| I'm baccccckkk on-line!!!! More to follow soon. I'm alive and well and should be in contact with everyone by this Sunday.
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'Departing
the Ville' in South Korea on:
Friday, October 26, 2001; 06:41 p.m.
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| Well I’m all packed up and ready to leave in about 12 hours. I’ve raced around the room, and double checked everything I packed especially all my paperwork. If I forget to bring my immunization records, as I process through the mobility line they will give me all the required shots right there at once. I’ve seen it happen to other people before, and I don’t want to become an instant pincushion. I had to run out to the Town Patrol office in the Ville earlier today, to empty out my desk and locker. It was so depressing, it was like when I got laid off from my civilian Police Dept or when I got dumped a few years ago on my Birthday. Even though I know I wasn’t fired from a job or kicked to the curb by a girl, I was still very sad. 2 Years ago when I had to lead a smaller team to Saudi Arabia, I didn't feel bad at all. The biggest difference I think was during that deployment I had Andi to lean on if I really needed it. This time our final destination is not yet known, which is scarey enough, but this time the difference also is I stand alone. I can handle it though, after all I'm a rouge! As I was walking out of the Ville' I didn’t tell any of the local working girls or club owners that I’m leaving, I just figure it’s better that way, it eliminates any long goodbyes. I waved to them all just like I always do, as if I would see them all at work later tonight. Well my packing and cleaning are done done, so now all I have to do is start to get my game face on. First, I must pause and rest my eyes for a brief moment. I need to meditate and forget all from the past, which has bothered me up to this point. My focus from this point forward must be getting thru the next few months, if not just for me, but for the 43 other people I’m charged with looking after. I'm suddenly remembering a phrase from a war movie that read “As we part, If we were to know the outcome of tomorrow’s business, would it suffice us to say that the end had truly come, if not and we see each other again,(pause)…… well than, we will both smile, and if not, then this parting was well made”. I have no idea what that really means, It just kinda popped into my head. So it looks like I come to the end of this page, for a little while anyway. Everyone take care and I’ll be thinking of you all. *Waves* Robert signing off.....
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'Departing
the Ville' in South Korea on:
Monday, October 8, 2001; 06:00 p.m.
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| Be Careful What You Wish For |
| Be careful what you wish for, cause you just might get it. At least that’s my theme for today's page. Well it looks like I got the “Big Ticket” outta here for the next few months. My final destination is still yet unknown (you know I always wanted to go there). I’m tasked with leading a group of people to an undisclosed location to perform an unspecified task for an undetermined amount of time. The military is good not to reveal too much in the beginning, or else I’m sure all of us would blab it to all of our friends. About all I can say is, it’s somewhere away from here and it wasn’t that long ago I was wishing to be away from this place. I want to really thank Mel * Huge Hug* for helping me thru an agonizing moment yesterday. I had less than 5 hours to select 5 people to stay behind on this trip and I was agonizing on whether I should go with my troops or choose myself as 1 of the 5 to stay behind. It really was no question, Mel was just there for me in my moment of need and I'll never forget that. I’m not sure how much internet time I will have where I'm going, but I’ll do my best to keep everyone posted. Even though many of you may not know exactly where I am from day to day, remember we will never really be that far apart as long as we think of each other from time to time. Mel, press on my girl and don’t give up your dreams. Don’t get discouraged that everything you want in life doesn’t come immediately, remember it doesn’t matter how many times you get knocked down, but rather how many times you GET UP! Brad, keep chipping away at school and I’ll help you with your homework every chance I get. Ron, you are the best! I can’t ever thank you enough for all you have done to help hold down the fort in CA while I’m away. Stella, you are a big inspiration. You have struggled though your own trials and managed to keep your head held high the entire time. I shall do my very best to follow your example. Well it’s about time for me to post this entry and start packing my bags. Remember, I’m with you always. Bye
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'Departing
the Ville' in South Korea on:
Sunday, October 7, 2001; 01:35 a.m.
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| It’s Thursday night and I'm trying to relax. I’m a little agitated tonight, a few people really got on my nerves. I decided to lock myself away here in my room cause I don’t want to be rude or angry with anyone that is undeserving. I think I have the male version of PMS, glad I don’t experience the 5-day water retention too. I had a long entry written out for this page, but I opted to delete it all. I decided even though this page was created for the purpose of venting, I did accomplish that task by writing it all down. I want to post entries that are only somewhat positive in nature. I’m off to bed early, maybe some rest will improve my attitude. I have only 90 days left here, but I’m so tired of this place, not any of the people, just this place in general. I feel like I have everything I could want here but nothing that I really need. It’s just a bad night for me, nothing more. Goodnight all.
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'Departing
the Ville' in South Korea on:
Thursday, October 4, 2001; 11:09 p.m.
