11 February 2007
This past week was an interesting one for me, full of learning opportunities, but not for all the right reasons. For whatever reason, Korea continues to be an area where US soldiers get into trouble, sometimes lots of trouble. You may or may not have seen in the news the sexual assault cases committed by US soldiers against fellow soldiers and Korean Nationals. It's continued to be a pretty big issues not only because it affects the relationship with Korea, but because it affects the way the soldiers live and are treated because of the mistakes of their buddies.
This week the Commanding General here had to start cracking down due to some unfortunate young soldiers who made bad decisions. We have been on a safety stand-down since Wednesday evening which means training was canceled and the soldiers spent Thursday and Friday making the barracks up to the new standards while the leaders sat through hours of briefings and brainstorming sessions to try and come up with a better way to deal with this problem or eliminate it all together.
All in all, it was an uplifting week in the sense that it proved to me that the highest ranking leaders in Korea do take this problem seriously and are trying to come up with useful answers, not temporary fixes to the bigger issue. It was also nice to talk with some of the soldiers in our company and hear a little about their take on the situation. Our company is one of the few up here in 2ID land that has not had any problems in months where as most of the other companies have at least one a weekend.
During the chaos on Friday to make sure all the tasks the General wanted done, were in fact done, our company commander received and e-mail from another Captain who is in charge of the professional development classes for the 2LTs (OPD for Officer Professional Development) saying we had a session in Seoul on Saturday at 10am, not much notice. So we ran around the rest of the day, trying to get bus tickets and make all our mandatory safety briefings. But we managed to get everything we needed and even enjoyed a game of bowling with our PA friends before heading out early Saturday morning for Seoul.
Our OPD class was actually really good, and would have been useful if I were a Lieutenant Colonial, not a Lieutenant. But it was a good class and we meet a lot of people who are very interested in helping younger officers along their way. After the meeting Becca and I went to the PX (basically the Target for the Military, there's one on every instillation and they sell American items) since we remembered it was a little bigger. I think it was one of the saddest moments of my life though, when we walked into the PX.
Becca and I have been doing pretty good with the PX and Commissary here, we've made it work, realized we're going to be a little restricted, but walking into the PX in Seoul, it was like walking into heaven. The PX was huge in comparison to Casey, and they actually had items that we had initially wanted to buy, but couldn't find at Casey. It was there, nearly in tears in the middle of the PX while the children of soldiers on accompanied tours sold bake-sale items for their school that we realized Casey is the armpit of Korea. Everyone jokes that Ft. Benning AL is the armpit of the army, and if there's one in Korea it's Casey, or at least everything north of Seoul. It was such a sad moment.
It was so depressing we didn't even buy anything other than a book, which was probably the saddest thing of all because we've been trying to find something to read for almost three weeks and all we needed to do was be stationed in Seoul and we would have an actual book store with new releases and several genera of books to choose from. So all in all, after a long, somewhat stressful week, we went to Seoul at the last minute only to have the reality of our living situation kick us in the butt as the got back on the bus to come back to Casey.
But Casey is my home now, and as much as it sucks that we have very few choices here, the reality is we do have choices and I can live a year without my beloved Barnes and Noble and a real Starbucks if it means learning what I have been, and hopefully doing something that helps others in the long run. And for what it's worth, last night I had a dream I went home to Boulder and got ridiculously lost and wanted nothing else than to come home to Casey. So this place is sinking in.
This week the Commanding General here had to start cracking down due to some unfortunate young soldiers who made bad decisions. We have been on a safety stand-down since Wednesday evening which means training was canceled and the soldiers spent Thursday and Friday making the barracks up to the new standards while the leaders sat through hours of briefings and brainstorming sessions to try and come up with a better way to deal with this problem or eliminate it all together.
All in all, it was an uplifting week in the sense that it proved to me that the highest ranking leaders in Korea do take this problem seriously and are trying to come up with useful answers, not temporary fixes to the bigger issue. It was also nice to talk with some of the soldiers in our company and hear a little about their take on the situation. Our company is one of the few up here in 2ID land that has not had any problems in months where as most of the other companies have at least one a weekend.
During the chaos on Friday to make sure all the tasks the General wanted done, were in fact done, our company commander received and e-mail from another Captain who is in charge of the professional development classes for the 2LTs (OPD for Officer Professional Development) saying we had a session in Seoul on Saturday at 10am, not much notice. So we ran around the rest of the day, trying to get bus tickets and make all our mandatory safety briefings. But we managed to get everything we needed and even enjoyed a game of bowling with our PA friends before heading out early Saturday morning for Seoul.
Our OPD class was actually really good, and would have been useful if I were a Lieutenant Colonial, not a Lieutenant. But it was a good class and we meet a lot of people who are very interested in helping younger officers along their way. After the meeting Becca and I went to the PX (basically the Target for the Military, there's one on every instillation and they sell American items) since we remembered it was a little bigger. I think it was one of the saddest moments of my life though, when we walked into the PX.
Becca and I have been doing pretty good with the PX and Commissary here, we've made it work, realized we're going to be a little restricted, but walking into the PX in Seoul, it was like walking into heaven. The PX was huge in comparison to Casey, and they actually had items that we had initially wanted to buy, but couldn't find at Casey. It was there, nearly in tears in the middle of the PX while the children of soldiers on accompanied tours sold bake-sale items for their school that we realized Casey is the armpit of Korea. Everyone jokes that Ft. Benning AL is the armpit of the army, and if there's one in Korea it's Casey, or at least everything north of Seoul. It was such a sad moment.
It was so depressing we didn't even buy anything other than a book, which was probably the saddest thing of all because we've been trying to find something to read for almost three weeks and all we needed to do was be stationed in Seoul and we would have an actual book store with new releases and several genera of books to choose from. So all in all, after a long, somewhat stressful week, we went to Seoul at the last minute only to have the reality of our living situation kick us in the butt as the got back on the bus to come back to Casey.
But Casey is my home now, and as much as it sucks that we have very few choices here, the reality is we do have choices and I can live a year without my beloved Barnes and Noble and a real Starbucks if it means learning what I have been, and hopefully doing something that helps others in the long run. And for what it's worth, last night I had a dream I went home to Boulder and got ridiculously lost and wanted nothing else than to come home to Casey. So this place is sinking in.
1 comment:
Hi Caitlin,
I finally got your blog and have been enjoying your stories, pix and details of your new life. Quite exciting, even though not always wonderful.
When I first came to the USA, I was rather critical and had a hard time accepting the new culture but now it is home for me, though going back to Greece it is also home for me, so I suspect you will end up having two homes while you live there, Boulder will always be waiting for you, even if you get lost there in your dreams...
Wishing you a Happy Valentine's Day!
love,
Dora
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