Expedition: KOREA

sorry for no update

Tue, 30 Aug 2005 23:30:31 GMT

sorry i havent updated this in a while, we've had 2 exercises since the last update, and the current one should end friday. After that, ill post more often, i swear =P

UPDATE!

Thu, 18 Aug 2005 12:50:15 GMT

Just a quick update to let you know that i'm not dead. Just been really busy lately.

Mon, 18 Jul 2005 03:44:59 GMT

11 hours 15 minutes and counting. Almost 21, woohoo.

SGT willis is going to sell me a bottle of tequilla for $1 at midnight.

I've also got about 100 pictures to upload. Went to Pyongtaek with a couple friends and ate at outback. I've got some pics of the trains, stations, sights, etc...

woke up

Sat, 16 Jul 2005 04:21:50 GMT

yaaaawn... well, i woke up a litle while ago. I brought my laundry upstairs from the dryer and folded it... its sitting in a bag on my bed and im too lazy to put it away right this minute.

Last night, Smith and i drank soju and watched Eddie Izzard and Dennis Miller DVDs in my room. Woke up around 11:30 this morning and i want to do shit. I want to go visit something, see seoul, anything. Its nice and sunny out and i want to travel. So far, noone is doing shit or plans on doing anything. Oh well.

Well, i chatted with an old friend of mine from highschool today on AIM. Claire Knowles. She's doing well, going to school at USF.

I guess im going to go around and see if anyone is doing anything today. I'll be back later.

July 14th pictures uploaded. www.industrock.com/pictures

im a pagan

Fri, 15 Jul 2005 06:38:30 GMT

according to this test that i took online, im a pagan.
interesting...

You scored as Paganism. Your beliefs are most closely aligned with those of paganism, Wicca, or a similar earth-based religion. You may also follow a Native American religion.

</td>

Paganism

71%

Buddhism

67%

Satanism

63%

agnosticism

58%

Christianity

54%

Islam

50%

Hinduism

50%

Judaism

33%

atheism

29%

Which religion is the right one for you? (new version)
created with QuizFarm.com

picture time

Wed, 13 Jul 2005 03:52:29 GMT

well, i found a picture of myself that i actually like.

here we go!

uh-oh

Tue, 12 Jul 2005 15:12:46 GMT

well, today i broke up with robyn, which is the sad news... i wasnt feeling well for the rest of the day...
so, to remedy this, a couple friends and i went to a bar in Pyongtaek tonight!

After work, i went with harper to the commissary and the PX. There should be some pictures on my site from this. http://www.industrock.com/pictures/pics_12_july/ i took about 42 pictures on the way to these 2 places and on the way back. Way too many. More from tonight though! wuwu. Theres some cool pictures of some helicoptors and such on there.

Tonight i went to XO bar in Pyongtaek with Jackie and Harper. We took the city bus there from the camp humphreys walk through gate to Pyongtaek train station for 850 won (85 cents). Not too bad of a deal. We hung out with the bartenders in there, which know us by name. Harper brought them 20 limes, which he picked up at the commissary earlier. Apparantly limes are a hot commodity here in korea. I'm busy taking pictures the whole night, much to the enjoyment of my 2 friends (i mean, not enjoying, whoops). I uploaded the pictures to my website already, here: http://www.industrock.com/pictures/Pyongtaek_xo_bar_trip_july_12/ Enjoy.

I'm back in the barracks ready for bed. I'm liking this new digital camera. I think ill be maxing out my server space soon with all of these pictures. I had to reduce the size of the new uploads else they take up too much space and bandwidth.

More to come tomorrow. g'nite.

also...

Mon, 11 Jul 2005 15:32:36 GMT

also, in regards to the demonstration, i've got a video of the event taken by one of the guys up in the guard tower... i'll have to get that up sometime soon.

