had packed with 4 liters of water. We headed off to Seoul Tower once again with the normal crew from our office as well as an LT from some other office…I'm not sure where. The pace was much quicker than previous hikes and we soon started to break into two different groups with me and my sergeant bringing up the rear. We made it to the top and rested a bit, then proceeded to head back down. Keeping up with everyone on the trip down was no problem…lol. It was a great workout, I could feel every muscle in my body all worn out. In fact my legs felt like jello pretty much the rest of the day.

At the end of the hike our sergeant bought everyone breakfast at a local Korean store. We all had "kimbop". It's a popular Korean food made from steamed white rice and various other ingredients such as meat & radish all rolled up in seaweed. It is then cut up into bite size pieces. We each received two of them. Since we had a meeting, we took them to go and headed off to shower and get ready for work. We setup a meeting in our conference room and then I had a chance to sit down and eat my breakfast. It may sound a little strange, but it's actually pretty good.

I spent the rest of the morning working on SkillPorts and then headed out for lunch in my room. I was able to video chat with my wife for a bit before heading back to work to do some more SkillPorts. We then setup for a ceremony which is usually a pretty easy thing, but this time it turned into a mess. An air force general was the host and we didn't have a flag for him…or at least we didn't have one on a pole ready to go. We contacted the honor guard to have them get one for us and they were taking forever. The brass started to get nervous and freak out a bit. I had to go check with the honor guard once again to get the status on the flag, CPT Hooah! got on the phone and used his rank to try and persuade them to move faster. All this time the deadline of the meeting is getting closer and closer. The air force brass at this point are sweating bullets wondering what's going to happen without their general's flag in the front. During all of this Special K was in the back with some duct tape and the flag we did have. He was able to rig up the flag redneck style and it worked. We got it up with about 5 or 10 minutes to spare. Then came the honor guard a couple of minutes before the general was about to walk in with the flag. After all the harassing they got about getting it, they were then told we don't need it anymore. LOL. I know that corporal was pissed, but they were just too slow.

We then were told that the company decided to move the PT test to tomorrow instead of Thursday. Since we just did the big hike today, our sergeant said we will not be doing it. We'll now be doing it sometime in May. I later told him that I'm trying to go home and I need to get this done. He said he would try and get a special PT test so we can do it a bit earlier. We'll see how that goes.

We then cleaned up and left the office. I headed over to the PX to get some supplies for my TV (cable and a power strip). I then headed to the food court for dinner and some downloading. As I was sitting there a guy in my barracks sat down and started talking with me. He's leaving at the start of June and is starting to wrap things up here. He was actually SPC Short's roommate when he first arrived here in Korea. Turns out he has a German wife and he knows a bit of German. So we had a little conversation in German. We then headed back to the barracks and he let me go through his DVD collection to borrow before he leaves.

When I got back to my room I tried to hook up my TV, but to my despair I found out that the TV was purchased here in Korea. They use a different plug in here in Korea (except on post of course), so I was unable to get it all hooked up. I now have to see if it's worth getting the necessary equipment to make this work. Grrrr.

Overheard Quote: "I tell my wife I don't mind if her ass knocks the lamp of the table" (SPC Short's old roommate stated this after talking about how he doesn't care if his wife gets big and fat)

A photo of my Kimbap, I ate two of these logs for breakfast today.
Good stuff...and healthy too!

SPC Mick doing some push-ups because a letter he received had
stickers all over it. (I may have mentioned that we had to do
a number of push-ups in basic for every sticker that was on a piece of mail...lol)

Happy B-Day CPT Hooah! - (Korea) Day 147

Work call this morning was at 0715 although I'm not quite sure why it was so early. We had to setup for a ceremony that was at 0830. Normally we come in an hour before any meeting and even less for a ceremony because there is less to do. Anyways we all arrived and setup for the ceremony in our conference room. This consisted of moving all the flags to the front of the room and placing some reserved seat covers on some seats. After the system was turned on I went on the computer and started doing SkillPorts. I'm happy to say that I was able to finish all 5 of my required needed for this week. Now I can start doing the longer ones that I'd like to get done.

After the ceremony we had to move everything back to normal for a KUB meeting and get that setup. It was a very very small meeting with only a few folks attending, so it was very easy. We then had our Monday morning uniform inspection. It was pretty informal which was a little surprising to me. We all just gathered around our sergeant in the conference control room and he checked us out one at a time. After a few minor adjustments on our KATUSA we were good to go. Our sergeant informed CPT Hooah! the inspections had been done and he seemed happy enough with that. The rest of the day was spent doing SkillPorts, watching some NBA playoffs, and trying to watch a movie in the conference room. That always seems like a great idea, but we have never been able to actually finish a movie…which drives me nuts. We always get called away for something.

