Hey Everybody, how's it going?

I’m doing great, I’m back in Okinawa where the weather is a bit warmer. To sum it all up, the training in Korea was pretty miserable, with the exception of a couple of days.

Day 1: Training day one we did rappelling down 120 foot cliffs (Aussie style-face first-is the way to go), rappelling off of rope bridges, and a zip line. At the end of the day the Korean special forces that helped with the training challenged us to a game of soccer, and I took charge of the defense and manned the sweeper position. We saved face for America and we were not beat, however we couldn't beat them either, we tied 3-3. And I blame their 3 goals on rocky terrain with unpredictable ball bounces and us playing in boots while they were in soccer attire.

Day 2: A select group of us went to a handicapped home and did yard work in the morning and at lunch time we were able to serve the residents chow. Once everyone was served we had our turn at a traditional Korean meal. This was a part of our continuous War on Terrorism.

Day 3: We did run throughs for helo ops, and once everything was pieced together we performed a helo mission inside of a canyon.

Day 4: We went to a combined arms range, where fire began with the mortar men and the machine gunners giving suppressive fire on the objective while we moved into position to perform the assault. I was in a support by fire position with my SAW (squad automatic weapon) while the rest of the squad with 16s moved to a covered position. We provided suppressive fire while they fired two AT4 Rockets and two SMAW (shoulder launched multipurpose assault weapon) rockets. The range was pretty motive, lots of rounds and explosions.

Days 5 & 6: We were in the offense and defense. My squad was tasked with performing security/recon patrols for the company, and then later my platoon ambushed LAR (light armored reconnaissance). That night we set in on the defense and stood post every other hour, while only wearing warming layers and a poncho liner. That morning we stepped off for a movement along a ridgeline to move into position to assault Kilo Co (battery). The hike was intense, and the attack was anticlimactic compared to the hike. We finished up with the training that night. We got snowed on twice during the raining and during the hike it rained on us. We were pretty miserable for a good portion of the training, but at the same time we had to sit back and remember all of those men to serve before us that fought in the Korean War. Our training was nothing compared to what they had to complete.

After all of the training we had two days of libo- sight seeing, shopping, and eating "traditional" Korean meals. The first day we were in Pohang and the second day we went on a special trip to Ohan, which was nice because it got us away from the everyone, plus we were a little bit further inland.

Tomorrow we are doing our qualifications as a boat raid company. That will consist of a couple of late, cold, exhausting nights but once we are finished we will be considered Special Operations Capable.

It will be a while before we take off for Thailand, I will try and post some updates in between now and then. Take care everyone,

*Sorry I couldn't get this post up here any earlier.  The internet connection went down after I got the pictures up, and I wasn't able to finish before we left for the special operations qualification.  We did the qual and we passed with flying colors.

 

Hola, como estan?

Estoy fantastico, volvi a Okinawa al donde la temperatura esta mas caliente. El entrenamiento que nos hicimos en Korea fue miserable, aparte de dos dias.

Dia 1: El primer dia que entrenamos nos hicimos rappelling de 40 metros (El estilo Aussie-cara primera-esta el mejor), rappelling con un puente, y un zip line. Cuando nos terminamos con el entrenamiento por el dia los marines de Korea nos invitaron a un partido de futbol, y yo estuve en la defensa. El partido se termino 3 a 3, pero ellos tenian la ventaje porque ellos tenian zapatos de futbol mientras que nosotros tuvimos botas.

Dia 2: Un grupo de 40 personas fuimos a una casa para personas con problemas fisical y mental. Nos hicimos trabajo afuera del edeficio y ayudamos preparar almuerzo y cuando los residentes terminaron almuerzo nos comimos un almuerzo traditional de Korea. Esto fue parte de la nueva guerra contra terrorismo.

Dia 3: Nos practicamos para helicopters y cuando todo estaba preparado nos cumplimos un mision en un canyon.

Dia 4: (Disculpe, me cuesta traducir esta parte porque no se palabras del militario en espanol). Basicalmente nosotros fuimos a una montana al donde usamos las armas diferentes.

Dia 5 y 6: Estos dos dias fueron la ofensa y defensa. Mi equipo tenia que caminar por el bosque acerca del campo buscando por el enemigo, y despues nos atacamos la compania LAR. Durante la noche estuvimos en la defensia. Entre dos personas ellos tenian que despertarse cada otra hora para estar listo si alguien iba a atacarnos durante la noche. La manana siguiente nos fuimos camindando en las montantas buscando para el enemigo (y habia bastante lluvia durante este movemiento). Tambien habia nieve dos otros veces. Estuvimos en malas condiciones durante el entrenamiento.

Despues del entrenamiento tuvimos dos dias libres para salir. Ahi nos fuimos explorando, comprando, y comiendo comida de Korea. Tuvimos mucha suerte porque habia mucho sol estes dos dias. El primer dia studios en Pohang y el segundo dia nos fuimos en un viaje especial a la ciudad Osan.

