Korea vs Iran

Last Wednesday, I had the opportunity to attend the Korea vs Iran WorldCup Soccer Game here in Seoul. I've never been to an international sporting event and enjoyed it very much.

The game ended in a 1-1 tie. I didn't know that you could end a game as a tie. Each half was only 45 minutes long. Each team only had a couple substitutes, unlike American football where each team has 50 some people on the sidelines waiting to play.

Some of the guys from where I work decided to motivate the crowd. The one in back made a hat to look like a soccer ball and painted his face to match. He was the ONLY one that I saw who had face paint on. It must be an American thing to do at sporting events!

Some of the people I sat with at the game. The guy in front is a West Point cadet who is only here for 4 weeks.

It's been a while since I wrote anything. I've been busy with work and really don't have much to show for that time. I will be coming home in early August for about a month and then be stationed at Fort Leonard Wood in Missouri. I will be about 6 hours from home, so I can come home every month, I hope!

I've picked up a couple more coins and awards. I don't have my Sargeant rank yet, but hopefully I'll get it in Missouri. I am promotable, just need to improve my weapons score (need to shoot Expert), ace my PT test and get a couple awards.

Sheena is spending most of May here with me. She's been sick the first 2 weeks of her visit but still able to see parts of Seoul.

WLC

WLC was fun and challenging. It was similar to Basic Training, but most of the cadre gave you MUCH more respect and treated us like sargeants! Here are some of the pictures. . .

This is the entire class (about 140 soldiers).

My squad started with 14 soldiers and we had one drop out. Everyone had a chance to be a squad leader and a team leader. We were evaluated in a variety of areas including ability to lead in a garrison and tactical environment, conducting physical training, verbal communication, land navigation and a bunch of other areas that I don't remember (sorry it's been a couple of months). I was the only person in my squad to receive "superior" ratings in both tactical AND garrison leadership!

On the second day, we took a PT test. I'm good at the running, but the pushups and situps is hard.

Classroom training. Nothing too exciting.

We are evacuating a casualty during a training excercise. We thought that we were doing land navigation training until the cadre launched mortars at us. Kept us on our toes.

The louder we yelled, the more we motivated the cadre and the more they left us alone. I lost my voice by the 3rd day and had to yell less to pace myself. It was hard to find that ballance!

Warrior Leader Course

Effective almost immediately, I will be in training at the Warrior Leadership Course (WLC) Camp Jackson (near Uijongbu). I will be back in mid to late March. The pictures that I've seen online are awesome and the training, I've heard, is rough.

Pranks

Yesterday, I was on ACQ duty which means that I guard a barracks building for 24 hours and try to stay awake. Well, we got bored and decided to put an "Out of Order" sign on the 2 elevators!

Out of about 50 people, only 3 questioned it and we told them about the prank. EVERYONE ELSE USED THE ELEVATOR ANYWAY!!! I'll try to upload some videos for you to watch. It's amazing how many people paid no attention to the sign! And in case you were wondering, YES, we do this kind of thing often for fun!

The day after the Secretary of the Army toured our ward, the Sergeant Major of the Army (SMA Preston, Kenneth O.) did the same! Picture of the coin will be coming soon, It looks cool! Check back in a few days!

Secretary of the Army - Honorable Pete Geren

Not only did I get to meet and talk with the Secretary of the Army (Honorable Pete Geren) today, but I got his coin!!

If you don't know who he is, or what he does, just know this. . . He's got enough power over me that he has his own flag!!

Unfortunately, I didn't know that he was going to give me his coin, so when he shook my hand, I dropped his coin on the floor and it slid under the Nurses' Desk! Oops! I got in a bit of trouble after he left!