I ended up doing some minor 25B work today. I helped out CPT Hooah! set his display settings so he could extend his desktop on two screens. I then was able to get the local admin username and password for a secret computer in our admin department and install some video drivers for it so it too could have an extended desktop on another monitor that was added to it. This whole process took over a week because I had to put in a help desk request to actually get the drivers downloaded. We can't download much of anything over the network for security reasons.

We had a little birthday celebration for CPT Hooah! today. He got the ceremonial candle and ice cream as well as a card we all signed. Unfortunately I was the ice cream holder, so I couldn't snap a photo…and that was about the only photo worthy event of the day.

We were let off from work at about 1630 and I headed to my room and just read my book for a while. When my roommate got in we headed over to the neighboring barracks where my sergeant said he left me a TV. For some reason he left it in the 3rd story day room, which is about as far away from my room as you can possibly get. We walked in and took the TV and carried it back to our room. There were a few KATUSAs in the room and watched us probably wondering what the heck we were doing..lol. When we arrived to our room we couldn't' actually hook it up yet, I need to get a cable at the PX tomorrow. After that I should have some TV in my room, that will be nice to be able to watch some sports and such. To tell you the truth I've kind of grown accustomed to just watching TV shows on my laptop. Of course I have to wait for them to download, but there are no commercials which is awesome!

Found out we have to go in extremely early tomorrow for a hike to Seoul tower again, so I'm outta here.

Weekend Wrap-Up - (Korea) Days 145 & 146

When cleaning my room I stay away from my roommate's side.
No mopping, sweeping...or anything.

Saturday: I figured I would take it easy and just stay in this weekend and rest. I slept in this morning and after waking up, I did my laundry and video chatted with my wife and kids. I look forward to the weekends because I get to see my family for extended periods. During the week I usually wake up early before work and I get to chat a little with my wife, but that is about it. The rest of the communication is done via emails and through Facebook.

SPC Roy called and said he found out that a contractor that just arrived here at Yongsan was found dead in his hotel room this week. When he didn't show up for work and didn't answer his phone they had the hotel staff check his room and that's when they found him. They are investigating the cause of death, so we don't know if it was suicide, murder, or natural causes. Pretty crazy stuff!

I headed out and got a haircut, since we are having our Monday inspections. The nice thing about haircuts here in Korea is that getting a quick massage is considered a given. I could get used to that. A quick haircut with a nice little shoulder and arm massage. Not too bad.

I then met up with PFC Pickle and we walked off post to a convenience store to pick up some Korean snacks. Once we were fully supplied we headed back to the food court and ate lunch. With our bellies full we headed to my room and took an afternoon nap. Gotta love the weekends! We then headed off to the movie theatre for perhaps the last of the free movies here on post. We watched "Season of the Witch" with Nicolas Cage. That is the perfect movie that I like seeing at this theatre. It is not a movie I would want to pay to see, but it was decent enough to go watch and enjoy. It really sucks that they are going to start charging at the start of next month. It will take a really awesome movie for me to go and pay to see it.

Once we finished we parted ways and I headed back to my room for some schoolwork and then sleep.

Sunday: Of course I slept in once again. After waking up I video chatted with my wife and kids again along with my extended family who were all together coloring eggs for Easter. As great as it is to see everyone, it is also very sad. I realize now more than ever how important it is to be together with family. I had grand visions of all the exciting places I may see, the experience I would get, the education I would receive all by joining the army. I think it's really a great place for a young person to start out in, but for an old man like me with a family at home it can really suck. I had visions of landing a great job after I get out, but now I don't really care what I do. I just want to be together with my family.

Yes…I'm homesick and I've still got 220 days left here in Korea. Looking back on my blog, day 146 at AIT was graduation and I was with my wife. Day 146 here is just another day with many more to come.

After video chatting I cleaned my room and then used the lessons learned Friday and cleaned my boots LOL. I headed off to the food court with my laptop and met up with PFC Pickle there. We had dinner and chatted for a while. I downloaded some entertainment while we were there. After PFC Pickle left, Shamadillo ended sitting in the booth behind me. We exchanged hellos. I wonder how he is doing here and what his unit thinks of him. He's actually doing a 25B job…well everyone I went to AIT with that came here is doing a 25B job...except for me.

I left the food court after a few hours and an ample supply of entertainment. I then went back to my room and kicked back. I watched a few TV shows, then called it a night. Back to the grind tomorrow and a uniform inspection. I might even have a PT test this week. My sergeant did say April…and there is only one week left in this month.

mom

you make me sad when I read how homesick you are. Hang in there it will all be over soon and you will be home with us, we miss you so much also and cant wait to have you back home

Tuesday, April 26, 2011 - 04:20 AM

Boot Cleaning 101 - (Korea) Day 144

Cleaning day in the conference room...complete with the white glove treatment.
SPC Mick on the left & Special K on the right.

