Tag: FRIENDS

My first impressions of a war zone were filled with myths and innuendos. The tales of insurgent fighters running through the Middle East is something that reads like a movie screenplay. Action packed films like Lawrence of Arabia, Platoon and Hurt Locker depict good guys fighting bad guys in distant lands was imprinted in my mind. The chance to fight for your country and execute years of training is a Warrior’s dream. The worlds’ wars have changed since September 11, 2001. Failed states and insurgent forces dominant foreign policy. Coalitions of military, police, and Non-governmental organizations have put aside their differences to defend democracy in Afghanistan. For nearly a year, I eat, sleep, and live with coalition military, police, and civilians on a 24 hour basis.

Our office is bustling with many different languages and uniforms, but we share common values. Many of my colleagues have served in Africa, Kosovo, Bosnia, Iraq, and South America. Our many conversations are thought provoking, educational, funny, and sometimes heated. Jean-Marc, Xavier, Jens, Edwin, Henk, Dennis, Luc, Paul, Peter, Mathias Finn and Allan are my brothers from France, Germany, Canada, The Netherlands, Ireland, Sweden, United Kingdom and Denmark whose friendships I will cherish for eternity. My first experience with Multi-Coalition Forces has influenced my friendships and family relationships.

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My name is Genevieve Chase and I'm a proud member of the United States Army Reserve. I was born in Fort Campbell, Kentucky so I like to tell people that I did 18 years of involuntary service as a dependent to a service member, prior to my enlistment at the age of 25. In high school, Iwas a member of the Junior Reserve Officers' Training Corps and competed in Rifle, Pistol and Color Guard competitions.

Having been born to a Korean mother and attending high school at Seoul American High School at Yongsan Garrison in South Korea, I knew all too well what many people take for granted, that "Freedom is not free." I always honored in my heart, the American strangers that went to Korea just over 50 years ago and fought for"... A country they never knew and a people they never met." I know that without their sacrifices, I would not be who and where I am today.

I didn't join the military after high school. I didn't think I'd need to because our country wasn't at war. I knew if I ever heard the call to serve, I could do so when the time came. I also wondered if my upbringing had too heavily influenced my goals. I wasn't sure what I wanted to be when I grew up. So I took a break from military life and ventured out into what we call civilian or "normal" life.

When 9/11 happened, I knew beyond all doubts, that our country was going to war but I didn't sign upright away. I had just started a career as a Realtor and was making a lucrative living for a single woman in her early 20's.

But I couldn't ignore the war for long. One by one, my childhood friends were joining and deploying. To add to all that was troubling me, I realized that making a lot of money really wasn't very fun. I worked such long hours that I rarely was able to spend time with friends and family and when I could manage some time, I was never really there... I was always at work in my head. Money and being a workaholic was not fulfilling and I felt like my life had no purpose and did nothing to better anyone's life.

After much thought, consideration and research on the two conflicts, I decided in February of 2003, to enlist into the Army Reserve and go to Afghanistan. I chose the Army Reserve because I knew all-too-well what Army life could be like. I knew the military bases I could be stationed at, the assignments I might be given and that I would have no say or input. I would be used with respect to the "needs of the Army."

I also made goals. I thought about where I wanted to be in 10 years and I considered what it would take to get there. For the career I wanted in the intelligence field, I needed 1) a foreign language, 2) a college degree and 3) a deployment/experience in the intelligence field. I also knew I wanted to move to Washington D.C. because not only was that where all of the intel jobs are, but for an Army brat, it was the home of the government of the United States. I thought it would be the one place where I could feel as if I was truly "home."

The Army Reserve has been amazing and life-changing. I've managed my career, traveled the world, used tuition assistance, become a better leader, tested my strengths and pushed myself beyond all that I thought possible. More than anything, I've learned from, worked with and built friendships with people I would never have had the opportunity to.
There's so much more but the best part about all of this? ...At the end of the day,when training and missions are complete, I get to come back to MY home.

It's not an easy job and it's not meant for everyone, but it was and is the best decision I've made for myself. I'm proud of my service and I'm very much looking forward to sharing my experiences and this honor of service, with all of you.

