While there may be perks to doing a tour in Korea, there are definitely some down sides. One of those down sides is that with some of the more unique units, the higher headquarters is in the States. That is the case with my unit, above our brigade the hierarchy lands next near Washington D.C. While there is sometimes a benefit to being distant from your higher command (or from the “flag pole”), when it comes to meetings, it’s a bummer. Since the higher headquarters has the higher rank, they have the meetings when it is convenient for them which means, if you’re on the other side of the world (like 15 hours ahead), the time for the meeting falls in the middle of the night.

I just completed my first VTC (Video Tele-Conference) with our higher headquarters which began at 0930 for them but was 2230 for us. By the time it wrapped up and I walked back to my room, it was after 0100. And what else? There’s still work in the morning! I can skip the 0630 PT formation, but by 0900 I’ll be back at it.

At least it’s only a year…

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