Rick's Chime In 31 August

Hey everyone.

It's been a couple weeks since I've posted on here. Apologies for you Soap Opera-like followers of this; I know you've anxiously been waiting for Rick's next post!

Rachel and I have had quite the last couple weeks. As is normal in Korea, people are always coming and going here. We've had heartfelt farewell's to our close friends; drunken hello's to new friends; and everything in between. It's funny because when I flew A-10's at Whiteman, people never left unless they were retiring. Here, they come and go almost as if it's just a normal activity.....which it is in the Active Duty force. So to our friends Chris Delao, Bryan and Kat Nickola, Justin and Lisa Teague, and Rachel and I's most favorite Doctor ever, Suds, we will miss you. Godspeed and to most of you, we'll see you again......I'm sure.

As for me, my job is about to change. As of 1 September, I will no longer be a Flight Commander in the 25FS. It has been an awesome job with awesome responsibility, but it was time to move on. 13 months as a flight commander is a little too long. Most guys usually have it 7-10 months. It's been too long because as a flight commander, you also inherit a lot of other taskings in the Squadron. 14+ hour days is almost standard and in fact, I've worked several "2 in 1" days over the past 2 months.......that is 2, 8 hour "normal" workdays in 1 16 hour period straight. Pretty crappy, but both Rachel and I have done our best to work around it and make the most out of our limited time together. As for why I"m moving on, it was just time. My guys in my flight were not getting the best from me that they deserved. I am pretty burnt out right now with everything going on and it was time for a change. Don't take this the wrong way people, I did NOT get fired; it was time for a job rotation in the SQ. So where am I going you might wonder? Good question. For the next 2 months, I am 100% responsible for our Red Flag Alaska deployment. As the Project Officer, I have to make sure everything is taken care of and fix any problems that arise. With over 200 hundred people going, it's a big daunting of a tasks, but I'm confident it'll go well.

So the best thing about Alaska is that I'll be off the ROK for almost 2 months. Admittedly, Fairbanks, Alaska in September-October time frame is not the best, I won't be here in Korea!!! Not that Korea sucks that bad; it'll just be nice to get out of here and be surrounded by American people again and have the luxuries of Target, movie theatres, and American food joints. It's going to be pretty cold up there. Expected highs in the low 30's and low's around 5-15 degrees so that will keep us bundled up. On the flip side though, the jets will fly very well in that nice, oxygen molecule thick air! I'm pretty excited about the training we'll get up there.

As for Rachel, some of you will get to see her. She'll be home for nearly 7 weeks with a primary destination of Phoenix and a possible trip to Kansas City. She'll know more about that than I do. When she gets back to Korea in early November, we're going to China the very next week, then the Holiday season and our trip to Thailand (possibly Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos). After that, it'll be the springtime and Rachel and I will be off to our next assignment.............exciting.

Ok that's it for now. Rachel and I are going to do some shopping today, book our China trip, research the Thailand trip, and just run around and do stuff today. We are excited about our upcoming trip to Busan, Korea for Labor Day weekend. We are staying at a nice hotel right on Hyundai Beach. Expect many pictures!

Love you all!

Rick

O.O.R.C

There is an event in Air Force squadrons called a 'Roll Call'.  A Roll Call  is where everyone that works in the squadron has to report to the Squadron bar, and they take roll.  After roll there is a number of team building events that builds camaraderie and allows everyone to blow off steam.   This always involves whiskey and never ever involves anyone outside the military (including me, evidently)  After the squadron bar, the fellas usually go downtown, and meet up with their wives to continue the celebration.  This generally takes place once a month.

I decided the wives' should have a similar that coincides with the Roll Calls.  This is how the O.O.R.C.  (Our Own Roll Call) was born.  Acronyms are hugely popular over here!  I was ready to 'Ops-test' my plan, and the first Roll call was on August 14.  I made a pot of chili, and put up a sign that read 'Rachel's Cantina on the apartment door.   I know Chili is not a common meal for August, but it was easy, and provided a good base for the gals that may not get out often.  The last thing I needed was some gal that had one too many cocktails and had to be hauled back to base to their disgruntled husband.  