$500

Mon, 11 Jul 2005 15:29:55 GMT

well, i just went out and bought myself a digital camera tonight, and will be taking pictures and posting them.

just added a few from tonight @
http://www.industrock.com/pictures under the misc link.

today, i didnt do much. Went to my CIF duty today after lunch time (slept in this morning). Buckman and i went to the DFAC after work, then headed to the movie theatre to see Batman Begins again. Hey, it's free for us, so dont give me shit about seeing a great movie more than once. Headed to the PX afterwards and while he was looking at some D&D/Forgotten Realms books, i bought myself a digital camera. Also picked up a 512MB SD card which has a fast read/write time of 20MB/s. It was only $65. Not a bad deal. Camera, memory card, shampoo, face wash, and a carton of cigarettes all came to a grand total of $488.

I went outside to get a taxi and while buckman and i were finishing our cigarettes, i decided to open my camera box. It's a good thing i did because there was no camera inside. All the manuals and cords and such were in there, but no camera. I immediately took it inside to see what's going on. They looked at me weird at first, then i told them that it was probably the box from the display camera. One guy went in back to check it out and came out with a new box for me. Apparantly i was right, and it was the box for the display camera.

It's kinda hard to talk to anyone working for AAFES (army and airforce exchange service). The PX (military walmart like store) is all staffed by koreans who dont speak much english. Try returning something and the guy there will argue with you for half an hour before you actually get a refund. It's a crappy deal for us, but for aafes, im sure they dont have many refunds.

I'm heading to bed. I'll take the camera with me to CIF tomorrow to get some interesting pictures from the inside! =P

goodnight.

pictures up

Mon, 11 Jul 2005 08:09:38 GMT

pictures of the demonstration are up.

http://www.industrock.com/pictures
then click on the demonstration link.

as i stated earlier, nearly all are from a good distance away as we were not allowed to take pictures or get near the fence line. The first few pictures are from my barracks' 4th floor.
enjoy.

LA RIOT!

Sun, 10 Jul 2005 14:59:25 GMT

Pictures to come tomorrow, but we just had a huge demonstration outside the boundaries of camp humphreys today. Estimated 10 thousand Koreans were demonstrating the lands that we're taking from the farmers. They took down two fences today, one about 15 meters long and another about 30 meters long. There were roughly 10 thousand KNP (korean national police) out there blocking them, or at least trying to. The demonstrators brought along lead pipes and everything. No american soldiers or employees were injured though, but there were about 2,000 KNP casulties, about 17 that were taken to the hospital and 1 life threatening. I dont know if he died or lived at this time. I've got some good pictures to upload for your viewing enjoyment.

Post was locked down from 8 am this morning until about an hour ago, 10 pm. It was a fun day. Kinda exciting in a way. One of the perimeter fences that were knocked down were right by my barracks.

The system that i run was called into action today. We set up our equipment in the post commander's (O-6, COL) mission room last night. I attached the output to our 42 inch plasma monitor so everyone can see. We provided immagery support to the higher ups. Our plane circled around the post while the operators in the plane controlled the camera to video what we wanted to see.

Also saw Batman Begins today. I thought it was pretty damn good. I really liked it.

Lets see... in the past few days since the update, i've done a lot. Last weekend was a 4 day weekend. On Friday i went to a bar in Pyontaek with Harper. That Saturday i went with Harper again to Outback Steakhouse in Suwon. We took the bus right outside the walk through gate to Pyontaek Train station. That cost us 850 won (85 cents). Took the train from Pyontaek to Suwon for 5,600 won ($5.60). Outback is in Pyontaek train station, so that was a short walk up to the 4th floor of the compound.

During the week, i had CIF duty (from the 6th to the 17th) in which all we're doing is inventoring CIF's 12 million dollars of equipment. Friday night a few of us hung out in the kitchen here in the barracks. We drank margaritas and played a card game. Was pretty fun. Last night at 1700 we had to set up our equipment in the post commander's mission room. Those of us on that team went out to the ville last night. Today i really didnt do anything but see Batman Begins and go to work for a while where the system was set up.

I took quite a few pictures which i will upload tomorrow. We werent supposed to be taking pictures, so most of them are from a distance of from inside the van we were driving around.

