Rice Fields & Soccer

Now that summer is half way over with, the Korean rice fields are more than just a field of mud. Lana took the picture below on a bike ride around the local area while I was at work a few weeks ago. Everywhere you look there are rice fields...one after another. The Koreans also finished harvesting their wheat crops a few weeks ago, and as they burn the stubble / chaff remaining in the fields (not sure why they don't plow it back into the ground) it makes for some more interesting smells driving through the country side.

Last Sunday afternoon, some of my friends and I decided to drive to the nearby town of Jeonju to watch a semi pro soccer team play. It was a good time and the Koreans are pretty serious about their soccer teams. It's nice to get away from base and enjoy the culture when I can.

Well, it's Friday evening and I'm hungry...time to round up some of the bros for dinner. Enjoy the weekend!

The Simulators At Misawa Air Base, Japan

This past week 4 of us from the squadron flew to Misawa Air Base in Japan on an Army C-12 to use their 4 Mission Training Center (MTC) F-16 simulators. We have 2 Unit Training Device (UTD) simulators here at Kunsan, but there are a lot of differences between the two. The main difference is the MTCs have a 360° field of view whereas the UTDs just have a large flat screen in front of the pilot. After the pilot sits in the sim cockpit, simply pushing a button closes the back half of the sim around him like a clam shell. The JHMCS helmet can also be worn in the simulator. They can link all 4 of the MTCs together, so in essence "flying" in the MTCs is like flying a regular 4-ship mission in real life...the best video game in the world! We "flew" 2-3 sim periods a day and by the end of the week had learned a great deal and became more proficient in certain F-16 missions.

Our first sim period each day except for Friday didn't start until 1030 so it was nice to hit the gym before work. After the last sim finished around 1830 we headed off base for either Indian (if you didn't know already, I like Indian food), sushi or Japanese steak. I guess I talk about the food when I am traveling so much for a couple reasons. First, I really like food period. Second, Korean food isn't very good so I'm always glad to have more of a selection when traveling.

Anyway, on Thursday we finished a little early and hit the base course for 9 holes of golf finishing as the sun went down. I actually shot a 40 (Brent, you'd be proud) which was very surprising. I 1 putted 4 of the 9 holes, so there was some luck involved. Friday around noon the C-12 was back to pick us up for the flight back to Kunsan. Flying on the C-12 was a great deal since we could fly direct from Kunsan to Misawa. We had our own military taxi service...kind of nice!

Well, this next week is another Operational Readiness Exercise (ORE) so more fun times simulating war time 24 hours a day. I'll be flying 2-3 times each day, so I'm relaxing this weekend to get ready. Enjoy the weekend, fly safe and check six!

Mud Fest

Yesterday, Lana and I went to one of South Korea's biggest festivals called Mud Fest. From the title of the festival, I'm sure it's not too difficult to determine what it was all about...mud...lots of it! It takes place every year in the town of Boryeong about 45 min north of Kunsan on the west coast. The Koreans truck in all the mud from a nearby town and it's supposedly good for the skin. Mud good for the skin...people are making a lot of money off ladies around the world! We spent a few hours at the beach coating ourselves with mud before cleaning off in the Yellow Sea. Arriving back at Kunsan, Lana and I went to a local Italian restaurant to wrap up the day.

4th of July Weekend

Like I mentioned in my last post, Lana and I were looking forward to the long 4th of July weekend to relax after my completion of the IPUG. We started it off on Friday with a squadron golf scramble here on base in memory of a former Panton who lost his life a few years ago flying the F-16, Lt Randy "Congo" Murff. After golfing, we grilled out at the club house for dinner. Kunsan's golf course is just a 9 hole course, which isn't very nice but, it was still a good time. It had been awhile since I last played golf and I'm looking forward to getting my Ping clubs back out of storage when we move on to our next assignment.

The next day, Lana and I took the high speed train to Seoul for the rest of the weekend. I had today off as well, so it made for an enjoyable few days up there. We spent the time sight seeing and enjoying the increased food choices...we had Indian Saturday night and Thai the next. We did some shopping, toured the Korean War Museum and took a gondola ride up the the highest point in Seoul. The Seoul Tower is at the top of this mountain and at it's base is a place where couples in love go to overlook the city...a perfect place for Lana and I!

The main reason we went to Seoul was to file Lana's American permanent resident visa paperwork since we'll most likely be going back to the USA after my time in Korea is finished. The process can take up to 6 months, so we needed to get paperwork filed. I'm thankful Lana was around to enjoy the long weekend with me...it's SO much better in Korea when she's around! She's heading back to Germany in another week or so for work and will be back in August. We hope our American side of the family enjoyed 4th of July...sorry we couldn't join you in Chicago for the weekend!

Instructor Pilot Upgrade Complete

As of 29 Jun 2009 I officially became an instructor in the F-16! It's been a busy, humbling and yet fulfilling 3 months since I started the process back in the beginning of April. Despite 2 weeks in the Philippines and 1 week of the Operational Readiness Inspection (ORI) I made it relatively quickly through the upgrade with having to repeat only a couple of rides...either due to my briefing or flight performance not being up the level it needed to be. I'm now responsible to teach new wingmen, future flight leads and eventually future instructor pilots how to use the F-16 tactically. It's a great feeling to have the stress of the upgrade over with! God is good!

Lana has been here the past few weeks and has been a GREAT encouragement and support to me through the many long days I was at work either planning for my next flight, briefing, flying or debriefing...sometimes up to 14 hours. I want to publicly thank her for her love and support and being an awesome wife to me; I couldn't have done as well without her!! We're looking forward to the nice long 4th of July weekend we're planning to spend most of in Seoul relaxing without any stress on my part.

There isn't too much in the near future that I want to pass along at this point. In a couple of weeks I'll be going to TDY to Misawa Air Base, Japan as an instructor with 3 other pilots from here at Kunsan to use their nice 360° simulators. So, some good sushi is in my near future! It's nice the warm weather is here and Lana and I will spend the time exploring some of the local national parks and beaches. We hope all our friends and family are doing well! Until next time...fly safe and check six!