Hail & Farewell - (Korea) Day 214

The potluck/BBQ for the hail and farewell get together for our SCJS offices

Work call this morning was 0830. We had no meetings scheduled, so I just headed straight to my office in our conference control room and did some SkillPorts. The ROKs came up and started setting up for a ceremony that was to be held in our conference room, so I gave them a hand getting everything ready. Not too long after that I got a call from our sergeant asking me to come down and help get ready for the upcoming BBQ.

I grabbed the keys to our office car and ended up driving our IMO and our supply sergeant around gathering supplies and dropping them off at the picnic area on post. On the last trip I headed off to our IMO's room to pick up condiments. She is a TSgt in the air force (an E6), so I was curious what her living quarters were like on post. I didn't get to look around much as I was walking back and forth from her refrigerator to the car, but they are definitely nicer than the barracks I live in. The small buildings house two people and it looked like they shared the kitchen and bathroom while having separate rooms that are similar to studio apartments.

I dropped her off at the picnic area and then headed back to the office to pick up some cleaning supplies and out of coincidence our KATUSA as well. We both made a pit-stop at our barracks to change into civilian clothes before heading to the picnic area. We arrived pretty much on time a little after noon.

The picnic was a hail and farewell for all of our SCJS offices. We ate a lot of good food and then had a little ceremony. I acted as proctor handing some awards to our air force major as he was giving some speeches. From our office they said farewell to our air force master sergeant who will be leaving in a week or so, as well as my sergeant who will be leaving in August. Our supply KATUSA will be leaving as well as our sergeant major. There were a number of KATUSAs also from our protocol office who were leaving as well. You can tell these guys are so excited to be finishing up their mandatory service and get on with starting their adult lives.

I think everyone had a fun time, but the weather here is just so crazy lately. It has been raining cats and dogs this last week. Today there was no rain, but it was so hot and muggy it sucked. I had to take a shower after I got back from the picnic.

I then took a nice long nap before doing my schoolwork and then just relaxing in my room the rest of the night. I know it's Friday, but after the whole picnic and all I just didn't feel like going out. I just enjoyed my TV shows for the rest of the night.

A little badminton game going on during the Hail & Farewell

Our supply KATUSA using chopsticks to eat ice cream...LOL!

Flying By - (Korea) Day 213

The building I work in as the sun is rising in the morning

Work call this morning was at 0830. Today seemed extraordinarily busy. Still just me and Special K running the office. Special K was informed that he rather than SPC Mick will be taking over our sergeant's job once he leaves. So Special K will be the new executive assistant, leaving me, SPC Mick and our KATUSA to run everything else. We only had one meeting today, but it seemed like I was running all over the place. The day seemed to go by quickly though which was nice.

I worked on some SkillPorts in the morning of course, then prepared for the lone meeting that was coming up at 1400. I wanted to make sure we had everything ready to go because it was located over at the top secret conference room and our sergeant wanted to play basketball at lunch. We left to play basketball only to find the gym was being used for a ceremony. What a let down…I headed back to my room and video chatted with my wife while eating lunch.

When I got back to the office we headed over to setup for the meeting, but there was an unscheduled meeting taking place in the top secret room. This left us with a bit of a dilemma, since we had to wait and return shortly before our meeting was to start. This didn't give us much time to setup and as expected people started coming in while we were still setting up and placing name tags and such. Not good. We left and then I did a bunch of office work. I have a number of things (paperwork) especially when SPC Mick and our KATUSA are gone that I have to make sure get done on a daily or weekly basis depending on the item.

SPC Roy came in the office at one point in a panic. It seems because his wife is not command sponsored (he found her and married her here in Korea), she is not on his orders for his next duty station. This means they will not get the additional weight to be moved and she will have to pay for her own flight back to the states.

1700 came quick and I left on time after cleaning up the office. Back in my room I snacked and did schoolwork. The class I'm taking now is all about IT security. This is what I am majoring in for school and something we had to learn extensively in AIT and studying for the security+ certification. I feel much more comfortable in this class compared to my previous class. I am also looking forward to taking a little break before resuming class in the second half of August.

I then relaxed and watched some TV shows, on the menu tonight was Spartacus and a new show I just started checking out called Nikita. It seems very much like a TV Show based straight from the great movie "Point of No Return" staring Bridget Fonda. A young girl in prison sentenced to death has her death faked by a secret agency. They then take her and train her to become an assassin. This TV show is about one of those trained assassins that escapes and is now seeking revenge against the secret agency. We'll see how it plays out.

