WolfPack Diary 1998

Dane · #1 04-03-2007, 07:50 AM

What's up Three Timer? Glad to hear things are going well for you. I was only stationed at KAB once but I have dreamt (literally!) of going back. I think it was the best assigment I had hands down.

Anyway, I was wondering if you could help me out. My spouse threw out all my Wolfpack gear (i.e. sweatshirt, flag, etc.). I wanting to replace this stuff but I have since gotten out of the AF & need some help from someone on the inside. lol.

BTW I noticed your Pistons avatar. Are you from Detroit? I am from Toledo.

Three-Timer · #2 04-03-2007, 04:09 PM

During the diaries of my first tour, I failed to talk too much about the food. Rest assured, all who read these diaries will know that I plan to make up for that, and then some.

Initially, when I arrived for work, I played dumb, trying not to let on to the Korean staff, except for a few, about my knowledge of the language and customs and courtesies, but it caaught up to me very quickly. Next thing you know, I was Mr Popular again, and I had 20 new Korean friends. The ‘Ajimas’ (married women) flirted with me ridiculously and the ‘agashi’s (single women) did, too. I had a contract helper, a young fellow named Mr Han. We hit it off right away. Because I showed an interest in communicating in the native language, expressing Korean customs and courtesies and my overabundant Korean food appetite. The spicier the better.

So that’s how it went; buy the food, issue it to the cooks, flirt with the staff, head to the back room for lunch with the Korean staff. Yeah, I put down the occasional salad, popped a few french fries, but, I mostly enjoyed rice, kimchi, and whatever the ajimas were putting out. They relished my company. I was usually the only miguk amongst them. As much as I enjoy kimchi and rice, it still wasn’t breakfast. I still craved my biscuits and gravy, scrambled eggs and sausage. On my days off, if I wasn’t busy I always rollerbladed over to the chow hall for an appetizing lunch with the Koreans (thumbnail to follow, check back).

Now that I’ve broken the ice on the rollerblading, I’ll take it one step further. I rollerbladed just about everywhere. I’ll even admit that my boss yanked my chain a few times for scooting around inside the carpeted chow hall floor. So, I took to rollerblading down to the lodging office in the evenings to visit my friend, Chub. To this day, Chub and I remain good friends and stay in touch. She and I shared our ups and downs of life. I’ll say this: She was my best friend during my time there, but I don’t think she knew it.

Which came first, the chicken or the egg? I don’t remember if Chub and I became friends before I laid my eyes on the former Miss Pak, now Mrs Three-Timer, or after. What I do know is that because I shared a great rapport with Chub, she’s married guys, I respected her and our friendship grew from there. Chub was like me. Not like me physically, she was ‘short-stuff’, and I was a bit taller. What we did have in common was our sense of adventure. We went exploring whenever we spent time together. We went shopping, exploring in Mun Hwa Dong, hiked around Oompa Lake, before it boomed in recent years. The water wasn’t too far from the main street back then. They dredged and put in a big parking lot and restroom facilities in 2001 thereabouts.

Not getting ahead of myself, I promised earlier that I would expound on the courtship of my wife, aka, ‘Miss Pak’. Now that I think about it, I did meet Chub first. It was at the squadron CC BBQ outside the lodging office. She was the on-duty clerk. I had arrived once again during the month of August.

Mr Han, my helper, and Miss Kang, remember this name, she’s an important link, the contract manager’s secretary, were the same age. Miss Kang is best friends with Miss Pak, whom she was able to get a job on base working as a server and cashier. By this time, one of the routines that I had gotten into was sitting down on the couch that was between the storeroom and the entrance to the line. I would meet the Korean shift supervisors and we would chat and talk about the job and social plans also.

One of the day supervisors was Mr Chu, I think, and the othe was Miss Yang. Miss Yang was tall and slender with long hair, quite pretty, but married. We flirted quite a bit. I’ll just say it. I flirted with them all! Mr Chu was single. He and I and Mr Han had already gotten together off-duty to eat, drink, go bowling downtown, or explore some of the nearby country.

On this particular day in late September or early October, Mr Chu and I were sitting on the couch. I don’t remember what we were talking about as my attention was drawn to the opposite end of the building where the short order line was. From my vantage point I could see the cashier working steadily, periodically moving about to replenish the condiments or assist a customer in some way. I got to see her coming and going. My eyes popped out of their sockets, and the corners of my mouth…well, you get the picture, and by now, so did Mr Chu. He noticed my attention was elsewhere. He said, “Do you like her?” I replied, “Who’s that? “

“That’s Miss Pak, the new cashier….."

