26 May 2007
Work has been busy recently because of the 5 Battalions in my Brigade here at Casey - 3 are in the field as well as half my battalion, so just about every one of my soldiers is out supporting them medically. Unfortunately the planning for the medical support was very last minute for a couple units and people had to pack for 2-3 weeks in the field in an hour. Not necessarily a hard task, but an irritating one.
Last weekend was the Asian Pacific appreciation weekend so there was a little festival on post. It was okay, not overly impressive, but it was an excuse to be outside on one of the few days last week it didn't rain. They had a pig roast, beach volley ball (which they had to bring sand in from some where), different performances by people of the different Asian countries, lite a 'volcano' on fire as a bonfire, and a couple other things like that.
Last week our company commander finally took command. I learned that in the past months I was 1 of 3 2LTs who did not take command of our company, and we've had 10 2LTs since then. I think that's really funny. The week before I left for EFMB we had it rotate between 3 LTs we have here now, then this past week Becca took command for a couple days. Really it was just to have a single person signing anything a commander would sign since the new CPT couldn't legally sign anything yet. So that was definitely an experience.
With all the medical taskings coming down last week I was forced to learn my job a little better. And part of learning my job happened to be reconing a landing zone (LZ) for the MEDEVAC helicopters. So I rode out to a couple training sites with the pilots and 'reconed' the LZs. Really the pilots just fly everyday so I tagged along and they brought me to the sites. But it was really fun. I'd ridden in a black hawk once before, but only for about 10 minutes, last week it took us about 3 hours to find all the sites. Korea's much different from the air too. It's amazing to see all the tall buildings everywhere and how they just flow right into the rice patties.
One of the support companies from my Battalion decided to go to the field with every vehicle they own which is close to 100. They have all the fuelers and huge semi-trucks to haul out spare parts for tanks like engines. They also supply the ammo so they brought their storage trucks. It was amazing and ridiculous the convoy they had going out. Unfortunately they don't have enough people in their company to drive all the vehicles out so I had to help along with just about every other sergeant and above in my company. Here in Korea in our battalion you have to have a sergeant or officer drive in the vehicle as the Truck Commander (TC), so that's what I was. I rolled out in a semi haling engines. The area this company decided to set up is basically a big dirt area and since it's monsoon season and was raining an impressive amount the day we rolled out, it was a huge mud pit. The mud was seriously like 6 inches deep and this is that Korean mud I was telling you about that sticks to you, cakes on, and then never leaves. So I got my workout walking around the area building mud on my boots, it adds a good 10 pounds to each boot. But the best part about the day was that it was fun getting muddy and I didn't mind the rain because I knew I wasn't spending the next 10 days in it. I got to come home:)
This weekend is a four day for Memorial Day. Our first 4 day since February, really our second weekend off since about then as well. Unfortunately a lot of my soldiers are in the field anyways, but they'll get it made up to them. I didn't make any plans because things roll down at the last minute - I was getting calls last night until 8pm to send medics out to the field, so the weekend off doesn't mean I can stop working.
Last weekend was the Asian Pacific appreciation weekend so there was a little festival on post. It was okay, not overly impressive, but it was an excuse to be outside on one of the few days last week it didn't rain. They had a pig roast, beach volley ball (which they had to bring sand in from some where), different performances by people of the different Asian countries, lite a 'volcano' on fire as a bonfire, and a couple other things like that.
Last week our company commander finally took command. I learned that in the past months I was 1 of 3 2LTs who did not take command of our company, and we've had 10 2LTs since then. I think that's really funny. The week before I left for EFMB we had it rotate between 3 LTs we have here now, then this past week Becca took command for a couple days. Really it was just to have a single person signing anything a commander would sign since the new CPT couldn't legally sign anything yet. So that was definitely an experience.
With all the medical taskings coming down last week I was forced to learn my job a little better. And part of learning my job happened to be reconing a landing zone (LZ) for the MEDEVAC helicopters. So I rode out to a couple training sites with the pilots and 'reconed' the LZs. Really the pilots just fly everyday so I tagged along and they brought me to the sites. But it was really fun. I'd ridden in a black hawk once before, but only for about 10 minutes, last week it took us about 3 hours to find all the sites. Korea's much different from the air too. It's amazing to see all the tall buildings everywhere and how they just flow right into the rice patties.
One of the support companies from my Battalion decided to go to the field with every vehicle they own which is close to 100. They have all the fuelers and huge semi-trucks to haul out spare parts for tanks like engines. They also supply the ammo so they brought their storage trucks. It was amazing and ridiculous the convoy they had going out. Unfortunately they don't have enough people in their company to drive all the vehicles out so I had to help along with just about every other sergeant and above in my company. Here in Korea in our battalion you have to have a sergeant or officer drive in the vehicle as the Truck Commander (TC), so that's what I was. I rolled out in a semi haling engines. The area this company decided to set up is basically a big dirt area and since it's monsoon season and was raining an impressive amount the day we rolled out, it was a huge mud pit. The mud was seriously like 6 inches deep and this is that Korean mud I was telling you about that sticks to you, cakes on, and then never leaves. So I got my workout walking around the area building mud on my boots, it adds a good 10 pounds to each boot. But the best part about the day was that it was fun getting muddy and I didn't mind the rain because I knew I wasn't spending the next 10 days in it. I got to come home:)
This weekend is a four day for Memorial Day. Our first 4 day since February, really our second weekend off since about then as well. Unfortunately a lot of my soldiers are in the field anyways, but they'll get it made up to them. I didn't make any plans because things roll down at the last minute - I was getting calls last night until 8pm to send medics out to the field, so the weekend off doesn't mean I can stop working.
1 comment:
Happy Memorial Day Cousin!! I'm proud that you are in our family!! Stay safe.
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