Not Quite Right - (Korea) Day 212

Another hard working road crew...working 24 hours a day, 7 days a week here in Seoul

The morning came earlier than I had planned. The bed at least in the spare room while small, was still much more comfortable than the poor excuse of a bed that is in my barracks. My NCOIC was moving a little slow as was I. She told me she had pushed her snooze button several times before getting up, now we were running late. I wondered how everyone in the office was going to feel after last night. I guess this is a normal thing for Koreans…drinking on weekdays.

We drove to work and since we were running late my NCOIC says "you don't mind if I drop you off in the parking lot do you…I'm late and I gotta get in the office". Of course I replied no problem, just let Special K know that I may be a little late please. Unfortunately it was raining. Well raining is to gentle of a word…the gods opened up the sky and let it pour! I ran up to my room (why my NCOIC couldn't take an extra 2 minutes to drop me off, I don't know). I was so soaked by the time I got to my room. I had to peel off my shirt! I then took a quick shower and shaved before getting dressed. Work call was at 0830, but my NCOIC dropped me off in the parking lot at 0815, there was no way I was getting to work on time. At least she was the one that dropped me off, so I will not be getting into trouble.

I made it in a little before 0900. I headed straight to the normal Wednesday 0930 meeting in the secret conference room. I had to get both the computers up and running…ready for the meeting. I was moving in slow motion and not thinking quite clearly. I only had a small headache (I really tried to limit my intake last night). I was drinking water and pushing through. The meeting only had a few hiccups, but all in all it was OK.

I headed upstairs and right away was told to hurry up and setup for another meeting. The problem is that only Special K and I were working today. SPC Mick is off on a surprise vacation offered to him to JeJu island "The Hawaii of Korea". It's a small tropical island south of Korea. He was offered this at the last minute after our NCOIC was unable to take the vacation. Our KATUSA had to go to a meeting of his own and wasn't scheduled to start work until after lunch. So I hurried and setup everything up in the top secret conference room. Special K was busy flipping slides for a meeting in our conference room. Once I had everything setup CPT Hooah! looked and asked where the laser pointer was. Oh crap! I am really not 100%, I totally forgot about this vital piece of equipment that we are supposed to supply for the general in each meeting. CPT Hooah! took off running to our conference control room, which is where we keep it. Unfortunately when I cleaned up from the morning meeting, I forgot to bring it up there. He had to run down and get it before heading back over to the top secret room. He wasn't too happy.

I sat down and did a SkillPort before getting a call from SPC Roy, he wants me and Special K to meet him at the food court for lunch. OK…I head down and I'm waiting on Special K, who is waiting on the air force major to give him some paperwork to run an errand after lunch. We then start to leave before getting stopped by our sergeant who wants us to pick him up something. We get stopped a couple more times all the while SPC Roy keeps calling asking where we are. Finally we get there and SPC Roy is gone…he was too impatient to wait. WTH? He called us and wanted us to come, then he takes off.

We had to hurry and eat because yes, we had another meeting to setup for. Wow…it's been a pretty busy day! I flipped slides for this meeting and then was able to slide in another SkillPort afterwards. I then made a network cable for our office. I've been meaning to make one for a while long enough so the officers can share the secret laptop between their desks…mission accomplished.

The rest of the day consisted of me doing some new training I found. I was recently checking out a part of AKO called ACT (Army Career Tracker). Well there is a link from AKO to this site. On this site it shows my progress and what I've done. I saw that in one portion of my training it shows AIT as complete and the next step is SSD1 (Structured Self Development Level 1). After searching Google to find out what this is, I found out that it is web based training. This has to be done before going to WLC (Warrior Leader Course), which in turn must be done before one can become an NCO. I signed up for the SSD1 course and started taking some of the modules. It said when I finish I will have 80 hours worth of training. I guess I'll see if it shows up on my ERB or my promotion points worksheet.

As for the rest of the folks in our office, they all made it in. I went down to our admin office to check on Seaman. Last time I saw him, he was walking around in circles in the subway station. He said he threw up about four times on the way home. He also said he "felt kind of funny" right now…lol.

The rest of the day consisted of me hanging in the room and relaxing. My roommate ordered pizza and we had some good conversation. He's dating a 19 year old American girl (soldier). That blew my mind when I thought about it…in four years my oldest daughter is going to be 19! Holy Cow!

the wife

Sounds like you had a good night and a rough day... Lol!