We all had a blast.  The gals and I  ate chili, had some cocktails, and then walked downtown to the favorite bar to meet up with the fellas.  The 'new' gals were introduced to 'kettles'.  A kettle is a an adult beverage that glows in the dark, contains Soju, is presented in a tin kettle, and is drank in shots.  It basically separates the men from the boys.  

The evening was a success, and we only had one gal that may not get to attend any further O.O.R.C.s due to the hour in which she rolled home, and her inability to get out of bed the next day.   I will have to add a warning label to the sign on the door.

Trip to Seoul

Rick became very good friends with an Army Helicopter Pilot during a training exercise.  Rick can give more details as to his impressive career, but he has really made a personal effort professionally with the A-10 fellas, and has become a very good friend to us both. For the small amount of time I have known him, he has proven to be a good mentor, a surprisingly fantastic host, and a gracious man that will do anything for his friends.  He is retiring from the Army, and leaving Korea.  There have been numerous retirement ceremonies that we have lucky enough to be invited to, and this last weekend was the final hoorah in Seoul.  There was an impressive turn-out and the pictures included in this post show all the lives he had an impact on.  Being new to the military life, I am trying to get used to meeting amazing people and knowing you will only have a short amount of time with these people.  It's a bitter sweet experience every time. Our thoughts will continue to be with Mr. Delao as he continues to serve in a new capacity.

Haircut

I was in dire need of a haircut, and was delighted to find a salon on the base.  Nearly 100 percent of  the staff of all the facilities on the base are Korean.  Generally, they understand English very well, but their natural accent makes understanding them difficult.  Additionally, many standard American phrases do not translate well, so I combine universal signs with patience.  I walked in to make an appointment, and was greeted by the staff.  The smiley gal came over to the desk asked how I could be helped.

"I would like to make an appointment for a haircut."

"What time?"

"Do you have anything tomorrow morning," I ask.

She nods, "What time?"

"What time do you open?"

"10 o'clock"

"Great, anytime after that"Completely blank stare.  Rats. "Is 10 open"

"Yes, Open at ten o'clock"

"Can I get a haircut at ten o'clock?"

"yes, Name?"

Okay, so at this point, I realize I'm rolling the dice with getting a haircut here.  I smile at my ability to throw caution to the wind, and I finish the appointment making process.  I leave the salon and tell myself that I am not one of those people that freaks out if their hair isn't cut exactly how they expected it to be.  A change would be good!

The following day, I stroll in a few minutes early and explain I am there for a haircut at ten, and I'm asked to have a seat.  While waiting I flip through several of the usual hair magazine.  I find a picture that perfectly illustrates the long layers I would like.  Fantastic!  I hadn't quite figured out the universal sign for 'long layers' so the day was looking up.  I keep glancing up at the gals in the salon as they are speaking Korean to each other, and I don't want to miss my cue.  Then, there in an interruption in the Korean, and I'm asked to go sit in one of the chairs.  I walk over with my magazine, and have a seat.  I notice the framed license on the wall says Ms. Cho.  A gal comes over and I assume this is Ms Cho.

 'shampoo,' she says.

 The lack of inflection in her tone make me curious as to if this is a question or statement.  This is a very common problem.  I nod a yes, and she gives me the universal sign for 'come over to the shampoo area'.

I walk over, and sit, and there is this awkward few moments of trying to figure out when I lay back as there is not any conversation between us.  she taps on my knees as an indication that I can put my gangly legs over this large footstool thing.  She covered my eyes with a separate towel which I was grateful for because once she turned on the water, Sloppy Sally nearly drowned me.  Once done, she sat me up and walked back to the first chair.  I stood up, staggered a bit from the amount of water in my inner ear, and followed.  I sat down and was just about to relax when a new gal came over.  She greeted me in English, so I figured this was Ms. Cho.  She took the towel, and began wrapping my hair in it.  She seemed to be fashioning something out of the towel- wrapped hair, and I had never seen this done.  I was trying to remember if Origami was only a Japanese art.  Maybe they tie your hair into a swan and take your picture!  What an interesting part of their culture!  Ms Cho, Goddess of pain, then twisted the towel about 300 degrees and my eyelids were pulled  behind my ears.

"What the Hell?"