Three-Timer · #3 04-07-2007, 03:31 AM

Boy was I smitten. If ever were there love at first sight, this was it. I hadn’t even spoken to her, yet. That changed. It changed in about the time it took me to walk down to the other end. Miss Pak was a bit shy , but very open to conversing. By 1998 standards, most all Koreans studied English language in school. Much like we studied Spanish, French, or German. They studied it with about the same fan-fare as we did. I spoke briefly to her, feigning some reason to be down there, checking to see if she needed condiments or something, made a little small talk and retreated.

Part of my daily routine was to ‘make my rounds’ around the facility checking up on the food product that was out in the cook’s areas. During these jaunts, I took the liberty of flirting with everybody, but mostly Miss Pak. Quite often I would ask the Korean supervisors, Mr Chu, Miss Yang, or the secretary, who happened to be Miss Pak’s best friend, Miss Kang, where Miss Pak was or where she would be working that day. Whenever I had a few minutes to spare, I was always asking, “Where’s Miss Pak?” It stands to reason that whenever a Korean staff member would pass by me they would greet me, not with the customary, ‘Anyounghaseyo’, but instead they greeted me with, “Where’s Miss Pak?” I did it to myself. But that just meant that I was liked, right!.....Right?

Society in general seems to frown on office relationships, but at this point, that’s all it was. There seemed to be no opportunity to have a relationship with Miss Pak outside of work. Having already spent many evenings with Mr Chu, Miss Yang, Miss Kang, Miss Yuk and others, whether it be dining on kimchi and kalbi, seeing some of the local sites, or bowling a few frames down in Kunsan Lanes near KFC, Miss Pak had yet to grace my presence outside of work.

Unlike my first tour ten years earlier where I rarely spent any time at all on the yard, except to get my ritual haircut, manicure and massage, restock toothpaste and deodorant, this time, I made it a point to stay in better shape by rollerblading everywhere, even hitting the fitness center, and rooting for the unit intramural teams. My boycott of intramurals was over as I had recovered from my ’88 sponsor woes.

I had a few buddies in the dorm, and again was well-liked. I think it had to do with the pre-curfew stories. It was still a little trying at times to get folks to catch the downtown bus with me, though, I guess they were concerned of going to certain locations without a translator. It doesn’t matter which country you’re in, folks are generally pleasant and enjoy interacting with foreigners. You just have to treat it with the right approach and certainly don’t get upset if they don’t understand what you’re saying. You just have to be patient and work at a means to communicate. For example, if you don’t understand what they’re saying, pay closer attention to the other clues. Body language and mannerisms are very good means of interacting.

I’ll never forget the time, later in the tour, when Miss Pak and I were in a little quiet coffee shop hanging out making small talk. Miss Kang had met us there. Miss Pak and I had been out in city and had just finished seeing a movie. I always kept a shoulder bag filled with necessities when I left the base. This particular trip my bag had in it my sponsor package for my follow-on to Elmendorf AFB, Alaska. Anyway, Miss Pak had pulled out some of the real estate stuff and was perusing the homes for sale. Her and Miss Kang were facing each other. I was in the middle sort of listening to them chatter and watching. Next thing you know, Miss pak asks Miss Kang for the calculator. My Korean was good enough that I understood this. At this point, I spoke up and said, “You’re calculating the home prices into won, aren’t you?” Miss Kang said, “Wow, you’re really smart.”

It’s all about paying attention. Back to the story…….

So, I couldn’t always get anyone to join me. Was I worried. Nah. Mr Han and I hung out quite a bit. I even bought him a bowling ball for his birthday. He shared the Korean lifestyle with me, and I tried to fix him up with a nice ‘miguk agashi’. I introduced him to Chub, and along with Mr Chu occasionally, we were just fine.

“Alarm Blue, MOPP 4 Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeooooooooooooooeeeeeee” No worries there, either. during the times of exercises, chub and I just made sure we stocked up on SPAM and rice. We needed it to help wash down the cranberry juice and Absolut that permeated either of our rooms before bed after 12 hours of ‘suckin’ rubber’ We were the happiest exercise players out there……