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| 9:00am *phone rings* It’s my boss calling to tell me I might want to come over to the squadron to hear some new information that may have an effect on my remaining days here in Korea. Shit! Shit! I race thru my room throwing on a uniform and jet out the door, to the squadron. I meet up with the Ops Officer, he’s shaking his head at me. “Rob I may have some bad news for you”. I was bracing myself for bad news, so I tell him to let it rip. He spells out the latest details. *sighs* It’s not nearly as bad as I was prepared for, but still it’s not good news. To all the important people on-line, DO NOT WORRY! I’m still leaving Korea in January; just during my remaining 90 days here some things are probably going to change. The final details will be worked out this weekend, so hopefully I’ll know something solid by tomorrow. Since arriving in Korea, I’ve developed a philosophy of, “expect the worst but hope for the best”. News like this usually falls somewhere in between. More to come.
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'Departing
the Ville' in South Korea on:
Thursday, October 4, 2001; 02:37 p.m.
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| DANGER!! WILL ROBINSON DANGER!! |
| Well it’s just past 4:00am and something has been troubling me. I don't believe I’m a clairvoyant or anything, but occasionally I get these awful feelings that something bad is coming. I never really know what it is or where it's coming from, I can just feel it coming. This sensation of mine has had a good success ratio, but this time I really hope I’m wrong. The last time this feeling occurred, the WTC was destroyed. Maybe it was just pure coincidence, but like many other times in the past once the tragic event passes, so does this sensation. It usually means something bad is going to happen to influence my life in some way. So far following the onset the event occurs within 3 days. It isn’t nearly as strong as prior to the WTC incident, but it’s still evident. It started late this afternoon, so if it’s real, whatever it’s source should reveal itself within the next 60 hours or so. For once I really want to be wrong, cause I don’t need any bad news right now. To all my important on-line people, be extra careful for the next few days, pleazzzzzzzzz. Hopefully this will just be something we can all laugh about next week on-line and dismiss it as my paranoia. Bye everyone, BE SAFE!!!
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'Departing
the Ville' in South Korea on:
Wednesday, October 3, 2001; 04:12 a.m.
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| *Sighs* This week I cross my 19th year mark in the USAF. It doesn’t seem like it has been that long, cause some of those years I was a reservist doing other full time jobs. While on vacation in Japan last month, I met several people from the squadron I’ll be assigned to in January. They spelled out a pretty depressing future for me. A future of shift work, deployments and long work hours with no real light at the end of the tunnel till I leave. I’m so sheltered here from the less desirable duties in our career field. I’ve always pondered thoughts about switching to a job in the medical career field, so I thought I would seriously look into before leaving Korea. The list of opportunities for re-training comes out quarterly and I’ve been keeping a pretty good watch on it during the past 3 yrs. So far there hasn't really been anything desirable available for my rank. I always wanted to get into Physical Therapy, but there hasn’t been an opening for that job during the past 3 years. The current re-training list shows 5 openings in Physical Therapy and my current career field is allowing 50 people in my rank to re-train out. Fearing that the door of opportunity may close, I decided to camp out in front of the personnel office today to get the latest information. They said I’m eligible to apply and the first 5 people to finish their paperwork and get accepted will get the slots. I was just about to spend the day racing the paperwork around, when I asked the magic question about my follow-on assignment to Japan. They confirmed my worst suspicions, changing jobs would cancel out my assignment to Japan. She said I could still possibly get Japan, cause I am leaving a remote location, but the short notice makes it highly unlikely. It didn’t take me but a second to figure out the answer to that, NO WAY! The girl suggested if I’m dead set on going to Japan, to just wait and apply when I get there. This is the first time in 3 years that Physical Therapy has been offered so deep down I knew the answers before I even asked the questions. On a lighter note, it was announced today that our Operations Officer is being promoted to the rank of Major. He was sooo happy, and since he is always super supportive of me, it was easy for me to share in his joy. We went outside to smoke a cigarette; he’s usually out so he bums mine. Maybe with the pay raise of his promotion he can afford to buy his own smokes. It’s a given now, he should be the new squadron commander somewhere when he leaves here next spring. He wants to go to Japan too, and that would be great if we went to the same place. Andi said the squadron at Misawa already has a new commander, so it’s unlikely he would go to the exact same place. Well that’s the latest and greatest venting news for the day. Only about 90 more days till Japan!!!!! YAHHHHH
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'Departing
the Ville' in South Korea on:
Tuesday, October 2, 2001; 07:59 p.m.