 The pressure lightened and I tried to blink the flashing stars out of my eyes.  There was no swan, but just a dull throbbing as my face moved back into the correct place.

Unfazed, she reached over to plug in the blow dryer.  I wiped the tears away, and then sat on my hands for round two.

In my experience, the hairdresser cuts your hair before blow drying, but I was not about to ask questions.  Who knows what other terrible torture tactics she had up her sleeve.

Shampoo gal came over and begins speaking, in Korean, to Ms Cho.  She is talking back but hardly looking at the gal.  The go back and forth, and then shampoo gal fishes another blow dryer out of the drawer and begins drying the right side of my head.  I know I have a lot of hair, but this was a first!

Once done, Ms Cho asks how I want my hair cut.  I launch into my explanation using my handy visual aid.  She asks if I want to 'keep long' and I say to take off two inches.  When I say two inches, I also give the universal sign for 'two inches'.  She nods, and goes to work.  She works like Edward Scissorhands.  She snips fervently and pokes at my head to get me to move to one side or the other.  I see a remarkable amount of hair hit the floor, and remind myself that I am not one of those people that freaks out about their hair.  There is simply a fury of scissors and blond hair and I keep my eyes squeezed shut as to avoid further injury.  She slows down and makes some small snips here and there.  I move the hair that is in my eyes and look in the mirror.  Her conversion table is clearly wrong because this was NOT two inches.  DAMN the metric system.

She says, "Flat Iron"

"No, thank you," I say and stare in to the mirror gloomily.

"Good"

Wow.  What stellar service!

She hands me a mirror, and twirls me around.  I look at the back of my head and wonder to myself if I will be mistaken for a man.

"Okay," I say.

She twirls me around, unhooks the cape, and comes at me with the blow dryer again.  ENOUGH with the blow drying!

I pick up my purse and the magazine.  I marvel at the lack of resemblance between my new hair-do and the magazine.   As I follow her to the cashier stand, I do notice my haircut matches hers.  Cripes, is there just one style sold here?

There is an excessive amount  of Korean conversation between Ms. Cho and the cashier gal.  I feel strongly that they are talking about me.  I look back one last time at the pile of golden locks on the floor.  I'm given my total, and Ms. Cho hands me her card.  Great, I can tell all my friends.  The picture on the front is of a blond American, with my new haircut.  Interesting.

It isn't grotesque, and it is just hair, and when I really think about it, I bet a lot of gals in Hollywood would love to get a face lift/haircut combo.  I leave the salon feeling very Hollywood.

Macgyver

I return home from the gym, and went to take a shower.  On my way to the master bathroom, I lock the bedroom door, and trip  over my wonderful husband's HERMAN MUNSTER work boots.  Grrrr.  I grumble to myself about the boots and kicked them aside.

I complete my shower, wrap myself in my towel, and head to my dressing room.  When I pull on the bedroom door, it does not open.  I twist and turn and wiggle, and it will not unlock.  Fantastic.

I manhandle the doorknob and call it terrible names.  Nothing.

I review my options..I could put my sweaty clothes back on and climb down the balcony.  I look out the sliding glass door, and figure I wouldn't likely break both my legs.  I remember geometry was not my strongest subject, so I vote against trying to repel down the side of the building with bedsheets.  I begin searching for a tool to dismantle the lock.  I find a flashlight on the bed stand.  Suddenly, a Macyver fever rushes over me, and I tear the clip from the flashlight and twist it into a screwdriver.  I attack the lock, and I think I actually heard it chuckle.  Okay, so the clip that easily bends does NOT work as a screwdriver.  Noted.  I  go through Rick's bathroom and find a man's manicure set.  Perfect.  I open it up and review the contents.  I first find a travel-sized corkscrew.  I pull it out of the holder, and put it aside.  I know it won't get the door open, but I also know I won't ever be unable to open a wine bottle due to not having the right instrument.   I daydream about how I will save the day at the next cocktail party when I produce the portable corkscrew from my purse.  I need to focus.

I find a manly nail file that I think will do the trick.

