thanksgiving

I was invited by SFC Taylor, who replaced SFC Miller and became my supervisor for the following year.

This is my second Thanksgiving I celebrate in Washington DC. It was as good as the first Thanksgiving here. 12-pound turkey and mashed potatoes. I love Mrs. Taylor’s gravy. It’s fabulous. 6- year old Alea blessed the meal this time (last time it was SFC Taylor)

I used to hate the gravy sauce. The first day I spent on the military base as a fresh private, I thought the gravy was a soup. I put some salt and pepper in it. It still tasted awful. I wept that night thinkin’ about all the terrible food I had to deal with the next two years.
It was good to see him again and his family.

Jamie made some very delicious gravy. The 15 pound turkey was so big that we could eat the half of it even though SFC Taylor brought some of the neighbors who couldn't leave the base for the Thanksgiving.

It was great!

thanksgiving in Korea

I’m at Taylor’s again.
Thanksgiving on military base was very hectic. It wasn’t a holiday for soldiers. It was all about “looking happy”. 4 star generals used to come to our unit’s dining room. Low ranking soldiers like me had to clean up the area thoroughly. When it comes to Thanksgivng, we used to have lots of fallen leaves, so it was no use cleaning up the area a week prior. But the First Sergeant didn’t care.

On the Thanksgiving day, the commander and other high ranking officers came in special uniforms- the calvary style. They cut the turkey for us. We had something special like a lobster, shrimp cocktail, ice cream with banana and whip cream. The KATUSA soldiers didn’t care about the food much. All we cared about was the 4-day weekend starting from Thursday. We didn’t understand why we had to celebrate and spent some of our precious time on pass for the historical event where Native Americans saved 107 starving pilgrims by feeding them with 107 10-poundturkey. (I don’t know if it’s really the reason Americans celebrate Thanksgiving but I’m sure it involves some pilgrims and Native Americans and some turkeys.)

SFC Roesh

Today, I’m in the mood of wrting about SFC Roesh. He was a combat medic but was sent to South Korea as the Equal Opportunity adviser. He was my supervisor and my boss.
When I first met him, he was 31 years old, not too tall,not too small but he was a tough soldier. He had been to combat zone in 1989.
Since our Equal opportunity office was not a busy place and me and SFC Roesh was the only soldiers in the office, we spent time talking.
When I was a private, SFC Roesh brought something in the office and hung on the wall. It was the map of United States. He told me that I should know the regions of USA in order to understand America. I learned all the names of the States by heart, I like to tell me stories of the Civil War and the differences and tensions between the South and the North.
“PV2 Lee, you have to come and travel in America to understand the culture.”
“But how should I travel such a huge place. USA is 50 times bigger than Korea. And you told me the public transportation system in USA is bad.”
“Most people travel in the States by car”
Then I told him that I didn’t have a driver’s license. He didn’t even believe me that I had never been behind the wheel. I was 21 years old.
“Lee, You told me you cycled across Europe, right?”
“That’s right, Sarge”
“How long did you travel?”
“About 2000miles”
“ From East to West, it’s about 3000miles. I think you can do it”
“But it’s going to take forever. I don’t think there’s anyone who does a stuff like that”
“I know a guy who did it within 8days.”
“You must be shitting me, right,Sarge?”

But he wasn’t lying. I met a guy in North Carolina who really cycled across USA within 8days. Twice.