pcs to Korea, gonna miss my camping
It sucks that I have to winterize my unit and store her away until nov 2014. Make those memories and hug your close ones. This forum will keep me going while I sit in south korea staring at my wheel ...
Forum Discussion
I can relate my last Korea tour there was no job for me to do. Eventually I found some things to do that were productive but a real waste to start.
I was in a TDA slot ( an extra job position created in a Headquarters unit) that was created but not filled for over 10 years. No one know I was coming or what to do with me. My rank and MOS were only needed for the position that had remained vacant for 10 years.
I ended up filling in as a Medical and Civil Affairs Planner as they did not have the Captain / Majors to do that work. I hated it as it was mainly working on planning exercises ( no execution ) for long periods of time. From the 2 of January to the 4th of July I worked at least 15 hours a day with no days off. I worked out of a bunker dark when you went to work and dark when you got off. Again just one exercise after anther no actual deployment or even movement of real troops for training in most of the exercises.
My previous Korea tour was 3 1/2 years. We trained hard but got to see a lot of the country and traveled a lot on and off duty. This last time I never used any of my field gear and only got to use some of my civilian gear working to train some of their Red Cross volunteers.
I never saw any travel trailers but did see and did a lot of tent camping - not all of it in OD green tents on duty. Their national parks are very nice but most are set up to stay in hotels. The sight of a backpacker seemed to be unusual for them.
If you get a chance to work with an English language program helping local government workers practice their English take it. I started a program at Camp Red Cloud that was a lot of fun and seemed to really help the locals out.
When you are done with the additional duty check with your G5 Civil affairs and see if there is program near you.
The hardest part of the year for me was no troops to take care of. And no real work I spent years in US Army South in South and Central America responding to Cholera outbreaks, vaccinating cattle for black leg, teaching sanitation classes, providing support to host nations to expand their medical services to the people living in rural areas. You know real work.
With no work and no troops to look out after it was a very long year. I hope yours is a lot shorter..
I was in a TDA slot ( an extra job position created in a Headquarters unit) that was created but not filled for over 10 years. No one know I was coming or what to do with me. My rank and MOS were only needed for the position that had remained vacant for 10 years.
I ended up filling in as a Medical and Civil Affairs Planner as they did not have the Captain / Majors to do that work. I hated it as it was mainly working on planning exercises ( no execution ) for long periods of time. From the 2 of January to the 4th of July I worked at least 15 hours a day with no days off. I worked out of a bunker dark when you went to work and dark when you got off. Again just one exercise after anther no actual deployment or even movement of real troops for training in most of the exercises.
My previous Korea tour was 3 1/2 years. We trained hard but got to see a lot of the country and traveled a lot on and off duty. This last time I never used any of my field gear and only got to use some of my civilian gear working to train some of their Red Cross volunteers.
I never saw any travel trailers but did see and did a lot of tent camping - not all of it in OD green tents on duty. Their national parks are very nice but most are set up to stay in hotels. The sight of a backpacker seemed to be unusual for them.
If you get a chance to work with an English language program helping local government workers practice their English take it. I started a program at Camp Red Cloud that was a lot of fun and seemed to really help the locals out.
When you are done with the additional duty check with your G5 Civil affairs and see if there is program near you.
The hardest part of the year for me was no troops to take care of. And no real work I spent years in US Army South in South and Central America responding to Cholera outbreaks, vaccinating cattle for black leg, teaching sanitation classes, providing support to host nations to expand their medical services to the people living in rural areas. You know real work.
With no work and no troops to look out after it was a very long year. I hope yours is a lot shorter..