Work call this morning was at 0830. The day's schedule was pretty slow with only one meeting that we had to setup for. That meeting ended up getting cancelled so I thought we may be let out early since it was Friday and all. Our sergeant mentioned that we would be watching a movie in the conference room at lunch and did indeed say we would probably be leaving at 1500 or 1600.
I started the day updating the events calendar and then working on a SkillPort. I also printed out my 5 certificates for this week. Sometimes getting 5 done can be tough in a week, so I end up doing a lot of easier ones. These are shorter ones and I usually just take the tests until I pass in order to complete the session and get the certificate. When I have the time like today I actually go in and do the longer and harder courses. I actually go through the course and take the test at the end the way they should be done.

Since we had the extra time today our sergeant wanted us to clean up our conference room…a deep cleaning. We put on some gloves so our finger prints would not get on the glass that covers the conference room tables. We picked up the glass and cleaned the underside of the glass and the wood table it lays on. It's amazing how much crud gets under the glass!

I then left with Special K to the small shoppette next to our office "The Sweat & Treat" to pick up some lunch. I grabbed a couple slices of pizza and we headed back to our conference control room and watched some NBA while eating lunch. After lunch I did a little 25B work. I hooked up a docking station for CPT Hooah! and also fixed the email issue our supply sergeant was having. Today her demeanor was totally normal, I'm just glad I don't have to work with her on a daily basis.

Our sergeant then told us all that we had to print out the latest Army Board Study Guide. This is the manual that soldiers study to try and pass the board. It contains all kinds of information about everything you ever wanted to know about army weapons, policies, procedures and anything else you can think of. I think it was over 300 pages and we printed three copies…we were killing trees today! This is all part of the changes that CPT Hooah! is going to bring to our office. I guess each week we have a subject we need to study because we'll be asked questions. As I was punching holes in the pages and putting together my binder for the study guide our IMO came and started talking to me. She is an air force sergeant and when she asked me if I was going to be busy for a while I had to tell her yes. We were all required to meet up with our sergeant and learn how to clean boots. She thought I was joking, but unfortunately I wasn't. She started laughing and couldn't stop. She then said all of us army people are crazy. CPT Hooah! is now going to make us all have a uniform inspection every Monday, so the boot cleaning is something that we'll need to do each weekend to make sure our boots and nice and clean. I'm thinking I may wear my new boots they issued me here just on Mondays and then wear my good Converse boots the rest of the week…we'll see. I guess I'll get my hair cut as well this weekend so that will not be an issue during the inspection.

SPC Mick had to bring in a pair of his dirty boots so our sergeant could then show us how to do a proper cleaning. We all watched and when we were finished we had to vacuum and shampoo the rug in then conference room. We did some cleaning up in the control room as well. When we finished we cleaned up the office and then left. It was early…it was about 1655…LOL

When I got to my room I took a nap. I then got up ate dinner and watched a TV show. I have a microwave in my room and live off microwave food unless I go out to eat. I wonder how healthy that is? I try and purchase things that aren't too bad, but I'm really starting to look forward to being back at home with my wife and eating normal home cooked meals.

I then did my schoolwork and decided to watch a movie. I copied this movie called "Blood Out" from my sergeant earlier this week. I was thinking it was a movie called "Blood In Blood Out" which I heard my sergeant and another sergeant talking about. I guess it's a classic gang movie based on a true story. This movie however was not that movie. It was more of a B movie that was about gangs. It had some good fight scenes which I always like. It even had Val Kilmer in it as a boss of one of the gangs. Wow…he sure looks a lot different than the days of Top Gun! This movie was about a cop who's younger brother wants to leave a gang and go straight. He's in love with a girl and she won't marry him unless he quits the gang life. The gang kills him because of this and the older cop brother goes under cover on a vigilante quest to get revenge. For a B movie it was pretty good.

Anonymous

Thanks you putting a picture of my son on you web site.  We are always asking him about what he does, but we get the standard pat answer.  He has referred us to your blog site.

Our daughter has two blog sites....one for the world and one pesonal, which is where we see pictures of Hugh, our grandson.

Didn't know they called him "MICK" ?

Sarah McCormick

Sunday, April 24, 2011 - 12:02 AM

Anonymous

Ask Mick about HBOTOGO

Sunday, April 24, 2011 - 08:19 AM

Brandon

LOL....our office is a little unique in what we do in the army. I don't think they have an MOS for coffee server and janitor, so they just throw random people in this office.

As for the name...I always use nick names for everyone I write about in my blog.