Manana empezamos con los examenes para los ataques con los barcos, lo que significaria noches largas, frias, y consadas pero cuando nos terminamos seramos capable de operaciones specials.

No nos salimos para Tailandia por unas semanas asique intentar a escribir mas ante que nos vamos. Chau, nos vemos,

Hunter Smith

 

*Disculpame que no pude poner este blog en la pagina mas temprano, no podia hacerlo antes del examinacion con los ataques de los barcos.  Terminamos el examen y nos fue barbaro.

Hey everyone, in less than 24 hours I will be on boat heading to South Korea!  I'm pretty excited, I never thought that I would end up there.  We should only be there for a couple of weeks, training with the South Koreans and once all the work is done we get to play for a couple of days.  I will have some new pictures up as soon as I get back.  Things have been going pretty good lately.  I've been enjoying myself, having a good time, and not hating life.  At times things can get pretty depressing while in the military, but I left the Philippines pretty motovated and excited about what we were doing.  Also, I am halfway done with this deployment and I can't wait to get back home to California.  Not much else to say, it's getting late and I have a busy day ahead of me tomorrow.  I look forward to hearing from you guys, and I hope everything is going well.  Take care,

 

Como andan?  En menos de 24 horas voy a estar en el barco viajando a Korea del Sur.  Estoy muy anxioso, nunca pense que iba a llegar ahi.  Solamente vamos a estar ahi por dos semanas, entreniendo con el ejercitio y cuando terminamos con todo del trabajo podremos jugar por dos dias.  Voy a tener fotos nuevas cuando regreso.  Las cosas andan mas que bien ultimamente.  Estoy disfrutando la vida, y no odio mi trabajo y mi vida.  Es muy comun para estar deprimido mientras que estas en el ejercito pero cuando sali de las filipinas estaba muy contento y feliz con lo que hicimos ahi.  Tambien me queda 3 meses hasta que vuelvo a California, y no puedo esperar.  No tengo mas novedades para contarles, esta muy tarde y voy a estar muy ocupado manana.  Espero noticias suyas y ojala que estan todo bien.  Cuidense,

 

Hunter

We have finally finished!  The school building has been built and the medical attention has been given to those who were seeking it.  Now we find ourselves breaking down the base camp and preparing to head off on ship.  They will be keeping the Marines here a few more days to provide security while everyone leaves and so in a couple of days we will be leaving this country.  From here we will head to Saspo (?), Japan for a few days of (needed) libo.  Then back on ship to continue with our training. 

I just wanted to get another post up before getting back on ship- its a lot harder to get online while aboard.  I also have a few links at the bottom of this post so anyone who wants can read up on what the media has said about what we've been doing. 

Gonna go, I'll write to you guys when I can,

 

 

About the school:  http://www.apan-info.net/balikatan/fullstory.asp?id=93

About the IED:      http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/storypage.aspx?StoryId=30378

 

Ya nos terminamos!  Construimos el edificio de la escuela ha construido y dimos atencion medical a los que la buscaban.  Ahora nos encontramos limpiando el base y preperandonos a volver al barco.  Los Marines van a quedar acai un par de dias para mantener seguridad mientras los ademas  salgan entonces en un par de dias vamos a salir de este pais.  Desde aqui nos vamos a Saspo (?), Japon para unos dias de vacaciones (los necesitamos)  Despues volvemos al barco para seguir con nuestro entrenamiento.

Solamente queria poner un nuevo blog en la pagina antes que volvemos al barco- es mas dificil a conectar cuando estamos ahi.  Tambien tengo dos paginas para la gente que quiere leer lo que dice las noticias sobre nuestros proyectos y la bomba.

Ya me voy, escribire cuando puedo,

 

Hunter R. Smith

 

 

La Bomba:            http://mx.news.yahoo.com/060219/8/1mftv.html

Hey Everyone,

I am still here in the Philippines taking a part in Balikatan 2006.  We are busy building a school in Jolo City, and hopefully we will be finished in a couple of days.  Once we finish they may send us to Leiti Island to help with the mudslides.  I don't know if you saw it on the news, but a building right outside of our main gates was hit by an IED.  No US Troops were injured.  After it happened we were told to gear up and form up ready to go outside to where it happened, but we were told to stand down because this is not our fight.  The grand majority of the people want us here, but there is a small percentage that wants us out of the Philippines.

Still no new pictures.  I didn't bring my cable to put my pictures on the computer because I thought we would be roughing it, but we have had it pretty easy.  I will put them online as soon as I can.  Also, I created a new email account and I will be posting it here for your reference.  More news to come, take care.

 

Como andan?

Todavia estoy en las Filipinas ayudando con Balikatan 2006.  Estamoy ocupados construiendo una escuela en Jolo City y con suerte terminaremos en un par de dias.  Cuando nos terminamos capaz que nos mandaran a Leiti Island para ayudar con "la diapositiva del fango."  No se si lo vieron en las noticias, pero un edificio afuera de las puertas principales fue destruido por una bomba.  Ningun norteamericano era herido.  Despues nos pusimos nuestro equipo y nos preparamos para ir al donde paso, pero nos dijeron que no era nuestra lucha.  La gran mayoridad de la gente nos quiere aqui pero hay un porcentaje pequeno que nos quiere afuera del pais.

