In Brandon's Words: Stuff since gunnery (July, August, and September)

I'm a little bit behind on posting excerpts from the e-mails that Brandon sends me every day.  Here are the highlights from the past few months.


July 16

W_____ and I decided that we would take the Train to the last stop on the line north of here only two stops from Camp Casey. We have both never been there, and thought it would be fun to go exploring. We got off the train and we went walking down the road. just to see what we could find.

We found a pretty cool Arts and Craft store and it was fun to go in and check it out. I bought a pencil for real cheap it was really cool. I love stores like that.

We kept on going and we found a road that eventually turned into a canyon, kind of like City Creek Canyon in Utah, a road but one where no cars go down. We walked up it and there was a ton of Korean people just chilling in This canyon, down by the little creek that ran out of it, and just walking down the road. a lot of then had these really weird little music systems that they would play music out of and W____ would dance really silly to the music, the Koreans Loved it a lot they would all laugh when we would go by.

The canyon eventually turned into stairs.

and The stairs of all things turned into a Buddhist temple. it was really cool, W_____ and I stayed for about a half an hour to 45 minutes.

We stayed up there and then took off down the canyon to the bottom. On the way we ran into the Sister Missionaries - we always run into them its kind of funny just how often it happens. But we talked to them for a minute they were on their way to the temple and we told them they were close.

At the bottom of the Canyon we had some Ice cream it was yummy and then we walked back to the train. I successfully was able to talk W_____ into going to Family Home Evening at the Pihls so we went there. We had fun he chatted with some of the other members on the couch in the living room I had the opportunity to Help Elder Pihl Try to get his computer Fixed, It wasn't connecting to the internet. I checked it, cleaned it, and deleted some programs (games) that he didn't need. By the time I was done the internet still wasn't working but I knew it wasn't any their equipment it was their
service.

We had a good dinner, and a good Spiritual thought about personal revelation. It was nice to be back there with everyone. well eventually it was time to go So we rode the train to Uijeongbu and met up
with some of the guys from __ Company that W_____ knew and we came back home with them. I was exhausted So I went to bed. But I had a very fun day.

Tuesday evening was our Family Home Evening for Camp Stanley. I saw Bro Pihl on his way to the gate to pick up the missionaries, and talked to him for a bit then I went to the PX where Sister Pihl and S_______ (a guy from Camp Red Cloud just down the road from here were waiting). I talked to them until Brother Pihl came back and then I took everyone up To brother L_____'s house. We knocked on the wrong door at first but luckily I figured it out before anyone came to the door. Finally we got to brother L_____'s house and we had a good time.

At Bro L_____'s house We had a really good meeting. We talked about leadership in the lord's way and leadership in the worlds way, and D&C 121 it was a good meeting, we had a really good meeting and W_____ told us about when he was truck driving how he went to church and he would
pull up a big rig truck next to a random church house and go to church there for the day while he was on the road. he said it was funny to come to church dressed like a bum of a truck driver and everyone was curious who he was, once he even had an elder's quorum president come out and talk to him about why he was there. We were all laughing pretty good.

After the meeting Brother L_____ and I walked all of the missionaries to the gate, and then we walked back.

July 20 (This is the day Brandon found out he'd been selected for flight school.)

On my way back to my room I ran into H_____ and G_____, they told me that I made it. My name was on the list for Warrant officer Candidates. That wasn't supposed to happen until tonight so I really didn't believe them. I did to a point, I was excited at the prospect but I wouldn't believe them until I saw it for myself. I went inside to eat and I got my computer out to see and sure enough when I found the website it still said that they were no longer notifying people instantly. I thought that H_____ maybe used a different website so I ate breakfast and went and found out what the website was he used. I came back and logged onto it.

I had to use my CAC card. I scrolled down and saw my name on the list. I was so freaking excited, it was way cool I had a hard time containing my excitement. It had to settle in a little bit before it would actually seem real. I quickly got on e-mail and told you about it. I didn't know how to do it so I just did what I did on the spur of the moment. Sorry it was so anti-climactic for you. That is how this whole process for me has seemed so far, so welcome to my world. It was awesome and I was really excited.

After Lunch I found W____ washing his tank and told him the news he was really excited for me. I told him we were going to celebrate tonight.

At formation I had so many people come up to me and tell me congratulations. It was cool. I had a few guys ask me what was going on so I told them they were all excited. We had formation same as usual, lots of awards and rank ups it was good. then we were excused to our Companies.

In our company formation, along with the weekend safety brief and normal stuff, Captain M____ called H_____ and I up to the front and told everyone that we had both been selected to Go to Warrant Officer School, we got a lot of applause and were congratulated again. It was fun to have all that attention paid to us. As we got back in formation I was told by one of the guys "congats Chief". I think it is way cool. we were then excused to our Platoon formation and it was just normal, along with a few handshakes too.

Finally, when we were done, we went back to our barracks building, and as I was letting a lot of people go through the door (I was holding it open) Someone yelled "Hey make room for the chief" I don't want to get cocky, and I am going to try my hardest not to, but I can really understand how people can get so prideful when they have rank like that. I yelled something back to the effect of "Don't start that yet". It was pretty funny. I was on cloud nine. it was way cool I got dressed in civilian clothes and and then went to find W____.

July 20
Brother P____took us on a trip. We asked him if he knew anywhere cool to visit in Seoul. He said he did, and we decided that we should go and check it out. So he took us to the highest tower in South Korea Known as Seoul Tower. it is Located on a mountain in the middle of the city and is very high above the landscape.

 First we were hungry so we went and had dinner at an okay restaurant on the military base in Seoul known as Yongsan. It was pretty alright. we then had to go to the PX so Brother P____could buy his son some slacks to send him while he is in Columbia on his mission.

Then we walked off base to a bus stop just down the road, and caught a tour bus that went all the way up the mountain. We finally got up there and everyone was there. Like the entire city of Seoul. it was way crowded. We looked around a bit and then were able to take an elevator to the top of the tower and look out. they had some candy and other stuff on the observation tower. it was slightly expensive so I, of course, didn't buy any of it. there were glass panes all around the tower and there were names of cities and countries and kilometers to those cities written on the panes. it was kind of cool, but of course it was kind of misty so we couldn't see very far but we could see Seoul and it was way interesting.

We finally went down, they had this movie on the ceiling of the elevator you could watch it was kind of cool. it slightly reminded me of the star show we watched in California. because it Started in Seoul at Seoul Tower then zoomed up into the sky out of the atmosphere past all the planets and into another galaxy and to another planet. This was on the way up the elevator, and did it backwards on the way down, slightly dumb but what do you expect. It was a fun day.

July 24 
On Tuesday Family Home evening went well I went to the gate and signed the missionaries on. It was good, even though it was just the missionaries, Brother L_____ and W____ and myself. Brother L_____ had chips and salsa for us. He also had bought some root beer for us too. Brother L_____ had us sing a song then we read an article out of the Ensign online. We then had a good discussion about it like always happens at the Pihl's. I then had to walk the missionaries back to the gate so we left, luckily it had started to rain a whole lot that night by the time I got back to my room I was soaked.

Because of the rain the internet didn't work so B________ and I spent a few minutes talking to each other about lots of stuff including airplanes and travelling, after which I went to bed. It was a good night.

For PT on Wednesday we ran for five miles in the Rain it was pouring the entire time we ran. at our turn around point we had to do fireman carries (where we have to lift one of our buddies on our shoulders and carry them) we had to run to the top of a hill. The guy I was with and I were (surprisingly) the first ones up the hill. I think it is funny because there is always someone who has to cut you down. another Sgt told me that He could have done it with my battle buddy because he was lightweight, he didn't even say good job or anything, not that I care I just think it is funny that he has to make me weaker so he is stronger, its dumb.

During the day we did a photo shoot. It was actually one of the funnest days I have had, because I got to do something I am good at, I got to take pictures and work a little with Photoshop for work. We had to do this layout, and take a picture of it for a guide for everyone in the battalion. I used my equipment so my name is plastered all over everything. it was fun. The Tank and Brad crew worked on it we all meticulously folded everything "Military standard" and then we laid it out and took pictures of about four different groups of equipment.

I then e-mailed the pictures to Sgt G_____ so he could doctor them up on the computers at The company, you know label everything. I think it looked pretty good when I was done.

July 26

B________ moved out of this room So I am all by myself. It has been nice.  I do not have the internet, because it moved along with B________, but I am getting that hooked up on Monday. I am glad we already talked about it so it was pretty easy of a decision to make

Lets see though. Today, being Saturday, was a very interesting Day. I was able to go and do a lot of the stuff that was on my list of places to visit. W____ and Bro L_____ thought it would be fun so We took off this morning at 8:00 and didn't get back until about 20 minutes ago at about 9:40 pm.
We took the bus into Seoul, we went to The Military Museum again, because Bro L hasn't seen it yet, then we took a walk through the streets of Seoul. That was kind of an adventure it started raining a little bit and a random Lady gave us leaves to cover our heads with as we walked. It was funny.

we walked to Seoul Train station and took the subway up to the Dongdaemun history and culture park. That was very interesting. Basically it is not a park but a giant building. It is, however, a very interesting building because there are no square surfaces on it anywhere. it really doesn't have a describable shape other than a gastropod (like a slug or worm) and it was a very interesting place to visit. on the inside all of the rooms had odd shapes and different things in them, mostly it was museum displays and cultural information on South Korea. and there were a few stores to look at too. it was interesting. The weirdest part was the doors and staircases. They were like optical illusions the doors and tile on the floor was a rhombus shape and the stairs on the inside looked like an M C Escher optical illusion design. I thought it was really cool to look at even though it actually did give me a small headache. I have some very interesting pictures to show you.

After that we hopped the train to the ancient royal palaces. We stayed there for pretty much the whole rest of the afternoon. It was a museum visiting day, but it was fun. W____ and Bro L and I had lots of fun going around and checking all of the stuff out.

Bro L had never been to Seoul before so it was fun to have a newbie with us. It was also fun just travelling on the train all day long, just to random places and trying to figure everything out.