It's time for me to head to bed since ive got CIF detail this week as well.
g'nite

4th

Sun, 03 Jul 2005 21:18:52 GMT

just wishtging you all a hgappy 4th of juyly... ill tyype more later., im heading to bed,,, goodnigth. and sleep tight,

ARRRRRGH MATEY

Mon, 27 Jun 2005 13:22:32 GMT

Your LiveJournal Pirate Crew
LiveJournal Username
Fifteen men on a dead man's chest!
Cutlass or pistol?
What is the name of your pirate ship?
Where is your secret pirate base?
What kind of loot do you prefer?
What do you and your crew prefer to be called?
Parrot or monkey?
Argh!

Your capable first mate	joshbot
Your bumbling cabin boy with a heart of gold	poetskaboy
The aloof, yet honorable, pirate with a mysterious past	zachypoo
Is always the first one into the fray	alyssamb
Is the naval officer who ruthlessly pursues your ship	shinningstar12
Is the comical pirate who is always drunk on grog	joshbot
Is currently in Davy Jones's locker	borg166
The amount of money you make as a pirate	$148,962


This Fun Quiz created by Lynn at BlogQuiz.Net

Taurus Horoscope at DailyHoroscopes.Biz

PIRATE TIME!!! making the big bucks

its monday and im pooped.

Mon, 27 Jun 2005 12:53:43 GMT

I just got back from the gym where i worked upperbody pretty hard and did 25 minutes of cardio. I'm about to hit the shower and go to bed, im tired, and have PT in the morning. This morning i had my Korean drivers test. I failed that by missing one question too many. Theres 3 parts, and i aced part A and B. Part C, which covers military driving, i failed. You can miss 2 and still pass, and i missed 3. There were a few questions on the test that werent on the study guide, which were the ones that i missed. I can retake the test in 7 days, putting me at next monday. The rest of the day, i did nothing really, except for talking to the reenlistment NCO this afternoon. I spoke with him about reclassing to 98C and going to DLI for Mandarin Chinese. He sent off an email to the 98C branch manager asking if this is possible. Apparantly, its not usual, or even heard of to guarantee a langauge. He stated that with reenlistment, you are usually guaranteed only one thing, which in my case would be 98C AIT. I want the 98C AIT and mandarin Chinese DLI course in my contract, otherwise i'm not going to do it. I could go 98G, but i dont want to be a linguist, i would like to be an analyst. If this isnt possible, then i'll probably just ETS out of the military Jan 07' and go to school. I want to finish my computer engineering degree and go to lawschool. With all the capitalist movement in China, and the field of law that i want to work in, it would benefit me greatly to learn chinese.

After work, i took a short nap then went to the gym with shawn buckman. Just got back a while ago, and i;m about to head to bed.

goodnight

hey hey hey

Sun, 26 Jun 2005 12:32:12 GMT

well, its sunday night here, and im tired.

Yesterday, i didnt do much at all. I woke up real late, about 1:30 in the afternoon. I stayed up for an hour and a half or so, then went back to bed till 5:30pm. Woke up and got something to eat at the PX, bought some stuff, then headed back to the barracks. I got myself a little boombox so that i can listen to my chinese tapes on. It seems alright so far, i dont hate it. Back at the barracks, I hung out for a while with a couple friends. At first, i went to buckman's room, who is another 33W here. He was previously a 13F (forward observer) who reclassed to 33W. We watched some weird english movie, which was pretty good. Smith stopped by, and the three of us went out to smoke and talk. Smith have a mutual interest in the same music, math, etc... He's a history major with a masters degree. Buckman went to bed and i headed over to smith's room. We watched "Trinity" which is a documentary on the atomic bomb. It covered history from just previous to the first atomic bomb until about 1965. The Hydrogen bomb is freaking crazy. I saw a detonation of a 45 megaton nuclear blast. Very beautiful. I went to bed about 3:30 am this morning.

I woke up this morning around 10 am, showered, dressed, and went with Buckman over to the CAC (community activities center). We met up with some other people at 11, and played D&D (dungeons and dragons) all day. It was a blast, i had a lot of fun. About 8:30 pm we left there and headed over to the PX to get some food. 5 piece chicken strips with honey mustard please. We ate at popeyes.