Sunday, April 24, 2011 - 11:51 AM

CPT Hooah! - (Korea) Day 143

Our KATUSA asleep in the conference control room

Work call this morning was at 0800. I woke up with a stomach that was not happy with the mixture of Makkoli, soju, and roasted duck from the night before. Even though I tried to drink a lot of water and took some aspirin last night, I still felt a little queasy. I drank some more water and then got ready for work. Surprisingly my sergeant was at work and didn't look like he was suffering too much. He even said we would be playing basketball at lunch today. I didn't really want to play, but I was hoping that I would feel better as the day went on.

I helped setup a meeting and then headed to our admin office to check on a laptop. When the help desk reset all the local admin passwords they were unable to reach a few and we wanted to research why. We figured it out and I told him he could close the ticket because I could fix the others that were still out there and needed to be fixed.

I then went to TMP our office car with Special K, but when we got to the car, the doors would not open with the remote. It turns out that Special K left the hazard lights on last time he parked the car, so the battery was dead. Special K had to get his car and we were able to jump it and get it started. After that we were able to check out the office car for another week. When we got back I headed up to my room and changed for basketball. I was feeling quite a bit better, but not a 100%. When we got out on the court I could tell my sergeant was nowhere near 100%. That soju did a number on him. We had another guy playing with us for a few games of 21. I just couldn't miss any shots it seemed. The guy playing with us was a younger very athletic black dude and he ended up stuffing me a few times, it seemed that those were the only ones I missed. I ended up winning all the games except for one. I was able to get in one good stuff on the young black dude as well which is always good.

I then showered in my room and ate lunch. After lunch I headed to visit our supply sergeant since she is on the way back. She asked on Monday if I could take a look at her email because she was having some issues. I came in and she looked at me like "why are you here". She then said she had to leave and asked if I could come back later. It was very strange, I got a really weird vibe the whole time there and I can't quite place why. Usually when I go to help someone they are appreciative, but this was just strange to say the least. Needless to say I didn't go back today.

We setup for a meeting in the secret conference room and Special K said he overheard our sergeant and the new captain talking. This new captain is all hooah hooah and Mr. Super Army Man. I’m going to call him CPT Hooah. I guess he wants to make a lot of changes. A number of things were overheard such as uniform inspections, haircut inspections, ruck marches with 50lbs going many miles. He needs to just do his paperwork job and let our sergeant handle our training. I know I shouldn't let rumors bother me, but hearing all that BS just made me lose all my motivation. I went to our conference control room and took a nap. When I woke up I installed the active directory tools on the computer up in our office there. Now I can poke around and see how things are setup as far as users, groups, and computers here in Korea.

We then cleaned up the secret conference room and the office and took off. The young hawaiian called and asked if I wanted to play basketball with him. The last few times he called I haven't been able to do anything with him, so I said sure. We met up at the gym and just as I was about to play we were invaded by a bunch of women (and a few dudes who may have been gay) for a Zumba class. I'm starting to hate Zumba…they seem to have it at all the times I want to play basketball. We left and I went back to my room to do some schoolwork and then a little reading of a book I just got in the mail. I ordered it from Amazon a while back and it finally arrived. It's called "The Fleetwood Mac Story - Rumours and Lies". I've been a huge Fleetwood Mac fan for a long time and I thought it would be cool to read a little about them. I'm hoping the book will be good.

FS Miller

Well McGuire, I have found your entries to very useful and insightful. This will probably be the last time I will be able to read your posts for about two months as I will be starting BCT at Benning very soon. If you get a chance to read my entries, I hope you find my BCT journal about as amusing as I did yours.

Saturday, April 23, 2011 - 12:33 AM

Brandon

Great...good luck at Benning. I'm looking forward to reading all about your experience.

Saturday, April 23, 2011 - 10:13 AM

Hiking & Bonding - (Korea) Day 142

Our group at one of the first breaking points during our hike.

Work call this morning was at 0800. We had our normal weekly Wednesday meeting in the secret conference room. I ran both the unclassified and the secret laptops for the meeting. I finally got my account all setup and straightened out, so I can now log into the secret network without issues. It's about time…I've only been here for over 4 months now.

After the meeting I headed back to my room to change. My sergeant had volunteered me and himself to go on a hike with the ROK sergeant major. The ROK sergeant major put together a hike with half US soldiers and half ROK soldiers from various offices. We were told we would be leaving around noon and getting back around 2000. Holy cow!

We boarded a bus and went for a long ride through the city of Seoul. I am starting to think it's the city that never ends! We drove for about an hour and a half before we finally reached our destination "Bukhansan National Park". The hike started off with a very steep incline and I was a little worried that it was going to be a long tiring day. Once the first initial climb was over however it turned into a very nice hike. There was plenty of scenery with lots of gorges and peaks to check out. It's also spring time, so the trees and flowers all added to the experience.