This morning I had three bowls of cereal for breakfast before I left then we bought lunch in Seoul at a small restaurant, and later this evening Bro L bought W____ and I dinner at a Peruvian restaurant in Camp Casey, yeah we went back up there, W____ didn't want to go home, and really neither did I.
We finally made it home by about 9:40 and I came home to a nice quiet Dark Room. It is so nice to not have someone here being loud or watching dumb stuff on TV. I could get used to this. But i am still planning that someone is going to be moved in with me just so I don't get my hopes dashed if it happens.

July 27

After Church usually W____ and I do something at church, or go home. Today, however was different. W____ decided that he wanted to go on another adventure today so I gave him my train route map and he looked it over during Sunday school. He decided that we should go on an adventure to a place called Seoul Grand park. I agreed we should try it and see what happens. We had a few new people at church today, and more in particular a new guy, an older gentleman probably 50 or so, I met him at church and later he started talking to W____ and I on the train platform. He was really nice. I asked him what he does in the Army and he told me that he was a person at the garrison building, or something like that. I said wow that means you are probably pretty high ranking and he said yes he was, he then told me he was a lieutenant colonel (same rank as Colonel S_____). I kept talking to him like I would have talked to any other person at church, we had a really good conversation just about church and army life. I think it is funny I wouldn't really be able to even talk to him at work but on the ride home from church we are best friends. Oh well "army life" for you I guess. He said he knew Colonel S_____ and Brother P____from before he came to Korea, so that makes it even funnier I think.

We got on the Train and we took off to Seoul. When we got off we found ourselves in a huge park! it had an amusement park in it a giant Zoo several Museums, and lots and lots of other things to do. we walked around the main looped road that runs around the center of it and just looked at everything. it was more of just recon anyway. We found out that the zoo was only 3,000 wan to get in about $3.00 give or take, and most of the other stuff to do was relatively cheap as well. only a couple of bucks to get in. we are going to see if we can get down there again, and check it out further.

Then as we came back we decided to take another train home besides the 1, because we always take that home so we took the 2 and the 7. along the way we stopped at a little part of the city of Seoul and just walked around the city a bit. it was fun we then got on the train and came back home, it was a long ride, but fun. We finally got back home at about 9:20 pm yet again another long day out. I like them, W____ seems to not, even though he is the one that hates to be at home all day. He makes me laugh.

July 29
FHE was good. We read the Living Christ for the spiritual thought and the missionaries told us their testimonies of Christ, and asked us to share our testimonies of Christ if we felt like it. Either out of feeling peer pressure or whatever everyone bore a testimony about Christ. it was really good there was only 7 of us including the missionaries so it didn't last for too long. We had refreshments, Sister Pihl made some caramel Corn which was really good and S______ (from Camp red cloud) brought some cookies. Then we all walked to the gate and dropped off the missionaries. it was a good night I talked with the elders and S______ and Elder and sister Pihl talked to Brother L on the way down to the gate. I love just being able to talk to people that kind of have the same belief system I do. and have had some of the same experiences I have had. My favorite part is just the idle chit chat every one has. I did learn a few good things during FHE though it was fun.

On the way Back I talked to S_______ (he was taking the bus back to cam Red cloud and it left from on post. So I stayed with him for a while, and talked to him just about a few different things, college, the Army, family, but the topic somehow got on to the Idea of "doing Hard things" like that talk that the guy in my Mom and Dad's old ward gave. I mentioned a few things to him about how hard things stretch you and make you a better person, and as I was leaving him he told me I had answered a few questions he had had going on in his mind. I didn't mean to but I think It was just what he needed to hear. I felt pretty good about it.

July 31 (After gunnery ended Brandon spent a lot of time getting every thing cleaned up.  Then it was inspection time.)
I went back to work and just continued polishing things up for the inspection. It was not too bad though. finally it was time.  One of the inspectors asked who the Brad belonged to and H_____ told him it was __'s he said that it was probably going to be f&^%&# up because everything in __ was that way. After looking over it for a minute or two he said that it was the cleanest Brad he has ever seen. But, of course, he wasn't impressed. he found a tiny bit of rust on our gun and told us to clean it off otherwise we would have to work on Saturday to get it in Order. We worked to get it really clean really quickly so he could come over and check it again. He approved. Then after we were done H______ went back to his room so he could finish laying out his stuff for the layout in his room he didn't have enough time yesterday. I cleaned up the Brad with the help of Sergeant J______, he was also there for the inspection he is the Bradley master gunner, and he is about a million times cooler than, well, a lot of other people. We put everything back together in the brad even the floor that we had to take out for the inspection. we got everything squared away in there except for the floor in the turret which you have to literally screw down with bolts.

I had to get back to my room and do my inspection. I got it all taken care of and got back to my room just in time to wait like an hour and a half. finally my room was inspected and of all the people who could do it it was the same inspector from the Brad.  I don't think he even knew I was the same person who he had just checked. he doesn't even care. all he wanted to know was if my sergeant was there, luckily SGT G_____ was there. some of the other guys in my building didn't have their sergeants there and had to call them or do their inspections, or they would have to do them on
Saturday like everyone else who didn't pass.

When he came into my room He looked at my fridge, my microwave and my helmet, luckily all of them were cleaned, he asked me about my pro mask and when I showed it to him he asked why I had an older one. I told him that it was from the company and that they didn't have enough large ones that were new for everyone so I got stuck with that. I also cracked a small joke and told him it was okay because I was old school, and I liked that kind of stuff. I am not sure but I think I got a tiny minuscule smile out of him. but that was it. he checked my shower and then told me I was good. I was relieved because I really didn't want to work on Saturday.

Aug 1
Well today was our mandatory fun day. and it was nice to not have to clean the brad or worry about the office, and other details.

It started off with a battalion run. we ran basically in a figure eight around the entire perimeter of Camp Stanley, something we have actually done a lot, but we did it with everyone in the battalion that resides on Camp Stanley. it was very slow and easy, which I did not mind at all. and at the end we had somewhat of a safety brief and a description of what was going on the rest of the day.
A side note: I don't think that the battalion is run by people who don't know what is going on nor how to plan, I think that lower people just do not now how to effectively communicate that to everyone else. Because the higher leadership here all seems to be on their game.

I found W_____ and chilled with him the whole day while I was there. we went and checked out all of the booths they had going on.

I also got to talk to some of the guys from ___ Company. I think it is funny to talk to them because they all seem miserable, I am so glad I got out of there and am now on my way to warrant officer school. They all seem so depressed.

We had another HHC formation before 11:30 where Specialist H_____ and Specialist T____ were both Promoted to Sergeants, I thought that was cool I am very Happy for both of them, H______ doesn't smile a lot but I know when he is happy because he has an underlying smile on his face that is almost undetectable, unless you hang out with him a lot. I saw it whenever we went shooting on the range, and when he found out that he was going to Warrant officer school, and today it was there too. I told him today that now I can say he was the best NCO I have ever had. I think he liked the (true) compliment.

This afternoon They actually had free lunch I was glad for that, they had just hamburgers and hot dogs and other stuff from the Chow hall, I ate my fill and also got some free water too, it was okay. I chilled out with a lot more of the guys from _ co just to see how they were and still be buddies with them. At about 3:00 L______ and I both went with J____ to the PX so he could get a Gatorade, and we just all were talking about whatever, it was actually kind of fun. We were told we had a formation at four so we made sure that we were back down by then. We had our final Formation where we talked about Alcohol and safety and the weekend and everything, and were released by 4:30. I was asked to help put some of the food away so I helped load the Van up with empty dishes and I got a free Pumpkin Pie out of the deal.

Aug 6
We went for a four and a half mile run like we always do now for PT. while running I was keeping up with the group but the guy in front of me, A_____, was having a rough time staying with everyone I lagged behind a little with him to you know kind of boost his morale a little see if I could get him to run faster, it worked a little. I hope he wasn't too irritated with me.

it was funny though we ran about three fifths of the way through where we were going to go and I was still kind of in back slightly not keeping up with everyone. and I could hear the sergeants in Back giving all of the stragglers a hard time. Then they started giving me a hard time. I am about at the pint where I will not have it when people give me a hard time. When they yelled come on Illguth you're not even in Warrant officer school yet and you can't keep up? That did it. I took off as fast as I could go and passed everyone I ran like the wind and then I turned around and jogged back to where I was next to A______ and before I turned around I told them in a serious tone "I am not slow" and then got right next to him and jogged with him the rest of the way until we were pretty close to home,

One of the guys back there said Illguth where did you go? and another one said I don't think he ever left he ran so fast it was like he never left. and unlike most of the guys I didn't stop as we arrived at the bottom of the hill we were going to run up. Yeah I didn't hear anything about it again. I was slightly proud of myself. I thought I did a very good job of putting those guys in their place

In the evening I got to leave early and sign off from the Base and go to Camp Casey to do my routine that I haven't done for a while that is to Eat chow and run quickly to scouts. while on My way I ran into R______. one of the new guys in our Branch. we kind of just hung around and chatted until the train showed up. It was nice to get to know him a little more. he is way into scouting to as a leader and he has lots of experience as a leader. He came to scouts tonight to help Brother P____do Boards of review. for the guys advancing up in rank. Him I and a mom and a dad that were there (both not members) were the board and we talked to and passed the scouts off on moving up in Rank. it was fun because we kind of got to make up questions and ask them about their ranks and stuff that they had done. I had never been to anything like that before as an adult leader. it was so cool I can't wait for derrick to get involved with that kind of stuff. I had fun and the Boys were great.

Aug 9

I asked W_____ if he wanted to go run some errands with me. he agreed. he made the comment that it was probably way hot outside. and I told him it was actually quite nice. when he found out that it was relatively cool outside with a somewhat low humidity and a breeze blowing with the sun shining partially obscured by clouds he said that we needed to get of the base to enjoy the beautiful day. I kind of agreed, I didn't want to go anywhere, but I knew he needed to get away from his co. so I went.

He said we needed to go to the zoo. SO we did and a couple of short hours later we were there. It was huge! like two or three of the Waco zoos put together, there were a ton of animals, okay there was just like a lot of monkeys, and deer and you know multiples of the same kind of animals but there were a lot of new ones too. It was pretty fun. I got a few pictures especially of the animals you don't see most anywhere else. We had a lot of fun. W____'s friend H____ went with us.

