Hardship Tour in South Korea

     I had orders to Korea. It was one of the 3 overseas assignments I had chosen. I wanted to experience what my dad experienced. I tried to go Airborne like he did, and failed, twice. I left Ft. Sam Houston with a permanent profile, so the reality is that I was not supposed to be running anyway. My profile was a "no run" profile, to walk or cycle instead. I was hard headed, and stubborn. I was severely jet-lagged when I arrived. I was lucky to have arrived during what was with a 3- or 4-day weekend. I took a bus from Incheon International Airport to Yongsan, Seoul, South Korea. I was put in a hotel for the weekend. I slept most of the time. I noticed the moon was located in a different position in the sky and felt very out of place. I felt like I was in a different world altogether. I had carried my dad's coin he was given by LTG Peter J. Schoomaker, CO, USASOC. It was stolen while I was at the hotel. I was devastated. He was so proud of that coin, and he worked hard to earn it. I hadn't even been in the country for a few days, and this was my experience. I wondered if it had been my roommate, who I shared the hotel room with.
     There were many in-processing days of briefings and death by power point. I got orders of assignment to 618th Dental Company. When I met my NCOIC, Staff Sergeant Carr, Marcus, he was evidently disappointed that I was a female soldier. "You're my new soldier?" He asked, with disapproval. I wasn't expecting that in the "new" Army of 2008. He was old school. He didn't know that the same internet could be accessed from a regular desktop computer that could be accessed by the field use laptop. He didn't know a lot about PBUSE, that I learned quickly after accessing it. I was a quick learner anyway. I wanted to be good at my job, and wanted to know what was expected of me at my first duty assignment. He was not good at communicating this at all. He wanted to fly by the seat of his pants, with no structure all the time. It was not easy to work for him.
     Before I get ahead of myself, one of the first nights after being assigned, Staff Sergeant Carr wanted to show me around, and asked if I wanted to get dinner. He was a married man, and I was an unhappily married woman. I thought of nothing of it. I agreed to go get some steak together and he could show me around off-post. We went to eat at Outback Steakhouse, his treat. It was dark when we left, and I had no idea how to get back to my barracks. He did not take me back to my barracks, but instead took me to his NCO quarters. We had a drink with dinner. We had a few drinks at his quarters. Being tipsy, and confused, I knew I could not make it to my room by myself. He did not offer to take me home. I asked if I could  crash on his couch. He coerced me to sleep in his bed, take my pants off, and tried to get in my panties. I pushed him away and told him no several times. I was very uncomfortable. How the Hell do I get myself into these situations? I was young and naive. I didn't believe my NCOIC was going to put me in that situation. As soon as I woke up, I got dressed and tried to find my way back to the female barracks for 618th soldiers. I felt horrible, ashamed, guilty, the lot.
     It's wasn't comfortable working with him. He was shady. I expected more from a freemason brother. Nigel's dad was a freemason. I just thought better of them as a group than that. Every chance he had to throw me under the bus, he did. He would give me orders to do one thing, and another needed to get done and didn't, it was automatically my fault. I had no ground beneath me. I felt dirty. I could not stand up for myself. My self-worth was gone by that point. My self-esteem non-existent. I was Private Second Class, and he was a Staff Sergeant. I had never been in a situation similar to that. I had no one to confide in, no one to talk to. It was February when I arrived in country. It was April when I went to advanced PBUSE training in Camp Casey.
     Fast forward 9 months, when I told Staff Sergeant Carr I found out I was pregnant, he asked "Is it mine?" and was serious. Then he repeatedly asked me if I wanted him to punch me or "accidentally" push me down the stairs.
     I was happy when they moved Staff Sergeant Carr to a different position, and Sergeant Olsen, Kaleb was my NCOIC. He was younger, and more fun to work with. He didn't try to do things that were against protocol, like driving to Osan Airforce base to purchase supplies for the unit, instead of using the ordering system in place.
    At some point early on, I was sent to Armorer training, and was told I needed to sign the hand receipt for the unit Arms Room. I had to sign without doing a proper inventory. I was highly pressured to do so. I did not know what some of the items I was signing for were. I hated it. I was fearful. I became the Unit Armorer.
     The S-4 office was in bad shape when I got there. There were no supplies available to for the dental clinics in the unit. We were structured as a company, but really we were our own battalion. They were in the process of restructuring when I left Korea. 618th Dental Company had Dental Clinics supporting troops around the whole country. The S-4's job is supply them with their daily needs, as well as their war-time needs. They had a medical supply specialist, also at headquarters, for their daily medical needs. I don't know why this was such a hard concept to grasp. The supply chain was supposed to be used for most of the supply orders. We would get supplies in according to our priority grouping assigned by higher headquarters. Sometimes it took more than 4 months to get our supplies in because areas of deployment were prioritized higher than us. I had a hard time finding new and updated National Stock Numbers, what we used to place orders (NSN's) because they were not being used when I got there. I had to find them on my own.
      I attempted to get in the medic annual update training, to keep my certification current, but was never granted access to the class, because that was no longer my MOS (I was a 92Y now, not a 68W anymore).
