Far East Cynic

All done now. Have to get packed up and on the way home. Weather today is lousy so I canxed my trip up to Seoul and have been vegetating in front of the TV. My suitcase is staring at me demanding to be packed. I don’t feel well and I’m hungry.

Situation normal.

Meanwhile, in Hong Kong its that time of year again, when hordes of expats converge on the city and on Wanchai. And for the 5 th year in a row, I am not there. Must be the order of the universe or something. Hemlock describes the carnage:

Sigh. Maybe next year!

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Another long day-one to go.

However, I bought a T-shirt today. I’ve tried to find a picture of it, but I cannot. Just picture this:

With a caption that says this:

Someone is going to die tonight.

We decide who.

Just could not pass it up…………….

Got to sleep!

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I’m confused where this falls.

In USAF speak its good when someone enters a beauty pagent.

However its bad if you make a million dollars posing for a major magazine.

So what happens when you try out for this contest?

Miss Flash Natsuko Tatsumi flanked by runners up Momo Yoshida and Asami Tani at a press conference to introduce the top finishers in the Miss Flash 2007 competition.Flash is a weekly publication in Japan that bills itself as a “weekly photo magazine.”

More pictures here. H/T to Japundit!

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Of that truck driving school again? Today was not so bad as yesterday, but I got careless and made a mistake. I caught it later, but that’s not the point. One is supposed to have better command of the issues not to do that. I take it as a sign my fun meter is pegged. Oh well, the world needs ditch diggers too!

I don’t see how some of these guys here do it. They literally are in the building from dawn till late every day. And since they live here, they do some of these exercises again and again. I’m beginning to appreciate how nice it was to be on the wild end of the whip instead of observing the handle that cracks it. Sigh.

Three more days here…….then gone. Hopefully not back for a good while. Some people thrive on this type of stuff, I don’t. Makes me realize how much better I was at my old job. At least there I felt like I was making a difference for somebody.

Enough whining.

And if I needed more good news to cheer me up, I didn’t exactly like watching the news that Tony Snow has cancer. He’s only 51. That’s not very reassuring if you ask me………….

Congress votes to keep withdrawal language in a bill that will not pass the Senate. Sure the move to remove it went down in flames, but that’s just a feel good move-when the rubber meets the road the Senators will fold like a cheap suit. Leaving nothing accomplished after 4 months. Now part of me likes the idea of giving the President a good legislative whack across the side of the head. However the other part of me knows that the military needs the money-to get through the rest of the year.

If you want an eye opener some time, about how dysfunctional American government is, go here, and download the whole supplemental bill. It’s chock full of little goodies to fight the war on terror. Like a few of these items:

-8,469,000 for DEA salaries. How is that supporting the troops?

-17,000,000 for the Federal Prison system?

-The now infamous farm subsidies.

-461,000,000 for aircraft procurement. Does that not belong in the annual appropriation?

-Money for BRAC?

-258,000 for the International Commission on Religious Freedom?

-And my personal favorite:”For payment to Gloria Norwood, widow of Charles W. Norwood Jr, late Representative from Georgia”-162,000 dollars?

How do I get in on this?

What this highlights is what a subterfuge the whole idea of the supplemental is to begin with. Yes, the troops need money to fight the war on terror. However it was pretty clear at the beginning of the year that they would still be fighting it at the end of the fiscal year. So why not include that in the DOD appropriation. And likewise, make the other departments justify their contributions to the war in their own budgets.

Because the scrutiny on the annual appropriations bill is higher-that’s why. And it would show the real growth in the overall budget. This way allows the president to mask this as a one time expense “for the troops”. Making the legislation hard to attack.

I wish every American could take time to actually read the bill. If you do remember that some of these amendments came from the Republican side of the aisle, just as much as some others came from the Democrats.

There ought to be a law! Oh wait, this is one…or will be soon. Sigh.

Then again, at the rate Congress is going-maybe not. One plus side, the money that will pay for my trip here in about 6 months will be in there. Not getting that would be no great loss…………….

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My brain is fried. Totally drained. Want to know why? You try 14 hours of being made to feel like this:

I’m heading for bed. Feel free to stick around and talk among yourselves. You can always talk about diversity you know…………

Click on the image to see it better!

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“My job consists of basically masking my contempt for the assholes in charge, and, at least once a day, retiring to the men’s room so I can jerk off while I fantasize about a life that doesn’t so closely resemble Hell.”

That movie was on last night. When it came out in 1999, my relationship with the shrew had hit rock bottom. Below bottom to be perfectly truthful-as the ex thought she had found the perfect way to bend me to her twisted will. The above quote pretty well sums up my joyless 1999, until………..I gathered the courage to take my life back.

(The above quote could also sum up my this week in Korea…except the men’s rooms are too small…….).

