Not much happened over the weekend for me; it was mostly all about getting prepped for the field. Starting this Sunday we’ll be out at a remote site for a while, so for that time I’ll be offline. Thankfully, while we’re out there, we’re in hard billets, not tents… you count your blessings where you can find them. Currently, the plan is to have me spend as much time with Bravo Troop while we’re out there, learning their routine from CPL Santana, and the official move to B Trp gets made on our return, around the week before Christmas.
Anyhow, Monday & Tuesday I was away from the area on Retreat with the Chaplain and 31 other troops. It was mostly pleasant, fairly relaxing, and surprisingly light on the theology, concentrating mostly on secular/practical stuff.
Monday morning we all fall in at PT formation; we on the Retreat roster are in ACUs. We get sent back to our rooms to change into civvies, and muster for the bus at 08:15. After a few last-minute roster changes to accomodate soldiers who are ill, we get rolling. Chaplain’s burning Unit Funds for this trip, booking housing and food for 35, so we need a minimum of 30 if they’re going to get a repeat of this event in December.
Where I’d originally thought we were going to be staying at Dragon Hill Lodge in Yongsan, it turns out that USFK has a small, outlying site in Itaewon specifically for religious retreats. The rooms are rather barracks-like, but they’re only $20/night (as opposed to $110/night at Dragon Hill). The D-Fac is fairly pleasant, there’s a small chapel and a bunch of meeting rooms in quonset huts… we get lunch and start in on the class sessions.
Chaplain Hampton (a 2LT, prior enlisted, he was a SSG) gives us a class on Stress Management, which is funny for me, since I really don’t stress-out over much of anything, and then he does a class on Relationship Issues for USFK Soldiers. That class might-as-well have been titled “Don’t Marry A Juicy-Girl”… Chaplain H is getting concerned about the couples who are showing up in his office for counseling prior to marriage.
Now, here in Korea, if you want to get married to a foreign national (regardless of the country of origin) there is a lot of paperwork involved in getting the marriage license approved and getting your prospective spouse a Visa for US entry. It seems that within the past few months, the Chaplain’s seen quite a few cases in the squadron of soldiers becoming engaged to the Juicy-girls in the clubs, and the process going sour for them due to (1.) the girl being already married back in the Phillipines, (2.) the girl having children she hasn’t told the GI about, (3.) the girl having a criminal record that she hasn’t told the GI about, or (4.) the girl being a carrier of an STD that the GI doesn’t know about. Of course, any of these will put the kibosh on her getting a Visa, but learning of these from your prospective bride can be pretty traumatic for a 20-year-old who’s never been away from home before.
Throughout that class, I just sat there smirking; my only added comment to that class was, “Look, guys, if you’re shopping for a wife, you’re not going to find a good one working in the clubs in Dongducheon ‘ville.”
We break for the evening, and the plan is for us all to eat at Outback Steak House (yeah, they’re everywhere), then go bowling at Yongsan post for a while, then be released to our own devices until midnight. Chaplain tells us that Outback is within easy walking distance. Yeah, it’s an easy walk, around two miles, but it’s all downslope. I was probably the only one who considered the uphill return trip at that time, squirreling some cash away from my wallet for a taxi. There’s probably some cool stuff to see in Itaewon, but since the group was moving at a forced-march pace, I was only able to get one picture during the trek.
We get to Outback, and the plan is for Squadron Funds to pay for $15/person, with us paying any remainder. This is where it got messy… Outback’s manager will not accept a US credit card over the phone, so the Division Ministry Team rep must be summoned from Camp Red Cloud to physically present the card at the resteraunt. He shows up after 45 minutes, we finally get our orders placed, and our food starts coming out in a haphazard fashion. It seems Korean resteraunt tradition doesn’t involve serving all diners at the same table simultaneously. My steak was cooked properly, but the baked potato was only the size of a tennis-ball, and the vegetables consisted of three sad, little broccoli florettes with a few carrot slices that were just above mush. Whatever… don’t expect Koreans to do a stellar job on American food, and vice-versa.
Time finally comes to settle the check, and the management has just lumped it all together and divided the remainder by 32, saying we each owe $14.80. At this point, the Chaplain almost loses his cool… (that was interesting… I’ve never seen that happen before) … and there’s a big snarl until we finally get the waitress to bring us some menus for us to figure out our individual tabs. Everybody pays (we think), and then it turns out we’re still around $65 short, and the KATUSAs are all looking at each other embarrassed, since they hardly have any money… thankfully the SFC from Division Ministry Team gets the remainder put on the govt. credit card, and we get moving toward the bowling alley.
So, the walking pace has increased from “forced-march” to “irritated Chaplain” speed, the group gets strung out due to red lights, I get stuck trying to police up the stragglers in the rear, and around 10 of us have trouble finding Yongsan base, and then the bowling alley on-post. Two free games and the shoe rental is covered by Unit Funds, but around half of the troops are speed-bowling since they don’t want to be there, they’d rather be out drinking in the clubs. I’m not much of a bowler, never have been, and the last time I bowled was on-post in Germany almost 12 years ago. I was lucky to throw a 112 on my second game. Partway through bowling we learn that it’s snowing outside; big wet clumps of snow coming down, and the drinking crowd is chafing about having to stick around for a group photo… there was a really weird vibe towards the end of that event.
Me and two other troops caught a taxi back to the Retreat Center (thankfully I’d stashed a 10,000₩ bill away for just that purpose), and went to sleep. Luckily, none of the others missed curfew… that would’ve been a real mess.
Following morning we get breakfast, most of the snow has already melted away, we get one more class on Trust/Power Dynamics for Soldiers, there’s a brief AAR, and it’s back on the bus to head home. I think I’ll probably sign up for the Retreat planned in December, too. The first time you try to do anything, it doesn’t always go according to plan… next time should run a lot smoother.
So, I’m looking forward to Thanksgiving Dinner here on post, with the Officers & Senior NCOs all working the serving lines in their dress blues… that should make for some fun photos.