Wednesday, June 29, 2011 - 11:40 PM

Brandon

Yes...the night was a lot of fun and filled with the surprise "Cocktail" like show along with fire at the bar. Everyone was hurting a bit and definitely moving a little slow though today!

Thursday, June 30, 2011 - 09:31 PM

Fare Thee Well - (Korea) Day 211

During the farewell gathering a couple of ROKs along with Seaman on the left and
the air force master sergeant and major on the right.

Work call this morning was at 0800, we had to setup for a meeting in our conference room. This meeting had a DVD that they wanted to play. We've watched DVDs in the past in the conference room as a group for fun, but we always had to turn off one of the projectors because there was a constant flicker. Maybe a better word would be scrolling. The screen would scroll constantly making it useless to try and watch a show. I never really thought too much about it, it was just standard operating procedure for us to turn that particular projector off when we watched a DVD. CPT Hooah! saw it and told us to fix it right away. I fiddled with it a little without success, so I went back to my computer and downloaded the manual to take a look. Another officer from the command group came in and told CPT Hooah! that we should have a tech guy take a look at it. CPT Hooah! said I was his tech guy…lol. The officer from the command group then asked me what my MOS was. When I told him I was a 25B he said I better get that fixed! I had it fixed within a few minutes…just needed to check out the manual.

The rest of the day was pretty standard as of late, a lot of working on SkillPorts and not much else. I was asked yesterday if I wanted to attend a farewell party for our air force master sergeant that our ROK sister office was throwing him. I said sure, I think he's a pretty swell guy and it sounded better than sitting in my room all night. After work at 1700 I was told to meet back at the office in civilian clothes at 1800. I wasn't even sure where we were going, I just knew it was a farewell party.

So I headed to my room and changed, then headed back to the office before too long. We all gathered up and walked off post a few blocks until we came upon a restaurant. I was happy to see they had normal tables and chairs. We were guided to the back where I saw we had a special room reserved for us. Unfortunately this special room was traditional style where we sit on the floor…ugh my legs! I quickly chose the side next to a wall so at least I could rest my back.

There was a lot of Korean beer and soju brought in and the drinks started flowing long before the food even started cooking on the tables. There were a number of toasts given and everyone was having a good time. I was well aware of the fact that this was indeed still a weekday and I had to go to work tomorrow. I had planned on staying away from the soju all together and just sip some beer. That all changed as we were about to toast and the head ROK officer saw my beer as everyone else was holding up their soju shot glasses. In accented English I hear "What the fuck is that?". I soon ended up taking a few shots of soju. We cooked some meat at the tables, but before it was done I tried raw cow liver. It was set out as one of the appetizers and I was told it was very good. It actually wasn't too bad except like the raw fish I tried before, the texture was kind of gross.

Everyone had quite a bit to drink. The air force master sergeant made several trips to the bathroom, and he wasn't going in there to go pee or poop. The ROK camera guy could barely stand straight as he was attempting to take photos. Our air force major who is usually pretty conservative at one point was in the bathroom going pee without shoes on. Everyone was feeling pretty good.

As we were all leaving my NCOIC told us about a really cool bar next to her house and asked if anyone wanted to see it. Always looking to see something new, I volunteered as did the head ROK officer. The three of us took a short subway ride to this bar, and as advertised it was pretty amazing. Like in the movie Cocktail with Tom Cruise, the bar tenders had a lot of flair throwing bottles around and making drinks. If that wasn't enough, at midnight they put on a bit of a show complete with spitting fire out of their mouth which lit up some fireworks…all inside this little bar. At one point a Korean dude next to me asked me if I could come over to his house on the weekends so his kids could meet an American. I told him I was pretty busy on the weekends…lol.

When we left there my NCOIC was pretty drunk. The head ROK officer headed home and my NCOIC insisted that I stay at her place. I'm kind of glad because I had no idea how to get back to my room. She took me to her place which was only a block away. I slept in the spare room and was asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow. At one point in the middle of the night I had to go pee really bad. The bathroom was right across the hall so I had no problem getting there. I did run into a problem when I tried figuring out how to flush her toilet. I looked everywhere and there was no handle or anything that remotely looked like it would do the job. I eventually gave up and went back to bed. When my NCOIC woke me up in the morning I had to go again. Thinking things may be different in the morning I went, but could not find the stinking handle…oh well.

One of the many toasts that went on during the dinner.

A couple of the younger ROK soldiers from our sister office.

A ROK cutting the meat into smaller bit size pieces to cook. We would then use
chopsticks to grab it from the grill and wrap it up in some lettuce before eating.