The movie really struck a chord with me. Even though it is unbelievably dark. However in my frame of mind then-it spoke to me.

“I feel like I’ve been in a coma for the past twenty years. And I’m just now waking up.”

Exactly! Now, before you laugh hysterically, I am not saying that movie spurred to me to take action. However it was one of those things that helped me see what I had to do and to put in perspective. Now after 8 years it really helps me put some things in perspective.
 

Lester Burnham: I am sick and tired of being treated like I don’t exist. You two do whatever you want, whenever you want to do it, and I don’t complain.

Carolyn Burnham: Oh, you don’t complain? Then I must be psychotic, then! What is this? Yeah,let’s bring in the laugh-meter and see how loud it gets.

Lester Burnham [Lester throws the asparagus plate at the wall] Don’t interrupt me, honey! [sits back down to eat] Oh, yeah, and one more thing, from now on we’re going to have alternate dinner music because frankly – and I don’t think I’m alone here – [looks in Jane's direction] I’m tired of this Lawrence Welk shit!

Ah yes the shrill voice of the woman who was raised to believe that somehow, someway, her gender gave her a right to tell a man what to do. Or that she could do what she wanted, while I just had to pay the bills…..and pay….and pay. They tend to think it is the way of the world. So it comes as a great shock when they get told, “NO”.

” You don’t get to tell me what to do, ever again”

You have no idea how joyous and liberating a feeling it is, when you finally tell all the people who think they have the right to define your life for you, that its your life and you’ll do exactly what you damn well please.

“Well you know what? I’ve changed! And the
new me whacks off when he feels horny! “

Or some other acceptable substitute. However the point is that each one of us gets to make his own choices and I’m going to make mine. I do things now-for the most part, there are a few exceptions- because I want to, even doing things for the S.O.

Of course the interesting part is that because of the former time in my life, I can really appreciate the latter. I just which I did not have to go through 20 years of the former to learn that.

However it makes me like Lester-I can understand the beauty of freedom and responsibility:

“Sometimes I feel like I’m seeing it all at once, and it’s too much, my heart fills up like a balloon that’s about to burst… And then I remember to relax, and stop trying to hold on to it, and then it flows through me like rain and I can’t feel anything but gratitude for every single moment of my stupid little life… You have no idea what I’m talking about, I’m sure. But don’t worry… you will someday. ”

I just had to get that off of my chest! Now I can go fall in my bed-for tomorrow as Scarlett said, is yet another day.

Ja ne……….

Not much time tonight-5:30am comes way to early.

However I heard about this today.

When briefing an ROK Navy admiral, never say this:

“When USS XXXXX XXXXXX arrives on station in the Sea of Japan……..”

This causes a strong Hangul reaction-followed by a smackdown from his Korean interpreter…………..

So, hey, anybody want to go to Takeshima Island?

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If I had time to see it. Problem is all of my trips to Korea are for work. Long hours type of work. And I don’t have an international drivers license so they won’t let me rent a car. So, so far all I have seen of Korea is Seoul and some of the better bars of Songtan. And even that last part will stop Monday-which means some light blogging ahead.

Eat, suck down a couple of beers, sleep and then get up and do it all over again. That’s my life for this coming week. I kind of feel like Gar on his taxi ride:

Weather today was terrible. Rain, fog, and just kind of a blah day. It was a short day, but I just could not get motivated. Spent a lot of time watching the TV news.

Which all together made very little sense.

In the US the House of Representatives votes a nonsense funding bill of supplemental budget money to pay for Iraq war. However, to get passage of the bill, the Democratic majority had to buy off reluctant members (you know those who actually care about what the US does and about the personnel serving in uniform) with what we Americans affectionately call “pork”. A few million here and there for stupid stuff-like Peanut Farmers. What that has to do with the war in Iraq is beyond me.

Even crazier, to my opinion, is how the Democratic leadership can think the American people will not notice how this happened. Or how the bill is DOA when it arrives in the Senate, because Sen Quisling Liebermann will hold the Senate hostage by not voting with his own party. Nancy Pelosi believes that Americans don’t pay attention and are therefore stupid. They are not, and they had no intention for the debate to get this silly. They just want the damn war over with, but at the same time they do not -repeat that- want financial restrictions placed on the Soldiers fighting.

Not the President believes that the people are stupid too, he for a different reason. See George W. Bush wants people to believe that the war is not taking money from other parts of the budget, or that federal budget is not growing obscenely because of the war. So instead of acknowledging that the US will be fighting in Iraq for a generation many more years and building all of the expenses into his annual budget, his administration resorts to the subterfuge of submitting a bill asking for supplemental money-”to pay for the cost of war”. Except it just does not pay for the wars direct costs. If you look deep into it, you will find that aircraft purchases are in the bill and a few other things, like 13.9 billion for force reconstitution. Read that as procurement. Now IMHO that should be in the DOD annual budget. John McCain used to agree with me.