On one particular evening around 6pm, I was in my room, Dorm 609, rm 211, which was quickly becoming famous for all the pretty Koreans being seen entering at various times and days. It was just the Korean staff coming over to hang out and unwind. Usually around this time I was out on my rollerblades somewhere around the base. The phone rang. It was Mr Han. He asked what I was doing and I told him I was probably going to order some korean food and relax for the evening. He mentioned that he was with Mr Chu at the gate and asked if I wanted to join them for dinner. “Tan gun eegee” , I said, which translates to “Of course”. So they came, picked me up, and just as we exited the gate, Mr Han pulled over and made a phone call. He PULLED OVER, and THEN made a phone call. All you cell phone and driving maniacs get that?! He had called Miss Kang who was at work, still but would be finished at around 7pm. She agreed to meet us for Dinner. We decided to return to base and a bowl a couple games while waiting. Mr Han also mentioned that Miss Pak was coming, also. It didn’t take an expert translator to see that I was pleased with this development. Only 20 minutes earlier I was resigned to some styrofoam version of bulgogi and rice while watching reruns of Dawson’s Creek on AFN, and WHAM! Smack dab in the middle of a dream come true….

Three-Timer · #4 04-08-2007, 04:13 AM

With limited parking on Kunsan, getting a permanent vehicle pass for Koreans working on base was a big thing. Most of the staff, including the contract manager, took the bus. None of the young staff wanted the manager to know of their associations with GI’s, so it was sort of a secret thing to meet up with an American friend or boyfriend. After we finished bowling we drove just outside the gate and waited for the bus carrying our dates to pass, and then we started following it. This seemed so silly to me.

At one of the stops downtown, the girls exited the bus making sure not to be observed by the manager and slipped into the back seat of Mr Han’s car. I haven’t mentioned it, yet, but even though I am very flirty, I also can be a bit shy myself when in certain situations. This was one of those. My primary coping mechanism is humor, so I started laying on the jokes and one-liners.

Our first stop was a little restaurant where we ate bowls of Bi-Bim-Bap, served from large metal bowls. As they say in Korea, “Pavela” (I’m full)

By the time we reached the Metropolitan bar in Kunsan, our second stop, I had everyone rolling with laughter. Even the normally subdued Miss Pak was laughing and starting to relax. This was her first outing with an American.

Into the bar we went. It was pretty western, DJ and a bunch of video screens on one wall. Good atmosphere. Music requests were taken by the servers. We enjoyed a few pitchers of beer and some fruit plates. Koreans never drink on an empty stomach. As we sat down, you may have expected me to wiggle my way into a seat next to Miss Pak. Guys, if you really want to establish yourself with a woman, don’t. Instead, pick a seat opposite or in view and proximity. Don’t crowd her. Let her warm up to the idea of you. That’s what I did. I was myself. I carried as I had been doing all year. Everyone else knew me and had spent time with me. That’s part of the reason Miss Pak was convinced to go out that night.
She had been told how polite I was and how I never belittle Koreans or made fun of their attempts at speaking proper English.

We all relaxed, enjoyed the conversation with each other, shared Korean tidbits as well as American idioms. The evening kept getting better. I don’t really remember what was next, but it was decided that we cruise down to A-town and hang out awhile before dropping me off at the base. I did have a curfew, now.
We poked our heads in a few bars, I believe we stayed long enough to have drinks in the Savoy Club and the OB Club, my regular hangouts when I wasn’t hanging out with Mr Han, or chasing after the affections of Miss Pak. One of the bar maids in Savoy was also an employee in the chow hall. That’s one of the reasons we stopped in there.

On Saturdays, after spending the better part of the afternoon downtown, I would stop into Savoy in the early part of the evening, well before the party people showed up. I always brought my shoulder bag, which was equipped with Korean dictionaries and a paring knife. I always picked up some fruit from the markets when downtown. Apples and my favorite, Korean pears. Koreans cut the skin from the fruit before they eat it. Working with food and knives were routine for me, but it took me awhile to skin the fruit as closely as they did. Sharing with all the club girls made me an instant favorite. I was never pestered when I frequented the clubs. In fact I had running jokes with a lot of the girls. The one thing that started to change since the previous tour in ’88 was that it was becoming pre-dominantly filipinos for the dancers, and even a few Russians started to appear on the scene. Koreans were mainly the staff and ajimas, not the dancers, although there were still plenty, but a lot less than before.

And so the night went on, and it was getting to the time I had to start making sure I made it back before curfew. As we headed down to the taxi and bus area where the car was, Miss Pak and I had become inseparable and strolled down the street together. In the car, everyone decided that we still had time to head back to another little shop away from the base for a cup of tea before returning me to base. It had to be around 12:30 am. I think there was only 2 other people in the place we stopped. The nice young lady, she was probably 23, was intrigued with the group because she hadn’t seen any ‘miguks’ in her place before. It was explained to her that they all worked on base. She was curious about how she could get a job on base.