It's been raining all day, and forecasted to ran for the next 15 days or so. It's monsoon season here.

I think i'm going to throw in the movie "pi" that i bought years ago but never watched.

g'nite.

wow, what a bitch

Fri, 24 Jun 2005 15:43:53 GMT

just called robyn to say hey and tell her what's up.

Halfway through the 2nd minute, and halfway through my story, she tells me, "ok, gotta go eat, ill call you later."

That kinda threw me off... kinda weird. oh well. it bothered me, so i thought i'd throw it up here.

few day update

Fri, 24 Jun 2005 15:38:59 GMT

Sorry about not updating for the past few days, i've been pretty busy. There wasnt much going on this week really, but i've been busy with nothing really.

I learned the system that i will be working on, it's probably the most simple system that i've ever worked on, and i feel competent to fix it now. It consists of 2 radios, 2 laptops, and a video control box. Interesting huh? I've also been tasked to help design a smaller case for the system, allowing 2 people to man pack the unit, instead of the giant boxes that are in use now.

We had a couple generals come through and get a briefing on the planes and the systems belonging to our unit. There was a 2 star and a 1 star promotable. I stood there while our chief and SGT Willis gave them the brief on the system. I helped set up for the briefing though. I brought out a third laptop and was able to connect it to the big plasma screen that we brought there for the powerpoint presentation. It sure was hot there in the hangar.

Today i had my one-stop briefing all day. It's where i inprocess through the post. Got there at 7:30 this morning and didnt get out of there until about 3:30. After one-stop, i went over to the Education Center to inquire about taking college classes. I'm going to sign up for classes when the registration period opens up on August first. Also, i'm going to try to CLEP out of some beginner classes. The tests are free for me, while in the civilian market, they are $120. I can take as many as i want, and there is no penalty for failing them. It's a win win situation there. If i pass, i get college credit, if i fail, i'm back where i started.

After the ed center, i went next door to the library to get a library card and check out some books. I got 2 self teaching books for chinese, which came with 2 cassettes each. Now, i dont have a tape player to play them on, and the PX didnt have a walkman or cheap boom-box for me to buy. I guess i can get online and buy something cheap so i can see if i want to learn chinese.

Speaking of chinese, if i can do it and enjoy the language, i'll reenlist in the army to reclass to a different MOS. Don't get me wrong, i like my job, but reclassing might be better for me in the future. I would like to go to DLI (defense language institute) and learn chinese. I'd have to reclass to an operator MOS, but i think i can deal with that for a couple years, and it will benefit me in the long run. After i get out of the military, i want to finish my computer engineering degree and go to law school after that. I would like to work in the patent law or international business law areas. I had originally wanted to take arabic, but my mother convinced me not to. It makes sense. China is up and coming in the capitalist market, big time, and there is a lot of money to be made there. With a background in the military, chinese language, computer engineering, and law, i'd be hardpressed NOT to find a well paying job. Sure, i could always hire a translator, but if i were to be hired by a law firm, knowing chinese would make me that much more qualified and hireable. This sounds like the route i'd like to take. I like the military, but the money isnt good enough for me.

Tonight we had a company function at one of the bars off post. The 3 stooges. One of our chiefs is getting promoted and leaving, so we had a party for him. He threw $500 down for the members of Alpha company to drink until the money ran out. Since this was a company function, i was allowed to go off post before my 30 day restriction is over. I had my 2 free cokes and hung around a bit. It was pretty fun. I left around 11 tonight and headed home.

That leaves me here, doing nothing, writing all of this. I just finished watching pearl harbor, which i have been trying to watch for the past few days. I've been watching 10 minutes here, 30 mins there, and finally just watched the last 10 minutes. It's not a bad movie, though i dont like the ending.