And when he wants to condemn the Congress, George W Bush decides to use his favorite props-American Military people, instead of just calling a spade a spade. So who is guilty of political theater? Both sides are.

There’s a lot more to say about that, but I just don’t have the energy. What I need, would be wearing makeup, some perfume, a short skirt and boots and a tight fitting sweater. She would be handing me a beer as she drapes her arm over my shoulder. Don’t think that’s going to happen anytime soon. Sigh……..

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I know why I am so frustrated this week. It is because we have lost the ability to empower people to make decisions at the right level. Watched a bunch of guys get their a**s handed to them because they took fuzzy direction and tried to run with it. In the process they misinterpreted that direction so when they got to see the Big Guy with it, he was…..well…..less than thrilled. Back to the drawing board.

I blogged about this subject one time before when I was in Korea. Too many decisions get made at too high a level. Which in turn requires such a scripted process that the hard questions do not get asked nor do senior personnel have the time to do the detailed reading that have might allowed an “easier course correction” to be made before a bunch of hardworking guys went down a rat hole.

Why does this happen? Because someone made a mistake once….or twice. And the senior person got burned by it, and regretted not more closely micromanaging the process. So future actions require the “eye of the master”. The subordinate learns what from this process? Take the path of least resistance—and tell the boss what he wants to hear. The days of a good ass chewing, and then move on, are gone I fear. Thanks to the advent of Power Point and the VTC. Which allows the operational decision maker to become way too involved in the tactical.

Now of course, in war, the price of mistakes are high. Furthermore, peoples lives are involved. So there are some things that have to be vetted all the way. However, that said, not everything is worth doing to perfection. Some things are worth doing only good enough and some are not worth doing at all. The trick was always to know which was which.

One of the more depressing things I observe every time I come here is how little authority is delegated to the right level. And how little effort is devoted to getting the initial guidance right in the first place, then let the workers get the job done. I’ll bet our overly inflated levels of decision making have a lot to do with the fiasco in Iraq. It is depressing to meet men with over 24 years of service to their country and some solid operational experience, being reduced to slick ad men selling a product.

Of course on that judgment there will be nay sayers, but I’ll stand by my guns. Decision makers don’t have enough time to think, read and ask questions in a less formal way. They are too busy getting ready for the next brief.

Maybe it is because USAF people spend too much time watching a guy like this:

Maybe if they spent a little more of their off time drinking this:

While working on this:

They would have a better perspective! Let the games begin!

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To blog or do anything else…except catch some Z’s real soon.

However imagine my surprise when I watched Keith Olbermann’s show ( inside the command center they have a streaming video player on some of the computers….this from the USAF-go figure) and I was shocked to see that CNATRA (The Naval Air Training Command) beat out Sean Hannity for the honor of worst person in the world.

Check it out here.

Poor Keith. I’m a fan, but its clear that he does not realize that this was the easiest way for the Navy to put her someplace, nearby to Houston, while she plans her legal defense. She won’t be doing much besides trying to keep a low profile.

Nonetheless-seeing CNATRA win “worst person in the world” has to warm some struggling Naval Aviator’s heart. Somewhere.

And as a plus side, there is a new single woman in Corpus Christi……..any takers?

I’m out. Good Night and Good Luck!

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I’m really turning into a dinosaur. Or becoming my father. Or somewhere /something in between.

The list of things that I do not understand seems to be growing exponentially with each passing week. I like to think of myself as a tolerant man, but lately-I’m beginning to wonder if that is really true any more.

Lets see, where should I begin? How about clothing styles. The last weekend I remember coming out of my room and heading to the lobby. Joining me in the elevator were 5 guys and a girl, all looking like they were about to audition for a 50 Cent video. Seriously, these folks had taken a lot of time and effort to dress up like hoodlums and other variations of gang members. I just don’t get it. Some of these same guys came out of the commissary the next day wearing a suit and tie-as if they had just come out of church-but on this particular night they looked ready to trip over their baggy sorts and be blinded by all the gold chains they were wearing.

And don’t even get me started talking about the guy wearing a “doo rag”- I hate those. I guess I let my disapproval show on my face because the look of disdain I got from on member of the group was pretty sharp.

Really only one solution for this kind of sartorial choice:

I always want to tell them that they look like s**t……….. Whatever happened to dressing for success?
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Then there is the latest fol de rol going on in Washington about the fired prosecutors. Me, I’m rooting for Gonzales to get the boot-along with Rasputin Karl Rove to get the boot, although I know they only way Rove is going anywhere is through an act of God.