We stopped a few times for some pictures and some speeches by the ROK sergeant major about this bonding experience. It actually was pretty cool to get out and see folks away from work. I learned there is a ROK military unit that is stationed in this area and does a lot of mountain training. We could actually hear them echoing through the mountains.

At the end of the trail our bus was waiting for us and we all boarded for a short trip to a place that had a sauna. The ROK sergeant major invited everyone in, but I think only Koreans ended up going in. There is something about getting naked and sweating next to a bunch of dudes that Americans just don't get. We were near either a training area or housing area that was created for the 1988 Seoul Olympic games which was pretty cool. When the ROKs all got out of the sauna we all went to a restaurant. We sat on the floor...traditional Korean style as a big group. I was a little worried that I wouldn't be able to get back up! The ROK sergeant major paid for everything. We had dinner, makole & soju along with roasted duck and kimchi. We cooked the duck ourselves a the table, very similar to the Korean barbecue I've had before with the lettuce to wrap it up in and the sauce to dip it in. It was all very good. I had only planned to drink a couple glasses of makole, but there were a number of toasts and some of them were mandatory soju toasts. It was all a lot of fun and a pretty good bonding experience. In fact it may have been a little too good. There was a Korean dude next to me that said my eyes were beautiful. He assured me he wasn't gay, but throughout the night I got a couple shoulder rubs and a pat on the butt while going pee in the bathroom. He's a little suspect…but I'll chalk it up to different cultures for now.

My sergeant was feeling extremely good by the end of the night, in fact he needed some help getting off the bus and back to his house. Luckily a sergeant from the command group was able to give him a ride. I went back to my room and spoke to my roommate and his friend for a while. I was sure to tell them all the new bad Korean words that I learned….lol.

Me standing in front of the scenic peaks in the distance

Me and some more scenery

My sergeant posing next to a big rock

During our hike

Some of the remnants from the 1988 Olympic games in Seoul

The ROK sergeant major giving a little speech during dinner

One of the many toasts that were made today. All the bowls are full of Makkoli

Hike To Seoul Tower...Again - (Korea) Day 141

Before our hike up to Seoul Tower. From left to right...
our KATUSA, Special K, & SPC Mick

We had to report in front of the office this morning at 0530 for PT which was a hike up to Seoul tower and back. We wore our body armor (without the plates) and assault packs full of crap. I had two 2 Liter bottles of water in mine along with some other miscellaneous items to fill it up. It was a pretty good work out.

When we got back I headed to my room and got ready for work. I was able to video chat with my wife for a bit and then arrived at work by 0900. The help desk was finally able to reset the local admin passwords for all our machines, so now I can finally get some work done. I started in the admin office by installing Adobe Acrobat Pro on all the new machines. The versions they gave me were all upgrades, so when it came time to start them up they wanted an older serial number to verify that an older version is owned. None of the numbers they had typed out on a little piece of paper would work. Grrrr. Luckily they did have one full version (non-upgrade) that I was able to install on all their machines. What a pain in the neck.

SPC Roy called and wanted to go to lunch. We met up and went to the food court. He's loving his new job. They focus a lot more on PT because they have a regular schedule which he needs. He said PT was really tough this morning as they carried a litter (a stretcher) with a person on it. They had to run all over and carry it all sorts of ways.

When I got back we setup for a meeting in the top secret conference room. I then checked my email and updated the events calendar. So many things are duplicated and done so stupid here it can drive me nuts. There are a number of events calendars that are created for various purposes among a number of labor intensive time consuming projects that have to be done quite a bit. I then put in a couple of help desk tickets to get some problems fixed. Since I'm the alternate IMO I am one of the few people that can now put in these tickets.

We then cleaned up the top secret conference room and then cleaned up the office. Unfortunately we couldn't leave because there was a ROK meeting going on in our conference room and we had to stay until they were done so we could shut everything down and lock up. It was almost 1800 by the time they left.

After I got to my room and changed, I decided to treat myself to a Baskin n' Robbins 31 below (Oreo flavored). I also brought my laptop and downloaded some entertainment.

Gate Issues - (Korea) Day 140

A photo I snapped on the way back from our road trip on the weekend...
the cherry blossoms are everywhere!

Work call this morning was at 0830. We setup for a meeting and then I started to work on SkillPorts. I was able to finish a few of them before SPC Roy called. He wanted to give me an update on his new job now that he is in another office. Basically all they focus on is PT and weapons qualification. He said his sergeant is pushing him to better himself and his career which he needs.

One of our SACOs came up to the conference room and pointed at me and said he needed me down at the front gate. I followed him down and he gave me a remote and told me to open the gate when a VIP came. The gate has been broken since I've been here and I guess some people came out to fix it the other day. Well I saw the car coming and I pushed the button…nothing happened. I kept walking closer and closer until finally it opened for them when I was almost a couple of feet away from the gate. At this point SPC Lee came walking up and saw what was going on. He proceeded to show me, our sergeant, and Special K a way we could use the remote at a long distance. He proceeded to hold the remote to his temple and then open his mouth as wide as possible. When he pushed the remote he was able to open the gate from about 30 to 40 feet away vs our 5 feet away. Although it looked pretty stupid, it worked! I think the folks are going to come out and work on it some more.

