DMZ in Pictures

On Friday we took a trip to the DMZ with the unit. It was great to get up there stare at the "enemy" for a couple of hours. It puts things into perspective as you stare at the worlds most militarized border.

Our first stop was the 3rd Tunnel of aggression. They have found four total, dug by the nKs as an invasion route south. To get there you must walk down a shaft that was drilled for the tourists. Once in the tunnel, you can wear a hardhat and walk about 500 meters towards the DMZ. The tunnel runs through the DMZ to the DPRK but is obviously blocked. The commies said the the South Koreans dug the tunnel (even though it is sloped north so water doesn't run south, and all dynamite holes face south) and then said it was an old coal mine even painting coal on the walls (even though there is no coal deposits in the area).

We then went to Observation Post Dora, a ROK OP that commands spectacular views of nK and its propaganda village.

The grand finale was a trip to the UN Joint Security Area (JSA). This is located within the DMZ and is where direct talks between UN, ROK, and nK delegations occur. The tour begins in Camp Bonifas where you get briefed on the "Do's and Dont's" of the JSA. You then get on a bus and enter the DMZ. The JSA is really controlled, but is so because of the many incidents that have occured there over the years.

Only two KPA (North Korean People's Army) guards are usually present at any given time. One is outside and the other is in the building behind the binoculars.

The South Korean Military Police stand half behind the building for protection from gun fire.

The buildings are a lovely shade of UN blue. Entering them it is possible to technically enter North Korea. That is a close as any American passport holder will get to North Korea, well, unless you are Bill Clinton.

Here I am in North Korea, though I don't know if I can count that as another country added to my book of travels. BTW, the Korean guards on the JSA are usually some tall dudes...but I look like I tower over them, because I did.

The rest of the weekend was spend celebrating Labor Day and the official end of summer.

I have been here in Korea (South) for 134 days. Melissa and the "E" will be here in 17 days--I should clarify--"E" equals Ella, not anything more dubious.

Check back later...I have some great golf pictures from my day on the links in Seoul.

23 Days and a Wake Up

In three and a half weeks, or roughly 23 days, Melissa and Ella will arrive here in the "land of the morning calm" to reunite our family for five weeks. This will be a great as I am seeing a few mysterious trends beginning to happen in my lovely apartment in the Jung Woon Villas.
1. I keep coming home expecting a dinner to be ready, or one the stove, or planned at the very least. The Korean stove must not understand my English instructions.
2. Every time I open my closet there are less and less clean clothes in it. That was never a problem in my house on Oklahoma. On a related note there always seems to be an abundance of clothes in my laundry basket.
3. There is an ominous lack of cartoons playing in my place at any give time. Gone are the days of "Mickey Mouse Clubhouse", "Handy Manny", and "Yo Gabba Gabba" (which I was beginning to understand and enjoy).

Truth be told, while I would love a "man cave" back in the states that would allow me to get away for a period of time, I would not trade living every day with my family for anything. I love my job and even though it takes me away I love that it makes me appreciate everything I have...including my beautiful girls.

So we finished our big exercise "Ulchi Freedom Guardian"- cool name huh? It is a mostly a computer simulated war (the largest computer simulated war game in the world) with our old nemesis North Korea. We won, because we are awesome. But there was no drinking, and conversely, no partying for the duration of the exercise (almost a month long). It ended Friday and we decided to celebrate by going to Seoul. I told Melissa that we are going to do some sight seeing and that WAS the plan, originally. But you know how three guys sometime will find a bar (which, if you have never been to that particular bar, could be considered sightseeing) and never leave. Later in the night we went to a nightclub. It sounded like a good plan at the time even though we are not the (ump ump ump) night club type. Thing is they wouldn't let us in. This wasn't the first time I have experienced that, three dudes rolling up to a club sans hot chicks will usually get turned down in the states too. But the bouncers (Korean bouncers are smaller than me) pretty much said we were not getting in because we are round eyes, westerners, Americans. That kind of grinds my gears. Korea is a nice enough country, so I wouldn't talk bad about it. But it is not necessarily the most sought after overseas assignment for an Army Officer. Further more, after spending almost a month working my ass off, not drinking, war gaming how Americans would defend their (the Korean's) country it was just not a real high five moment for ROK-US relations. Seriously though, we went to and got into another club (Club Volume shout out) and I realized how much I truly hate nightclubs. Our twelve hour booze bender ended with three dudes sharing a California king, but like I said, three dudes is a bed is a drunk Saturday night, four dudes in a bed is gay.