When we were close to being done these two Korean women, with a little kid cameup to us and asked if we could take a picture. I was like yeah that is just fine where is your camera? They then explained that they wanted a picture with us. I thought it was odd but I was like okay so one of the women held hands with the little girl, and Hayes and I stood next to them. I guess Americans are part of the cool things you can see at the zoo to. I thought it was funny. I wish I had some kids to tote around with me It would have been fun to have Charlotte and Lydia and derrick and Veronica, not to mention you with me there too. We got on the train and made it back here by 9:45 so it took all afternoon and most of the evening.

Aug 12

At 6:00 I got a text from the missionaries saying they were at the gate. so I texted them back saying I was on my way. I quickly got dressed and went out of my room just in time to see W____ coming down the hall, I was glad, and took him with me to get the missionaries.

We picked up The Elders I brought them to my room so I could finish getting ready for FHE, and they happened to be coming back from the store and need a place to put some perishable groceries. My fridge is your fridge is basically what I told them.

Last night I made some Brownie batter, and put it in the fridge. Today I took the batter and some other necessary equipment up to Brother L_____'s. We went to The PX so we could track down a guy that The elder's had found that was a member that had just got here to Korea. we met him, he was from Taiwan, and spoke English, and Mandarin Chinese. He was pretty cool he was an american citizen and in the army, he was really nice. I got to know him a bit and learned his e-mail address, So I could get a hold of him, I think he is going to come to church with us on Sunday. we got him and he, the missionaries and I and The Pihls walked to Brother L_____'s where I put the batter in the oven and then W____ showed up.

W____ had also brought a person who was a member, and was trying to find the church, he is going to the field this weekend so he will be out of touch for a little bit. But it was nice to have new faces at our little meeting. We had a great little spiritual thought and lesson by Brother L_____, he likes to read an article from The ensign and we read a pretty good one by a General authority who is from Korea of all places. It was good, then we had brownies, they were still hot. and hung out and chatted for a while It is fun to just talk and have a good time with everyone. Then it was time to go home.

I took the missionaries back to my place To get there stuff, And Elder and Sister Pihl, H____, them and I all walked to the gate and just chatted, it was nice I think it s fun to see the people I know from the base watching all of us walk around. They give me a funny look and I like it, I feel like it  is (on a very small scale some kind of missionary work). I had a good day today, and I am really enjoying being in __. Even though it can be somewhat annoying at times, it is a whole lot better than _ co.

Aug 13 (Sgt H______ went to a leadership training course for about 4 weeks and so Brandon was left in charge of the Bradley.)

Again, H_____, Sorry, Sgt H_____ made us look like superstars. He showed me the order that everything went in the last time we did the layout, so I did it again today. All we had to do was go down each row of equipment and check everything off. H_____ had made sure we had everything, and I now knew where everything was, well except for something that I had never seen, used or heard of before. What took Sgt G_____ and G____about 1 1/2 hours took me 30 minutes or so, Granted I had a lot less equipment then they did, but I Thought that it went superb.

After that it was about 4:35 and I had 25 minutes to clean up and make it to the bus on time, and despite my best efforts I was only done within 19 minutes. and I missed the bus but I went and got my stuff ready for scouts and took the train instead. While I was on the train a funny thing happened, I was just standing there minding my own business when I noticed a older Korean Lady talking to a little boy and obviously referring to me while she spoke to him. He braved it out and said hi to me. I said hi back. That kind of broke the ice a little, so he eventually came up to me and started talking to me he asked me about who I was and where I was from I asked him the same things I found out that the lady was his Mom's aunt, and that his dad was from South Carolina, and his Mom was from Korea. they were living in The same apartments as Elder and Sister Pihl, and that he liked recess at school. It was a fun little conversation, and his great aunt enjoyed watching him talk to me. I gave him the picture of all you guys in my wallet so he could show it to her after he asked about my family, she thought Our family was cute, I could tell. It was so funny. It was really interesting to have such a grown up -well you know- conversation with a seven year old. oh yea and his name is Ezra, he also has a little brother who is five who's name is Michael. He was a funny little kid. before I left he told me that it was nice to meet me and that he hoped he could talk to me again one day. I thought it was really fun to talk to him, but eventually I had to get off. He talked to me though for the whole time I rode from Uijeongbu to Bosan (camp Casey). It was definitely another train ride first for me here.

Taking the train made me kind of early, because I didn't have chow, so I decided to go and put some minutes on my phone because it needed some pretty bad. on my way there brother P____called me and asked if I had left yet. I was walking down the sidewalk in front of Camp Casey. I told him I had and he said that all of the scouts were busy doing other things tonight so we were cancelling it. I thought oh well no problem while I am here I need to go to the commissary before it closes anyway because they are saying we wont get to use our meal cards soon.  (I don't care, I like eating my own food better anyway.)

So I went to Camp Casey and I bought some groceries. I barely made it before seven, the closing time, and the total came to $16.26 and I had exactly sixteen dollars in my wallet. and a quarter in my pocket (they round up and down cents here it is kind of nice) the cashier was impressed that I had the exact amount. he seemed to be even more impressed with my M&Ms coin container. That made me laugh.

I decided that instead of waiting an hour or longer to take the bus back I would just ride the train back because who knew if I would be able to talk to another little kid or something else crazy.

I ran into the Elders and I had a pretty fun conversation with them about missionary work and a guy they had just talked to on the street who didn't speak Korean, nor very good English. They said it was hard to talk to him. It was another good impromptu conversation. Anyway that was the last crazy thing that happened today.

Aug 17
Well W____ needed to go to Camp Casey for some clothes to wear to the demilitarized zone (the North Korean / South Korean border) apparently you need some Kacki pants and a Golf Tee to go there. whatever. I asked if I could borrow it if I go there later. He was cool with that. We had a real quick lunch and we set off home. I can't remember Exactly how we got on the subject but I told him about Utah State and their Wonderful flight program and my experience with that and with the Utah Jet Center. I told him about my secret fantasy to be the Blackhawk pilot that goes up to the school to give all of the ROTC students rides. and how I want to land at the airport, get gas, and flip everyone off who doesn't recognize me but are still there, as I leave. He told me that he hopes I get to do that too. It was funny. So I reminisced about that today.

Aug 18 (Brandon was assigned to the night shift in the TOC for about two weeks)
Well last night was not bad for the first little while. we sat there and monitored the computer and the radios for the night. there was no real radio stuff going on just the chatter of other companies using the same frequency to do radio checks. It was very uneventful. Same with the computer, nothing was going on on that.

I decided that I would make my time useful so I decided to just work on Some math study. (working the other day with Sgt G_____ kind of put me in the mood). so I was just making up problems and solving the and graphing stuff on my graphing calculator. I talked to some of the guys also last night about Just dumb stuff. I worked with a guy named C____. he is pretty cool. He gave me a three Musketeers candy bar he had. I thought it was nice.

Another Sgt that is in our company Named Sgt W__was asking me about the Math and I told him it wasn't homework, but just for fun and he wanted in on some of it, so I wrote him a few equations and we solved them just to get him back in the math mind set, he hadn't done math for a long time and kind of wanted a refresher. it was fun I really believe I could tutor math I think I helped him understand it again. long about 5 in the morning though I couldn't even solve problems with my calculator. it was all I could do the keep my eyes open. I hadn't had a whole lot of sleep since Friday night. well I suffered through the rest of the morning. and finally went up to get some breakfast (I had an MRE for a midnight snack). I got some breakfast for myself and C____. He stayed down there a little bit longer to finish up what was going on. I got a to go plate for him and had it in my fridge until he showed up to get it a few minutes later.

Pretty much the rest of the day I slept.  I slept until about 5 or so. I got up went to chow had to come back.  The night shift  does PT at night so I went to the company to do PT That was fun we had a nice slow run. it was good now I i am here it is 8:30 pm and I am showered and ready to go to work.

Aug 19
Well my day was interesting as usual. We had PT last night we (all of the night shift people) formed up at 6:45 and did our PT. Apparently a few of the people in the company have not had the opportunity to do PT for a while. So we took it easy. We ran. we did two loops around Base. it is only like four or five miles so that was okay. we also did a slow pace so that was nice too. ( I think that running is what makes my ankle hurt because it hasn't hurt at all last week, all the way until last night when it hurt a lot afterward. I think I am going to get it checked. We had two girls running with us which is very uncommon for me. It was a bit harder for them to make it to the top of the steep hills, so we waited for them as we ran. it  was okay I didn't mind. at the end we did a release run back to Base but I stayed with the girls, you know just to stay with them. It is kind of a rule that some sort of person Usually an NCO falls out with them and stays there along side them. I don't mind. I know just how fast I am. Wouldn't you know it the sergeant in charge of me was in our run the other day as one of the hecklers behind me, I didn't hear a thing about it. Ha....Ha.....Ha......!

Then I had to go change and get ready for the day or night rather.

Another project I had during the night was tutoring Sgt W___ with Math. I had found online a bunch of Math Problems, and I copied them to a text document I was going to print out but I ran out of time so I just wrote them down for him. and both he and I worked through them separately. Then I went through and corrected them. I had one mistake. I later realized. and he had about 13 or so. So we did some learning. I thought it was fun and I know now that I could be a math tutor. Most of the rest of the night I spent doing some other Harder math problems, and just trying to figure out how my graphing calculator works again. It has been too long.

Well as usual the later in the morning it got the harder it was to stay up. I was finally able to get off, C____ liked it when I went and got him breakfast yesterday, So I did it again it is worth getting off a little early.

I got home and I was able to skype you. I still enjoy doing that. I finally went to bed at around 9:30 if I recall correctly.  I woke up finally at about 4:00 pm. and I am just getting geared up for my night again tonight. it is Weird I feel like I have very little free time (or time where I am not confined to my radio table, and have to do PT), and this week is taking forever so far. I hope I can get through this.

Aug 21
Well the past couple of days seem like a blur really most of the time I was awake I was inside the TOC and sometimes in there I was struggling to Stay awake. Lets see I f I can give you some highlights though, If I can remember them.