But, im going to head to bed. g'nite everyone and my apologies for not updating you on this breaking news sooner. =P

1.5 million dollars wasted

Tue, 21 Jun 2005 13:53:58 GMT

Well, it's a no-go on the driving test this morning. I needed a memo from my orderly room stating that i needed to take the test before i go in there myself. I didnt have that this morning so i couldnt take the test. We had PT at the gym this morning, so i didnt do much but lift weights today. I went to burger king after PT this morning with a guy in my unit named Lipe. I had a couple sausage egg and cheese sandwhiches and some fruit punch. That was a good breakfast. At 9 this morning, we all had to go to the motorpool to PMCS vehicles to make sure they were fully operational and good to go in case we needed to use them. Since my last unit didnt have a motorpool, and the only military vehicles that we had were are few duty van's, i had absolutely no clue what i was doing there. A couple other guys and me went to work on this one humvee. Douglas and Shouremenn (something like that, but pronounced sherman) were the guys that i was with. Douglas is a character. He never has anything to say that's not laugh out loud hysterical. He also came here from the 206th at Fort Gordon, my last unit, and this was only his 2nd time at the motorpool. Shouremenn read off the checklist from the -10 ("dash ten") manual, and we checked the things that he read off. The vehicle was good to go, and almost needed gas. It was a smidgen above 3/4 of a tank. We were at the motorpool until released for lunch.

We were let out for lunch at about 11 this morning. That was a nice break from the normal 1130-1300 that we get. We almost got a full 2 hours!!! So, Douglas, Shouremenn, Morril and I headed over to Burger King for lunch (yes, the big BK again), then across the street to the PX. Theres this korean guy that sits inside the PX entrance that shines boots for real cheap. They look like glass too. Douglas and I had our boots shined real quick for $3 a piece. We went up onto this chair, put our feet on the foot thingys, and he shined them real quick. They looked really good, and it only cost $3 and about 4 minutes of time. If i were to leave these same boots there for him to do during the day, or overnight, they would be so shiny that i could shave in them. The boots he had there waiting for people to pick up looked great. Mirror finish on them it seemed. They were smooth. We then went inside to look around, but i didnt buy anything.

After the PX, we headed over to clothing sales to see what they've got and to get douglas some PT shorts. Nothing interesting in there really, which leads me to the end of lunch break.

There were 2 humvees on the flightline waiting for us to clean out. Glass cleaner, vaccuum and everything. Of course, i had to play the 33W card and fix an issue with a CW4's computer not being able to access the internet. I got him up and running fairly quickly, and all i needed to do was run a new CAT-5 cable to his computer. Simple as that. This also got me out of having to clean the vehicles. Awesome. Except for one little detail.

But first, i'll explain what happened before we were assigned the next little detail. SFC Stanley (platoon sergeant) came around looking for people not doing anything and grabbed about 6 of us. First sergeant had something that needed to get done. SFC Stanley then needed an NCO to lead one of us, so he headed over to the room where his squad leaders work. They all had meetings and stuff that needed to get taken care of, so he didnt get one of them. SFC Stanley then says to the first sergeant (1SG Tatum) that he can appoint "one of these young E-4s to lead the group." First sergeant apparantly would never someone who is not an NCO be in charge, so he went on the detail with us. The first sergeant leading the detail. Interesting...

Anyways, the detail was to go to different fighting positions and remove the camo netting. These figiting positions are along the outer fence of the camp, along the flightline. So, we took the humvee out to get these 7 positions. Not only are the camo nets huge, but they have been sitting there for god knows how many years. The parts of the net which were on the ground were stuck underground. Years of grass and sand grew over the net and entangled itself into the roots and soil. These were a pain in the ass to get. For a couple, we wound up tying them to the hitch on the humvee, driving forward and pulling them out that way. It was extremely hot and none of us were wearing our BDU tops or hats and we were still dripping sweat while doing this. We finally load them all into the humvee, leaving a bunch of people on the flightline there to walk the 2 or some odd miles back around it. We stuck 3 nets on the roof of the humvee, 2 inside in the back, 1 towed behind it, dragging on the ground from the hitch, and one of the roof of the truck. This was not an enjoyable experience, nor was it a good use of the 1.5 million dollars the army spent on my training so i can repair computers and electronics. This kind of thing is a total waste. We all got very dirty doing this project.

