Tag: LIFE

For about the 9,000th time in my young, robust, military life, I woke up this sub-freezing morning in the total darkness and noiselessly, deftly, slipped into my standard Army black running shorts, Army gray shirt, Army jacket and Army wool watch cap. Gliding out the door I broke into my ritual pace, watching anew the world wake up to that big ball of glorious fire breaking free of the distant eastern horizon and climb upward to fill the heavens with light. On and on I ran, breathing deeply the crisp, frozen, morning air of the heartland of America, counting every stride as a blessing from above for all the wonderful gifts that fill my life.

One more day of a marvelous adventure rolled into one lifetime; 25 years from the rank of private thru lieutenant colonel, of being a protector of my beloved Family, my cherished Freedom, the US Constitution, the Great State of Texas, and my God-given United States of America.

What an honor for me, to be a Soldier and to stand and defend those things I value above life itself, especially in a day when it is encouraged by some to degrade America for what they liberally call our "self-inflicted wounds" which they blithely claim we caused by our supposed invitations to be hated and attacked in the modern world.
 

And now to stand between the radical Islamic America-haters and my family....my soul rumbles for the fight that a few misguided souls dare to perpetrate upon my family, my freedoms and my Homeland, even after 9 years of global warfare against these “kill-everyone-in-our-path” purported “holy warriors” who defiantly call me and my America “the Great Satan” while in their holy crusade they murder and butcher hundreds of thousands of innocent street-walking women, children and elderly of their own Muslim family, and justify it all in a feeble attempt to place the suicide psycho-kamikaze bomber in paradise via a misapplication of the Holy Koran (The Cave 18:31, “These it is for whom are gardens of perpetuity beneath which rivers flow, ornaments shall be given to them therein of bracelets of gold, and they shall wear green robes of fine silk and thick silk brocade interwoven with gold, reclining therein on raised couches.”) .

No, these shall have the other reward promised them in the Koran, where Muhammad taught in the sura called The Dinner Table, 5:33, “The punishment of those who …strive to make mischief in the land is only this, that they should …[have] their hands and their feet cut off… as a disgrace for them in this world, and in the hereafter they shall have a grievous chastisement”.

There are many good principles taught by Muhammad in the Koran (which I have read slowly in entirety and studied and cross-referenced to my Holy Bible), and I am 100% with him when he lays out the true end of those who massacre and slaughter their own people in the name of God….the God of Ibrahim, Ismail, Ishaq and Yaqoub.

I too easily see America's failings, but her strengths so completely engulf the global landscape of recorded human existence on this planet, that I perceive only a timorous, paltry soul that cannot see the vastness of her great goodness, the genius of her governance (200 years from the lowly status of global rejects and outcasts to sole super-power and a stunning $14.3 trillion economy...exceeding the top three other national economies combined, and with only 300 million people compared to 1.2 and 1.3 billion citizens in India and China!) and the magnificence of her generous people (think of over $774 million in voluntary, freely-given relief donations to Haiti from American families in Jan-Feb) . This is no accident. America and our freedom-centric, self-sufficient way of life, combined with a deep spiritual awareness and gratitude for just what a sacred treasure of freedom we have been given, has produced the American Miracle. I am grateful today to be a Soldier, to protect Her and keep Her safe with my life.

And so it is with all Soldiers, who knowingly risk their lives, for myriads of additional great reasons, to wake up and run with me each morning, all across this Land and wherever they are currently serving far across the globe.

Good morning America! Run with me again tomorrow, and let's keep watching that sunshine do her magic every new dawning (although a little less solar irradiance would help my anthropomorphic, carbon-fixated peers to ease on the hysteria and fear-mongering and run with a lot less stress in their lives when they no longer fear to exhale that dreaded CO2 which forms approximately 0.04% of the nominal 5,000,000 gigatonnes of gas and aerosols that comprise the earth’s atmosphere and is so vitally essential for our symbiotic plant life photosynthesis).

Whew, how was that for a military-allowed “yard sign and bumper sticker” voice on a non-political blog?

God Bless You America. I am so grateful to be one who stands as a sentinel each day the sun rises on your majestic shores. Let’s run toward the East just as the sun breaks forth tomorrow.  I'll see you first light.
 