Three-Timer · #5 04-11-2007, 04:20 AM

Two things of note happened over the next few weeks. The first thing was that I fouled up what should’ve been our first date alone. Mr Han, my buddy and resident matchmaker set it up. She was going to come to my room, so we could hang out a little and get better acquainted. She wanted to see my room. Something about being able to tell a lot about someone by their living arrangements. Funny thing, at the prescribed time, she never showed up. I ended up getting a little bit drunk on a few bottles (4 or 5) of soju, while watching Marlon Wayans in ‘Senseless’. Upon returning to work, I learned that I was supposed to meet her and then ‘escort’ her. Shame on me. After that things went fine.

Three weeks after that first night out, I strolled into work, took a look around, and what did I see….the girl from the coffee shop was dressed in a ‘Jong Woo Enterprises uniform and being shown the ropes. “Hey, I know you,” I said. “I am Miss Yi”, she told me. Turns out that Miss Yi ended up married to a GI and has stayed friends with Miss Pak ever since. She has visited us twice; once with her husband. My mother babysat while I took them to a Phoenix Suns-Detroit Pistons game a couple years ago.

Miss Pak and I are becoming quickly unseperable. Again, we spend much time around the country, exploring, and plenty of time relaxing on base. When we spend time on base, I usually would teach her how to rollerblade up and down the street alongside the AFN Radio station and the hospital. We also put a lot of miles on the train to Seoul, and we were on good standing with ALL of the Wolfpack Wheels drivers.

The military is diverse. Military personnel are diverse, too. They come from all walks of life. They matriculate from Boston, Texan, California, Georgia, and every point in between. So it was no surprise that Miss Pak occasionally had trouble comprehending the customers when they ask for things like ‘yardbird’. I had chosen to make a lateral move to work on the floor. I decided I preferred to be around the Korean staff more, cook a little bit, and interact with the patrons more. Part of the cashier training was to work in each of the serving line areas; salad and pastry stocking, line server to better understand how certain items were accounted at the registers. No matter what Miss Pak was assigned to, I always seemed to find a reason to be assisting her than I was for any other Korean employee. For example, after explaining that ‘yardbird’ was a southern term for chicken, I then had to clarify to her when a customer requested white meat or dark meat. This was a little fun because it gave me the opportunity to be a little flirtatious by referencing the appropriate body parts.

Thanksgiving and Christmas flew by. It was the new year. I had some obligations back in the states that required me to actually take a mid-tour. You know what that meant. I had to leave Miss Pak in the hands of the male Wolfpack populace. It was plainly obvious that she was gaining the attentions of more than a handful male admirers who desired her company. If I was there it was easy to fend them off. I couldn’t very well accomplish this from across the Pacific Ocean. Leading up to my departure during the month of April, we had an inside joke about trying to find luggage large enough for her to fit in, so I could take her with me. Every day she asked me, “Where’s my ticket? Did you get my ticket, yet?”

While I was in the states, I had a pretty good time, but that didn’t stop me from wishing she was by my side. I found myself thinking how much she would have enjoyed doing this, every time I did something. I realized I missed her companionship. And before you guys get all bent out of shape, although we had cuddled and kissed, we had yet to be intimate. I knew early on that this wasn’t some fling. I returned to the Wolfpack anxious to see my leading lady.

Three-Timer · #6 04-11-2007, 04:36 AM

Did she stray during my absence? She befriended a couple of persistent suitors, but upon my return, quickly figured I was still at the top of her list. The next couple months were spent strengthening our relationship. We ‘officially’ and privately became bf/gf. My stock went up! I had met her 2 younger sisters and soon after that I met her mother. She is the oldest. Her next sister and I quickly became drinking buddies. She always teased her sister about being the more prettier sister, and I should be dating her. Flattery will get you everywhere….

All of their friends couldn’t wait to be invited out with me. Remember the coffee shop girl, Miss Yi? She fell into our clique immediately. She also hooked herself up pretty quickly with a bf of her own. In a blink of an eye, a decision to get married was reached, and her and Mr Right set off on getting marriage certificates and beginning the ‘green card’ process.

That’s when Miss Pak and Miss Kang, best friends in the world, starting wondering if Miss Pak and I might be heading down the same path. My big hint that the subject had been broached was the sudden ’20 questions’ being asked me by Miss Kang when we had our chats.

I couldn’t imagine the thought of my ‘Miss Pak’ being with another, so I definitely said ‘I don’t know….maybe”, when Miss Kang asked me if I wanted to marry her.