Those of us who were doing this detail were released at about 4:30 this afternoon. 30 minutes early. I went straight into the shower, and have just been sitting in my room or around the barracks area just resting. I am exhausted and am ready for bed.

Goodnight, my friends.

driving test

Mon, 20 Jun 2005 12:15:41 GMT

Well, tomorrow morning i'm taking the korean driving test, which should be pretty simple... *SHOULD* I'm off to study the packet now. goodnight

one more thing

Mon, 20 Jun 2005 03:35:57 GMT

oh, and thanks to those of you that commented on my entries and/or send me IM's and emails. It's much appreaciated and it gives me the fuel to keep on writing.

love you all

its monday!

Mon, 20 Jun 2005 03:33:39 GMT

not much to update really. All i did yesterday was play starcraft and talk on the phone. I redid my website (www.industrock.com) and put my contact information in it and stuff.

Today i went to PT and did the normal stuff this morning. Wasn't too bad. At work today, i got my inbrief from the platoon sergeant, SFC Stanley, which went well. In order to keep my troubleshooting skills up, he said that if its ok with my squad leader, that i could go down to bravo company and do some work with their techs. I think i might be doing this a lot, as i have tons and tons of sitting around doing nothing time. Also, i was assigned to my team. Theres 2 teams dealing with the system that i will be working on, and when either team deploys, i will be going with both, as i am the only 33W in the platoon. That should be fun. TDY pay, plus the enjoyment of actually doing my job. It will be great.

My time here is looking better and better, yet im not sure if i'm going to AIP yet. If i really like it here in a few months, i can AIP for 2 years bringing me an extra $400 a month, tax free. Of course, i can also AIP for 1 year and bring in $300 tax free. Not too shabby. Also, ill be getting naval pay, as we deploy to korean and american navy ships in this area. Seperate rations, i was told, will still be paid to me, which is an extra $280 or so a month. And, ive still got my meal card =P It's not too bad.

At 1400 today, we have to go to a briefing given by our new batallion commander. But for some reason, my squad has to be at work at 1300, then we'll head to Tommy D's at 1400. Yippie. Sometimes the army makes absolutely no sense at all. I got out of the PLT SGT's office at a few minutes past 1200, caught the bus to the barracks at 1215, then have to take the bus from the barracks back to work at 1245. No time for food today. Oh well, ill hit up the snack bar they have at work.

That's it for now, more to come, im sure.

ITS SATURDAY!!11!!11! and nothing to do =(

Sat, 18 Jun 2005 10:22:18 GMT

Well, yesterday was pretty uneventful. We got to work at 0659 for formation and practice for the Batallion change of command at 0900. Since i do not have TA-50 or anything, at 0700 when formationw as over and people were going to draw weapons, i sat at one of the rooms at work. Sat there for about 4 hours. DOING ABSOLUTELY NOTHING. I was looking up stuff on the internet for a while before i feel asleep. On a side note, you know its sad when the flies and gnats are so bad that you dont worry about if they are crawling on you as long as they are not on your face. My barracks and work is near the outer fence of the camp and we are surrounded by farms carrying flies and other assorted bugs. This is because the koreans with the rice patties and pepper trees use human shit as fertilizer. Just a couple minutes down the road here are a couple pig and dog farms. They just recently shut down the cattle farm. Along the outer gate is just a space time vortex of disgusting animals, manure, human shit, rice patties with 6 inches of water covering the ground. It's amazing that there are no mosquitos laying eggs in these hundreds of acres of standing water and shit. Literally. Maybe they're there, maybe they're not, no clue as i have not been bitten by a mosquito yet though. I guess the flies make up for it. When i go out the far left stairwell (closest to my room, which is on the second floor) and walk down to the ground, i am instantly pelted by 15 flies. It gets to the point where them walking up and down your bare legs doesnt even bother you. They are so offensive that 1.56 seconds after you swat them off you swat them off your leg, they return. I have not been able to kill them. Those suckers can see a sandal coming from a mile away. What's even worse is the little annoying gnats that fly around your head. With a normal inhale for oxygen, you might get a gnat or 2. For the 2 seconds of fresh air, you spend 2 minutes spitting and trying to cough them up. I finally learned how to breathe as to not inhale the little carriers of pestilence.