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Hi again, in my third blog I talked about my wife and I adopting a 12 year old young lady. On June 21st my wife flew up to the state of Washington to pick her up and bring her back home to South Carolina. My wife arrived in Seattle at about 11am and she picked our daughter up that afternoon. The lady from the adoption agency came by the hotel that evening to give us all of the appropriate paperwork such as the letter stating that our daughter was being placed in our home, the court papers saying the same thing and some other information. My wife and daughter flew back to South Carolina the next day and I picked them up from the airport. It was a great day and it was nice to see them come off the plane, our daughter was finally home. I off course took a week’s leave so we could get her settled into the house and family. We took her to post to get her enrolled into DEERS, TRICARE, and the hospital. After doing all of that, we took her to the zoo and the Carowinds which is an amusement park/water park on the border of North Carolina and South Carolina. She is adjusting well to our family and we are very grateful and blessed to have her as part of our family. Until next time, take care.

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While on leave you start to notice things that you miss while working around your natural environment (Army posts) and because of your tempo. What I noticed that the American public is proud of their military and specifically their Army. Visited plenty of homes while on leave where patriotism is strong; homes with red, white, and blue throughout the home, flags hanging outside/inside but more important plenty of pictures of sons and daughters currently serving around the globe. America’s Army has a proud and distinctive tradition of getting the job done. Each home has many stories of their Soldiers doing the impossible, transforming themselves and team members into warriors as well as being proud of their country and fellow comrades. We should be proud back, as Americas’ Moms, Dads, Family and Friends provide the means for us to serve and are proud of our work. Additionally provide the opportunities so success can happen. If you think we are not constantly on the hearts and minds of many, think again. Not only does America think about their son and daughter whether they have them or not, they tend to think about of his/her comrades at the same time as they know the Army is built on team-work in order to get the job done. ARMY STRONG now and in the future!

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It is sometimes hard to believe that this is actually my life. I am a commander of troops. Wow. Over the last year my focus has been generating a brand new Network Support Company (Go Cougs!) while simultaneously getting them ready for war. It is my job, in conjunction with my awesome First Sergeant, to ensure they have the technical training they need to accomplish our mission and the tactical training they need to bring them home safely from Iraq. It is an awesome responsibility and a far cry from ruffian I once was.

This blog will be about my experience getting my company ready for deployment and our adventures there, but first a very brief bio.

My mother is a Swede whose father owned a farm smack dab in the middle of the White Earth Reservation in Northern Minnesota. My biological father was a Soldier and gave me my Korean heritage but it was my step-father, a Native American from White Earth, who raised me as his daughter, along with two brothers and four sisters. We grew up with polkas and pow-wows. Those two combined cultures gave us the ability to find joy and amusement in just about any situation and taught me a respect and love for simple things. These traits have served me well in my 15 years in the Army.

I didn’t grow up on the rez, rather on the fringes of it. Yet, during the early years my family depended on the rez resources to get along. Every time I stand in line at the DFAC it reminds me of standing in line at a decrepit warehouse waiting for our share of the commodities. I hated it then, but it makes me smile now, knowing how far my family has come and knowing that it was that strength that pushed me to be the Soldier I am today.

My mom always pushed me to become educated. I was lucky enough to attend a fairly progressive school and have been playing with computers since I was five. During high school I was given free reign by a great teacher to “play” with them all I wanted, as long as I could fix what I broke. I was teased often for being a geek but now the Army pays me to be a geek and has given me an entire company of like-minded people to serve beside. Talk about the circle of life.

My Army timeline is:
March 1994 – Enlisted in the MN ARNG as a 31F
-Basic training at Fort Jackson, SC
Sep 1996-May 2000 – MN ARNG and Moorhead State University
May 2000 – Commissioned on Active Duty
2001-2002 – XO in Korea
2002-2005- XO, Space Ops Officer
- deployed to Kuwait ISO First Marine Expeditionary Force
2005- present – Fort Lewis
BDE S1, MI BN S6, MI BDE S6, NSC Commander
-deployed to Iraq, getting ready to go again

It has been a long journey (15 years) but I’ve finally landed the best job in the Army. As a commander your only job is to make the people around you great. Sure, a lot of late nights and headaches (not to mention extremely long meetings) go into it, but overall it’s pretty awesome. Welcome to my journey as a commander of troops preparing for combat.

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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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First, thanks for reading the blog and congratulations on starting law school this year. It’s going to be a fun, challenging time and my most basic advice is to really enjoy it! Push yourself to try/learn new things, find subjects and activities you enjoy, and use this time to get better-connected with your wife, family, friends, and peers. Three years will absolutely fly by. 

Ok, now to (what I hope is) the more useful advice – or, the basic advice in context.

