Check out the sidebar; there are some new pages.  I’m adding new content, organized by subject-matter, and I’ve relocated all the Flash Games to the new ”S3 - Training & Operations” page.

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Keep checking back… I’ll be adding more new content over the next few weeks.

There won’t be much dialogue in this post, just photos of Thanksgiving dinner in the Camp Hovey Dining Facility.  For those who aren’t familiar with US Army traditions, there are three meals each year that the cooks go full-tilt on (Easter, Thanksgiving, and Christmas Eve), and the Officers & Senior NCOs put on their dress-blue uniforms to work the serving lines.  Everyone you see wearing a Stetson is a member of my Cavalry unit.

It was a most-righteous meal, despite the fact that it wasn’t with the family back home.
Happy Thanksgiving, everybody!

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.

Well, whaddya’ know… I’ve actually got a subscriber to the feed from my blog.  I have no idea who it actually is, of course, since they didn’t respond to my email when they registered, but hey, it’s something.  Hi, ado****51! (I’m not listing the full name to prevent crawlerbots from harassing that person).

So, I get to wondering who else (if anyone) is reading my minor-league ramblings, and I decided to check my stats page and look up a few IP addresses for location.  I’ve got one-or-two readers in California, and someone in Washington D.C. is reading too.  (The D.C. one doesn’t surprise me  (see edit) … probably a Dept. of the Army rep who’s just making sure I’m not leaking operational details.  Whoever you are, hope you’re enjoying the show, and if you’ve got any suggestions or guidelines, I’d be happy to hear them.  Email me via the address in the “About this Website” page.)  Aside from that, someone in Seoul is reading (again, probably a govenment functionary; that’s the fun of blogging about life in another country, complicated by the fact that I’ve identified myself as a U.S. Soldier).

It’s actually a bit amusing about who takes interest in my writings, and why.  Current SOFA (Status Of Forces Agreements) mandates that U.S. Personnel aren’t allowed to malign the host government or people, Army regs are fairly restrictive about what topics I can speak out on in an official capacity (ZERO… let’s make it clear here, all opinions on this site are solely those of the Author, and do not constitute official representation of the unit, the US Army, the United States Government, or anyone other than myself).

And, as far as Korea goes, the only negative opinions I’ve gained of Korea thus far is that the peninsula gets viciously cold in the winter (we got some snow last night), and those silkworm pupae snacks the street-vendors sell are food that I refuse to eat.

Not much else happening tonight… tomorrow, you’ll get some new photographs and a story.

(Update 24 NOV 07: New info on my few readers via Geobytes ( http://www.geobytes.com/IpLocator.htm ), yeah I’ve got a few in California, though the one I thought was in D.C. is actually in New York (that IP is owned by someone in D.C.), and I’ve got someone in Canada who also reads… probably friends J. & E. (& little K!)… Hi, guys!  I can now brag about being Coast-to-Coast and International… yeah… to all of six or seven people.)

John Dvorak is an editor for PC Magazine, and he wrote a column several years ago titled Free Porn Magic For You!, discussing the topic of misleading headlines, and keyword searches in Web Search Engines.  It’s a fun, well-written piece, and can be found online here…

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1759,1752122,00.asp?kc=PCRSS03079TX1K000

Why do I mention this?  Shamelessly plugging someone else’s work?  Because of the keyword search value… who knows?  Maybe this will attract some new readers?  Maybe this will just irritate people searching for free porn?

I don’t care.  On with the show.

This weekend, I did a whole lot of nothing, and it was good.  For those who expected more pictures of Korean stuff, you’ll have to wait… sorry.  The only noteworthy event of the past three days was a fire-alarm in the barracks at 04:00, and to the sumbitch who pulled the alarm, you’d better hope nobody finds out who you are… the whole barracks was rather upset at having to evacuate the building and stand in formation in 38-degree weather at 04:00 in the flippin’ morning.

 So, I finally got internet access installed in my room, and aside from downloading necessary software (stuff from Army websites necessary for my job, a few key Freeware utilities, etc.) I also spent more-than-a-few hours this weekend surfing for pornography (hey, I’m a single soldier in a barracks, not a plaster saint… whaddya expect?).

You can find anything you want on the Internet… as long as what you want is pornography.