Wow, i think this is the worse change of topic that i have ever experienced. Anyways, back to the change of command. It was done by 1045. I happened to be outside the building smoking when my platoon sergeant came in and gave instructions. I come back in to the room and see a couple guys eating on one of the tables, so i sit down near them and wait. The platoon sergeant walks in about 10 minutes later and tells me that the 2 guys just fucked their buddy. Apparantly, the PLT SGT told everyone that if when he comes back in here, the people remaining were going to be pulling weeds and cutting grass. One of the guys i was sitting near tells him "he's a 33W, he's not in our platoon". The PLT SGT replies with "he was just assigned to the MOPPS platoon, he's in ARST". He then tells me that ive got 30 seconds to get out of his sight and go to the barracks. So, with me being totally lazy and everything, i literally run out of the building and wait at the bus stop. At the bus stop, i notice that i just missed the bus, which at this time only comes by every half hour. So, i start walking up the hill to the barracks when a car comes along and asks me if im going to the barracks. I hitch a ride with them and get to the barracks.

With absolutely nothing to do, and it being only 1100, i get kinda depressed and home sick. I cleaned up my entire room (at least my half of the room, my roommate's side still looks like ass), did laundry, and watched 4 movies. I fall asleep while trying to get through the 5th movie, which was "Sniper 2". I slept long and well. I woke up today around 1100 in the morning and my roommate is still asleep from a night out in the ville. I left my laundry in the dryer over night, so i head down to get it. I get back up after re-drying everything and fold and hang my stuff up. I then lay down to watch "Sniper 2" again. After the movie's over, i head over to cloting sales and the PX alteration shop to get my patches sewn on and to fix a couple holes in my BDU pants. I bought starcraft (computer game) for the 6th time and some new headphones. The lady at the alteration shop told me to come back after 6, so i took a taxi back to the barracks and played a few games of starcraft while waiting. I went and picked up my stuff at 6, which was nicely done for a good price, bought 25 feet of CAT-5 cable and took the free bus back to the barracks. That leaves me here now typing this to you.

I'm so bored out of my mind. there is nothing to do but write stuff. I'm doing well today, not homesick (just a little), and not depressed. It felt good to go out and get some stuff done. Maybe i'll throw in another movie?

My unit has this stupid rule about not being able to go off post for a month. I've been here a week and have another 3 to go. I'm sure theres some stuff to do on post, but not much. Everyone seems to either go to seoul and visit places, or go out in the ville and drink. If i were 18, 19, or even beginning of 20, i'd chance drinking with some guys from my unit, but im only a month and 1 day away from 21. They just recently changed the drinking age to 21 last november. While being this close to being 21, i'm not going to risk anything. If i were to get caught or anyhting, i'd be on article until after my 21st birthday (that is, if anyone really cared, which it seems like they dont). So, im just going to wait it off until July 19th. By then, the stupid month restriction will be off and i can go out.

Well, this is the end of the update for now.

I'd like to see how many people are actually reading this. I think im going to stop updating this if theres really noone who is keeping tabs on me. If you are, please start commenting on this stuff with either your livejournal name or as anonymous (for those not registered). If you wish, you can email me at "dan@industrock.com". Theres also a link labeled "Expedition: KOREA" on "www.industrock.com" to this livejournal page, which is much easier to type than the actual address of this page.

That's it for now, i think im going to play some starcraft for a while before heading to bed. Keep me posted on your daily lives if you wish by emailing me.

As the trend 'used' to be, its time for a smoke.

nothing going on at all

Thu, 16 Jun 2005 10:41:20 GMT

Well, today was a total waste of time. This morning, i was supposed to go take a Korean drivers test, but i was the only one ready, so a few others and myself will go on monday and take it.