1.  Beyond your core curriculum, take classes you’re interested in. Don’t take classes you really couldn’t care less about just because you think you should or because they might be a bar exam subject. (I learned this lesson the hard way with Corporations.) Taking classes you are interested means you’re more likely to do the reading, pay attention, give the material some real thought, and just plain try harder. End result: you’ll have more fun (see basic advice above) and your grades will likely be better. One of my favorite classes at law school was Admiralty Law – yes, the law of the sea! It was completely unrelated to my current practice, but I was interested and I enjoyed spending the time to do the reading and think about what was going on in class. (And I did far better on the exam than I did in Corporations.) By the way, if you’re worried about the bar, I recommend a bar prep class after you graduate. BarBri, Piper, and others are in business (and making money) for a reason; spending the cash will be worth it – to either give you what you need to know or to build your confidence enough that you actually use the knowledge you spend all that time/money at law school to cram into your head.
2. Do more than just go to class. Certainly for the JAG Corps (and probably for many other businesses, firms, organizations, etc.), a strong applicant has more than just grades on their resume. You should get involved with your law school and/or your community. You don’t have to do everything and join every group at school, but do something. Find something you enjoy and spend a little time outside of class and studies pursuing it. This can be tough with family commitments (and a new baby) at home, but see what you can do. You’ll be able to add a little personality to your resume and will just be a more well-rounded person when this is all over. 
3. Don’t take it all too seriously. Go to class, do your homework, do some volunteer/school club time, and then make sure you spend time with your family and with your friends. Don’t talk about US v. Name That Case every time you get together with your peers at school. Make connections that are more than book-deep. Take a little time off here and there. Go out. Have a beer. Relax.
4. Stay fit. You don’t have to compete in Ironman triathlons or World’s Strongest Man competitions, but do something to stay in shape. It will help you take a little time away from the books, helps relieve stress, and will make those sleepless nights with the new baby a little easier (not easy, but easier).
5. Keep your options open. You want to join the JAG Corps now (and I think it’s a great plan), but stay tuned to other possibilities that will present themselves during your time at law school. Through a class, club, or summer internship, you may get turned on to a completely different line of work that you hadn’t considered before but is actually perfect for you. If after three years the JAG Corps is really where you want to be, you’ll know for sure and you’ll be able to tell me why.
6. Sell yourself. Ok, I wasn’t going to include this, but I think it’s important to know and to practice. I don’t mean you should be a shameless self-promoter. When you apply for jobs/internships/grants/whatever, don’t focus entirely on what you will get out of it; tell the prospective employer/etc. what you bring to the table, what you have to offer the organization. Describe your unique skills, background, perspective, ideas, etc. In the Recruiting Office here, I see hundreds of applications, and the vast majority of applicants spend their entire personal statement talking about what they expect to get out of being a Judge Advocate. It’s not necessary. I’m a Judge Advocate and so is everyone on the selection board; we know from our own experience what you’ll get out of it. What they need to know is why they should choose you, how will you make the JAG Corps better? (I usually save this bit of advice for one-on-one conversations/interviews with folks who show some genuine interest in getting into the JAG Corps (as opposed to just finding a paycheck). I offer it now because I think it’s pretty uniformly useful (see #5).)

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So, I had a B-Day. Now this is not going to be easy to explain. My dear wife pulled a pretty good one on me along with my lieutenant. I had several meetings during the day and was kind of out of it. When I got back to my office. My LT asked me if I was going to lunch and kind of hovered around looking out the window that kind of threw me and, so of course I was hooked, I got up and looked out my window. And there in the parking lot is this huge sign on the top of a car. “HAPPY 40 B-DAY MJR WOOTEN” (yes I know Major is abbreviated MAJ, but my wife is kind of new to the Army). So as I am sitting on the 6th floor turning red praying that the 2 star general on the 7th floor is not looking out of his window, the LT has disappeared and returned with a cake and a present. So by this time I am probably 10 shades of red. But no wait, there’s more! The present is a photo album, not just any photo album, but that super embarrassing one full of those baby pictures you hope no one ever sees. So of course I then realize my dear mother has been in this plot!. So I of course call my dear wife and thank her for the complete and total embarrassment (by now the office is full of people I don’t know wishing me a happy birthday as the LT gleefully shows my baby pictures around and serve up cake to everyone). I offer to take her to lunch and we had a really nice lunch (that was the only escape plan I had at the moment). I went down stairs and was wished a happy birthday by the security guards at the front of the building (and no I have no idea who they are). The rest of the day was rather uneventful thankfully. That is until I went out to the parking lot late in the day. Usually the lot is full most of the day and rather empty by the time I leave. That day was no exception. So as I get closer to my there it is “GOTCHA” #2. For that I will let the pictures do the talking. Of course I called my wife again, and she was thrilled by the fact that her plan (apparently 2.5 weeks of planning) had all worked so well. So please enjoy the photos (minus the embarrassing baby pictures).