After hacking away at this dang lock for an hour, I realize this manly nail file will never get the job done.    I'm incredibly frustrated, and my hunger pangs are weakening my mind.  I survey the room, and my eyes fall on the HERMAN MUNSTER boots I tripped over earlier.  I notice the knife-sized pouch above the laces.  Sweet baby Moses!  I pull out what can only be described as a magic wand.  This is not only a knife, but several screwdrivers, pliers things, and I think a spatula.  I begin removing the doorknob.  Once it clangs to the ground, I switch the magic wand to pliers mode, and turn the pokey thing, and the door opens.

WAHOOOOO!!!! FREEEDDDOOOOOM!

Morals of the story:

1.  Let your kids watch Macgyver

2.  Be mindful of what you complain about - It just may be the thing that unlocks the door!

Rick's Weekly Chime-In 9 August......MASTER'S CLASSES COMPLETE!

Hello everyone!

It's me, the worse half, updating you on what's all been going on over the past week. First and foremost, I'M DONE!!!! I finished my last Master's Course today. It only took me 9 months to finish up the course work. I'll tell you though, for this last class, I had a heck of finishing project. Two other A-10 pilots in the course and I were assigned to do a 45 minute minimum presentation on "Gender Issues in the Workplace from a Feminist Perspective". As you guys can imagine, I'm not exactly well versed on feminists issues since I 1. work for the Military and 2. am a fighter/attack pilot that has less than 2% females in that career field. Typical fashion though, we rose to the occasion and did a pretty good job on it. We stole some material from the movie The Proposal (which I have not scen) and used that as a Case Study. It got a great response from the class and most importantly, the Professor. All I have left now is my internship (which will simply be me working) and completing my comprehensive exam (a question picked by the Human Relations Board at OU) and I type up a 20+ page report on my answer and logic behind it. I will be turning in my application for graduation in December this week. It would be great to actually get to see the University of Oklahoma campus, but I won't be making the trip to "walk" in the ceremony. Normally, they have a ceremony here, but OU's contract was not renewed and this was the last class. Again, typical Rick luck, I signed up just in time to perfectly time finishing my class work with the last opportunity that I had here with OU leaving Osan AB. Long and short of it, I'm happy to know that no matter what assignment comes from here, I finished my Master's degree while in Korea.

Aside from that, work was long as usual. Unfortunately, I only got to fly one time this week, but boy, it was an awesome flight. I had the privilege and honor and flying in a 2-ship formation of A-10's in a Army Chief Warrant Officer's "fini-flight". We took our 2-ship of A-10's from Osan and met Chris in his UH-60 about 20 miles southwest of Osan. We proceeded to "rage" as we call it, at 500 hundred feet and lower all across the southern portion of the Peninsula. The visibility was amazing and there was the always cool perfect amount of moisture in the air that create contrails off the wings whenever we did high-g maneuvers. This made us look really cool. Chris took a video from his cockpit of Capt Nathan "Booster" Owen and I flying the A-10's and says it's freaking awesome. Expect that to be posted soon. Aside from that, Rachel and I participated in a fish-fry on Saturday night. It was a small gathering of our closest friends here and we had a really good time. Some of us more than others, but I'll just leave it at that!

This week is another long week for us. Notice a trend here. We do have a "Roll Call" on Friday which quite frankly is an excuse for fighter pilots to get together, tell stories with our hands, make fun of ourselves and people, and generally blow off some steam! Rachel will probably see me in a drunken state on Friday night. 

For both Rachel and I, we do have something really exciting coming up; we've booked a nice hotel for Labor Day weekend in Busan, Korea. We are right on the beach with a view of the Sea of Japan/East Sea.....depending on who you talk to. There are several couples and of course the single, party guys making the trip down there. It will be a nice, relaxing time for us. Looking a little further out, I am going to Alaska on ~September 14 and will probably be there for over a month. We're unsure if Rachel will make the trip up there, but I'm hoping she can so she can see yet another amazing place in the world.

With that, I bid you all a good day!

Love Rick

Flower Market

I took a trip to the amazing Flower Market today. The market consists of several green-house buildings with every kind of potted plant and flower you can imagine. There is every color of orchid, rows of cut roses, and even Venus fly traps! They have many types of plants that I have not ever seen before, including a cactus with what looks like fur on the top. See below! It smells wonderful, and I could roam around there for hours.