Me and one of the ROK soldiers...he was feeling pretty good at this point.

Some of the entertainment at the bar we headed to after the farewell party.

More of the entertainment at the bar we headed to after the farewell party

Jumper - (Korea) Day 210

I'm starting to think that Korean's take customizing their motorcycles
to a whole new level.

Work call this morning was at 0800. When we arrived at work nobody really knew why we came in early. We had absolutely no meetings on the schedule for today. Turns out someone was looking at tomorrow's schedule…D'oh!

With nothing on the schedule I did what I normally do…SkillPorts. First I looked up my promotion point worksheet just to see where I'm at. I think I may start doing this every Monday to see how I'm progressing. My current status is:

Military Education: (Max 260 Points)

Army Correspondence Course Program (ACCP): 365 Hours = 73 Points

So my SkillPorts so far (365 hours worth) equal 73 promotion points. Each SkillPort varies in how many hours it's worth. I just do a section at a time and don't pay too much attention to how many hours each one is worth. I think right now I'm already ahead of most PFCs as far as points go. My goal is to max this portion out (260 Points) before I leave Korea.

I took a break from SkillPorts at 1000 because there was a special UFC event on. I took a break and watched it in our conference control room. It was OK with some average fights until the main event. Our sergeant came up and ended up watching it with us. Two heavy weights (Cheick Kongo vs Pat Barry) duke it out. Barry almost knocked out Kongo and then a second later it was Barry that gets knocked out. It was crazy! All of us jumped out of our seats.

Time for lunch…I headed to my room and video chatted with my wife and texted back and forth with my daughter, I can multi-task! Lunch was over quicker than I wanted, but I had to head back to work…I have more SkillPorts calling my name.

As I was in my office our supply sergeant came in. Our sergeant had asked us to give her no more than $5 each to help purchase a gift for the supply KATUSA who is getting out soon. Our supply sergeant came up and said she got the money, but wanted more. She said there is going to be a BBQ and a farewell for a number of the folks who are leaving our office. She said she will also need us to bring stuff for the farewell BBQ. I told her just to let us know what to bring. It's this Friday and this is the first we're hearing of the potluck and farewell. Our supply sergeant says she feels like she's going around begging for money. I think we have plenty of officers in our office. Their pay scale is public knowledge as is mine, and there is a huge difference between an E3 and O3s and O4s. Maybe they should chip in a little more…I'm just sayin'.

We cleaned up and were let out a little early by around 1645 or so. I ate dinner in my room and had just started a show when my phone rings. It's my sergeant and I can hear him on the phone and outside my door. WTF? He then proceeds to tell me that he came up here to talk to another guy, but kept his lights on when he turned his car off…dead battery. He had me go to the office to grab the office car so I could give his car a jump. When I arrived in the office (in my sweats and a t-shirt) I grabbed the keys. Two officers where still there and just watching me with a curious look on their faces. I stopped for a second to explain. The air force major then said be quick because I shouldn't be driving the office car in the clothes I'm wearing…lol. I took care of the jump, then as I was getting comfortable in my room again SPC Roy calls. He needs company again while translating…lol. I pack up the laptop and head over to his office. I also bring with me some ramen because he's starving. I watch a couple shows and chat with him while he's translating.

This time it wasn't as late, SPC Roy decided to take a break and come back in very early tomorrow to try and finish. It's a huge PowerPoint, but he's gaining ground on it. I get back to my room and check in with school to make sure our project is still making progress, then call it a night. I'll make it to sleep on time tonight.

Weekend Wrap-Up - (Korea) Days 208 & 209

The sign outside our barracks fell victim to the monsoon and the
strong winds that came along with it.

Saturday: I woke up about 0800 and video chatted with my wife while eating breakfast, but unlike most Saturdays I changed it up a little. I headed off at 0900 and played basketball with the ROK soldier in our sister office. He and some of his fellow ROK soldiers play on Saturday mornings and he asked if I wanted to join. We ended up playing 3 on 3 and I got a pretty good workout.

I then headed back to my room and did laundry while video chatting some more with my wife. I then had to work on a paper for school. Saturday afternoons give me a lot of time to catch up on any schoolwork. I then did some SkillPorts from my room and spent the rest of the night watching the rest of the "Game of Thrones" that I have. I need to get the rest of the shows…and soon!!!