Thursday is Sergeants time (which is new to me). We spoke about ASAP (army substance abuse program). It was a waste of time. In order to make the class last all morning, we took a 10 min break every 10 mins it seemed. I learned some interesting facts, but that's it. Had lunch from 1130 to 1 pm. I went to burger king with 3 other guys in my unit, then headed across the street to the PX as one of them had to get a hair cut. We wasted time there looking at DVDs and magazines while waiting for him. Then, we headed out to catch the bus back to the unit, which was running 10 mins late. We arrived at the unit just in time to draw weapons and head out to the flightline to preapare for the change of command. I didnt draw weapons or anything and just sat in my building doing absolutely nothing until 4:45 this afternoon. I literally did NOTHING AT ALL. seriously. Everyone else was outside sweating standing in formation carrying weapons, kevlar helmet and LBV (load bearing vest). Probably sweating real bad. I suppose im lucky and didnt have to be out there, as i have not gotten my TA-50 yet. I was hanging out doing nothing with this other female who is a PFC. This leads me onto my next rant.

PFC Kang is a native Korean speaker. She lived in Korea until she finished high school, then moved to the states. She's 31 years old. Now, the army has this new, utterly stupid, program because they need linguists real bad. It's called "Skills for Stripes". In other words, if you are a native speaker of a language that they need, you come into the army as a PFC (E-3), and in 8 months automatically get promoted to Sergeant (E-5). I think this is totally stupid. 8 months in the military is not long enough to make a good SGT. Who'se stupid ass idea was this? Just because you know how to do your job before joining the military doesnt mean that you should automatically get promoted to a LEADERSHIP position. If this were the case, i'd have come in at a PFC and then automatically get promoted to Sergeant Major (E-9). Seriously, PFC Kang is a good person, and im sure she can do her job well, but there are other key factors to being a SGT and its not just knowing your job. After 8 months of being in the military, she will not have developed the necessary knowledge and leadership abilities that are required to be an effective SGT. If they still had Spec 5s, then this might be acceptable, as a Spec 5 gets promoted to that because of their ability to do their job. Personally, i wasnt planning on really working hard to get my E-5 because i just want to do my job, do it well, not be bothered, and not to have the extra responsibilities of being an NCO. I dont want to be in charge of people, much less responsible for people. What if i were to get a solder like i was? That would be one hell of a payback now wouldnt it? But, seriously, i dont think she or anyone else should become an NCO without all the normal pre-requisites. She doesnt have to go to the board, PLDC, or worry about promotion points. All she has to do is her job. WELL, THAT's WHAT I DO, I DO IT WELL, EXCEL AT IT, AND PRIDE MYSELF AT BEING BETTER AT IT THAN OTHERS! I want my FREE promotion. wtf.

After work, i went out to eat with an old friend of mine from A.I.T., Jackie Dawdy, a fellow 33W who is in Bravo company and actually doing her job as a 33W on shift. That's what i want to do, not all of this sitting around and doing jack. We went off post to this little korean resturant and ate. I had Bul-Go-Gi and Yackimondu. It was pretty good. Nothing like having Korean food made by a korean living in korea.

well, that's it for now, probably it for today, ive got some room picking up to do, as i'm still not entirely moved in yet.

Wed, 15 Jun 2005 14:41:41 GMT

not much happened today except heading to the PX to pick up some items.

This is the end of the update, as i have to study for a test for tomorrow dealing with driving in Korea.

switcharoo

Tue, 14 Jun 2005 08:54:12 GMT

Well, today i switched platoons. I wont have that cush job playing video games all day and ill now be able to do my job. Ill be the first and only 33W attached to this mission. They have never had a 33W in their platoon. I'll follow the system around and repair it when it happens to break. The system (i'm not entirely sure what it is) is a small system that can fit onto the back of a humvee, but its been used on ships as a temporary video receiver. That means when we "deploy" onto Korean Navy ships and American Navy ships, i get to go too, sounds like fun. Next week, people are heading to Japan to talk the american marines into buying it. I dont know if i will be going with them though, as i dont have my TA-50 yet.

That's about all the information i can give you, and even this may have been too much =P

Besides this, i did a little bit of in processing today and watched my batallion practice for a change of command.

BTW, this place a shit hole, but i think i might like it. I do so far. It'll be better as an NCO though

More to come later.