It’s that time of year again: the entire BN took the day off to attend mandatory seminars. Until lunch, it was the familiar parade of lectures that boil down to “It is better for you personally and for the Army if you are not a drunken boor.” After lunch, we had an interesting tour of [...]
Today I had an evening flight. I got about half an hour of day time, and one hour of night unaided. It’d be just another Saturday, except for one thing: tonight’s flight was in a Cessna 172.
It’s a funny thing, flying a small reciprocating single-engine plane after becoming used to a dual turbine helicopter. On [...]
Out and about in Songtan the other day visiting a friend from college who through pure coincidence is also currently stationed in Korea, we saw a truck open on an anonymous corner near his apartment containing lots of stage gear: lights, reflectors, etc. It generated a moment’s curiosity, as there is no nearby theatre, but [...]
It’s a new year again, for my readers in Korea and Japan at least*. (新年あけましておめでとうございます!) For my family and most of my friends, it’ll be another half day or so. In moving here I’ve cheated over twelve hours from both 2009 and the decade it was a part of; I think most people will agree [...]
Civilian Commercial:
Seoul Incheon: not actually very remarkable. It’s a big modern airport very much like many other big modern airports. It’s not ideally designed: it requires walking maybe 1500 meters from one end to the other, for military arrivals at least. Still, its linear design means it is at least simple. Also, free internet and [...]
My first contact with the program triggered all my phishing alerts: an unexpected email purporting to be from a trusted source asked for personal information. I’d have rejected it out of hand, but I do expect to fly as a passenger on commercial air soon and I’d rather not be turned back at the gate [...]
The roads in Korea aren’t laid out in anything I’d recognize as a rational plan. They loop and weave crazily between each other, as if there had been a huge surplus of highway construction funds divided evenly between a number of firms contractually bound not to connect to each others’ roads except at a stoplight [...]
Anytime an Army pilot arrives at a new post, they have to get to a status called Readiness Level One, which just means that they’re familiar with the local flying procedures, the local area, and their new unit’s mission. This can take several months. Here in Korea, since the default tour length is only a [...]
I visited CIF today to get my Korea gear. They sent me home with a depth and variety of cold weather gear which, while gratifying to have, implies an almost terrifying lack of warmth. It comes with an instruction manual entitled “Generation III Extended Cold Weather Clothing System.” The illustration on the cover diagrams in [...]
Flight school just ended. With my final checkride complete, I have no more flight instruction required before graduation, and no more flight time at all until I get to Korea.
There is more to do, of course. There’s a mandatory leadership course before graduation, presumably to remind us all that while we’re all peers and [...]