Something a little different for this blog- Dan's trip to Korea in his own blog post!
Hey everyone! As Madeline told you, I arrived safely in Korea. The trip was a huge headache. I flew from DC to Seattle and stayed in Seattle over night. THen I flew from Seattle to Japan, and from Japan to Seoul, Korea. I stayed in Seoul for a day checking in and sleeping in basically a janitor's closet (both me and my luggage did not fit at the same time!) and then flew to Pohang, Korea where my base is. Traveling that much with a years worth of belongings was not fun at all.
I finally arrived on my base, which is called Camp Mujuk, on Thursday. This base is super tiny; in fact, it is only 3 miles in diameter. REALLY small! There are only a total of 5 MP's and 52 Marines. Since there are only 5 MP's taking leave is probably out of the question since that would leave the other Marines working A LOT! But hopefully we can all figure something out. I have already met a lot of Korean people as well. I work with Korean security guards and also the Republic of Korea military. They are all very polite and know enough English for me to communicate with them. They already offered to bring me out and show me what's actually on the outside of base (a small town). Korean people are pretty small, so seeing Americans is amusing to them. It is a common occurrence for them to come up to me and feel my muscles. That doesn't bother me of course :).
On that note, the gym here on Camp Mujuk is the best in the Marine Corps, says the Commandant at least. It seems great to me! As soon as I get settled in I will sign up for some college classes. Because this base is so tiny anything that has to do with our education is faxed to Okinawa, Japan. So work, college, and the gym will basically be my life for the next year. Like I told Madeline, my goal is to leave with a Bachelors degree and bigger arms! My rotation date is June 20, 2012. So once that date comes, I will be sent back to the states to start my checking out process. I decided I am 100% getting out of the Marines. It was a great experience and I enjoyed my last four years, but I want a normal life back. If I earn my Bachelors while I am here then I will start applying to Federal Agencies. If I do not finish with my degree, then I will come home and go to school until it is done. I enlisted because I did not want to go to college and thought the military would just waive the college degree when applying to jobs, but in today's society you most definitely need a degree to get a good job (or at least any job I want!)! All in all, Korea doesn't seem too bad. I miss my fiancé, friends, and family but hopefully the year flies by.
I'll send Madeline another post once I am here for a while. One week down, 51 to go : )
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