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Leave time has been great. I can't say enough how great it is to spend time with family and friends. I think this is the first time I've been able to spend an entire 30 days at home between assignments. The only down side has been figuring out what to do with so much time. Everyone keeps telling me that doing nothing is the point... and I get that... but it WAS a bit challenging to go from running 100mph to idle overnight. But, as I said it has been fun. The trip to Disney World was terrific, aside from me coming down with a cold about the third day. Seeing the nephews' reaction to that place was, well... magical. I'm really glad we did that as a family. Christmas and New Years were also great. I had the rare opportunity to see my sister and brother-in-law out on a real date, something I'll always cherish.

Let's see what else... I've been able to catch up with two old friends. One gal I haven't seen in over 13 years named Jennifer and my old buddy Josh who I haven't seen in about five. Interestingly, Josh is a local morning talk show personality and as I write this I have just arrived back home from being on the morning show with him. It was a great experience to see how a morning radio show runs and I was even invited to talk a little bit about the Army and my experiences. Everyone seems intrigued at what I am doing, which is funny because I just consider it all to be very normal stuff. In reality I know that what I've done and what I will be doing are very much NOT usual things, and I am very lucky to be given such great opportunities. I just try to keep a very humble attitude about it.

Oh... I've FINALLY been approved to retake the DLPT, which I will do this week. I have been putting time into keeping up on my language skills, and I hope it has been enough. I really want to show up for ICT having met the standards of the previous course. I know my language skills are more than sufficient out on the street... it's just the satisfaction of having the paper to prove it that is eating at me.

Here's a couple of photos from the last few weeks:

Disney sure knows how to spruce things up for the holidays!

In full New Years party regalia... no further comment needed I think.

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The Field Band has been out on the road quite a bit this month for Summer Tour. We played some really nice concerts and the weather has been fabulous, which is good because many of the gigs were outdoors.  This first picture is from Boardman, Ohio on July 3rd. Lots of sweet fireworks after the show. 

Our 4th of July was spent in Pittsburgh, PA at a huge celebration on the Allegheny River. This was one of the largest and most challenging set-ups I've seen yet. There was an extremely small stage at the edge of the bank that was way too small for the band. We had a fun time squeezing all the chairs, stands, and audio equipment up there. Then we added all the people and instruments. My chair was about five inches from the edge of a good drop. To make things even more interesting, the Soldier's Chorus and Percussion section were on an actual Corp of Engineers barge that was floating in the river behind the stage. Things got wobbly when the speedboat races started and the barge started rocking. Despite the logistical challenges, this was a fun concert. The crowd was huge and we played right up until the fireworks began. Great way to celebrate America's B-day!

Here I am posing with some American Legion guys before a concert in New York.

My little brother, the 2nd LT, got married on June 27th. I was able to fly out to attend the ceremony in Houston and then meet up with the band on tour. 

Some of most memorable moments of tour occur after our work for the day is complete and we get to explore the interesting small towns we end up in. Here is fellow soldier, SSG Brendan Curran, attempting to demolish the 2lb burger challenge at Denny's Beer Barrel Pub in Clearfield, PA. Seeing as the burger was loaded with a ridiculous number of toppings, was as big as his head, and weighed over 5lbs once fully cooked and dressed, we didn't give him TOO hard of a time when he had to gracefully bow out at the end. At least his meat sweat and shakes at the end proved he had given it his all. 

At the moment we are on leave before the second phase of Summer Tour starts up again. I'm enjoying the time off in Colorado and Texas with some hiking and brew pub tours. 

Here I am savoring the sweet flavors at O'Dells. 

Gotta love the domesticated wildlife! 

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I thought I'd post some highlights from the past month or so. Our unit's schedule is a little different. We are on TDY a little over 100 days out of they year. That's when we do our main tours and travel all over the country. Right now we are in the middle of our "off-season" before we head out on Summer tour. We've been keeping quite busy with rehearsals and some pretty unique performances. One of the most poignant was our send-off for Colonel (Ret.)  Finley R. Hamilton at Arlington National Cemetery. Experiencing a full honors funeral is very powerful and getting to be a part of the music was a great honor. This photo was taken by SFC Rob McIver. 

