So Close

I figured I would give you all a update about what has been going on here lately. For starters we are not flying anymore, which is good because that means that nothing breaks. Or so you would think. Basically we are just doing the last of our maintenance and fixing what was broken. Other then that we are packing up shop. Our plan for tomorrow is to have almost 90% of our shop packed up.

Our advance party leaves Korea on the 2nd. But they are the ones who have to be in CO early to receive the aircraft. As for me, I am just counting down the days. I am also in the process of making a video of my all the things I have done in my time here. I hope to have that done and posted by the time I leave, but it may end up being after that. Anyway, hope everyone has a great day.

Trouble

For those of you wondering, no we did not get into any trouble for any of this. As soon as we found out where we were and that we were not going to make it back we called our platoon sgt. and let him know what was going on. We called him several times throughout the night to let him know what was up. Nothing happened to us and we made it back safe. We did get some harassment from everybody at the shop this week though.

Homeless Part 2

So their we sit in the back of a taxi, with a little over 50,000 won to our name and a taxi driver who wants 200,000 won to take us home. He happened to have a map in his glove box and we were able to pinpoint our exact location on the map. If you refer to the picture the finger in the top right is pointing to Wonju/Camp Eagle. The lower left is where we were. About straight over to the left of Wonju by the coast is Seoul.

We didn't have enough money to get a hotel for the night and pay for our bus ride home in the morning. So we walked back over to the bus stop were previously the taxi drivers had a fire going. Unfortunately it was out. We tried to rekindle it but not having any burnable items or any way to get flame again quickly stopped that idea.

We ended up huddling together on the benches outside the bus stop for warmth(see picture from last post).  However after nearly an hour of that and still being cold we had to get up to get our blood flowing again. It was nearly 0200 and curfew is at 0300. Luckily in our efforts to get warm we walked past a hospital and thought "hey I bet their waiting room is warm." So in we wandered and amazingly enough the man sitting behind the counter didn't care.

We sat in the little waiting room for nearly an hour while some people cam and left and then around 0330 when there was no more patients in the hospital the doctors came out, saw us, said something to each other and then started waving at us to follow them.

After much persistence on their part as to what they wanted, we hesitantly followed them. Lo and behold they led us back to an even better room that had leather seats and couches, which is where we spent the remainder of the night. We took the first bus out in the morning back to Seoul and arrived back at Camp Eagle, via the U.S. military only bus, at 1730 on Sunday. I was never happier to see little ole Camp Eagle.

So there you have it. Quite the adventure that I don't plan on repeating any time soon. Although I don't think I'll ever forget that warm hospital in the middle of no where Korea to soon.

Homeless Part 1

Saturday night was a very eventful night for me. I am now able to cross being homeless for a night off of my list of things to do. It all started with Wilson and myself going to the Korean war memorial and Seoul tower with Morrow who had never been to ether and needed someone to go with him. Me and Wilson thought we would go again just to have something to do on a Saturday and what's the worst that could happen. By the time we finished at the war memorial it was about 1600 and we figured that we could still go to Seoul Tower and take the 1800 bus back from Seoul. Mistake # 1.

By the time we left Seoul Tower it was about 1730 and we knew we weren't going to make the bus on time. Morrow said we could take a express bus back from Seoul instead of catching the one at 1800 which is just for U.S. military. And we trusted him. Mistake # 2.

Once we got back to the post we ate some quick dinner(the smartest thing we did all night) and then caught a cab to the express bus terminal. This place was like an airport. It was huge. There wasn't a bus running to Wonju which is the city where Camp Eagle is located. Instead we took one to Hongseong which we mistook for Hangseong which is about 15 the other way of Camp Eagle. Mistake # 3.

The bus left at 2040 and we didn't get to Hongseong until 2230, just as the bus terminal there was closing. We didn't recognize anything around us and were beginning to wonder where we were. We jumped in a cab and told him to take us to Wonju. He knew where Wonju was but was going to charge us 200,000 Won, which is a little under $200. And that is when we knew we were just a little of course.

To be continued . . .

In other news I will be flying out of Korea on March 15 at 1140. I will be back in MI at 1540 on the 15th.

Yes I Am Coming Home

Well, my original plan was to post today and tell everyone that, yes I will be coming home to the GREAT U.S.A. but even better to Michigan in March. However, my mother, beat me to it. As of right now I have about 25 days of leave so I should be home for at least 20 days. Let me tell you I am so ready to be home too. Being able to see my family again is the biggest thing but there are also hundreds of small things I realized I miss about the states, like the smell of the air and being able to talk to people that speak the same language and being in almost the same time zone. Don't get me wrong being in Korea was a cool experience and something I will never forget but I am more then willing to leave early and hopefully never be stationed here again.

The New and Improved

Just thought I would show you all a picture of the new me. Also I did get my orders to go to Fort Carson. I still don't have a exact date, although the counter is pretty close to what should be the truth, +/- 2 days. I will be leaving Korea no later then the 18 of March. I can not wait to be back in the States.

Hit The Road PFC!!!

Some of you know that I have been undergoing rigorous training lately. For those of you that don't know what I am talking about let me explain. For me to be eligible to get promoted from Private First Class to the next pay grade of Specialist I would have to have 2 years of service in the Army which I will have in July of this year. However you can go to a waiver board and if do well enough you can win a waiver and get promoted.

On Thursday I went to the board and am know happy to announce that next Friday I would like to be addressed as Specialist Bruins!!

There were 9 people that went to the board but they only had 6 waivers to give out. We were asked questions about our weapon, the M-16, map reading and land navigation, military justice, drill and ceremony, and N.B.C.(nuclear, biological, and chemical). I only got 1 question wrong out of the twelve questions they asked.

In other news, concerning my pending move to Fort Carson, CO; our chain of command has our orders to move there and we will be receiving them on Wednesday. I still do not know what the official date for leaving the country will be or a date of when I will be home on leave. Hopefully soon though!