Yesterday C____ and I spent most of the night thinking up dumb survival scenarios, and drawing plans for Zombie bunkers and Battle houses. (anything to keep myself awake) It was interesting. I have never done that before. I kind of felt like I was 13 again when that stuff was somewhat more cooler to me. I thought it was funny. I guess that sometimes you never grow up.

In the morning I stumbled slowly back up to my room to go to bed, but surprisingly still had energy. I spent the rest of the morning sewing The badges and stuff to my scout uniform, and talking to all of you guys. I slept the rest of the afternoon and was able to go to scouts Yay!

We had Fun there just planning and finishing up the details of our Camp out this weekend. I still do not know if I am going to go yet. Hopefully I will find out soon.

Today, or last night I was at the TOC and it was pretty crowded in there for a couple of hours before everything finally calmed down. it is crazy there during the day, I am glad I have nothing to do with the day. We are notionally (pretending to be) in a war right now with the north Koreans They are "strategically bombing" South Korea and we are helping coordinate the fighting. I guess. It is weird, after everyone left last night the computers went down, so we literally had nothing to do, except be guards all night for the TOC. The people were going to come in the morning to fix everything. all we had was a computer set up through a different network that we could communicate by text message with everyone. and some people do not understand that nothing is working without the other computer system. It was funny we really had to explain things to get the other guys to realize that. I was part of it I was the guy writing everything down.and sending it. it was kind of fun.

C____, my buddy, left at around midnight because he had to go home and get ready for an appointment he had later in the morning. it was pretty, boring after that. He tried to get me to draw another bunker house, but left before I started, I drew it for him anyway and I will show it to him probably tonight.

at around nine everyone Came back and the TOC got crazy again. we got in trouble for not making the coffee. I actually got in trouble for it. I told them, look I didn't know, I was supposed to, not do I know really how to, I mean its easy, but It would take me forever to do it. anyway I was glad to get out of there when I did.

It started Raining hard Last night and didn't let up at all. We had to push up on the tent Ceilings to get the water to drain out. that is fun to listen to it splash all over the ground on the other side. So even though I was dry in the TOC as soon as I left it this morning I got soaked. I had to get the stuff done I didn't get done yesterday at S1 so I went there and got it done quickly. Then I came home and got ready for Bed.

Aug 23 (Brandon got to go on a Scout Camp with the Boy Scouts of America Troop that he works with through the church.)

Yesterday I did not go to sleep at all after I talked to you I did Laundry, Packed up everything, cleaned my room a bit, and otherwise prepared for the trip. I was hoping to leave early so I could be at the church ready to go when the time came. I went to get my pass to leave 3 times. The first time they said they weren't going to be ready until just before final formation. The second time they said they were still not ready yet because formation was still taking place. The third time I went there They were in the process of getting them logged onto the computer. I waited for them to be done that time. Finally I had the pass at about 5:10. I high tailed it to my room and got my stuff and signed out.

I was going to take the Free Camp Stanley to Casey Bus and Then take the short train trip to The church but that was now not an option because I would be about an hour and and a half late I missed the one that would have gotten me there early. and taking a regular bus would probably take quite a long time to get to Uijeongbu. Turns out there was a lot of traffic That definitely would have delayed me. I opted to take a taxi, for a few reasons, one of them being I didn't want anyone seeing me walk out the gate by myself with a huge bag, too many question marks. and another reason was that I wouldn't be late.

My Taxi Driver was crazy The was no light too red and almost no traffic to heavy to slow him down. I think I made record time to the station. at one point there were two Crazy Korean older ladies That walked across the street right in front of our "too fast for safety" taxi and My driver slowed fast enough to let them happily pass along their way. I looked at him and said in English this place is crazy, he laughed and agreed with me that there were a lot of crazy people in Korea.  In my head I thought "You are one of them" but I was glad that he was hurrying, I didn't want to be too late.
The train was pretty normal and uneventful. I made it to the church at about 6:20 and Brother P____said That he had gotten there about 5 seconds earlier. So we were on the same schedule. I was glad I hurried.

We got in the cars and we were off. The drive was pretty uneventful, except for one of the scouts left his stuff in the church parking lot. and his mom had to bring it to us. It was funny. Brother P____and I sat in the front and just made good normal conversation about random stuff. Nothing too exciting. The drive was pretty and Misty. We got there a little bit after the sun went down.

 Our Camp Site was a dirt parking lot Next to the Building that you rented canoes out of. We got there and set everything up and made our camp site rain proof.

There is a cute little twelve year old scout named J___ who wanted to bring dessert so he made some Rollo and pecan covered Pretzels. As usual they were good. It was funny to hear him talking about how amazing they were, very enthusiastic that one is. Well we kind of winded down we all had dinner in the car and we Had a brief scoutmaster minute before we all went to bed.

Brother P____talked about Parables and how lots of things in life can be made into educational parables. It was actually really good. I, was extremely tired (I would have had a hard time listening to President Uchdorf talk about airplanes) So I dozed for a little bit of his speech even though I thought it was really good. I told him about my day, so I think He knew why I fell asleep. I hope there are no hard feelings.

I slept in a leader tent with Bro P____and except for when it started raining during the night I was asleep for everything. The forescast called for very wet weather this weekend, and we were very prepared for it. (The only rain we had was while we were sleeping and it lasted ten minutes.) It was great.

I got to sleep in until seven, that was nice. I eventually made my way out to breakfast after everyone started putting stuff away. I helped the scouts finish cooking the pancakes. They were very uncomfortable cooking them They were not confident in there skills at all. I showed them what to do, but the grill was way too hot. The pancakes turned out "scout perfect" Burned on the outside and doughy on the inside. I still think it is funny. It was Mom's recipe so they were still good. Oh and boiled eggs (even pre-boiled ones) I found out are not a good breakfast item, no one wanted to eat them.

After Breakfast was cleaned up, we went to the canoe shop, which was still closed. we hung around for about 15 minutes until they opened up about 45 minutes after they were supposed to. It is really funny to see guys in Korea in charge of Outdoor equipment. You know how guys in the US would be slightly larger in Stature, and have beards and look like outdoors men, Not in Korea. (I know this is a horrible generalization but) they looked like nerds Just like every other Korean short, skinny, glasses, and Nice shirts and slacks. It makes me laugh so much to think about. No flannel here. I do trust Koreans though, I forgot to take out my Wallet and phone and all of the other things I had that I didn't want to get wet, and a Korean Guy ran all of it up to their office and put it just set the stuff on a desk there. No one touched it until I got back. I like this country that way.

We finally made it into the water. and I had lots of fun I have only ever been canoeing once before with Dad, and I was a little nervous about it, especially since we were in a huge river, ( The Han river, in case you were curious [that is the big one that runs right through Seoul] [I think I am doing too much Math I am using Brackets inside of Parenthesis now] ).

We learned all of the necessary skills for canoeing, Including what to do when you tip over your Canoe. You cannot get back into it at all without someone else's help. we learned how to do that and all of the scouts got very wet while doing it. My canoe and the "safety Canoe" (the one with Brother P____and Mr. L__ [another dad] in it) were the only ones That didn't get tipped over, At first. Michael P____(brother P____'s Oldest Son living at home) and I stole a couple of the other scouts' canoe while helping them get it out of the water. We litterally had it on top of our canoe and rowed away. The were yelling "Bring us back our canoe" it was fun. They came back and when we finally gave them their canoe back they tipped ours over. it was a ton of fun I was not prepared for it and it got me by surprise I had to get myself acclimated to the coldish water for a minute but then was okay. We had a lot of fun.

There was a bike trail that ran along the shoreline and was elevated in the mountains a bit. It must have offered great views because there were all sorts of People taking pictures of us "crazy Americans" (Americans are loud) as we were playing in the water. At one point there was some Nuns walking on the trail and They cheered at J___ and E____ when they both finally climbed back into the canoes. It was loads of fun.

Well it was too short, but it was fun and we had a good time but eventually we had to go back. We still had lunch before we were going to leave.

Lunch was good we talked about just having ham sandwiches and I was assigned to bring the ham. I took the liberty of buying a few extra fixings like cheese and lettuce and an onion (I forgot the tomato), and some chips. It was a good lunch. We also had Soda Pop that the P___'s brought, and some Boiled eggs. It was fun then we set off for home.

Brother P____took me Back to Camp Casey with them, I told him it would be easier that to make a huge trip to go out of his way to drop me off at Camp Stanley. I rode the free bus back to Camp Stanley from Camp Casey. and I slept most of the way back.  I needed to go shopping. I went to the commissary here and picked up about $26 worth of stuff and I think it should last me for a little while, at least.

Aug 24

Well I had a huge afternoon......planned. Instead, fell asleep. I think the week finally caught up with me. I was going to look up the Sunday school lesson and start reading over it, and I was going to write you an email this afternoon. I was going to make a really good dinner, and a bunch of other stuff, but when I sat down at my computer after talking to you, I got sleepy and put my head down on my arms to, you know, get a cat nap. About 45 minutes later I woke up still tired so I got onto my bed. and that was the last I saw of the afternoon. Luckily I am on a screwed up schedule anyway, so I don't think it will matter too much if I am awake all night long tonight. I did find out what time I needed to be at work in the morning, (six) and then I get off at nine. and the whole thing starts over again this week. I am very excited for that. Maybe instead of it being a very long week like I was planning for last week it will be a short one.

Aug 25 (Brandon's foot had been bothering him so he went to the medic.)
I had to go to the Medics place to Talk to Sargent E., a Medic. She was going to help me with all of my Med pro Stuff. and I hurried there so I could be there close to nine which was when I told her I would be coming. I think it is so funny to get medical exams. she took my blood pressure and it was high like normal and she told me I would have to come back and check it for the next five days to see if I could get a low blood pressure reading so they could be sure that there was no problems. I assured her that every time I get my blood pressure taken that it is usually high right when I get there but after a few minutes it goes back down and that it always has every time I get a medical check up. Sure enough when she was through asking me all of the questions such as if I smoked drank or anything like that, and like other health issues I might have, she took it again and it was just great. Something like 117 over 75.