Blogger Melissa > Blogger Tom

I know that I have been slacking...I'm in a very weird place where the newness of Korea is wearing off and I am just trying to knock out the days and weeks to get to the end of this tour. Not that I am complaining about the opportunity. I always welcome a chance to work in another part of the world. Its just that I am not on vacation here, and coming home to an empty apartment day after day gets more than a little old. There is good and bad in everything here. I get to drive a '94 Hyundai Sonata...which, is rad, except that the seat belt likes to unbuckle itself as I drive.

Melissa and Ella are coming to visit...we will be a whole family again for a pretty extended period of time (five weeks). Since it will be at the half way point of the tour it will break it up nicely. I am pumped to have my girls with me. I'm sure Mel will want to see the whole country.

That is all for now...big exercise starting this week... it will last through the end of the month...busy times.

Taking aim at some (notional) commies.

Happy August

256 days remaining in this country. It seems so long, but I am already 25% through my tour in Korea. In two weeks it will four months in country, or a solid 33%. I miss my wife, I miss my kid, I miss my life. Though not facing the dander of an operational deployment the family hardship is just the same.

A couple of weeks ago I pulled off the greatest sneak attack of my life. Melissa was in New York and I jumped aboard a big blue Korean Airlines 777 direct to JFK. The surprise was priceless as many of you have probably seen from the video. For those who haven't check it out:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FFDCJqu5ZUE

Getting ready for one of the world's largest military exercises. It will be taking up most of the month of August.

Until I blog again...TVP

Mudfest 2009

A festival that is fearlessly devoted to one thing...well maybe two things...getting dirty and getting absolutely, unequivocally, shnithoused. I started my Saturday with a round of golf and the weather was beautiful. We had plans to load up the cooler around one and hit the road. As we set out and the weather turned for the worst we again learned some valuable lessons that will definitely set us up for later success.

1. The road network in Korea, after the highways, is utterly chaotic. Roads numbers merge and branch which leads to a couple of very confused captains. That brings us to my next point:

2. Never try to navigate with only a map printed on a party brochure...we were so lost it hurt. Luckily, we found a map in the car (we say found because when we buy our cars here from people who's tours are over they leave a lot of "stuff" in the car, some useful, some not.

3. Bus lanes on the highway are for buses. We actually got pulled over by the Korean National Police.

4. When stopped by the Korean National Police (see above) always try to play dumb. "Ohhhhhhhh that's the bus lane" worked this time, though may never work again.

4.1. When stopping in a no stopping zone and approached by a cop asking for ID try to change the subject to ask for directions to your hotel.

5. Bring a cooler full of Sam Adams to a festival in Korea where everybody is drinking the piss that is Cass, OB, and Hite, and you will be a hero...everytime...period. We just look at it as international relations.

6. My buddy had a teal green poncho in the trunk of his car...he did not know it was there (see #2) but it was clutch when the sky opened up.

7. Sometimes, when your car is a beater, you have to consider that a window going down doesn't always equate to a window going up.

8. If I dare you to do anything at 1am don't do it...especially if you don't know me from Adam. I DO NOT have your best intentions at heart. It's a mean streak I have..."It is what it is"

9. Korea is great, but its not home...not even close.

Golf!

Another great day on the course...an 8 shot improvement from last week. Like I said, its not every day you can golf with guns and missiles as a backdrop. Tee Box on #4 with Korean Vulcan anti-aircraft guns guarding the sky.




#8 green...you can see the Patriot Missiles of Delta Battery to the immediate right of the flag...That is my tee shot on the green...straight M.O.N.E.Y!

An Awesome 4th of July!

Hello Pyeongtaek City!

America & Wet Shorts

The fireworks are "that way".

Just wanted to thank my friends and colleagues who joined me on my roof in the Jung Woon Villas to celebrate our Independence Day. The thing about Americans is we know how to celebrate the days that matter the most even though we are more than 5,000 miles from American soil. It was a great night filled with libations and great friends.