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| *Yawns and stretches* Well I’m back, ready for whatever this week’s turn of events has to deliver. The roadways in Korea this past weekend were just as jam-packed as the experts predicted it would be, but the trip was worth it. I honestly didn’t realize there was that many people who owned cars living in Korea! The freeways turned into huge parking lots of idle traffic, and at some points I averaged only about 1 mile per hour in stalled traffic. It reminded me of watching Andi stuck in traffic trying to get on base to go to work following the incident in NYC. Some enterprising people used the situation to their advantage and set up food/drink booths along side the roadways. At one point I left my truck where it was in the lane of traffic for a quick pit stop and to grab something to eat, when I returned to my truck and the traffic ahead of it had only inched ahead about 1 car length during my absence. I finally got really bored of the freeway idea and decided to travel the country roads instead. I’m glad I did it; Korea is really a beautiful country when someone takes the time to really look at it. I went to Seoul on Saturday and toured the Korean War Memorial. The museum was really huge and impressive. I didn’t realize that Korea has been engaged in an armed conflict with some country or another dating as far back as 5000 years ago. I seriously doubt if there is one single inch of land in this country that has not had blood spilled on it during battle at one time or another. The museum had many authentic weapons and swords from previous conflicts with other oriental countries thousands of years ago, especially Japan. The authentic swords which were used in battle were awesome and probably priceless in value. Many were authenticated as being from one of the several dynasties in power at the time. I would have really liked to just hold one of the old swords in my hands for just a moment, to sorta feel the power in the palm of my hands so to speak, heh heh. Mel will probably say that I do enough of that on my own without having an antique swords around, heh heh. After seeing the memorial and museum, it’s not difficult to understand why the Korean and Japanese people have never really thought much of each other. With the exception of the past 50 years of peace, these two countries have been battling against each other for the past 5000 years. Seeing what the Korean people have struggled through and accomplished during the past several centuries they really have a lot to be proud of. I did some shopping in Seoul, but I didn’t have any success finding a special hat that Andi has wanted to get. I left Seoul on Saturday night and headed south towards Pusan, much like everyone else that was traveling through the night. On Sunday morning, I passed what looked like a Korean Monastery, and I was tempted to stop off and check it out. I figured the over all temptation of me being around several authentic Korean virgins in the morning hours was just way too tempting for a guy like me, so I passed it up. I finally bailed out on the idea of seeing Pusan harbor so I turned back towards the West Coast. I got back home early this morning fell fast asleep in no time. Today is actually the Korean Thanksgiving holiday and most of the stores on base are closed in observance. The holiday lasts for the next 3 days and I’m really glad I don’t have any travel plans for later this week when most of the people will be trying to make their way back home. Being involved in the traffic situation once was plenty enough for me. I traded some time off work with my new assistant at her request, so now I don’t have to work till Wednesday night. I’m going to try to use this extra time off work to get some positive things accomplished around here. I’m really glad the month of September is finally over. The month itself held to many events of tragedy for just about everyone, plus now that it’s October, it puts me one month closer to my departure to Japan, yippee!!!! It’s looks like it’s gearing up for rain here, and I really like the warm Fall rain, so I’m heading out for one of my refreshing jogs in the downpour, I think I’m part fish. To all the important people on-line, I missed you all this weekend, and I should have plenty of time to talk with you all on-line over the next 2 days. Bye for now all.
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'Departing
the Ville' in South Korea on:
Monday, October 1, 2001; 12:14 p.m.
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| To the closed minded individual at: http://antianime.pitas.com/ I do welcome your comments, opinions and ideas. I strongly believe that everyone should have the right to form what ever opinion they please about anything and also have the right to express those opinions in any matter they feel fit. The right to express yourself is just one of the many rights which has made the USA one of the most desired places to live in the world. It’s America’s open-minded spirit which allows us to accept people of all races, religions and ideas, even yours. Acceptance is truly one of the virtues, which earned our country the title of “The Land of Freedom”. What disappoints me about your comments though, is you seem to dislike other people’s ideas of entertainment and expression so much, your willing to start some kind of coalition or encounter group against anyone that doesn’t share your particular opinion. Your method of motivating other people against something you particularly find undesirable is the same kind of disturbed thinking, which in the past has ultimately motivated others to take violence against anyone who simply dares to be different. There is a place about 200 miles North of my house, where there is a large group of people who may share your particular sense of ideals. I encourage you to go there to be among people who think like you. I’m sure many of them would gladly join your anti-anime group, as well as any other group you may want to suddenly put together against something else you find distasteful. The place is called North Korea and I’ll be sure to put in a very good word for you!
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'Departing
the Ville' in South Korea on:
Saturday, September 29, 2001; 02:15 p.m.
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| OUCHHH!! *phone rings* I dash from the shower to answer it and kick the corner of the bedpost! *holds foot in pain* all this time I’ve blamed my clumsy accidental kicking of the furniture on Andi, guess I do even when he’s not around. Well I got a tank full of gas in my truck and I’m out the door for the next 48hrs, destination unknown (I’ve always wanted to go there). Andi; crank up your music CDs, order some pizza, burn up some internet time and have a good weekend away from all your stressors, Brad; don’t work too hard, and make a little time for yourself, okies *Big Hugs* Mel; hummm, hey flash me your @_@$, have a good weekend too. Ron; hang in there buddy, I’ll be back soon enough. Stella; the only way you will get over the flu is if you allow yourself to rest, stop worrying about me, worry about yourself for a change. Bye everyone, *waves*
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'Departing
the Ville' in South Korea on:
Friday, September 28, 2001; 03:37 p.m.