I noticed a board with all of the names on it of the medics throughout the company, and I noticed J____'s was up there still.  (He was the guy who went to church with me back when we first came to Korea.  He was diagnosed with Cancer and I've been wondering how he's been.)  I asked her if she knew him and knew anything about what was going on with him. She gave me a blog that his Mom has been writing, and keeping a pretty good description of his progress throughout it. I perused most of the posts on it, They were short and yet descriptive so it was pretty easy to catch up just about everything.  He has done rounds of Chemo and other things that have put him in ICU and made him sick but have made him better feeling too and he seems to be doing okay. He just had a stem cell transplant from, I assume, a brother. It seems to be looking pretty good and that was the last post from a few weeks ago. He seems like a very positive person too. Its almost inspirational.

Aug 27
I walked up there about a half an hour early, they must not have been busy because I got right in. The medic chic took my blood pressure (high at first, of course) and then she had me come into one of the exam rooms and describe how my ankle was feeling. They must not have been very busy at all because there was a medic dude who was hanging out with us too. I felt like a first class passenger,

They both helped me get everything done. After all of the preliminary stuff, Dr. L_____ decided to give me an x-ray, which is really what I wanted. After the x-ray Dr. L_____ came in and talked to me. It was kind of funny keeping our relationship professional around everyone else. I called him sir, and had to act like I was not too acquainted with him, he did the same. I was professional with him but even then I was still more friendly with him than I would be normally with a military doctor, I was more comfortable asking him questions and talking to him. Anyone else that high ranking I would have not been so comfortable to be in contact with.

Well he examined my foot, looked at the x-ray, and then showed me the x-ray. He found that there was a knob of some sort protruding out on my heel bone that could have been the problem, he also told me it looked like I had broken my ankle before. I told him I hadn't. I don't know if he believed me or not, but he showed me what looked like evidence of a broken ankle. He said that the knob was more of what the problem could have been, and he wasn't going to decide a course of action until he had some results from the x-ray tech in Seoul. I was cool with that.

At the end of the visit They asked for a phone number I could be contacted with, I told them, and then I was going to say that Bro L_____ could e-mail me if he wanted, but then I decided to change what I was saying to "I am very easy to get a hold of." I looked at him, and he smiled. The medic chick didn't even know what we were talking about. I thought it was funny.

Bro/Dr L_____ knew however, because when he tried to call me I think that my number wasn't written right, so he then e-mailed me, which is the best way to get a hold of me anyway. He said that the radiologist figured out what was up, and he had a treatment plan for me, the only problem is that I wasn't able to get a hold of him at all before I had to go to work. I was at scouts all night long. So I will call him tomorrow or something.

Scouts was interesting, I took the Bus there like normal, and because I do not have a meal card anymore, I had lots of time to go to the PX and look around. I didn't buy anything, but just looked.

After Scouts, I hurried back To camp Stanley. I got on post at about 9:00. I ran to my Room and got changed and ran to the TOC. I have been here since 9:30 and have been working on the computer answering e-mails about the Simulation we are doing, and all the insanity that goes along with it. (lets just say that in the next few days this thing is going to be taken down ad there are few people around here that are going to miss it). I think this is the last time we are going to set it up, well, I hope it is. We only have about a month and a half left, so I don't know what else we can get involved with while we are here. I just hope it goes by quickly what ever happens.

Aug 28
When  I got home I noticed that Brother/Doctor L_____ had called me and I returned his call. Well I am still a medical mystery, but I do have a weird ailment that usually only Ballerinas get. it is called os trigonum syndrome. There is a tiny bone on my ankle that is protruding out into my foot and when I climb on stuff, or put pressure on the back of my heel it is causing the tendon's to be inflamed.

I told him that it probably is sore because I have a tendency to walk on my toes, he agreed with me that it was probably the cause. and that I probably did something in Gunnery to start it. He said that any major treatment to make it better would probably add more trauma to it then I am having right now, so it probably wasn't worth it. So I guess I am just going to have to learn to deal with it and walk flatter, in the meantime.  He also told me I needed to hang up my tutu. I love that I can take a joke.

September 1
Well I had CQ all night long so by the time 9:00 rolled around I was off, but I wouldn't be able make it to church which starts at 9:30. I had already talked to W____ about going to the Uijeongbu Ward and he was excited for it. So I got ready and went up to get him. he was not quite ready when I got there. but we eventually left. we knew where we needed to go, but we had no idea how to get there. so we took the one bus all the way downtown where we usually go for the train, but we went a few stops further almost to ganeung Station which is pretty close to where the Church is. Eventually we wound our way through the streets but we were very late. The meeting started at 10 but we didn't get there until about 10:40.

As we were standing outside of the Door one of the brothers in the ward saw us and came right up to us, he was asking us where we were from and if we knew about the military branch in Dongducheon, and other stuff. we told him we were just visiting, he understood and we went in to the meeting and sat down. we made it for the last speaker. and he spoke until 11:18. Then Sacrament quickly wrapped up. then all sort of people came up to us and talked to us. This included the missionaries. we had a good time talking to a lot of people after church, I thought it was funny there was a lot of Bowing because that is the custom here, of course I bowed back, So did W____. I was tired and didn't even make it through the one talk without falling asleep, so W____ and I decided we should just go home. we did and we made our way back home to Camp Stanley pretty easily.

When we talked to the missionaries we realized their P-day was Monday, and that we had Monday off for Labor day, so we decided that we all, the missionaries, W____, and I, should go to the tie store in Seoul on Monday. I was excited about that. We would coordinate everything later.

So on Monday the missionaries said that if we wanted to catch the 1:56 bus they would be on it so I e-mailed W____ and told him to be ready to go at one so we could get there on time. Well I got ready to go. I went to W____'s room. turns out his computer wasn't working so he had totally forgotten we were going. So he quickly got ready.

We got to the Station as quickly as we could I didn't think we would make it but as soon as we ran to the platform and got on it my pocket vibrated it was the missionaries telling me that we needed to get on the train that was a pulling up to the platform right then The door that we were at happened to be the car they were on.It was impeccable timing and placement. Perfect. we got on and had a fun afternoon with them. on the way down there  we talked about just missionary stuff cars and funny eating too much stories. It was Elders F______, B___, M_____and XXXXXX. They are all pretty cool to hang out with. They also Had two sister Missionaries with them. They were both Korean and they Kind of just Proselyted on the train, neither of them spoke great English, they eventually ditched us which was okay because I am sure a tie store it not that interesting for girls.

 The tie store was crazy they had thousands of ties they were everywhere. It was a part of a clothing store. There was a lot of cheap clothes and other things. it was a good find I found some ties for me and Derrick. it was pretty cool. I spent less than 20 dollars and bought 7 ties. I thought it was a great deal. We were going to have dinner too while we were out, but the missionaries had run out of time and they needed to get back so we all took the train back.

September 3 (This is when I was visiting my sisters.  She doesn't have internet so Brandon just used his g-mail account to call my cell phone for free.)

Lunch was excellent because I called and talked to you, I almost forgot to eat lunch today, I was so excited to hear from you. It was nice to talk to you guys and Charlotte and Lydia are getting really good at talking on the phone. derrick is getting good at talking too and I am also Glad I could hear Veronica on the phone They are all way awesome kids. I cannot wait to see you all again.

It was really funny at the end of My call when Lydia was talking to me I couldn't hear what she was saying really well. I was listening, but I was concentrating so much on trying to figure out what she was saying that I didn't respond much to her, not to mention the fact that I didn't know what she was talking about. Eventually The conversation went like this:

Okay Daddy, I am going to have to let you go.
Okay sweetie it was nice to talk to you I love you
I love you to daddy have a nice night
You too
Bye
Bye
Then I waited to see what she would do, There was a pause on the phone and I heard her ask Bill
How do you turn it off?
and I faintly heard him say
You have to close it.
and then she hung up.

It was so cute. I love that my children are like that that they can have a way awesome conversation with me. I loved that Charlotte was talking to me about the farm and telling me about the Cows pooing and peeing and how she got to ride the golf cart. it was such a good conversation. I miss you all a whole ton and cannot wait to see you all again in person and play with you all again. Thank you for making sure our children love each other. it is so nice to know there is really no drama waiting for me when I get home, just love.

Sept 16
Well for me I had a very unusual day today. we will call it a day off of sorts.
It all started at 4:00 am when I got up. I got ready in my uniform for the day, a Polo tee shirt and a pair of jeans and my regular shoes. About 15 or so of us guys from _ co and from HHC met at __ this morning at 5 and we took a van ride to Camp Hovey. we got there at around 6. and then we piled into some buses that were going to the South Korea/ North Korea border.

We went on a DMZ tour today. it was interesting to be in a place that was so tense military wise especially in a country that looks so chill just a few miles down the road.

We actually Drove into the DMZ, past a village that is inside the DMZ where people actually live and farm rice in the surrounding areas. We got to stop at a few strategic places where military and government leaders meet and talk, and where they do guarding and lookout over North Korea. It is really weird. There is a huge city just over the border into North Korea that has like 200 people that live in it and Most of the buildings are fake, it is just meant to be threatening looking.

It was really an odd place. The scenery was beautiful. I thought it would look like an ugly hole in the ground with Barbed wire on both sides and guard towers every few hundred feet. but It was really lush with trees and greenery and mountains everywhere.

We got to see a bridge where the last of the POWS walked to their respective sides of the country like 60 years ago. and where there was an ambush over a tree about 30 years ago. and there were signs everywhere that said Danger: Mines, in Both English and Korean.

 I spent a few minutes actually standing in what was considered to be part of North Korea on the other side of a meeting Table in a building where dignitaries from both North and South meet to talk. There were North Korean Guards there that were poised to attack anyone that went awry. it was pretty cool. They were tensed up and standing completely still in the room and we couldn't touch them but we did get some cool pictures of them and the room. We were only allowed to Get pictures of North Korea so all of the pictures I have there are of "the enemy" but whatever it was just kind of cool to be there.

we looked at The DMZ gift shop, and yes I did buy a couple of cool toys for the kids. I didn't spend too much though. and No they did not have a penny pressing machine sorry.

