Well there is not a ton to tell about this weekend. For those of you that don't know, I am currently taking my last two classes for my degree. In two weeks, after 12 years of going to school, I will graduate. I cannot wait to hit submit on my final assignment. With that being said, I am working on a 20 page capstone project. It takes up a great deal of my time but it's almost done.
Anyways, I did get the chance to go to Osan this weekend. I went golfing and boy was it ugly. I haven't picked up a set of golf clubs since my back surgery and it showed. Regardless of the fact that I put more golf balls in the water than in the actual hole, I still had a great time. Osan Air Force Base is nice. Real nice. It made it that much more depressing to come back to my little camp. We have exactly nothing here in terms of anything, well, cool. Osan, has a ton. For example, their PX alone is as big as my camp. Maybe a slight exaggeration but not by much. To top it off, as soon as you walk out of the gate there is, well, everything. All the shopping and sights you could possibly want to see. It is really a pretty great place. When I walk out of my gate I get to see rice fields fertilized with human fecal matter. Awesome. The good news is that my unit will actually be moving right down the road from Osan. The bad news, it won't be until about a month before I leave Korea. Oh well, such is life.
The days are beginning to warm up here. It hit 70 this weekend and it felt great. I will definitely be getting out to explore more of Korea very soon. As an added bonus, I will get to do some of the exploring with my amazing wife. In one month from today she will be boarding a plane for the longest effing flight of her life. I will have to give her a few days to get used to the time change, but after that I am going to haul her butt all over Korea. For those of you that do not know my wife, she consists on a diet of tater tots, chik fila, and pizza. Gonna be rough going when it comes to dining options. There are definitely chain restaurants here, but there is no where as many as there are located in the states. Maybe this will bring her out of her food comfort zone. Probably not.
Well, like I said, pretty unproductive, uneventful weekend. Once I am able to go exploring again, I am sure I will have some interesting stories to tell. Until then though my days will be filled with chicken pecking away at my final paper. Until next time...
Sunday, April 15, 2012
Sunday, April 1, 2012
Really?! WTF were you thinking?!
That sums up what my mind set was for the weekend. I wish I could say that I had this big adventurous weekend touring Korea. Unfortunately, that was not the case. I spent most of my weekend having to deal with soldier issues. Since that was the topic of my weekend I will make it the topic of my posting.
I haven't really made much mention of what I actually am doing in Korea so I will start there first.
I am now a Platoon Sergeant in charge of about 50 soldiers. I would say at least 80 percent of my platoon consists of soldiers fresh out of intial training. What this means is that many of them are around the age of 18. You realize just how old you feel when you talk to soldiers that, when asked where they were when 9/11 happened, they have no detailed recollection. They say, "I was in second grade and don't really remember it." Really? Seriously? I can remember every last detail of what was happening that day. Just shocking is all.
As with all "young people" (now that sounds like something an old man would say!) they do stupid crap. Heck I still do stupid stuff but it seems likes the younger you are the more extreme the dumb crap is. The problem is that here in Korea, the liquor sneeks up on you real quick. For those of you who have never experienced soju, let me explain. It is a Korean liquor that is vitually tastless except for a hint of fruitiness. It goes down real smooth and you feel fine when you are sitting down. The problem comes when you go to stand up. Then it hits you like a punch to the face. You go from feeling fine to feeling like, "WTF just happened!" The soldiers go out and start having a good time and drinking the soju and before you know it they are so messed up that they do stupid crap. This is exactly why I spent my weekend running around dealing with the actions of soldiers. I am not complaining about having to deal with soldiers issues, in fact the exact opposite. I really enjoy working with soldiers and helping them grow. There are just those time that you have to stop and look at them and say, "Really?! WTF were you thinking?!"
Anyways, so as you can see, not everything here is happy exploring and cultural immersion. In fact that is a very small aspect of the everyday life in the Army here in Korea. The operational tempo here is very fast and there is very little time to do much. I look forward to my Saturdays but not every weekend is going to be filled with stories of happy travels. On a more positive note I did attend a hail and farewell on Friday. It basically is a get together with senior leaders that welcomes newcomers and says goodbye to the outgoing personnel. It was the first time I had ever attended one of these and it was actually a really good time. You get to see a more relaxed side of your leadership. I think more organizations should hold events like this.
I wish that I had a more exciting posting to make, but really that pretty much sums up my weekend. I am hoping that next weekend brings a little more adventures of the positive kind. Until next time...
I haven't really made much mention of what I actually am doing in Korea so I will start there first.
I am now a Platoon Sergeant in charge of about 50 soldiers. I would say at least 80 percent of my platoon consists of soldiers fresh out of intial training. What this means is that many of them are around the age of 18. You realize just how old you feel when you talk to soldiers that, when asked where they were when 9/11 happened, they have no detailed recollection. They say, "I was in second grade and don't really remember it." Really? Seriously? I can remember every last detail of what was happening that day. Just shocking is all.
As with all "young people" (now that sounds like something an old man would say!) they do stupid crap. Heck I still do stupid stuff but it seems likes the younger you are the more extreme the dumb crap is. The problem is that here in Korea, the liquor sneeks up on you real quick. For those of you who have never experienced soju, let me explain. It is a Korean liquor that is vitually tastless except for a hint of fruitiness. It goes down real smooth and you feel fine when you are sitting down. The problem comes when you go to stand up. Then it hits you like a punch to the face. You go from feeling fine to feeling like, "WTF just happened!" The soldiers go out and start having a good time and drinking the soju and before you know it they are so messed up that they do stupid crap. This is exactly why I spent my weekend running around dealing with the actions of soldiers. I am not complaining about having to deal with soldiers issues, in fact the exact opposite. I really enjoy working with soldiers and helping them grow. There are just those time that you have to stop and look at them and say, "Really?! WTF were you thinking?!"
Anyways, so as you can see, not everything here is happy exploring and cultural immersion. In fact that is a very small aspect of the everyday life in the Army here in Korea. The operational tempo here is very fast and there is very little time to do much. I look forward to my Saturdays but not every weekend is going to be filled with stories of happy travels. On a more positive note I did attend a hail and farewell on Friday. It basically is a get together with senior leaders that welcomes newcomers and says goodbye to the outgoing personnel. It was the first time I had ever attended one of these and it was actually a really good time. You get to see a more relaxed side of your leadership. I think more organizations should hold events like this.
I wish that I had a more exciting posting to make, but really that pretty much sums up my weekend. I am hoping that next weekend brings a little more adventures of the positive kind. Until next time...
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