Ulchi Freedom Guardian 2014

Every year, there are two major exercises in Korea -- Key Resolve and Ulchi Freedom Guardian. Last year, I escorted a retired major general for a month. This year, I am working in a big computer bank for two and a half weeks.

The first few days were spent rehearsing. On Monday, the exercise officially started.

My 12-hour work day starts with a shift change brief, where the night shift talks about what happened. From then until 10:15, I prepare a single PowerPoint slide. At that point, a lieutenant colonel reviews it and recommends changes.

After the revisions are made, a colonel reviews it and recommends changes.

After those changes are made, we take it to the general, who reviews them again and makes some more changes.

With the general's changes, I get the slide translated into Korean. This is the final version that the general will brief. I put it on the portal and go to lunch.

After I come back, we brief any updates to the slide that he reviewed, then wait for the general's brief in the evening. If there's a conflict with someone else's slide, I have to some slide forensics, as in, "Howcome your slide was different from that guy's slide? Go figure it out."

If there's no conflict, then I have until my 12-hour shift is up to kill time and eat snacks.

In one sense, it's a nice break away from my company, but in another sense the nihilism is depressing. Each day is a Sisyphean task of updating slides for someone to brief.

Even in a broader sense, it can be pointless. Last year the general wrote a letter of appreciation to my battalion commander, who read it to the staff in the weekly meeting. It might have (in part) led to a glowing evaluation report, but the BC got himself relieved in November and the new battalion commander didn't seem at all impressed by it -- I got plain old, "he's a great guy," center of mass OER.

So there's not really a lot of room for awesomeness. Even if I do an awesome job putting together my single PowerPoint slide, is it really going to make it into my evaluation as a company commander? Probably not.

And while it may be fun to ditch my responsibilities as a commander for two and a half weeks, is this really the best use of my time? Shouldn't I be taking care of my company? By the end of August, I'll have spent 4 out of the past 6 weeks away from my company.

Well, at the very least, it's a shorter commute than if I were traveling back and forth to my regular job every day.