We then Stopped at a place where there was a giant tunnel in the ground I am guessing was used during the war for aiding the armies fighting in the North. and you could go in it, but apparently it was just a really boring hike down a long steep dark tunnel, and I was told I there was really nothing to see in there, so I didn't go. but I got a picture of the diagram. There was also a train that went down another part of that tunnel, but it took too long and I couldn't have even gotten to go on that, but I would have done that. We didn't have that much time.

We then went down to a place were there was an amusement park but more importantly, food, by this time everyone was hungry, I wasn't about to spend that much on food though so I opted to wait for Burger King later. but Sgt H_____ and I went and Checked out an F-4 Phantom they had on display after that we finally went back to Camp Casey. Sgt H_____, G____and I were the ones from our Platoon on the trip, so we all hung out together most of the time.

It was a fun day, after Burger King Sgt H_____ and G____didn't want to wait for the bus or take the train back to Camp Stanley, so they got a Taxi. it cost us 40000 wan ($40.00 give or take) to get back I got some money out of the ATM so I could help pay for it, but they paid for it, I asked them how much I owed them, but they literally ignored my question to my face, I take that as don't worry about it, I am cool with that).

Well the rest of the night W____ came over to my room and used my computer for a bit and borrowed my cookie sheet for some unknown reason. and I reminded him about FHE tonight, he had almost forgotten. and then he took off. a few minutes Later the missionaries texted so I went down to meet them. they came on post and we went to FHE. We usually have a really good time there and there was actually 6 people there as opposed to the five that are usually there. H_____ came and he has only come once before. I thought that was really cool. It worked out pretty well. We had a spiritual Thought on adversity and why we have adversity in our lives. The missionaries shared a Mormon message with us about that and then told us how God gives us adversity for our good. We had a really good meeting.

We had some snacks and then we hung out for a bit. then I asked the missionaries if they wanted to see the Brad. They totally agreed. So on the way off the post we walked by it and the gate was still open. so we went in and got to look at the tank and Brad it was really cool They really Liked it. H___ did too, he never gets to see that kind of stuff where he works at the dental office. They thought it was fun and then we walked them to the gate. it was a good day.

In Brandon's Words: April in Korea

As always, I enjoy getting my daily e-mail from Brandon.  But this month I've LOVED getting the e-mails.  He really likes his new unit and so he always has something positive to share.  And he has been making a lot of progress on his Warrant Officer Application.  In fact, he FINALLY met with a Chief Warrant Officer 5 and obtained a letter of recommendation from him.  Brandon has been trying to do that for over a year.  It's kind of surreal that he had finally been able to get that accomplished.

I've had a hard time selecting what things to put in this post.  There were so many great things that happened.  So this is a longer post than usual.  Hopefully you enjoy hearing about how wonderful everything has been this month.  

March 31 (Brandon's first work day with his new unit.)

My day was somewhat interesting. I was busy. ALL day long. and not doing stupid stuff. we PMCS-ed the Brad. it is still in services so we we were at the mechanics all day. Even though we had to wait for the mechanic to work on the turret we still did stuff. Specialist H______ is the guy I am working with. he is basically in charge of the vehicle. The only time the Major gets in it is when we are at gunnery or something similar. So it is him and me; he is in charge and I am his helper.

As odd as it sounds: he is a perfectionist, and I like it. He makes sure the tarp is straight that goes on the vehicle, that it is lined up just right. He makes sure the job is done right. The brad is spotless compared to every other one I have ever been in. He actually pulled up the floor inside of the turret before the mechanic got there so the mechanic could just get in and do what he needed to do and get out.

Everything went smoothly today. It was so nice. he acted like this was his job, like something he wanted to do right, and something he was proud of. It was a very positive experience. We worked all morning I got lunch off and we worked all afternoon except for a small hour long break while we waited for the mechanic which was great because we got to talk(yes an hour long break is short). He is only 20 years old, but he seems like a mature 40 year old, The way he conducts himself. it was great. I feel like I can start to be myself around him , or at least a better version of myself. At least I can act like I do care about my job without grief from anyone else. Grief such as "Illguth don't worry about that it doesn't have to be perfect", or "Illguth the mechanics wont care" or a similar phrase.

I had a good day, and there are several best parts, the first being that we are by ourselves there is no one over us. we are the only Bradley drivers in S3 so everyone lets us do our own thing and leaves us alone.

I don't mean to go on for so long but it was a nice change of pace.

Oh yeah I just remembered to tell you the second best thing: H______ just dropped his Warrant Officer Packet to go to Flight training. We talked a lot about helicopters today, and we happened to just be right above the Heliport for Camp Stanley. He wants to fly Apaches. He will do it, as far as I am concerned. he has the right attitude. It was really cool to talk to him.

This afternoon I was released at just after 5:00 and I was okay with that. I got to go home and change, go eat chow, and do my own thing. I didn't have to wait for everyone else to be done. I feel like a grown up again. I hope that all the days from here on out are similar to today.

At chow I happened to get in line right behind Jacob W____, I don't know if you remember me talking about him or not but he is the other LDS guy down here . He was at church Sunday so I was able to get a hold of him and talk to him. Today I basically hung out with him for the whole afternoon. it was great. we walked around Camp Stanley and he showed me around, I learned a few new things it was fun, him and I have a lot in common. We are both married and Temple worthy and he has a child. I think he has another one either brand new or on the way. We talked about all sorts of stuff. It was really cool it was nice to have a Mormon Buddy whom I could talk to about just stuff.

He asked me what my MOS was and I told him and mentioned to him that I was going to drop a warrant officer packet here shortly. He said that he wanted to do that to. Do you believe that? My two new friends are both wanting to do what I want to do. All three of us have a lot in common, it is almost scary.

Anyway, to say the least, I had a good day today. I also asked Specialist H______ about getting an interview with a warrant officer, and he said that he could take me. So I just need to e-mail CW5 J____ back and schedule an appointment preferably on a weekend and we can go down there and talk to him. I am so stoked about all of this.

April 2
Lets see, yesterday was Tuesday. we had a really cool thing happen during PT. While we were doing some Drills by the Airfield, Yes, Camp Stanley has one of those, we had two sets of Helicopters fly over our heads really low. it was cool. we had some Kiowa's fly over and land, and a short while later two blackhawks flew over and landed. The Blackhawks were so low that we almost got blown over from the downwash from the rotor. it was cool, literally, the wind with the cold morning air gave us a nice icy blast of fresh air. it was way awesome. They took off right as we were leaving and we got blasted again. Good PT. It was hard for SPC H_____and I to pay attention to anything else.

Last night I was able to hang out with W____ again. He is pretty cool. I keep meeting him in the chow hall line at dinner chow. He is funny and has a wife and kids and he is 29. It is pretty cool to have someone around that I have a lot in common with, especially the fact that he is LDS too.

April 3

Everyone is nice here, the guys my age, the junior leaders and the senior leadership. I haven't had any problems here. No one has given me any grief about anything I do. They understand that I am still new at this driver thing and they are not mad at me if I screw up. The sergeants talk to me, and the privates here too. They treat us like people instead of slaves. There is a sergeant over H______ and me who calls me brother, like a south thing (not a "gangsta" thing). He is so cool. He took us to the gym today and had us lift weights with him. he asked me whether or not I had workout clothes, and when I told him no he said I could borrow some of his. I didn't have to wear PTs, while at the gym he showed us what weights to lift so we could work on our shoulders. It wasn't just go to the gym then you are on your own like it always has been before.

During chow our sergeant ate with us. I was the first there and everyone sat down with me. it was cool. He hung out and talked with us. and joked with us, all the while still being a leader.

April 4

The last real thing I did tonight was go out to the ville with a Guy in HHC named D_____. He is pretty cool, I really don't know how we became friends, but we are really good friends who have never really spent any time together, ever. We just always say hi and talk to each other when we see each other. He asked me if I could go with him and his friend as a group of three to go get some alcohol in the ville and he would give me some pizza. I was all for that I realized that I couldn't go with them if they were going to stay out late (I have to get up and go early tomorrow). He said they just were going to go to a little store off post and buy it and come back on post. I was like oh yeah I can help with that. So I went with them. it was funny that was the first time I have done that since I have been here in Korea, I am sure that it was like their millionth time doing it along with everyone else here.

They wanted to see if there was a guy at one of the bars who was one of their friends. I was like sure why not, so I went with them. Korean bars are funny. There are girls that hang out at the bars and hang out with the guys who come to the bar. They wear sexy little dresses, and they are like major flirts. They are called Juicy Girls and they are hired by the bars to get the guys to buy them drinks all night long to make the bars more money.

I have never seen a bar here before until tonight, I am glad. It was silly. The girls stood up right when I went in there and went over to us to have us start drinking. Luckily the guy my buddies wanted to talk to wasn't there so we left and D____ and his friend went home. I followed them back and then excused myself from their drinking party.

Shoes for sale

April 6

Yesterday the temple was fun. Brother P____ picked us up at around 7:45 and we drove through the city getting lost in urban heck if you know what I mean-sightseeing at 50 KMPH. we had a good time at the temple. I Had a good time with Jacob W____, he is my new best friend i guess. He and I seem to always be hanging out, and he is pretty cool so I am not complaining. after the session everyone was hungry and we had to pick up the P___'s kids who were at their high school about 25 miles (i would guess) from home.

Today was similar time frame wise. W____ and I had to figure out how to ride the train to The church so that was an adventure. On our way there the train we got on first stopped and we were stuck for about 30 minutes while waiting for something to happen, finally the doors opened and we got off and went to another train as that one started to go back to where it came from. we were glad we got off. we got on the next train and finally made it to church. We were 45 minutes early (I did that so I could gauge how long the ride would be so we didn't have to leave so early next time.

At church I helped pass the Sacrament. just kind of normal in that department. Then I was called to be the second counselor in the young men's presidency. I am really excited for that calling. we had a good fast meeting today (conference is next week). there were a lot of good testimonies given.

I went to Young Men's and that was pretty cool, there are some really good young people here in the branch. One of them conducted the meeting and another one gave the lesson. It was about missionary work, and being a good Christ-like example.

