Turtle Walk

One of my NCO's gave me and the other new medic, my AIT (Advanced Individual Training) buddy our "turtle walk" tonight. It was interesting. It turns out there is much to see "down range" but what there is to see is very lively. I saw "drinky" girls, cheap suits, knockoff designer clothes, electronics, drunken soldiers, roadside vendors hawking barbecued chicken, and the ominous "Courtesy Patrol" - the MP's more polite little brother. It was a good time.
Did I say something about not having a roommate yesterday? Did anyone ever say something about not counting your chickens before they hatch? Not five minutes after I wrote about liking the fact that I had no roommate my new roommate walks up and introduces himself. The upside is that he's a good guy with no overtly annnoying habits. (yet)
Well I'm off for late night burgers and fries.

Feeling Strangely Fine

I missed dinner chow to post; essentially, to talk to myself since recent research has revealed that this blog has exactly one reader, me. I suppose I could attribute the upswing in my mental status to the onset of the weekend but in reality there is no accounting for my moods. I just feel good or bad and I deal with it.
I seriously need to put some time in the gym because we had a diagnostic APFT (Army Physical Fitness Test) and I have slipped. My push-ups improved but my sit-ups and my run time slipped. I improved to 82 push-ups, but I lost 18 sit-ups, 42 seconds on my run for shocking raw scores of 70 sit-ups and 14:52 2 mi. run. I have never been this slow. I see quality time with a treadmill in my future.
I am actually looking forward to our next field problem in February despite the promise of weather colder than the frozen reaches of space. I am going to be a medic in a line company, which is what I always wanted. When I signed my name on the dotted line is with the hope that I would be a combat medic - a line medic. When I joined the Army I was hoping for a job with risk in it, something I could be proud about doing, something that would make people say "wow that's cool". Something to get me play with the ladies...
I just moved into my own room. The good news is that I have no roommate. The bad news is that my toilet leaks when flushed and the shower doesn't drain. You win some you lose some.
Oh by the way, have I told you about how cold it is in South Korea lately? We had a class on sling loading HUMMV's today and finally I begged my section sergeant to let me go thaw in the snack bar. We had the class because the 1/503rd is an air assault/airborne unit and everyone has to be high-speed, run 10 miles for PT, max PT tests, fast rope out of helicopters, have Expert Infantry or Expert Field Medical badges, have Air Assault Badges, and know how to sling load their vehicle. Sling loading a HUMMMV consists mostly of taping all the glass, plastic, and any protruding objects down so they don't break or catch the ropes used to suspend them from the Blackhawk or Chinook taking them to the next destination. And we do this all in frickin' freezin' weather. Fun!
In the big news there is a nasty rumor that my unit is going to play in the sandbox. I don't believe it and it would be weird but the upside is that I would be going somewhere warm.

The Dark Side

If sometimes I act erratically or become angry for no reason, please realize that I have a dark side to my personality. I think at times I don't do a good job of communicating when I am tired, lonely, and a little depressed. I have violent urges occasionally even. (I did join the Army with the aim of killing people) If I come across as being innocuous I want to explain that the obvious impression of me is exactly wrong. I don't claim to eat nails for breakfast or club baby seals to death for amusement; (although I might do something that irrational and destructive in a fit of pique) I am just surprised when people get the impression they can walk all over me or that I am not prone to anger just like any normal human being.
If it sounds like I want my readers to feel sorry for me, I am doing something right because I do. I sometimes think I force myself to be upbeat and even-tempered so often that when I tire of the effort (which has been more often lately) I get depressed. No one pressures me to do this; I do it to myself. No one thinks I need to be superhuman; I want desperately to be Superman. I carry the weight of the world on my shoulders and the world doesn't give a damn.

Colder than a Witch's Tit in a Brass Bra in December

I feel significantly better after sleeping and washing away the tremendous ass funk that accumulates when one sleeps in a tent outside without showering for several days. It took several days for me to adjust to the December cold and by the time I had adjusted it was time to go home.
I should buy a camera and webspace so I can show ya'll what I am seeing because the view is always amazing. I have never been anywhere as mountainous as Korea and looking out the window and seeing hills and helicopters sweeping through the air with HUMMV's swinging from chains like tonka toys is something one doesn't see very often in life. We had a light dusting of snow last night but not enough to cap the hills with white.
Formation isn't until 1000 hrs this morning since we didn't go to bed until 2400 hrs (midnight)last and I doubt that we'll have PT today but today won't be an easy day since we have to finish cleaning up gear and washing (BRRR!) trucks. Oh! And I have to finish in-processing into the 503rd. So I am going to be busy today.

Back From the Field

So I am back from the field. I am tired, dirty, and I am in dire need of a shower. The field problem (Army terminology for training outside off-post) was uneventful save for what happened while we were gone. The US Army caught your favorite arch-villain and mine Saddam Hussein. I am sure that 2nd ID would congratulate our brothers in the 4th ID for showing considerable restraint in not beating Saddam to death when they found him. I would have.
I have yet to fully in-process into the unit yet but I am already forming firm opinions about evertything and everybody here. I am in the medical platoon but I am going to have a lot of interaction with the infantry units and considerable interaction with the other medics. My impression of the Korean countryside is that it sucks. The air is heavy with the smell of sewage, which they use to fertilize the ground in the rice patties and everything (during the winter anyway) is a depressing sandy brown. The best thing about the whole trip was that our unit had an all male perimeter so there was no need to go all the way to the porta-potties at night. Also, we could tell raunchy jokes without asking permission. They weren't that funny but we had the option at least. Field exercises in the winter stink... Literally.

Camp Casey: Day 3

Because of my stubborn refusal to deny posession of cold weather gear I am being sent to the field to join the rest of my unit in the frigid weather. You know maybe I should have listened, especially when I check the weather and the forecast says "too damn cold". I never learn...