Here is what I don’t get. Why, in a profession that it would seem demands an objective viewpoint, are federal prosecutors political appointees? And if they really serve at the pleasure of the President, then why are these firings turning into such a big deal? Better yet-what does it say about the process of government when someone can view the dismissal of someone from their job as no big deal? Yes its true that other Presidents have had a high turnover of the prosecutors. However in this case what I really find odd is the documentary evidence pointing to the fact that the Attorney General and the Presidential staff seemed to place a higher value on loyalty than performance.

Furthermore, I think that GWB really wants to keep Gonzales in the job. Otherwise he might risk getting an attorney general who actually believes in enforcing the law and living by the Constitution-God forbid that would happen. It works easier for Bush to have a hack who can bend the law to the aims he wants accomplished.

His statement of support seems to confirm that fact. I still think they will be looking for a new Attorney General by the end of the month.

The good news though is that , unlike on Iraq, this is the kind of issue where the Congress can actually win-and in the process keep the President on the defensive. As I have said before, they are better off nibbling on the fringes-not taking him on directly.

I don’t weep for the fired prosecutors-their job prospects are bright and they will be pulling down six plus figures before they know it-don’t you wish we all had that kind of job security?

However why this came up now-its something I just do not understand.
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I’m also pretty sure that I don’t understand why someone would need to buy a belt that looks like this:

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And of course I do not understand why I am in Korea, when I could be seeing this:

The Sakura are blooming in Tokyo. Nothing is blooming over here except brown dirt and rain.

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I’m also pretty sure I don’t understand about this:

It’s pretty funny-mainly because you can picture it happening. Obama’s campaign has denied having anything to do with it and the author remains in hiding. Wish I had that kind of talent.

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According to Japundit, the US owes a few bucks in rent to Japan…………..

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Working over here in Korea has been smothering interesting to say the least. However, I am constantly reminded that not everywhere has the Cold War ended.

I do all of my work each day in a place called the HTACC, which stands for Hardened Tactical Air Control Center. For anyone who ever did time in Germany or some of the other NATO bases it is reminiscent of the older buildings that one used to find on NATO bases.

The HTACC is buried into a hill here at Osan. Its windowless and has big blast doors that can be closed in case of attack by one of the dear leaders missiles. Thick blast doors. It is also windowless.

The Hardened Theater Air Control Centerat Osan AB is the largest Combined Air Operations Center in the world. The “Hardened” in the HTACC’s designation derives from the 10-foot-thick walls, hence the nickname “Cheyenne Mountain of South Korea.” The Hardened Theater Air Control Center’s Defense Red Switch Network provided superior multi-level, self-authenticating, flexible, secure communications, which enhanced leadership’s command and control effectiveness.

For a picture, go here ( For some reason I could not get it to upload).

The main focus of the building is the operations floor, which looks like every movie you have seen about a Command and Control center. Its darkened and it has a “big board” that shows the air activity over the Korean Penisula. Because the South part of Korea has developed so well, its way too easy to forget that, here, the Korean War never really ended. The two sides agreed to simply stop shooting at one another and came up with some rules to keep from shooting at one another again. However one can never forget that a mere 50 or so miles away-the hordes are there, potentially waiting to try a rematch.

Which to me, is one of the fascinating things about the place. 24/7- Koreans and Americans sit in front of computer screens and watch. They watch for any indication that the “Dear Leader” is going to do something bad. They watch the aircraft come and go through the complex airspace that is Korea.

Probably it was much the same way in Germany during the Cold War. When the big fear was that the Russians would start lobbing shells on the Fulda Gap any day of the week. Now in reality, it’s not quite that easy to start a war here or there, but the analogy still holds. The forces here have to be ready to “Fight tonight”. And more importantly- to make sure the “Dear Leader” knows it.

So every day, the men and women in BDU’s watch their screens. Its been that way for over 50 years. Every time I come here I always think about that.

You know, the United States has not lived under threat of invasion for over a 100 years. Here in Korea, its a reality that, it seems to me, the people here simply shove to the back of their minds and try to forget about. However deep down, they know the danger is still there.

And so, the watchers watch and wait.

Cross posted to the Flight Deck.

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For the next two weeks anyway, Chap found it.

The Glorious Leader can die any time now…………

Check please!

You are 83% ready to get out of Korea

You have them figured out. You know it is a 5,000 year-old shell game and there is no pea. You are already over the hump and can probably remain in Korea indefinitely without any permanent damage. (don’t make fun of the ESL teachers too vociferously because they still buy in to it all)

The “Is It Time To Get Out of Korea?” Quiz
Create MySpace Quizzes

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But its been too hard to get on the Internet. No Internet in the room and the wireless in the lobby is just not working well.

When I finally did get on, I made the mistake of going to Phibian’s place and reading this.

Now I am just too pissed off to blog. YGTBSM.

Tomorrow as Scarlett said is another day.

Why am I pissed off? Well, lets just say I was there and watched this whole mess happen………………………………..

Breathe in, Breathe out………think happy thoughts.

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