Eating squid

April 9

My day started yesterday at about 8:00 am you heard all of that, but the next day started at about 8:30 pm without sleep, at first it was okay; I have this mindset that I cannot take a nap during the day which usually is a very good thing but when the days aren't "normal" it can have an effect.

I went to work kind of tired already. I had to play radio guard all night on a very staticy radio. Most of the calls I couldn't even hear what was said, let alone know how to reply. We spent all night trying to stay awake, we tried to talk, I tried to draw, we tried to play some games, but in the end it was just sitting there trying to stay awake.

The hardest part was the last two hours because we had to sit there during this extremely "exciting" meeting, and not fall asleep I had not been asleep for nearly 24 hours by then and that was the most difficult part of the day. It was finally over and then I was able to go home and go to sleep. I was very glad that I was able to talk to you and see the kids at least for a little of Derrick's birthday. I am glad that everything was good for that.

City boardwalk through the street

April 12

This morning W____ asked me if I wanted to go on a trip to Seoul. I want to go before it becomes too late and we become too busy. So I told him I would go.

We met some of his buddies and had a spur of the moment trip. I bought a train card. It is the way to go, it is so much cheaper than buying a ticket. it only cost me about 5 bucks to ride the train all day today. I had places I wanted to go and I wasn't sure if anyone had any other plans.

At the military museum we got to witness a whole performance from the Korean Military. with really cool costumes, marching, music, and sword fighting. We got some pretty good video and pictures of it too.

After the performance we went inside the museum. We went quickly through the museum checking out some of the cool displays they had there about the Korean war. it was pretty cool. outside they had a bunch of Static displays of aircraft and even a battleship. we got some pretty cool pictures of those,

By about that time it was time for W____ and I to leave to go to the priesthood session of conference at the church. We found a subway entrance, and we took the wrong train at first then I took charge of the trip and got us off that train and on the right train then back to Dongdeucheon for the meeting. We had a good time on the whole trip. After about an hour and a forty five minutes we got to church a little late. We changed into our Sunday clothes in the bathroom and went into the meeting. After the session was over we had Ice cream at church it was the first time I had had it since I have been here. It was really good.

We came back home from church and looked through the city of Uijeongbu just before we came home it was a long day but fun. in total we were gone for almost 13 hours

April 13

Today I watched conference and hung out with my roommates (they watched Duck Dynasty, and I watched conference). I liked conference. There were so many talks I can't remember what they were about. That is usually how conference goes for me. I do remember who gave my favorite talks. I like President Uchdorf. I always like him. I liked the talk by the guy with the crazy eastern European accent. His name was Elder Marcos A. Aidukaitis, I didn't just think his accent was cool I actually liked his talk while I was listening even though I can't remember what it was about. I also Liked Elder D. Todd Christofferson's talk about Christ too. It was simple and good.

April 17

I got ready for scouts and was at the bus stop by 4:45 pm waiting for the bus. I found out that bees are a good ice breaker, because there were bees flying around this tree I was sitting next to (it had lots of flowers on it) and I was kind of freaking out and got the attention of a guy sitting next to me. When they started attacking him to he started swatting at them too, it actually wasn't that bad just like one or two. By the time they left us alone we became pretty good friends and we talked about fixing cars and some other stuff the whole ride to Camp Casey. He was pretty cool.

When I was at Camp Casey I went to the PX to get some stuff I have needed for a little while and they do not have that stuff here (our PX is very small).

Scouts was fun I was the only young men's leader there, so the sister's were glad that their boys had something to do. I got to be with two guys, A___, and J___. A____ is President H____'s son and J___ is a non-member family's son who is just there for the scouting. He has been in scouts in a school aspect before but not a church one, he said it was a little different. I thought that it was cool.




These two guys took charge of the meeting, and A___ did awesome. He basically planned the whole court of Honor they are having in may, where he is going to get his life scout award, and J___ will get his Tenderfoot award. I found out just what things they had to do for their requirements and then We just talked and hung out, it took about an hour. It was a really good meeting. Afterward we kind of hung out for a little while, I then left, caught the train back to Camp Casey, then waited around for the bus that left at about 9:00 pm I got back to camp Stanley at about 9:55.

The night was awesome! I found out that we go on camps every month (like scouts usually do) so I think I am going to be getting a lot of field time coming up, both with the army and with church.

Camp Casey Fountain

April 18
This morning before lunch was a pretty easygoing day. SPC H___ is a perfectionist and because of that he wants me to make myself look better than I do. I kind of been slacking for the past little while. my uniforms are not looking that well kept and I just don't care to organize my equipment as much as others around here. I do not think SPC H____ appreciates it, but instead of getting in my face about it he came to my room this morning and helped me re adjust all of my equipment such as my armor (we pulled all of the pockets from my Vest and attached them directly to the armor); and my Ruck sack (we rolled and taped my webbing that hangs off of it so it looks better). He is really a cool guy. He has helped me to do a lot of stuff like that. it is so much more motivational than the last guys. I actually have the desire to look a little bit better and be a little bit better.

I was also able to this morning get my Warrant Officer packet printed off for tomorrow. I have spent the entire day doing that and getting maps and stuff for our long trip tomorrow together. I am excited. I think it is going to be three hours one way. give or take. then we are going to have I am assuming a pretty casual interview with CW5 J____, I suppose, since it is Saturday.

This afternoon I was sorry I accidentally hung up on you, but G____ came in and told me I was assigned to be his battle buddy to go to Camp Casey so he could do some administrative stuff up there. We went there and while walking into the building I told him that we were going to the place I have been and that I know someone that works in the building we were going to. right as I said that President H____ from the Branch tapped me on the shoulder and said hi. It was pretty funny.

April 19 (The day he met with the Chief Warrant Officer)

Today started this morning when H______ and I left at 7:00 am. It did not get over until 7:04 pm. The entire thing was for an hour and a half meeting at lunch that just I went to. and the rest of the time was for travelling. It was a long trip!

Well CW5 J____ is LDS. I did find that out for sure today. He asked me about my calling, and about some if the stuff that I do in church, he also asked me about some of the things that I did in the army so far that would make me stand out.

Are you sick with anticipation yet?

The reason he asked me about that was for one, to find out a little bit about me, and two : he wanted to know what things he could comment about that would look good on my Letter of recommendation when he writes it for me! I got it!!!!

He was way cool. He asked me about a lot of things to clarify my packet and how to make it better. He also gave me some feedback on other ways I could improve my packet. He was so nice too. He asked me about my college and he talked to me about my transcript and about some of my flight time. we were talking just back and forth together, I love meetings like that. it is so cool. he asked if I had any questions for him and I responded with could I see what he flies. So he took H______ and me to where he works. He is not a helicopter Pilot. he flies fixed wing planes for the army.

He took us down to check out his planes and he explained some stuff about them. it was pretty cool.

It was a really good meeting. He gave me a signed checklist. I still have some more stuff to do on my packet but for the most part it is ready to go.

Well that is about it for that.

H______ was funny he didn't like being outside of Camp Stanley. He doesn't like Korea that much, and he has never been outside of the base to Uijeongbu let alone to camp Humphreys, before today, he has never been on a bus nor train before today, and he has never gotten out Won from the bank before today. He did a lot of new things today, and I don't think he enjoyed any of it, well at least not the way I would.

He did take a few pictures and I really think somewhere down inside he enjoyed himself, but he doesn't show it at all.

The Train ride was extremely long. we did probably about 56 stops and in between stops there was probably about 3-4 minutes of drive time. it took forever. By the time we got back we were both ready to never use the train again. To make it worse, it was crowded. We didn't sit pretty much the whole time we were on the train. three hours each way non stop. On a positive note I did learn how to train surf really well.

When I got back I decided to celebrate. I went out to eat a hamburger and fries and a drink. I didn't want to go to the food court and get a fast food hamburger, so I went to the bowling alley here that serves food just to get it eat and then leave.

While I was there I ran into a few guys from S3 who were going to bowl. they asked me if I wanted to join, so I did play two games with them for my personal celebration. It was fun. I am so happy that I have this hurdle out of the way. I am so glad that today was a good day.

April 20

After Church we stayed for a little while and chit chatted with some of the members. then we took the train to Camp Casey to go to church with everyone else who was there, so we could keep up with them so we could find our way to the UIjeongbu Chapel when the time came. Church on post there was great. there were about 20 people there which is unheard of. there are usually 1 or 2 others there besides the missionaries. and the meeting was, as usual short but good and spiritual. Elder Moore and elder Phil gave quick talk/testimonies on Jesus Christ and the Atonement. and then we kind of hung around there and talked to the new guys that have been stationed at Camp Casey for a while they are all pretty cool.

After that church meeting, we snagged a ride down to Uijeongbu (pronounced wee jong boo) with Brother P_____. and a few other guys were with us, it was pretty fun to just hang out and talk during the ride. I was in a pretty fun mood and I had a lot of fun just talking to the guys in the car about who they were and where they worked etc... One of the guys getting baptized today rode with us, his name was get this...Vihn. pronounced just like Veronica's nick-name.

At the baptism we were kind of early so we just hung around until everyone else showed up. the church in Uijeongbu was way nice. I don't know why we don't have church there but oh well. the baptism went great, there were four people baptized and confirmed. it was funny the font water was way shallow, because I would guess because short people generally use it, but everyone got through. It was really spiritual. again we hung out after the baptism. We had a dinner that the Relief Society provided, it was really good to finally eat after all day. Then W____ and I talked with and hung out with the missionaries until everyone else left. we then left the missionaries, walked to the bus stop with a slight detour through the market area of the city just to check it out. we got a couple of photographical opportunities and then snagged a bus and came home. The last part of the night was when I talked to W____ for about 45 minutes outside of his barracks.

Hanging out with the missionaries

April 21 (Brandon needed a sealed copy of his college transcript to update some things for his packet.  He had one, but it was here in Texas.  I sent it to him in an express mail package and it took a little less than a week to get there.)