The Field Band has a Chamber Music Series that hosts concerts that feature our members throughout the D.C. area. I had the opportunity to play on one of the most recent recitals. I'm performing the euphonium solo "Pearls." The church that was our concert sponsor was beautiful and was a nice space to play in, acoustically. 

We played a concert in Portsmouth, Virginia about a week ago that was very enjoyable. It's always nice when we go to military communities because the audience enthusiasm is generally phenomenal. I really loved the area. The waterfront was beautiful and there was an incredible German restaurant that a big group of us enjoyed after the concert. 

Here's a shot of the audience in Portsmouth. It was our first outdoors gig of the year and it was pretty warm. Gotta love getting those dressy blue uniforms nice and sweaty! 

This weekend the band's barbershop quartet was invited to sing the national anthem at an Orioles game in Baltimore. Some of us came along for support and had a great time at the game. Nothing like bringing some hooah to the jumbotron. 

Here I am with fellow bandsmen SSG Tracy LaBreque goofing around with the mascot. We are about to go out on Summer Tour in a few weeks and I'll be blogging more frequently from the road. 

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Hello and welcome to my second entry! Keep in mind, my thoughts don’t occur in a vacuum, once I start writing, I might go off on tangents, but I’ll try to keep it organized! I would like to talk about my ROTC experiences and a little bit about my time in the National Guard. I have been in the Guard for 6 years and I have one combat deployment under my belt. The badge that you see on my uniform in my last entry is the CIB. That is the Combat Infantry Badge. It used to be that the badge was awarded to infantry soldiers under direct fire, and returning fire, but the requirements have loosened a bit. Those that serve in a “Combat Zone” such as Iraq or Afghanistan may receive a CIB after their deployment. I actually was under fire during my deployment, which you will hear about in future blogs.

I returned from my deployment in June of 2005. It was probably one of the best summers I can remember. I had plenty of money saved up from the deployment, around $30,000, tax free :), so I didn’t have to find a summer job. It was great to see my family again. We exchanged hugs and wiped off a tear or two. It felt great to be home and with the people that care about me. I could not have done what I did without their constant support. They sent me boxes of goodies, and letters of inspiration. I knew that they had me in their thoughts while I was away, and that helped me get through the tough days.

That summer I caught up with old high school friends and started to apply for college at Minnesota State University Mankato. I really liked the MSU campus. It was a friendly atmosphere, and the buildings had a modern look to them. Once I started going to class, I realized I had made the right decision because I loved my time at school. I was meeting new people and learning new things. It was a great time and I have had many good memories. I am convinced that everyone should be able to experience “college life”, and the National Guard, Army(after being active), or ROTC, is a great avenue of approach to do that. You meet people you never would have, you have a sense of pride for your school, and a sense of belonging to something great, much like the military. And at the same time, if you play your cards right, you should have to pay very little if anything for that great experience. Here is a bit of a breakdown with the following considerations:

11B(Infantry) Qualified

15-month Deployment

Enrolled Full-Time in a qualified College

Enrolled and Contracted in ROTC

Submit a FAFSA

Monthly G.I Bill: $1100 (Because of Veteran Status, the FAFSA is based on your income, not your parents)

Drill Pay: $269 a month (After taxes E-5 pay rate)

ROTC Stipends: ($400-500 a month, depending on what year you are in, I make $500 as a senior)

$1869 a total month

FTA- (Federal Tuition Assistance) $4500 a year (Can be used for all college expenses

STR- (State Tuition Reimbursement) this is from the Guard, and if FTA does not cover any costs, STR picks up the rest. They pay the rate up the to U of M’s tuition.

At the time I did not even think about ROTC. Because I really had no idea what it was. When you are in ROTC, you are considered a “Cadet”. You don’t deploy because technically you are not in the Army yet. You can be in the National Guard still, and a Cadet, but you still will not deploy, because the Army does not want to interrupt your training to become an officer. ROTC is a great path to become an officer, and SMP (Simultaneous Membership Program) is even better. While I obtain the skills and knowledge during my ROTC classes and training, I am able to apply those skills and that knowledge as a leader of a rifle platoon in the National Guard. On top of that, receive all of the fiscal benefits that go along with it.