I went to lunch and video chatted with my wife which was awesome. After that it was back to work where I finished some more SkillPorts….in fact I was able to finish the week's worth of SkillPorts so I'm good now! Later on we cleaned up the office and called it a day.

I headed home and watched a show on my laptop. I then did some homework and after fooling around for a bit on the internet realized I had my final exam to do, so I did that as well. Even though it was open book, it was still pretty tough…I got it done though and submitted it. Hopefully I will do decent in the class.

FS MILLER

Did that guy have a plate in his head? I have never heard of a remote working better that way!

Thursday, April 21, 2011 - 12:00 PM

Brandon

LOL...we were all laughing at him, but it did work!

Saturday, April 23, 2011 - 10:28 AM
div>

Weekend Wrap-Up (Road Trip) - (Korea) Days 138 & 139

At the top of the hill above the Hanok Village in Jeonju

Saturday: Woke up around 0200 and had to go pee. SPC Roy had left the TV on and it must have been the Korean version of Cinemax after hours because there was some Korean soft port going on. I turned off the TV and headed back to bed, then slept until about 0830. We woke up and got ready, then headed out in search of breakfast. Not knowing the city of Jeonju at all, we thought we would just drive around and find a place. Everywhere we went, it seemed that all the places were closed. We finally came across a McDonald's and ended up having breakfast there. We stopped at a convenience store on the way back for some snacks (that was going to be my lunch). When we got back SPC Roy took off to go help his in-laws on the rice fields. I stayed back in the hotel room and just sat down and did homework. I had to work on a final paper and also do my normal attendance and such. I spent a few hours doing that before taking a break. I decided to go for a run, but first I wanted to walk around and do a little sight seeing. There was a little tourist area near the hotel we were at called the Jeonju Hanok Village. This little village has 700 traditional Korean houses (Hanok) that are still home to residents today. It states that Hanok Village is the best-preserved living traditional village. I walked through it and took some photos. then followed some stairs and a trail up to the top of a hill where a I could take some more pictures and take in the view.

After the sight seeing was done I went for a little run. I wanted to get in a little bit of exercise during this road trip. The funny thing is that since we were pretty far down south and there are no military posts around, I was looked at quite a bit. I guess they don't see white people around too often, especially running down their alleys. I ended up getting just a little lost, but after back tracking I was able to figure out where to go. I've mentioned the RunKeeper application that I use on my iPhone, but you can also join their website for free and track your runs.

When I got back to the room I showered and then started working on my schoolwork some more until SPC Roy came back from the rice patties. He took a shower and then we headed out on the town to find a place to eat. We drove to a place near our hotel, but decided to keep looking. After driving around we ended up in what seemed like an outdoor mall. I think everyone in town happened to be walking around including all through the streets, so it took us forever to get out of there. The place was crawling with kids and young adults. My guess is that it is the place for the night life as well, but we were just looking for a good place to eat. We ended up going back to the hotel and going to the first place we passed by earlier. I'm so glad we did, it was a Korean barbecue and it was soooo good! We cooked the small pieces of beef right there on the table in front of us and then dipped it in some sauce, wrapped it up in some lettuce and ate them. Add the kimchi and other small sides and I was very full. The place was awesome. We shared a bottle of soju and just enjoyed the awesome food.

Next on the to do list was going to a place were we could drink some Makkoli (Korean rice wine). I had wanted to try this stuff since I arrived here, but never had the chance until now. I just moved from central Washington state where wine has become very popular and although I'm no wine connoisseur I do enjoy going wine tasting and visiting the various vineyards that surrounded the area. Korean rice wine looks a little milky, but it tastes very good. It was served to us in a big teapot. We were given two bowls to drink out of and then all of a sudden the guy brought out a ton of food as well. I tried a few things, but I was really too full to eat much. We ended up drinking two "teapots" full of Makkoli. During this entire time SPC Roy and I had some interesting talks. I learned about how he came to America and was fresh off the boat starting 6th grade…speaking no English. He had a very hard year getting made fun of and getting in a lot of fights because he was so different than all the other kids. In just one year he was able to adjust and took in everything America had to offer. His parents made him speak Korean back at home, so he was able to stay fluent which now makes him an extra $400 a month in the army. I heard stories of basically his entire life up until now, it was a pretty deep and emotional talk and pretty cool getting to know a lot more personal stuff about him.