This afternoon I was able to get my ERB fixed, thanks to you. thank you so much for sending me the express package. It got here tday and it worked out great. I was able to get everything that I need done at S1 including the signature I need from them. all I need now is for captain M_____ to get me back the digitally signed letter, and do a physical fitness test on Friday, I need to do a little rewriting of my packet then I can turn it in. Yay!!! and then I will have it. I am very excited. Oh yeah, I need the official letter from CW J____ too.

April 22

Another cool thing happened this afternoon. I had an interesting conversation with a guy that I work with named G____. He was talking to me about religion and asked me what Mormon's believed on some random subject. I really don't even remember what the subject was, but it got us on to a 4 hour discussion of things like the Book of Mormon, Jesus Christ, what exactly the Atonement was, and if there is a Heaven and Hell. G____ doesn't really believe in The bible, Jesus Christ, or pretty much the whole Christian religion. He does believe in God though, and that is a good place to start. The cool part about this afternoon was when we were talking, another guy that I work with named T____ chimed in and started asking questions to me to, along with giving us funny interjections too. We had a really good discussion, we even talked for about two hours or so in their room about it.

At one point I even ran back to my room and got a Book of Mormon to show them, and T_____ asked me, he said "If I wanted to look at your book of Mormon what would you say, could I?" To which I promptly gave it up and said "its yours, keep it", he said he was interested in reading it, because he had read the Koran, and other religious books, and was curious what was in it.

I told them that there was a way to find out God's will, and all three of us read Moroni 10: 4-5, and then I asked them to tell me what it meant, G____ got it pretty quickly but T____ has a hard time with the way it is written, you know "And it came to pass", etc... T____ said he was going to read it and I told him if he had any questions to let me know. He told me he would most likely have some questions. I was very happy about that. We had a good afternoon and evening, and were even talking together at the chow hall. We got a few of the people around us to chime in to the conversation too. it was way cool.

They both seemed like I had said some stuff that they had never thought of before they both seemed pretty interested to keep on talking. but eventually it died down. At one point G___ told me that Jesus Christ was just a fictional character to give Christianity a hero to look to to embody their beliefs. I asked if he knew what Christ did here on earth, he really couldn't give a straight answer except that he just told everyone to be good, and was killed for it. Both T____ and G____, seemed like they caught on to the death and sin thing when I told them about it. It was really cool.

I had two favorite parts of the day today, well three counting you of course. They were talking to G___ and T____ about my religion, and when I got my Book of Mormon I realized that it was where I was storing the pictures we got of our family together when we went to the park with Lindsey. I had forgotten about those. I have looked at them several times since this afternoon. I have the most adorable wife and children in the world. Thank you for wanting to get them done not only for me, but for them.

April 23

I have good news, I am a little more independent today. I had to spend a little bit of money, $15, and now I have a cell phone!!! (don't worry no plans or anything)

The Lady at the cell phone store was way nice she spoke a little english, enough to sell soldiers cell phones when they need them. I got a very cheap gray sliding phone that has a camera and accepts calls and text messages I paid $15.00 for it the activation and 40 minutes. I am happy. The lady kept telling me to take off my back pack and sit and relax while she activated it. I guess I have a hard time doing that. I took my back pack off but I didn't sit. I looked at all of the stuff on her walls, like phone cases and accessories. She had a $2.00 bill in a picture frame on the wall. I thought that it was kind of cool to see that here in Korea.

April 24

I am sure you noticed that I wasn't able to talk to you this afternoon (last night). I wish I could have but, I was at the range today trying to qualify with my weapon. I really do not like going to the range, and I really do not like shooting. That being said I actually had an enjoyable time today doing it.

This morning we woke up early, and got out our weapons. as usual here it is chilly in the morning. so I was wishing I had some warm gear on, but later when it warmed up I knew I wouldn't. I walked with the guys in my platoon going to the range it seems to be the end all range around here the only accessible close range to Camp Stanley. I do not mind walking it is actually quite enjoyable to walk out of the gate in the morning and feel and breath the cool fresh air. A lot of times in the morning around here it is Foggy or really misty and this morning was no exception, we couldn't see most of Uijeongbu as we walked toward it, while we were at the range (which is right next to it) we could only see the closest high rise buildings. as the afternoon went on we could see more as the fog burned off by about elevenish.

the first thing that we have to do at the range is Zero our weapon, that means make the bullets go close together in the same area. more often when I have gone to the range I have had issues with this. sometimes I try and adjust the sight and I can never get it working right. I have had lots of problems with it then the sergeants who are around me give me grief about it, They always make me do it The "army's way" and I try but usually it doesn’t work satisfactorily. As I was watching a Sergeant today I noticed how he was doing everything and when it was my turn I tried to mimic what he was doing. he decided he was going to leave the center target for his final shots to make sure his zero was good. He hit a smaller mark on the paper but got it within limits. When it was my turn to do It I did the same thing. (he wasn't there anymore, and I was glad that there was another private working with me. That meant I could do it how I wanted) Another sergeant was going around checking everyone's stuff and he noticed my target and was kind of upset when I took it down, I was satisfied it was a lot better than I had ever done before. (besides no one ever looks at the paper except me anyway).

Before I zeroed I helped the private who stayed with me Zero his weapon, I realized I knew what I was doing, I helped him zero his weapon pretty well. I knew what the problems he was having were, and I knew how to solve them. By the time I was done with him he was zeroed. It was nice not really having to work with any crazy leaders doing that today.

The other Miracle of the day was that I qualified with only one try. I got my average highest score, about a 26. After I was done with the day I walked back home with a few of the guys and finally took off all of my gear for the first time all day. I was hot and sweaty, and it was a relief. We cleaned our weapons and turned them in, and that was pretty much it for the day.

April 24

I thought I would let you know that I just passed my Physical fitness test with a 248 out of 300. best ever!! very excited, I am now going to take a shower.

April 26

I had an enjoyable day today. I woke up late, about 6:30 am, and I couldn't sleep after that. So I laid in bed until about 7 then I got up and made myself breakfast. I had breakfast burritos, my little hot plate that I bought doesn't get too hot, but it is hot enough to cook noodles, and make eggs, which is good enough. I had eggs and lunchmeat with cheese and salsa on a tortilla shell. it was pretty good. I haven't had a breakfast like that for a while. I then started working on my warrant officer stuff, after an hour or so I needed a break and I figured out how to use my computer to call Mom and Dad. They happened to be in Arizona with Bryan and Kara, so I not only got to talk to them, but I got to talk to Bryan too. It was cool that I was able to do that over e-mail. After about a 45 minute break I continued for the rest of the morning working on my warrant officer stuff.

I am just going through it very slowly and checking everything; all of the little details, making sure everything is there, and its legible. this afternoon W____ came over to talk to me right as I was leaving to go take a walk and get out of my room for a minute. Then we decided to go to the commissary so he and I could pick up a few things for the upcoming week. The Easter candy is all on sale so I bought a bit of it. I have a small container full of change and I spent that on food and some Easter candy today, I was really happy about that. I felt like I deserved a treat day for sacrificing treats for a while to get a good APFT score yesterday.

Then W____ conned me in to going with him and two of his friends to Camp Casey to run some errands. I brought along my computer so I could use it while they were running some errands. and you would be so proud of me, I did use it, and I worked on my Warrant Officer stuff all afternoon whenever I got a spare moment to do so. While I was at Camp Casey I saw a few buddies from ____ company, I feel bad for them they all seem like they are miserable, like training is killing them. I am so glad to be away from there. All I got from anyone I saw was that it was stupid and that they wish they weren't there. So I do not know what is up.

After running a few errands with W____ and his friends we got on the train back to the Uijeongbu Station, and got off. We were going to take the taxi back to Camp Stanley, but we decided to walk through this Huge 10 story mall at the train station, I can't even begin to remember how to spell it's name. If you thought the Malls in Texas and Utah were expensive you should see the prices here. 200,000 wan, about equated to $ 200 for a pair of pants. There was a pillow case for I think 110,000 wan. It was all really cool, Stuff I would never buy, but it was cool.

I refuse to pay cab fare if there is a bus available and I don't need to be somewhere in a hurry, so I didn't pay for it, but we got a cab back to Camp Stanley from Uijeongbu, (about a ten minute ride). We had a pretty good evening, I got back here and have been continuing to get everything together for my warrant Officer stuff since. I just remembered that I needed to e-mail you so I thought I would take care of that before I forgot

April 27

After church, I had asked Brother P____ if he had a scanner I could borrow, and that ended up being a great thing to do because he did. I needed to scan some things for my packet.

That turned into a whole afternoon at their house complete with board games and dinner. and hanging out with their kids. It is always a really good time.

W_____ didn't mind he had never been there before. I think he had fun, he drags me places, and I do the same. We have a really weird relationship. Oh and we are home teaching companions now too.

We kind of half played Monopoly with their kids, and half goofed off. then after dinner, we Played scrabble with Brother and Sister P____n that was crazy, they are scrabble nuts, they had two scrabble dictionaries, and an app for finding words. it was fun.

We were almost done with the game when my phone rang, and we were called back to Stanley to be on alert. so we rushed back home. Bro P____ gave us a ride to the bus stop, and we got on the long train ride back to Uijeongbu, then the city bus back to the base.

We finally made it back, I quickly got dressed in my uniform, I knew it was going to be a long night so I made sure to grab my computer so while I was sitting in the brad I could work on my packet some more. I was correct in my assumption. I got to the Brad and quickly got it ready, H_____ wasn't there, but I found out from G____ that he was with T_____ and G_______l, getting the weapons. I uncovered and made ready the track. and I spent the rest of the night doing odd things and keeping the vehicle on and running. I worked on my Packet ( I am rewriting some of the stuff in the resume part to make it sound better.) H_____h got back and we just chatted over the radios intercom for a few hours or so while the alert was going on. We finally finished about 10:40ish or so.

We spent the rest of the night until one o'clock waiting to turn in weapons that was as fun as could be although I did get a chance to spread some gospel love around again. T_____ and G_____ got in the conversation and so did another guy here. it was cool. finally after leaving the Brads at 10:40ish we went to bed at around 1:30 am. EVERYTHING takes forever in the army.

Well that's the highlights from this month.  Hopefully within the next few days I'll be able to announce that Brandon has turned in his packet.