I was planning on going to a Korean soccer game, but the weather just sucked outside. I guess we're in full monsoon season now and the rain was just beating against my window. Makes it just one of those days you want to just hang out inside and watch TV…and that's what I did. I found out later that the stadium had covered seating, but I guess I just wasn't in the mood.

Sunday: I woke up around 0800 and video chatted with my wife once again. I then cleaned my room pretty well. It's been neglected lately, so I took a little time and cleaned up everything including a good sweep and mop.

The young hawaiian gave me a call and asked if I wanted to try out a free poker tournament at a local casino. We met up for lunch at the food court and then took off to Paradise Walker-Hill Casino. The nice thing about Seoul is that the subway system can get you pretty much anywhere…and cheap. We took the subway to a stop near the casino for less than a dollar and then rode a free shuttle to the casino.

The tournament had about 50 people counting the late starters. The cool thing is that it was totally free to play. I had never played with strangers before, so I was nervous as hell playing. I played very conservatively, only placing bets when I had a pretty good hand. It took a while before I started feeling a little more comfortable. I think a couple more Sundays and I may feel normal playing with these guys and girls. The top 5 in the tournament win $100 and then have to use that money at the real poker tables for at least an hour before they can leave. The young hawaiian was pretty aggressive and ended up getting knocked out early. I hung around until about 13th place. My stack was getting short so as soon as I got a decent hand I went all in. When I had the big blind I decided to go for it with a Queen and 7 of hearts. Not exactly what I was waiting for, but I didn't have much time either way. The one person that called me beat me with an ace high. It was fun while it lasted and it didn't cost me anything. Maybe I'll have better luck next time.

We left and had dinner at a Korean soup restaurant. I had Ox tail dumpling soup and they had some of the best kimchi I've had so far in Korea. We headed back and each went to our separate rooms. I did some schoolwork and then was planning to go to sleep when I got a call from SPC Roy. Turns out he's doing a side job for his uncle translating a number of power point slides, but it's taking him a lot longer than expected. He asked if I could go to his office here on post just to keep him company. He doesn't ever like to be alone…ever. He always does stuff for me, so I couldn't say no. I took my laptop and watched a couple shows at the desk next to him while he worked. I thought translating would be pretty easy, but he would come across a lot of phrases that he couldn't just translate literally because it really wouldn't make sense. I got asked a lot "How would you say this or that?…or What do you call this or that?" Turns out it's a bit harder than I thought it would be.

We ended up calling it a night and I went to sleep around midnight…quite a bit past my normal bedtime.

People watching on the subway...these two were sleeping and I was wondering
if they were going to miss their stop or not???

More people watching on the subway...or footwear watching. Korean girls like their
high heels. What you see here is a pair of high heeled rain boots!

The Year of the SkillPort - (Korea) Day 207

A typical sight on post. The MPs come out and direct traffic when school is
let out to make sure all the little kiddos are safe.

Work call this morning was at 0730. It was a little earlier so that everyone could help setup for a meeting in the top secret conference room before our sergeant took SPC Mick and Special K to the "electronic range". SPC Mick still needed to get his weapons qualification done and here in Korea the range card given from the electronic range doesn't say that it's from the electronic range, so it can be used as a normal one. I wish I could have done that, it sure beats putting on all the gear and driving for hours to get to a range and then doing a lot of waiting. The electronic range is on post and our sergeant was able to reserve it, so there was no waiting at all. They didn't have to wear any gear, so it's basically like playing a first person shooter video game where your score counts!

After we setup I did SkillPorts of course. I think I'm going to call this year in Korea "The Year of the SkillPort". I currently have around 360 hours and now my goal is around 1200 or so in order to max it out on my promotion points. I'm doing a lot more now than before, so this number should start moving up much faster than before.

We all went to lunch at the KATUSA snack bar, well everyone except our KATUSA which is a little ironic. We brought back lunch for our sergeant and then I worked on some more of the computer inventory. I'm now going to offices in the command group asking about getting this inventory. It's a bit of a pain in the butt. I'm hoping to have it all done by next week.

SPC Roy gave me a call and said he found out where he will be going next….Ft. Campbell. He's not too excited. His branch manager told him "you're going to Ft. Campbell and you'll get some much needed deployment time". That is the same place that SPC Short (the guy I replaced) left to. SPC Roy is leaving around the same time as I am. My NCOIC is trying to get me a list of open slots so when I email my branch manager I can request a few of them. Hopefully I'll get that list soon and then find out where I'll be heading. All this wondering is driving me and my wife a little nuts.