So after we finished the Makkoli we headed out and SPC Roy was feeling pretty sore from working in the rice fields all day. He decided that we both needed massages, so we found a massage place and we both ended up getting 2 hour massages. It was pretty interesting, we both went into a room that was separated by a small wall that came up to about the height of my hips. On each side there was a massage table and we both disrobed and put on some shorts we were given. We then laid down and two chicks came in and worked on us. At one point SPC Roy fell asleep and started snoring so loud I thought people in the next building over could probably hear him. Everyone started laughing and he woke up. It felt awesome and by the time we left I felt like jello from head to toe.

A view from above the Hanok Village in Jeonju

A view from above the Hanok Village in Jeonju

Me in front of the Jeonju Hanok Village

Drinking Makkoli - you can see the "teapot" and the brown bowls we drank from...
along with all the crazy food they brought with it!

Sunday: We slept until about 1000. We slowly got up and got ready. We both found out that our backs were all pretty bruised from the massages that we received the night before. Those ladies went to town on us! We checked out by noon and headed towards SPC Roy's in-laws farm. He wanted to show me where he worked yesterday and also just show me the difference between city life and country life in Korea. Let me tell you that the difference is night and day. The people are different out in the country. They all seem a bit shorter, and you can tell they work hard manual labor all the time. In fact I noticed a lot of the women walk bent over. I'm guessing this is because they spend so much time bent over in the fields working.

We headed off and had brunch at a tofu restaurant which SPC Roy was so excited to eat at. It was actually pretty good, I enjoyed everything I tried there…especially the bean donuts. We then went to a national park to do a little sight seeing once again. The place is called Maisan Provincial Park and is a big tourist destination…or at least it was today. SPC Roy said he's never seen so many people here. There were a whole number of buses and we had to park pretty far away from even the entrance to start going up the mountain which had SPC Roy all kinds of pissed. On the hike up there is a temple and a pond where a number of people were in paddle boats floating around. When we arrived at the top there are a number of pagodas which are basically a pile of rocks that form a small tower. The story is that an old grandpa came up and built all of these in the area. There is a small statue of the dude and a whole story you can read about it. It also states that if you put water into a bowl during the winter, the water freezes into a pole reaching for the sky…not sure if that is myth or not because it's spring now.

After checking out the park we headed back towards Seoul, taking the scenic route. We stopped at a dam for a break and to take some more pictures. At this point three little Korean kids ran up to me and started asking me all kinds of questions in Korean. SPC Roy said "they are asking if you are a foreigner" LOL. I don't think they've ever seen a white guy before. I mentioned this before, I would get people waving or smiling or saying hi…but this was a first with the kids. It was pretty funny.

Back on the road again we ended up stopping near Seoul at a rest stop to eat dinner. Rest stops in Korea are quite a bit different than back in the states. They contain bathrooms of course, but they also have a gas station and a number of vendors out selling food. There is a place you can go in and sit and eat more restaurant style food and finally there is usually some sort of convenience store. A one stop shop for everything you need on a road trip. I even saw a Korean midget there, but it was just too dark for me to take a photo.

We headed back to the post and I arrived in my room about 2130. After a little school work I passed out. I think for being last minute and totally unexpected, this weekend road trip turned out to be a pretty cool experience.

The bruises on my back from the previous night's massage

A Buddha on the way up the mountain at Maisan Provincial Park

Me and SPC Roy at Maisan Provincial Park

Me with a couple of the many pagodas behind me

Road Trip - (Korea) Day 137

Our view of the Filipino band playing at the hotel bar

Work call this morning was at 0830, a nice way to return to work. We only had one meeting scheduled and it was more of a performance than a meeting, so all we had to do was put out some seat covers with name tags and setup the flags in the conference room. The only meeting was also scheduled at 1400, so we didn't have any rush when we first arrived.

The first thing I did was update the events calendar. Usually if I'm not there the air force master sergeant will do it, but he was gone as well, so it really didn't get done all week. Events change almost daily so it needs to be updated daily, luckily it's a really slow week. We then did spring cleaning for the office. This involved lots of Windex, Pledge, and vacuuming all over. Once we were finished our sergeant wanted us all to watch an HBO series he just got on DVD. It's called "Generation Kill". We hooked everything up in our conference room so we could watch it…it was almost like being at the movies. :) We watched the first episode and it is basically about a marine unit during the first days of the 2nd Iraq war. The push in from Kuwait and see some pretty crazy stuff. Since it's an HBO series it can get pretty graphic. After the first episode our sergeant ordered us all lunch from the navy club to celebrate SPC Roy's last day in our office. Starting Monday he will be in another office actually getting some training for his MOS which is 42A (Human Resources Specialist). Like everyone else in our office, nobody actually does their MOS because the army doesn't have a coffee server MOS, so they just usually stick 42As in our spot…I'm just the lucky one. We then watched another episode before we had to setup for the upcoming meeting. The series is pretty good, I may have to borrow my sergeant's DVDs so I can finish the first season now that he got me hooked. I guess it eventually goes on to deal with how the war affects these young marines and how it changes their lives.