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| This is the first entry to my new Pita page. A huge hug and many thanks go out to Braddie who helped me set this page up. *Hugs* My plan is to make this page a chronicle of my goings on in Korea and as a means of letting off steam without really having to vent on the important people in my life. Today much like the past few days here, I’m homesick for Japan. I find myself acting out in ways that I wouldn’t normally behave, and once I have time to think it over I realize I’m just homesick and nothing more. I’m treated really well by everyone here, but it’s not where I really want to be. Too bad I can’t just transplant the people I work with here to Japan and everything would be great. My job is much to the envy of most military men around here except me. I was asked by top members of my unit to be in charge of all police activities off base, to which I agreed to do it not fully understanding what exactly it would entail. I spend the majority of my time at work surrounded by classes of people I wouldn’t associate myself with in my personal life. The majority of my work surrounds me being extremely social in off-base Nite Clubs, and patrolling the red light districts. The largest number of my work related contacts are club owners, strippers, hookers, Korean mafia members, and over intoxicated thrill seekers. My job is super easy and requires very little real intelligence. It’s so easy, my unit could train a monkey to do it, and as a matter of fact Andi would probably argue that they did! The job does sometimes have its perks; in a single night I’ll see more cleavages than I would walking a California beach in a whole week. Lately things downtown are extremely depressing. Due to current world events military personnel are not allowed in the bars and clubs at all and there is a 10pm curfew throughout the entire country every night. I didn’t think it would have any effect on me because it’s not an environment I would personally choose as my own entertainment, but it has had an effect on me. Korea itself is somewhat impoverished by Western standards and the local people are extremely dependant on the money raised from military members patronage. Without patrons many of the people off base are completely starving to death. I recently returned from a month long vacation in Japan to these new conditions. The first time I walked downtown, so many of what I would call my off-base contacts ran up to me. Surprisingly they were really overjoyed to see me, to which many most showed a genuine concern at my safe return and wanted to hear all the details of my vacation. I had always just considered the contacts I made during my work as just work related contacts. It’s a known fact that I have never really realized my effect or impact on certain people, but it was clear that many of these people didn’t just consider me as simply a work related contact. I realized for the first time I was considered something more to them. To my off base contacts I was considered a friend, a big brother and maybe to some a little something more. Gloating about the good fortunes of my vacation, it escaped my immediate attention, but many of these people that were patiently listening to my stories of fun in Japan had not eaten in the past 4-5 days. Once I realized what was happening to them, I spent all the money I had buying dinner for as many people that I could afford to feed. The bar girls here cannot simply leave to find better employment somewhere else, they are contracted through the Korean mafia (much like slaves) and their passports are locked away until they either buy them back for an outrageous fortune or work off the amount over a full year. Most of the girls can work off their tab in a year plus make some extra money for themselves in the process, but during current conditions it’s almost impossible for them to make any money at all It saddens me to say, that I am a person of limited means myself and I realize I cannot help these people forever. It has been a difficult decision for me to come to, but my own future is in Japan and I must think about the necessities needed there. I must force myself to save my money for things needed in Japan, and I cannot afford to financially help these people any longer. I’ve been holding out hope just as most of they are, that the ban on military members patronizing their businesses will soon lift. I’m currently the only military person allowed inside the bars and clubs off base and to be out past 10pm, so lately I have helped arrange for some of the bar girls to meet up with military members outside the clubs so they can at least make enough money to eat. Now I feel I’m reducing myself to something of a pimp, helping arrange financial agreements between military members and impoverished girls. The only thing that prevents me from being a real pimp is I have absolutely no interest in collecting a percentage of their action. I do it only because it’s at their request and it’s the only thing I can do to help them. It’s strange to see that almost half way around the world, the tragic events that occurred in New York have so dramatically impacted some people that nobody would ever have even considered. Most people would probably just cast these people off as Russian and Korean whores and who really cares what happens to them anyway, but they are people! People with feelings! and People with dreams, wants and needs! I plan to escape this depressing environment this weekend to someplace where I can just get away from it all for a while. It’s Korean Thanksgiving weekend and local warnings advise against any kind of travel this weekend, but I’m going anyway. I need it to recharge my mind and return fresh to all this on Monday. To all my important people on-line, take care and I’ll see you all on Monday. Only 95 days till Japan!!!!!
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'Departing
the Ville' in South Korea on:
Friday, September 28, 2001; 12:27 p.m.
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