Todavia no tengo fotos nuevas.  No traje mi cable para mi camera porque pense que ibamos a vivir muy simple pero no era el caso.  Los bajare cuando puedo.  Tambien tengo una nueva direccion del mail y lo voy a poner aqui para su referencia.  Mas noticias vienen, cuidense.

 

Hunter R. Smith

 

I am very surprised to be writing to everyone from the Phillippines.  We were told that we were leaving straight from Guam to the Phillippine Islands to continue training with no time off for a few weeks, but things changed (like they always do).

It was an adventure getting here.  We thought we would be taking a military plane but they took us to the Guam International Airport and we started to check in for our flights.  Our packs were too heavy to be checked in so we had to remove some of our equipment from the packs and put it into plastic bags.  Once we arrived in Manila we passed through immigration and lined up outside of the airport to wait for our buses to show up.  We hated waiting for the transportation to show up because we felt like such an easy target for a terrorist group to do a driveby shooting on us while we were unarmed (which is funny because I never worried about such things when I travelled as a civilian).  As every car slowly passed our hearts began to race in expectation of the worse only to take a deep breath as they continued through sparing our lives. 

After about 45 minutes of waiting two travel buses showed up and we loaded 15 people on each bus.  We pulled away from the airport and we drove through congested streets with sidewalks overflowing with people.  The locals saw us on the bus and all waved to us, easing our earlier anxieties of possible danger. 

We continued driving for a few hours and came to where we were staying for the night.  Around noon today we moved to a resort where we are staying in two bedroom rooms.  We will be here for a few days, and to pass the time we can go play golf, basketball, or go to the waterpark just a couple hundred yards away from our front door.

So....my first few days in the PI have definately been different than expected.  It's too bad we couldn't get a couple days off in Manila, maybe some other time as a civilian.  Anyways, I will be enjoying the next couple of days off.  Once we do began working again it may be mid-March before I can do any more blogs.  Take care everyone and I will write as soon as I can.

 

Estoy muy sorprendido que estoy escribiendo desde los Phillippines.  Nos dijimos que ibamos a viajar a los Phillippines desde Guam para seguir entreniendo para un par de semanas sin tiempo libre, pero se cambio la programa (como siempre).

Fue una aventura viajando.  Pensamos que ibamos a volar en un avion militario pero no llevamos al aeropuerto internacional de Guam y fuimos a recibir nuestros boletos.  Nuestros mochilas pesaron demasiado entonces tuvimos que sacar algunas cosas y ponerlos en bolsas plasticas.  Cuando nos llegamos a Manila pasamos a imigracion y estabamos esperando nuestros autobuses en la esquina.  Odiamos esperando para los autobuses porque sentimos como blancos para un attaque terrorista mientras que no tuvimos una manera para defendernos (nunca senti asi cuando estaba viajando solo).  Mientras que cada auto nos paso lentamente nuestros corazones comenzaron a competir con la expectacion del peor solamente para tomar una respiracion profunda cuando los autos siguieron en paz.

Despues de esperando por 45 minutos nuestros autobuses llegaron y habia 15 personas en cada bus.  Nos salimos del aeropuerto y nos fuimos por las calles llena de autos y gente. Nos seguimos manejando por unas horas y nos llegamos a  nuestro base al donde nos pasaron el noche. Y hoy al mediodia nos trajieron a un resort al donde pondemos judar golf, basquetball, y irnos a un parque de agua.

Entonces...mis primeras dias en los phillippines son muy diferentes comparado a como nos dijeron iban a ser. Que pena que no podria pasar unos dias en el capital, Manila, capaz otra dia cuando no estoy en los Marines.  Bueno, voy a estar disfrutando mis dias libres.  Cuando nos empazamos a trabajar puede ser el marzo cuando tendre la oportunidad para hacer mas blogs.  Ojala que estan bien, cuidanse!  Chau

Hunter R. Smith

Whatsup?  Well I've got news for everyone, I'm taking off a lot sooner than expected.  Sunday night we got word that we were leaving for Okinawa Sunday the fourth.  However, this morning it was changed and we are now leaving Wednesday night.  We are all busy getting ready to leave in a couple of days and we will be just as busy whenever we arrive in Japan.  Hopefully by the weekend I will be able to let everyone know what it's like over there.  Talk to you soon.

 

Como andan?  Pues tengo noticias para todos, salgo mas temprano.  Domingo a la noche nos dijeron que vamos a salir por Okinawa domingo el cuatro de diciembre.  Sin embargo, esta manana fue cambiado y ahora nos salimos el miercoles a la noche.  Estamos muy ocupados preperandonos a salir en un par de dias y vamos a estar ocupado cuando llegamos a Japon.  Esperanzadamente por el fin de semana podria avisarles como esta ahi este fin de semana.  Nos hablamos pronto.

 

Hunter