What did I do for the rest of the day you might be wondering….SkillPorts! The hours take about 3 days before they show up on your ERB and then even a few more before they show up on your promotion points worksheet, but at least it's all automated. I would hate to have to go to S1 and get my ERB updated every time I finished a SkillPort class.

We cleaned up and left at 1700. It's Friday, but I don't have any plans. I was notified that my plans for tomorrow (a paragliding trip) were cancelled because of rain in the forecast. Stupid monsoon season!  I just did the usual which is eat dinner in my room and then do schoolwork. I then watched a few episodes of "Game of Thrones". I'm really starting to get into this series. I don't think it's as good as Spartacus, but it does seem like every episode gets better. It takes place in a mythical land where knights, lords and kings roam the land. There is a lot of political fighting and scheming that takes place. It's been pretty interesting so far.

Lots of Ballin’ - (Korea) Day 206

A photo I took a while back. Just an example of some of the funny things you see
in Korea...I don't smoke, but if I did...it wouldn't be in a toilet! :)

Work call this morning was at 0730. We had to setup for a KUB in the Eighth Army Headquarters. It is now monsoon season, so it was raining at the time we headed over there. We had to wrap everything up in plastic bags to keep everything dry while walking over there. After we setup I headed back to my computer and worked on SkillPorts until the meeting was over, then we headed back to clean it all up. That was the only meeting scheduled, so we had a pretty laid back day.

At 11:15 we headed over to the gym to play basketball. We played 3 on 3 with me, our sergeant, SPC Mick, our supply KATUSA, our air force master sergeant and Seaman. We played until 1330! I could barely walk after that. My team did win two of the three games though :) After basketball I headed to my room to shower and eat lunch. I was able to video chat with my wife for a bit before heading back to the office. I did a little more SkillPort before all of a sudden we were told we could go. We were able to leave at 1530! Wow!

I headed to my room and took a nap for a while until my roommate came back. When he got back we talked for a bit. He's been on leave for a while so I had to hear all about his vacation and his girl problems. I ate dinner in my room and then my sergeant called and told me and SPC Mick to meet him at The Navy Club. We waited about an hour for him to arrive…lol. He bought us some long island ice teas and then gave SPC Mick some news. He said "I got some good news and some bad news for you, I think you'll be taking over my job as executive assistant when I leave". SPC Mick was a little shocked and all I could do was laugh. The executive assistant is basically the secretary to the colonel in our office. We sat around and chatted for a while. Our sergeant helped the new colonel in-process today. I may meet him tomorrow.

After that I headed back to my room to do some schoolwork and relax. My legs are dead and my body is sore. SPC Mick was surprised how much of a work out 3 on 3 can be. He was walking with a little limp on the way back. I think I'll sleep good tonight.

Bright Lights - (Korea) Day 205

A photo I actually took during the Sand Festival, but I wanted to show something you see a lot
in Korea. I'm not sure quite why yet, but there are many folks here that wear masks on their
faces. Some are simple surgical type masks and some can get pretty complex.

Work call this morning was at 0830. We setup for our normal Wednesday meeting in the secret conference room. I flipped slides as usual. The meeting went a little faster than usual and I got out of there about 20 minutes early. I headed up to the office, Special K and I took the office car to run a couple errands. I headed to the ACS (Army Community Services) building and picked up my passport that I ordered a few weeks back. I can now be a tourist if I choose. We then finished our errands and got back just in time for lunch. I headed to my room and video chatted with my wife while eating lunch.

When I arrived back to the office I checked my email and then headed out to the optometrist to get my eyes dilated. Unlike the normal optometrist I didn't get those huge sunglasses when I left, so I walked to my barracks with my eyes almost completely shut. I then kept the light off in my room and decided to take a nap. After the nap I ate my dinner and watched some TV shows. I then did a SkillPort. I decided that I want to max out that portion of my promotion points as well. So instead of just doing the 10+ that our sergeant is requiring a week, I'm going to keep doing them all week long and maybe on the weekend as well until I max it out. I want to get them all done so I don't have to worry about that any more.

I then did schoolwork and then watched some more TV shows. I'm hooked on Spartacus and Game of Thrones now. My sergeant let me borrow them and I've been watching them back and forth. They are both pretty good shows!

Overheard Quote: "I'm a virgin!" (Our KATUSA stated this during our sit down with our NCOIC yesterday when asked to tell her about himself. Our NCOIC asked him if he knew what TMI was. We all started laughing. I asked him later why he told her that and he said maybe she'll hook him up with someone…lol)

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.