Actually, you can’t find everything you want via the internet here in Korea…. one of the sites I hit carried me on a referral link to someplace the Koreans have laws against… I got some kind of popup screen with writing in Hangul and the crest of the National Police.  Needless to say, I shut down the referring page.  Best to not cause a diplomatic incident just for looking for pictures of nekkid women.

So, I’m surfing along…. nah, don’t like that one…. nah, crummy photograph quality… nah, not into midgets… etc, and I hit a webpage with photos of  some amateur girl from Australia.  Some website called Abby Normal or something (actually, I do remember the name, but I’m not posting it here to avoid search-engine problems).  A series of shots of a brunette undressing in a kitchen, and I was smitten with the fact that she was probably the most real-looking girl I’d seen on the web all weekend.

The photo I’ve posted here is modified to comply with fair-usage rules.  Notice her, in terms of nudie photos… there’s no silicone, no heavy eyeliner, no superteased hair, and she’s got a fair healthy body-fat-percentage.  Most of the women on the planet would be happy to look this good, but most guys would just cruise right past her photos, looking for some peroxide blonde with 20k of cosmetic surgery.

To the anonymous girl from Australia, Right On!  As the highest true male chauvinistic complement, I’d Do You, And Not Only Would I Do You, I’d Even Call Back A Couple Of Times Over The Next Few Days Just To Talk And Try And Get A Second Date.

Other than that, nothing much happened this weekend.

Haven’t posted in a while… lotsa’  stuff happens in two weeks’ time.   Let’s see…

Wednesday, the 24th, we had a USO-tour come through Camp Hovey… some country band named ‘Bomshel’, though they were only marginally country (one of their set-numbers was a cover of No Doubt’s Just A Girl).   I got some good pictures.
Thursday the 25th was mandatory Cold Weather Safety Training all day… BO-RING!
Friday night of the 26th we had a Hail & Farewell for SGT Woods, one of our NCO’s who’s PCS-ing to Ft. Stewart.  I stuck around for the chicken wings, the ceremonial parts, and some of the toasts, but when it began turning into a drunk-fest, I had to leave.
 
Technically, I am now an actual Professional photographer.  Our company First Sergeant paid me for copies of the photos I took of the Bomshel concert… granted, it was only $1 to cover the cost of the CD-ROM I copied them to, but it’s my first dollar, dammit, and I’m getting it framed.  Annie Liebowitz, look out. 

This Friday, I go up to Brigade S-1 to get all my promotion points fixed, all my old records input on my ERB, and aside from that, the real excitement is enrolling for Tae Kwon Do classes here on-post (hey, the Koreans invented the artform… might as well learn it here).  The classes are free, but the uniform costs $160.00… thankfully they’ll let me pay for it after payday.  We tested for our Yellow Belts Friday morning, and I’m happy to say that I passed… I am now, officially, G.I. Joe with the Kung-Fu Grip.

This past weekend was a pretty good one for me; Saturday was another foray into Seoul with PFC Choi and PV2 Bernard, this time to visit Gyeongbokgung Palace and take Bernard to some music-store mall to shop for a guitar effects pedal.  The palace is impressive, even moreso considering that they had to rebuild much of it from 1949 on, to restore/replace what the Japanese had destroyed during their colonial occupation of the country (the second time the Japanese trashed the place… first time was in 1592).  The weather was gorgeous, many good pictures were taken, and the restaurant meal afterwards was only so-so.  Regardless, a good day.
 

Most Korean shopping malls are unlike American malls in-that they specialize in one variety of merchandise.  Dongdaemun was all about clothing, Yongsan was all about electronic devices, and Gyeongbokgung is all about musical instruments.  Next time I go to one of these places I’ll have to get pictures to post… imagine 60+ vendors inside a two-block-long building selling all manner of one thing.  It’s weird to see that many pianos in one location.

 
Otherwise, life is still going well for me… scuttlebutt today is that they’re looking to lateral-promote me to Corporal, and transfer me to Bravo “Blackfoot” Troop to take over as the medic NCO for that element.  It’s normally an E-6 position, which would look good on my NCOER, and it’s not like I’ve had a long time to get settled-in here in HHT… we’ll see what happens.  Hopefully, I’ll make the cutoff score for E-5 in December, and will have hard stripes soon.

And that’s pretty-much the story for now… gotta’ get some sleep; it’s 03:45 here.

Take ‘er easy, people.