A Can of Man
Je suis aware
Hello all.
Again it's time for more updates on the happenings on this remote North Korean island.
Last week I had a 3 day meet with buddies that were in my boot camp battalion back in June of 2005. Basically we met at this small complex that is a stopping point for incoming recruits, transfers etc., before they are assigned to their new units.
36 of us showed up, 10 guys couldn't make it. Of course this is only for those of us who were assigned to Baekryoung, Sochong or Daecheong islands.
From the start it was downhill.
We were met with a bit of a hard a$$ staff sergeant who didn't allow us to do just about anything. The gunny there was a bit more forgiving, a fat guy he was. The sergeant major was kinda derelict. A few rules were set to prevent us from having fun. We weren't allowed to purchase any alcohol, anytime, anywhere. But we were always full of crazy dudes... back in boot we could tell. We always got busted and at the end even the battallion commander said, "I'm disappointed with you guys..." which was a bad thing to hear but it had nothing to do with our performance... rather that we were full of psychos who couldn't be controlled.
The first night we toyed with the idea of bringing in fried chicken, beer and soju but it was already late, but a friend from my current battallion (the 63rd)'s 9th company (I'm 10th), already sketched a plan to go grab soju from a local store. I wanted to go but I was class leader and the guys protested saying that if the NCOs called for me but I wasn't there, all hell would break loose. So the best I did was donate running shoes and money and give the green light for the operation.
The plan was simple. They'd just wait for things to quiet down at night, then they'd bolt out the front gate (the guards were made up of us standing shifts so... hehe) and run to the store and run back. It worked. That night we had a small soju party. But this wasn't enough.
The next night me and a friend from Force Recon decided that we needed the d@mn chicken. So he called in advance and told the chicken place that we needed soju, coke and chicken at the top of the hill, 70m from the facility we were staying at, at 10:30PM.
The time came and this time I wasn't going to sit out.
Force Recon guy took the risky way by the front gate. I took a more concealed path around the back, through the woods and past a small excavator. It was tense figuring out which car was the delivery car. We ducked a few... a military transport, an NCO's personal car... and eventually there it was, a car lumbering up the hill as if it was looking for something. We hid just incase... but it turned around at the top of the hill and we stopped it getting our cargo.
I carried the lighter load and took point. Force Recon dude carried the bigger box but followed. We were glad I found the way around the back because on the way back, there were a lot of cars for some reason. Ducking under the foliage was easy. I snuck in first and hid behind a porta potty and looked around. It was clear. I signalled Force Recon dude to come in after me. We ducked past three windows with the NCOs reading or tapping away at the computer merely half a meter from our path. We went in through separate doors and delivered the goods. Mission successful. Chicken party for everyone.
No one got caught for that... but eventually three dudes, including Force Recon got caught later that night for singing and shouting while having too much soju. Fortunately by then the chicken was already cleared away and we didn't get caught for that... until the final day when they checked the trash. I friggin' told them that the box needed to be chucked out elsewhere but the guys wouldn't believe me. But whatever. The NCOs were impressed. We pretty much broke the record of the most stuff and alcohol bought by any other group of people having a boot-camp-class reunion.
Peace time special ops.
Again it's time for more updates on the happenings on this remote North Korean island.
Last week I had a 3 day meet with buddies that were in my boot camp battalion back in June of 2005. Basically we met at this small complex that is a stopping point for incoming recruits, transfers etc., before they are assigned to their new units.
36 of us showed up, 10 guys couldn't make it. Of course this is only for those of us who were assigned to Baekryoung, Sochong or Daecheong islands.
From the start it was downhill.
We were met with a bit of a hard a$$ staff sergeant who didn't allow us to do just about anything. The gunny there was a bit more forgiving, a fat guy he was. The sergeant major was kinda derelict. A few rules were set to prevent us from having fun. We weren't allowed to purchase any alcohol, anytime, anywhere. But we were always full of crazy dudes... back in boot we could tell. We always got busted and at the end even the battallion commander said, "I'm disappointed with you guys..." which was a bad thing to hear but it had nothing to do with our performance... rather that we were full of psychos who couldn't be controlled.
The first night we toyed with the idea of bringing in fried chicken, beer and soju but it was already late, but a friend from my current battallion (the 63rd)'s 9th company (I'm 10th), already sketched a plan to go grab soju from a local store. I wanted to go but I was class leader and the guys protested saying that if the NCOs called for me but I wasn't there, all hell would break loose. So the best I did was donate running shoes and money and give the green light for the operation.
The plan was simple. They'd just wait for things to quiet down at night, then they'd bolt out the front gate (the guards were made up of us standing shifts so... hehe) and run to the store and run back. It worked. That night we had a small soju party. But this wasn't enough.
The next night me and a friend from Force Recon decided that we needed the d@mn chicken. So he called in advance and told the chicken place that we needed soju, coke and chicken at the top of the hill, 70m from the facility we were staying at, at 10:30PM.
The time came and this time I wasn't going to sit out.
Force Recon guy took the risky way by the front gate. I took a more concealed path around the back, through the woods and past a small excavator. It was tense figuring out which car was the delivery car. We ducked a few... a military transport, an NCO's personal car... and eventually there it was, a car lumbering up the hill as if it was looking for something. We hid just incase... but it turned around at the top of the hill and we stopped it getting our cargo.
I carried the lighter load and took point. Force Recon dude carried the bigger box but followed. We were glad I found the way around the back because on the way back, there were a lot of cars for some reason. Ducking under the foliage was easy. I snuck in first and hid behind a porta potty and looked around. It was clear. I signalled Force Recon dude to come in after me. We ducked past three windows with the NCOs reading or tapping away at the computer merely half a meter from our path. We went in through separate doors and delivered the goods. Mission successful. Chicken party for everyone.
No one got caught for that... but eventually three dudes, including Force Recon got caught later that night for singing and shouting while having too much soju. Fortunately by then the chicken was already cleared away and we didn't get caught for that... until the final day when they checked the trash. I friggin' told them that the box needed to be chucked out elsewhere but the guys wouldn't believe me. But whatever. The NCOs were impressed. We pretty much broke the record of the most stuff and alcohol bought by any other group of people having a boot-camp-class reunion.
Peace time special ops.