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We took the kids to a museum on Ft. Sam Houston last week. Honestly at first I did not think that it would be all that good. Most of the museums in and around the area are OK, but nothing to brag about, I figured it would be OK and that would be that. But this place was great (I do like museums!), it was the Army Medical Department Museum and those folks have done a great job of documenting and displaying the history of the Army Medical Corps. I had only planned on us being there for half an hour or an hour because it looked small from the outside. An hour and a half after we went in I was still checking things out and I had not even come close to reading everything that was available. Of course it did help that they had several jeeps for me to drool over!! But the best part was not just the presentation of it all but the awesome work that was done restoring and preserving things from medical instruments to whole rail cars (with AC I might add). Keeping a teenage boy interested in anything is difficult, but even my son thought it was great and was interested and asked questions so that tells you how good a museum this is. If anyone reading this goes to Ft. Sam Houston take at least an hour and go through this place, you won’t see it all (half a day to read it all and take a good tour) but it is worth the time. Of course I had to throw in the Jeep photos.

I went to the Ft. Sam Houston National Ceremony the same day that I went to the museum with the family. The main reason was to try to impress upon my son what duty and sacrifice are. I also had not been to see my grandparents and buddies that are there, so that was important to me also. This is one of 128 national cemeteries in 39 states (and Puerto Rico) as well as 33 soldiers lots and monument sites in the US. It is a place I think that everyone should visit at least one time in their life, even if you have never served or don’t even know someone that has, National Cemeteries are awe inspiring and humbling places. I am not sure that it had the impression on my son that I was hoping it would. But maybe, just maybe it will give him a little bit to think about later in life and realize that many of the things he takes for granted cost someone else more than he will know and he will be a little more respectful of the gifts that he has. I know it is not easy for him to have suddenly have a father that is in the military and have to adjust to my way of doing things, I want him to look at it as an opportunity and to realize that he is not the only one and that things could be or could get worse. I did get to see my grandparents and my father’s grave sites. Unfortunately my daughter was ready to go home so I will have to go back and visit my buddies another time. That whole day, the museum, the cemetery, lunch with my family, a wonderful time. I admit my wife plans out this stuff and I grumble at how tough it is and how much time it takes, but it is always worth it all in the end.

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We’ve been fortunate enough to take advantage of the significantly reduced real estate prices in Hawaii and just bought a lovely beach townhouse. We had been renting but now are home owners in a place we’re sure to come back to. The best part for me was that I departed on TDY just hours after closing and returned home 2 weeks later to all the moving completed by my husband! He’s a keeper :)

This is the breathtaking view from our lanai. Stop by – we enjoy company.

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Hello everyone, I want to tell you about my experience with the Army for the last 15 years. Believe me I will condense it since that is a lot of years to talk about. Well it all started in 1993, I was married with two children and I was working a regular job barely making it check to check. I enlisted into the Army so I would have benefits like insurance to pay for hospital visits and so on. I enlisted into the Army was sent to Ft. Sill, Oklahoma for basic training, I then went to Ft. Benjamin Harrison, Indiana for Advanced Individual Training (AIT). Upon graduation from there I was assigned to Ft. Bliss, Texas with the 3ACR. After two years there the whole regiment moved to Ft. Carson, Co. My wife and I divorced in 1998 and I was then assigned to Bamberg, Germany after 3 years there I was assigned to Ft. Hood, Texas in the 1st Cavalry Division. I met my current wife while she was on recruiting duty and we married in Oct 2002. While at Ft. Hood, I first deployed to Iraq in 2004 for 12 months and then again in 2006 for 15 months. We had our youngest son in April 2007. In May 2008 I was assigned to the Adjutant General School to work in the Proponent/Leader Development Division and that is where I am now. 

After spending my entire career in the Operating Force (MTOE), it was hard to get adjusted to working on the Generating Force (TDA) side. Learning to work with Civilians has been a challenge, but it has been rewarding. I love what I am doing, as I help develop Human Resource Professionals and show them how to get promoted. I also work with the AG structure as in the slots and duty positions that we have. In addition living in Columbia, South Carolina has been a challenge not only for me but my family as well. Columbia is a big city and it does not revolve around Ft. Jackson. People of post do not know how the military works and you do not see many cars with military stickers. I mentioned in my introduction that I am promotable. I was selected for promotion to E8 (MSG) last October and am now waiting for my sequence number to come up so I can get promoted. To this point the Army has been challenging, but rewarding. When I first thought about enlisting into the Army I did not think that I would enjoy it, but as time went on I found it to be quite enjoyable and I love working with Soldiers. I plan on retiring in about eight more years. Until the next blog, take care!

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