I am in my senior year of ROTC. That means I have completed the one main requirement of every cadet which is LDAC, The Leadership Development and Assessment Course. I will talk about LDAC in further detail in my next blog. I feel I may be exceeding my word limit soon, so my next blog, I will start off right where I left and begin talking about ROTC in more detail. Hope you can read it!

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Hello all. The last few weeks have had pretty much the same things going on for me except for a few notable items. My last Battle Assembly (BA = also known as Drill to most of us) was all medical processing getting the unit ready for next years mobilization. BORING!!! Especially if it is your 5th one, you have completed it all for the year but still have to sit there and do it all anyway. But a bright spot was we had our annual dining out. We have quite a few people deployed and in schools so it was a bit small, but it was fun and the wife and I had a nice night out in conjunction with it. My wife as usual looked awesome. I on the other hand had a wardrobe malfunction (bow tie clasp broke) so I had to go with a straight tie. Needless to say not the correct one, but try to find one at 7PM on a Saturday and still be on time. Normally I would not have worried, but in addition to my wife to escort, I was assigned to "look-after" a 2 star and his wife for the evening. Luckily they were guests of the Brigade commander and I didn't have much to do and the general was not a small talk kind of guy. He was however a great guest speaker. Overall a good night.

Hopefully all of you guts out there remembered valentines day!! I did (luckily for me) and I did get cards and presents for my wife. I got her a rain chain and candles she wanted. I will send pictures of the rain chain once I put it up. It is easier to show than explain.

My wife got me a new leatherman multi-tool to replace one that was stolen from me at work. That was an awesome gift because I use it almost daily.

Our really close friends Belia and Adam had their first baby!! Congratulations to them!! Cute little boy named Peyton. I had forgotten how little babies were!! Take a look at how small his foot is compared to my wife. I wish they would stay that small sometimes.

I am off to Wisconsin next week for the Mobilization Planners Course. Not a big deal, except that I live in Texas, I like wearing a t-shirt and shorts in Feb!! I don't think I own enough clothes to survive 2 weeks up there!! Wish me luck.

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I live in a relatively small town (less than 20,000), The current mayor lives about a block away and the only other and former mayor lives 3 blocks down the other way. Now why is this important you might ask? Well, it is because when you live in a small town (and this is a story for those of you who don't) people tend to know you even if you don't know them. Could be they know your face, your car, your kids but in a small town, everyone knows everyone in one way or another.

Anyway, last Tuesday night, I came home from work about 7PM, nothing unusual, wife was just getting over a cold and was in bed, my daughter was in her room watching TV and my son was in his room suffering from allergies and asleep, it was downright cold outside, wind was blowing and I had the house closed up and the lights were all out. Around 8PM my door bell rings. This is odd because we were not expecting anyone, the house was dark (mostly) and it was really cold and dark outside. So I turn on the lights and looks through the glass and there is this kid about 17 years old standing outside looking a bit cold and unsure of himself. So I open the door and ask what I can help him with. He starts this long story about how he has seen my Jeeps and that he really like them and how cool they are and that he could really use my help. "Help with what" I ask and he then tells me that he had been out in his Jeep playing around (and being dumb - his words not mine) and that he was stuck in a ditch about 2 blocks away.

I was a bit sceptical about where and how stuck, but the ton of desperation and the look of "I am soooo deep in trouble if I don't get home soon" was too much so I told him to wait outside, told my wife what was going on and aired up my tires, grabbed some straps (in case th winch was not going to cooperate) and took off to help this young man.

Lo and behold, he really was only 2 blocks away, which was funny because the ditch he was in was all grass and bone dry but right in an alley between two subdivisions. He is lucky no one called the police. But he was stuck. He had an old 80 Jeep Grand Cherokee (big full size Jeep - he got in on e-bay for $800 and is fixing it up nicely by the way) and he had it tail down and nose up at about 50 degrees. He did mention he had a 3 inch lift (but I did not tell him that it is useless if you 1. have street tires and 2. you forget to put it in 4wheel drive.)