I then ran some errands with SPC Roy in his rented car that he picked up for this weekend. It's a Kia, but it's really nice. Lots of technology built into the car. When we got back I helped SPC Roy and SPC Mick get on the correct site so they can do their IA training. SPC Mick has to do it for the first time and SPC Roy needs his annual refresher. I now get notices of folks in my office that are close to expiring.

We then had our safety briefing…don't drive drunk, always have a battle buddy, call someone if you find yourself in trouble…etc. I then went to my room and did a little schoolwork. Once I finished SPC Roy came and picked me up for our road trip down south to a city called Jeonju. This city is about 30 Kilometers away from his father-in-law's place where he will be helping them plant rice. I'm just along to keep him company. The trip took about 3 hours and we only missed one turn, which is amazing because we actually had two GPS units going. After we arrived at the hotel we checked in and then checked out the bar. It was a little after midnight and the place was pretty empty. Here we sat in a Korean bar with a live Filipino band singing classic American songs in English. We each had a couple drinks and then retired to our room. Tomorrow I have to do a lot of schoolwork while SPC Roy works in the rice fields.

IMO & Epic WTF - (Korea) Day 136

A photo in the bathroom at the building where my IMO class was at...
I don't even want to guess what kind of 'hazardous waste' they store under the sink

Work call this morning was at 0800 for the last day of IMO class. I've grown to like this schedule, it's the same every day and I get a nice long lunch break…I usually get off early too! We discussed a lot of what to do and what not to do in class today. We heard a number of stories of what people have done to get into trouble here in Korea. Most of it involved people hooking up their personal laptops to the government network…a big no no. They get caught and their laptops get confiscated. Others have viewed websites they shouldn't such as porn or even child porn. Are you kidding me? On a government computer that you know is being monitored, how can people be so stupid? The final thing is that people have been caught installing software that shouldn't be on the computer. These people have the local admin password and perform the install. The computers get scanned and the software gets uninstalled. Our instructor said a person got in trouble for installing iTunes on their computer. They ended up installing it 3 different times because the system would uninstall it when it was scanned. You think he would have gotten the hint.

At lunch I came to my room and video chatted with my wife, mom and extended family for about an hour which was nice. I usually don't get time in my room at lunch, so this has been a nice treat all week. When I got back we talked about the upcoming release of Windows 7. The army has been testing it for a while and it is said to be coming out soon for us. We will be able to roll out images and there will be a number of improvements. We'll see, it seems with any Windows upgrade there may be improvements…but they come with a price…usually by breaking other things. I also found out they even make an image for Macs. They are working on a Snow Leopard image to come out with their Windows 7 image.

We then had to watch a couple of very boring videos. It all dealt with stuff that we as IMOs will never see, such as how to deploy Windows 7 from the server and such. The videos were so boring that I don't think anyone in class was paying any attention. The 1st Lieutenant in front of me was surfing Epic WTFs the entire time, in fact he was surfing that website the entire week. I had some good laughs just looking at his screen from behind. I ended up checking out one of the sister sites called Wrong # Texts which was cracking me up (on the inside of course). It is a bunch of screen shots of people that get strange messages that were sent to the wrong number…some pretty funny stuff.

When the videos were over we filled out a customer survey for the class and then received our certificates. I am now certified! I thought the class was pretty good. I got a better understanding of how everything works here in Korea and I also now know who to contact. So I'll feel a little more comfortable when I go back to the office, I was afraid to do anything because I wasn't sure what I was even allowed to do.

After class I went to the gym and worked out (chest and abs). The place was somewhat busy (as usual), but what really pisses me off are people that go to a machine and stick their towel on it (to claim it I guess). They then sit on the machine and take their sweet time doing their sets. In between sets they just kind of hang out and relax, all the while nobody else can use it. It took me twice as long to get my workout because there were multiple people doing this.

When I got back to my room SPC Roy called and said he had a huge favor to ask. I guess his family has rice fields down south and he needs to go down to help them plant or something. He said he rented a car and wants me to go with him to keep him company for the trip. In return he'll buy my food and make sure I have a place to sleep…LOL I'm glad about that last one. I told him sure, I didn't have anything planned this weekend anyway. I just have to make sure I have time to do my schoolwork since I have quite a bit to do before Tuesday. He said this wouldn't be a problem…there would be plenty of time. So it looks like I'll be going on a road trip…Korean style.

Speaking of schoolwork, I sat down and worked on that for a while, then watched a TV show to wind down for the night. Tomorrow is Friday and my only day that I'll be going to the office this week.