     It was the last NCOIC I had that gave me the most Hell. I can see her face, but can't remember her name. She was a Sergeant, who was a cook previously, who reclassed to unit supply specialist, and wanted to be a Drill Sergeant. She came in having no knowledge of supply at all, even though she had just graduated from 92Y school. I hated her so much. I'm sure she was sleeping with the First Sergeant at the time, First Sergeant Randolph, Eddie. He was an asshole too. They, together, were the reason I was adamant about leaving the Army.
     They tried to get me in trouble for arriving to PT late everyday. PT formation was at least 15 minutes before the post childcare center opened. They knew I had a baby. How was I supposed to be in 2 places at once? I couldn't leave my baby in the car while I did PT! I wasn't the only parent of a small child in headquarters platoon, but I was the only one being threatened with adverse action.
    Sergeant Hersh, Chrisandra was her name. The NCOIC who couldn't do her job, showed her breasts every chance she got, and wanted to take charge, not knowing what to do.
     The beginning of my Korea tour, First Sergeant Dubard, Kimberly was leading along with Colonel Forte. I don't remember his first name. When I left, it was First Sergeant Randolph, Eddie, and Colonel ... I don't remember his name right now.
    I remember Staff Sergeant Carr trying to tell me I was late getting to work when I took the same bus to get to work that all the other junior enlisted soldiers, and KATUSAs took to get to headquarters for work call. WTF?! Poor leadership. KATUSA stands for Korean Augmentation to US Army, and were the chosen Korean soldiers picked from the ROK Army for their ability to learn and speak English and work with American soldiers.
     Colonel Rock, Robert was the Commanding Officer when I left.
     I started fighting back after Caleb was born. I was being branded a "bad" soldier, for standing up for myself and my son's rights. I had to take my newborn son to many wellness appointments. I had mental health appointments of my own. I had appointments for WIC and other assistance, all during the business day. Every time I had to take off work to manage my health, my son's health, or our welfare, I was looked at as if I was trying to escape my work duties. I was a single parent, you would think the people in charge would try to be more accommodating, but they weren't.
     I applied for AIP, a program that was paying soldiers a monthly stipend to extend their stay in Korea, in the hopes of stabilizing. I was trying to control my environment as much as possible, to avoid getting deployment orders while a new mother.
     At work, I helped to establish a regular ordering schedule for things like office supplies and toilet paper. There was never enough toilet paper! Funny to think about now, in the midst of COVID-19, where again, there is never enough toilet paper. I had to order for something like 8 dental clinics plus headquarters, and have a way to transport the goods to each respective clinic. Korea is a big country when you have to drive it.
     We were supposed to have a supply specialist at each clinic, but there were none. Usually they would be KATUSAs, and they never did their job, so I would have to ask the NCOICs of each clinic to forward me lists of the supplies needed so I could order them. They should have been ordered by each clinic, individually.
     We had an equipment turn-in that turned in to a huge problem resulting in investigations. War-time supplies were missing. They were to be turned in , in order to replaced with new equipment. I was helpful in creating a catalog of equipment being issued with descriptions, NSNs, and photos, in order to make inventories easier to manage. Staff Sergeant Carr had everyone sign for equipment they had no idea what it was. I was not the only one. Many innocent people were charged for equipment that was missing that they were never issued because of him. He was a conman.
     Before I left Korea, I made sure that the notebook filled with maps and driving directions in both English and Hangul were distributed in pdf form to each NCOIC and CO. I also made a notebook I created with step by step instructions on how to file reports, and use PBUSE to order supplies properly. I wanted to leave the unit in better condition than I found it. A notebook was created for each hand receipt to keep on file in an orderly manner. The filing cabinets were purged of ancient records that no longer had any bearing on anything. The S-4 was arranged in to a proper supply room, WITH actual SUPPLIES. I can't believe there were NO supplies available when I came to the unit.
     Captain Spengler, John, the XO to become Unit Commander after the Unit was reorganized, tried to convince me to stay in the Army. (Colonel Rock was to become the Battalion Commander, once 618th was organized into a Battalion.) I essentially would work for him, when it came to creating and filing reports. I had a security clearance and I was only S-4 soldier authorized to give reports. I was a Specialist rank when I was discharged. He knew that I was a good soldier in that I worked hard to do the right things and get information to higher headquarters on schedule, etc. He also knew I was considering going to nursing school while still in my enlistment contract. He was a former enlisted soldier and former nurse, if I remember correctly. He would have been a good mentor, had I stayed. He was a good boss to me.
     I remember Captain Spengler asking me, when I returned to work after maternity leave, if I needed a nursing room. I was taken aback. He was married and had children of his own, so he was aware that I might need a room to myself to provide for my baby boy.
     In case you are wondering, these are briefs that I am providing, of my experiences. They are not complete stories. There was always so much going on at any one time, it's hard to write everything. I will attempt, in the future, to fill in the gaps. I mean, after all, I did spend 4 years in the Army. Of course it can't be reduced to a few pages! 4 Army years are the equivalent to 1 lifetime.