Need less to say I did not rag on him too much because he told me about 20 time how dumb he felt and that he was really sorry to have me out in the cold. So I put my jeep into 4wd low and pulled him out in less time than it probably took to hook up a strap.

I told him don't worry about it, it happens to every off-roader eventually, but never go "off road" - even in you own neighborhood - without someone you know is near by (preferably someone you know) and never go without a second vehicle.

Well Zack informed me that he only lived a block down from me and that anytime I wanted I could come by and say hello and that he would like to pay me for helping him since he had just gotten paid from his part-time job. I told him thanks, but no thanks and just to be more careful and take a buddy along next time he went out to play.

I do like living in a small town, where a stranger, just because they know you are there will come up and ask for help and not be afraid of trying. Who knows, maybe next time I am out off-roading one of the gated communities Zack may have to come pull me out!

It should happen more often in more places.

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As I sat at my desk at work today and sipped my coffee, my mind went back the memories of AIT.  I thought about going on break from the classroom and meeting up with all my Blue Falcon buddies for a few minutes.  I remembered how we would congregate together, taking jabs at one another but all in good fun.  I remember standing out on the patio area and looking at the mountains to the right of us and across the valley to the left.  I can’t help but smile to myself thinking of my wonderful friends and how much they mean to me.  I remember the symbology lessons that seemed to take forever but I always looked forward to those 10 minute breaks where I would run into Madel, Piercey, Maz, Acosta, Jones, Moore, and Ras.  
 
I believe in the idea of soul mates as people that serve a purpose in your life.  For some reason, my Blue Falcons came into my life to make it better.  Those memories every once in awhile come to the forefront of my mind to remind me of how good people can be to one another.  I love them dearly for how often they made me laugh and the eternal smile they keep on my face.

I remember marching to lunchtime chow with Piercey and Ras in the squad next to mine.  They would sing the dirtiest cadence possible just to make laugh.  I miss sitting in the DFAC with all of them, joking about God knows what, swapping complaints about the Arizona heat, and contemplating the upcoming antics that would take place that weekend.

I remember spending a Saturday at the post golf course, drunkenly swerving the golf carts every which way, throwing the other’s golf ball when he wasn’t looking, enjoying one another’s company.  I miss them because of these memories.  I will never have those kinds of people in my life again.  They are the only ones that get the Blue Falcon salute and inappropriate references to the front leaning rest position as a punishment for bad bowling technique.
 
I know Acosta is in the Reserves out of San Diego, currently serving a tour in Afghanistan.  I was fortunate enough to visit her in California last March before she left.  Madel is in the Wisconsin National Guard, preparing to ship to Iraq in May.  Jones is active duty out of Fort Hood, currently serving a tour in the ‘Ghan as well.  I was lucky enough to see Maz while he was in Houston on leave; he just left South Korea for a new assignment at Fort Hood.  Piercey is in the Montana National Guard and just had a new baby boy.  Moore is stationed at Fort Drum but serving in Iraq.  And Ras is active duty out of Fort Drum as well, currently serving a tour in Iraq.  I miss my battles more than they know.  I am so proud of them and hope that one day we can all get together again, do that Blue Falcon salute, and laugh about the old times.

Hooah to my Falcons!

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I mentioned earlier that I hung out with the Air Force last week.  Well, as it turns out, the Coast Guard was having some sort of aviation conference at the same time, in the same place, and I ran into two guys I went to West Point with. 

In fact, the three of us had all been on the swim team there and had all become (at one time) Army helicopter pilots.  Corey and Bryon both left the Army after a few years and joined the Coast Guard, and I hadn't seen either of them in something like 8 years!  They are loving life, enjoying the change in attitude (culture) that comes with making that kind of switch, and are completely satisfied with their choice.  It was really surprising - and completely coincidental - to run into them in passing at the convention center; just another demonstration of how small the world is sometimes.

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