1996 Korean Military Exercise

10-21-96 Yongsan, Republic of Korea [South Korea]
This is way beyond playing catch-up. Back in April, Dad and I went Tarpon fishing in Costa Rica. The fishing was lousy most of the time. We both caught one Tarpon, but it was so slow we knocked off early and went up the Rio Colorado after Guapote [Peacock Bass]. We caught Mojora and several other fish, but no Guapote.

Dad was the big winner. One day I got sick and stayed in while he went after sailfish on the West coast. When he came back [to the hotel] he was staggering from fatigue and covered in blood and gore. [In fact, he was in such bad shape that when I first saw him I thought he had been beaten and mugged.] He didn't get to rest all day because there were huge fish on the line every time it got wet.

In May I shipped out for five months of active duty training with the Army. Now I am a fully qualified U.S. Army [Reserve] Psychological Operations Specialist. I got back from that in September and proposed to Mandi a couple of weeks later [at the top of the Dee Wright Observatory on the Old McKenzie Pass]. We'll be married on February 1, 1997. The ultimate adventure.

Anyway, here I am in the Republic of Korea for two weeks, serving my country now so I can get married without fear of being shipped out anytime soon. Of course, I cannot eliminate that possibility, but by doing my two week duty now I reduce the odds. [In point of fact, there was a message on the answering machine when we returned from our honeymoon calling me to report for duty. I was supposed to be deployed for six months to Bosnia. I had my orders and plane ticket for the mission training deployment in hand when my company commander came in the room and told the operations sergeant that I was not to go. While they argued about his ability to countermand orders issued in Washington, D.C., I quietly slipped them back on the sergeant's desk and left for home. I later found out that I was one of two people two request off the mission. One of us was necessary and the other person, a major, had been caught in a lie regarding his reason for staying behind. Thank God for that. I wound up not going anywhere.]

Anyway, Korea is nice. The economy is strong and the people are generally friendly. I just wish Mandi was here to share it with me. Leather and silk are the two biggest items in the markets. Luggage is available everywhere and suits can be taylor made [sic] dirt cheap. I have no idea what I had for lunch, but it tasted fine and I'm still okay.

The best part of being here so far is the Army mix-up with our orders. The operation we (me and the team I'm with) are supposed to assist doesn't begin for another six days. We got today off completely and it looks like most of this week won't be a whole lot different. An order here, a detail there, but overall we expect to do a lot of sightseeing.

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10-22-96 Yongsan, Korea [a U.S. military base in Seoul]
It's been a very long day. This morning I got on a train for Tongdaegu. It was a three hour trip and it was beautiful. Korea is truly a rugged There. There are low mountains everywhere, and they are all covered with trees. Evidently Koreans don't use much wood. [I remember that most of the trees grew in rows because they had all been logged at some point, and there were a lot of small graveyards-family plots were allowed everywhere.] Anyway, we drove from Tongdaegu to Taegu where we (there was a group of us) picked up five vans and drove back to Yongsan- which, by the way- is in Seoul- a five hour drive. On the train I had a lunch that consisted of very few recognizable items. I did identify octopus in the smorgasbord. In the market at Itaewa (a district of Seoul) you can find restaurants that allow you to pick which eel or octopus you want [to eat] as they swim in a tank.

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10-26-96 Camp Walker, Taegu, Republic of Korea
Let me just talk for a moment about Corporal Dwyer. We met in Advanced Individual Training (AIT) at Fort Bragg back in July. He was a PFC then. There's not a lot to Dwyer- maybe 150 pounds soaking wet. We never really paid much attention together during AIT. I mean, we were acquainted, but little more. I have to admit that his size kind of threw me off. I knew he was a good soldier, but I guess I figured he was too small to... what? I don't know. The bottom line is that he's here now and I'm glad we both know someone who hasn't been on a real military exercise before.

This is his first trip out of the States. Its really been hilarious to watch him go into severe culture shock. At first he hated Korea. It took him less than 24 hours to figure out that this place isn't America and therefore it stinks. He's convinced that everything that happens to him is a communist plot. The phrase that really identifies his mentality is this, "If we're going to be in their country, the least they can do is speak our language."

He's starting to come out of it now; he went bar-hopping 'til 3:30 in the morning this morning and is now convinced that most Korean women are very pretty. He's also calmed down in the car. [Corporal Dwyer actually read my remarks about him when he violated my privacy by reading this journal without my permission. He was, quite naturally, upset about my impressions of him. But while I felt bad in hindsight about writing about him, I consider what he did a clear violation of my privacy and stand by my words. I apologized for his pain, but he earned a portion of the responsibility for it himself.]

I took my Korean driver's test in Yongsan and am now fully qualified to terrorize the streets and pedestrians of ROK. That makes me perfectly normal as a Korean driver. "Close call" has a new definition here. Lanes appear out of nowhere and disappear just as suddenly. Stoplights not only go yellow before red, they also go yellow before green! But only sometimes. There's a system to it, but I don't know what it is. [In fact, streets are so narrow in places that I remember once driving up an alley in a minivan and hitting whatever people had left out in their back step, mops, buckets, etc... It was comically sad, but there was no choice. Many streets were like that. Right of way belonged to whoever was larger, or in the event of a tie, to whoever was moving downhill.]

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10-29-96 Camp Henry, Korea
Well, Foal Eagle '96 Exercise is under way. It has been since 18:00 Sunday night. It was all confusing at first, and slow. Now, however, I know how everything works. In AIT we learned how to do our jobs efficiently. Here we do everything exactly backwards. We're supposed to fill out a Target Audience Analysis Worksheet, then a Product Control Sheet, and finally you produce a product. Here we start with products and work our way up. Additionally, we have to have a new TAAW/S for every product, which is a phenomenal waste of time and energy. Each audience should have an unlimited number of products. Oh well. [And in case you're wondering whether I might be mistaken, I'd like to remind the reader that I was the Honor Graduate of my AIT class and had only been out of AIT for about 2 months. I was right. The officer in charge of our efforts was a screw up, regardless of what any official paperwork might show. When I pointed out to him that we were going about our task backwards, he promptly shut me down as impertinent. It was an eye-opening experience for me to see how the real Army worked.]

I really miss Mandi. I can't wait to be married. I love her so much it just amazes me.