Mike's 1st Week in Korea

My first week in Korea consisted of Cherry Blossoms and crappy internet. If you'd asked me what to expect, I would have said great internet and crappy weather. But I can't complain.


I departed Sunday from California and arrived here Monday evening after a 12-hour flight. A fellow officer from CNFK picked me up at the airport. Strangely our driver was a Republic of Korea sailor. I had to ask afterwards, because many of the U.S. Navy sailors here are of Korean descent. Never hurts to have some extra translators on staff. The USN officer has his own car here, and I still don't understand why we had to have a ROK driver. One of those things I guess.

My week at Commander, U.S. Naval Forces Korea was pretty uneventful. I "checked in" with the ubiquitous check-in sheet, everything from just talking to people, to getting my computer accounts, to getting my ID card registered with the base police.

The CNFK building is pretty small, and so is the staff. Honestly, there's about 25 people in the whole building. Mostly U.S. Navy, but a few Korean nationals and ROK Navy liaisons. So all the offices have doors with cipher locks and proximity badges. What's next, retinal scans?

I'm here working in the N5, or Plans & Policy, "shop." It's a small, open office (e.g. no real cubicals) suited for about four people. With myself, an officer from Seventh Fleet, and another CNFK Reservist, it got a little crowded this week. Should be ideal when I get back. Office has a wide-screen projection TV that is always on, and tuned to Armed Forces Network (AFN). We also have a little frig. And a good air conditioner, thank God. Some offices don't seem to have them.

My workstation, once I reclaim it, has an unclass (NIPRnet) and classified (SIPRnet) computer sharing a single monitor and keyboard, connected by a switch. Just double-tap the Ctrl key and you switch over. Pales in comparison to Saudi Arabia, where I think I had four keyboards and seven systems from unclassified to Top Secret. All to myself. Yikes!

Made my way around the base pretty well. I'm staying in the "Embassy Suites," which are really just some old quarters that for some reason are rented out by the Embassy Association. At $90 per night, and crappy internet, they are making some money. But the Dragon Hill hotel, where I'm typing this, is like $220 per night. It's one of these military R&R hotels, like the Halai Koa in Waikiki. Speaking of Honolulu, this will be the first RIMPAC exercise I've missed going back three exercises :(


So my hotel room is right below a building that has both a Starbucks and a Quiznos. How ironic. I've managed to visit the Starbucks every day. And broken my self-imposed boycott of Quiznos. It is good food, after all. Though this one doesn't have the oven or the soup heaters turned up enough. At least they're not on the list of restaurants that get their chickens locally. Avian Bird Flu outbreak in Korea got some more news this week.


Went by the PX a couple times. Big food court over there with all the usual suspects. The also have this thing called the "Gallery" which had local crafts. I looked into getting business cards made. I also wanted to get my own command "coin" made. The Army and Air Force love their command coins, and I thought it would be cool to get a "Fightin' Det. C" coin made for my unit. But it's like a $500 set up fee and 100 coin minimum order. A bit much for my unit of 12 people.

I went by the education center to ask about testing locations for the GMAT. I brought my books and want to study for that and take the test when I come back. I also found out more about a Masters in International Relations. I could transfer my credits from my military education to Troy University. Need to check into that more. MBA might be a lot more important for me right now, but we'll see.

That's about it for now. I leave tomorrow for Japan. There's a least four of us going from the Plans shop. We take a cab to the train station, then MTX train to Busan on the southern coast, then military air over to Atsugi, then bus or something to Yokosuka. I think we're flying in a C-130. A little break from the United and Delta routine, but should have more leg room :)


If anyone wants to send me anything, Katie has a good address for me in Japan. Might wait to see if her first package reaches me to no problems. I'm there for up to ten weeks, then back here in Seoul-Yongsan.