After a few more weeks of good times, going to ****tail bars in Mun Hwa Dong, witnessing the little fire show displays and bottle twirling from the bartenders, we had a serious discussion about our future. Will it be accepted by our families? What will the culture shock be like? Our true feelings for each other! Is this right? What about children? Why did the ajima spill 7up all over my pants at a critical time like this?

We decided we wanted to be Together Forever. Once again, we spent time on the train to Seoul. We had to go to Osan to get the paperwork started because her father was friends with the guys in Kunsan that handled the paperwork. We were about a month behind our friends in the whole process. I wonder how it was going to be when she finally told her father.

Three-Timer · #7 04-11-2007, 05:10 AM

The tour was churning along. It was June. Summertime. You know what that means? Not what you think. It meant it was time for Chub to get on a plane and head to her follow on assignment at RAF Mildenhall. I was very happy about being involved with Miss Pak, but I was equally sad to see my best buddy leaving. We are still friends to this day, and IM often.

Well moving along, O’Malley renovation is complete, and the contractor has given us the keys back. For two weeks every enlisted person on station was given BAS. For some that was good, for most, it messed up their whole existence. For me, it was business as usual, I rarely ate there anyway, except for the local cuisine the ajimas cooked up. For a few of my co-workers it was interesting because for those 2 weeks, there was no night shift or weekend work. We opened up the place, complete with an ice cream bar and a bit of fanfare. It was the first Dining Hall in the Air Force to NOT use stainless steel serving lines.

The next couple months were the same. When we weren’t stealing away to Seoul for the processing of the ‘green card’ , and marriage documents, we were hanging out in ****tail bars or sushi restaurants, drinking soju.

The ‘green card’ was coming down to the wire. I had already adjusted my port-call once, by moving it back as far as I could, in effect, taking leave in country for 3 weeks. HHG shipment was already on it’s way to Elmendorf. I was holed up at lodging.

I was held to strict secrecy regarding our marriage and the impending departure of Miss Pak to America. During the goodbye dinner, my good buddy and matchmaker man, Mr Han, pulled me aside and said, “I think you have success”. I responded, “Huh?”

Mr Han and I had become very close friends. After the last year, he was certainly in a position to tell my mood swings. Here I was getting ready to leave the Wolfpack, but I was in a cheerful mood. Mr Han spoke, “Miss Pak…I think you and her will marry!”

I took a quick glance at everyone else sitting around the floor of the table…they all seemed to be busy enjoying the food, drinks, and conversation. When I turned back to Mr Han, I spoke quietly to him and said, “We’re already married!...Ssshh!”

Three-Timer · #8 04-11-2007, 01:14 PM

There was only 2 things left to be done: Meet and get the approval of my father-in-law, and get us both on the plane.

In most cases, I would have been ok, but this time I was a little nervous. I wasn’t just meeting him, I was taking his daughter away to another country, not for a honeymoon, but to live. We wouldn’t have time for a honeymoon and wedding ceremoney until we returned 3 years later.

It would be safe to say that I got a lot of coaching leading up to meeting my father in law. He doesn’t speak English, so I had to muster my way through some Korean. I wish I could tell you that I made it through with flyin colors, but I fumbled it a little bit. Not to worry, I guess the rest of my in-laws laid the ground work. After my fumbling of the language, I manged to recover with my best Wayne’s World “We’re not Worthy’ bows, and father in law promptly invited me to sit down for some food and drinks. One down, now I had to get my bride on the plane. She had some in-laws of her own to meet.

Easier said than done. I was locked in to a flight. I was going even if she wasn’t. She had a ticket also, problem was, she didn’t have her green card yet. It turns out that because of a Korean holiday, and an American holiday, Columbus Day, there was a slight delay in her green card. I believe she got it the next day, and her Ticket was changed. Are we there, yet?

No. She still had to get on the plane with no coaxing by me. She could change her mind. So there I am in St Louis, actually, I am staying at Scott AFB, where I was stationed prior to going to Kunsan. I had purchased a new vehicle while overseas, and it was delivered to a dealer near the airport.

I had a close friend bring me to the airport on the day of the flight. This was 1999, so we were allowed to go to the gate to meet our party. My buddy and I stood up against the rail directly opposite the gate exit, and made small talk. I prayed she was on the flight------

She was of course, looking gorgeous as always, I gave her a hug, introduced her to m friend, went to baggage claim and retrieve her luggage. We left the airport in his convertible Mustang headed for the dealership to retrieve the new truck. I still own it, by the way.

Once again, another tour to the Wolfpack had ended. But this time, I brought back something better than a beer belly, by far--

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The Following User Says Thank You to Three-Timer For This Useful Post:
timmy31 (04-28-2007)