Mt Seorak

A few weeks ago, we took a trip to Mt Seroak in Northeast Korea. It was beautiful. Mt Seorak is one of the most popular national Parks here in Korea. it is only about 4 hours from Seoul and many people travel there. We were there for two days and stayed at a Korean Hotel right int he park.

It was gorgeous. The mountains were great and the tree colors were very, very nice. We took a few hikes to some waterfalls. They had a cable car up to the top of one Mountain which was interesting.

There were many Koreans there. The Koreans come in two kinds. Kind 1: The serious hiker. These are mostly men that have large packs that are moving very fast either up or down the mountain. Kind 2: The clueless Korean hiker. These are Koreans in flip-flops or high-heel boots that should not be hiking at all.

Here are some pictures also.

New Interpreters

I experienced one of the most fascinating things a few weeks ago.

Half of my office are Korean Air Force. Every six months they choose people to be interpreters for us and the upper leadership here in Korea. As every male must do some form of national service (military, police, hospital, etc.) these are relatively prestigious positions. They are working directly with US and ROK General Officers and high level diplomats. I was asked to help screen the potential candidates from an English language perspective. We interviewed about 50 candidates. Some of them were very young 20-21 years old and other were older 32-3 years old. many of them had been educated in the US, England or Australia and spoke very good English. Others had learned it here in Korea, but were still better at English than I am at Korean.

It was very impressive how some of them could go back and forth between English and Korean very easily (a necessary skill for being a translator). I was told by my Korean counterpart that although some of them spoke very good English their Korean was not so good as they had spent much of their life overseas. Speaking excellence Korean is just as important as excellent English.

I was mentally drained after the day. Trying to listen to each one and give them a fair assessment was hard, but very interesting and rewarding. I look forward to doing it again in 6 months.

Getting to Korea

Here is the quick version - VERY long.

We got a direct flight from Dulles to Inchon Airport. The flight was just about 15 hours. That is an awfully long time to be stuck in an aluminum tube. It is hard to say to your kids "We've been here for 7 hours and we are almost half way." We flew KAL and they did a great job with service, etc. We had individual entertainment systems for every seat so we could watch movies, play video games etc. at our leisure. Th dogs flew in the same plan with us, but down below. They don't let you take 70 pound dogs into the cabin with you.
Once we got to Inchon everyone was very helpful to the point of pushing our luggage and dogs around so that we could go through immigration, animal import and customs. They has free luggage carts and did not expect any kind of tip. What a change from the states.
The we started to drive and ran into the Seoul traffic that we had heard about. It was bad. it took us about 3 hours to get to the base. It made for a very long day, but all in all it went as smoothly as it could have.

Bringing You Up To Date

OK - I know that it has been a long time since I have been on here - I am sorry, but much has happened in my life since then.

First, we found out that we were being transfered to Osan AB, Korea and had to be there by the end of Sep. Second, we had my daughter's Bat Mitzvah before we moved, but after we moved out of our house. Third, we actually have moved to Korea. I will get to Korea in a little bit.

My daughter's Bat Mitzvah went VERY WELL. She did great. The whole family from both sides came in along with many dear friends. It was great. We had already moved out of our house so we stayed in the Hotel with everyone. It worked out fine. Fantastic friends of ours helped store stuff, move stuff, decorate stuff and even have a family party at their house. It was a great life event for our entire family.

Now back to Korea -- This assignment came completely out of the blue, but for a variety of reasons we decided to take this assignment. Things happened very fast - we sold our mini-van, packed up our household goods and rented our house. Everything got done, but some of it waited until the very last minutes - good that it got done, but hard on the nerves.

We have been in Korea for just over two weeks. I will post future blogs shortly about my impressions and the things that we are doing.

Thanks for staying with me.

C&O Canal National Park

My daughters and I went out to the C&O Canal National Park this morning and did the Billy Goat Section A hike. It was a beautiful day and a great hike. They advertise it as strenuous. Sometimes the NPS overstates this in an effort to dissuade those that are not in shape or prepared from trying hikes that are too much for them. They did not overstate this one. It was great fun bouldering and climbing over the rock like a true Mountain Goat.

Highly recommended!

F-22 Raptor

I am finally glad to see the Air Force starting to get over the F-22. The CSAF and SECAF wrote a letter to Congress asking them to not fund more F-22s. They are concerned that if Congress funds the extra F-22s, then something else is going to fall out of the Air Force budget. Do not get me wrong. The F-22 is a fantastic aircraft with capabilities that are unequaled anywhere else in the world and all things being equal I would strongly advocate fore more F-22, but things aren't equal. The world is a strange different place with threats that we would not have imagined in a war that we would not have chosen. There are many other areas that the Air Force needs to start focusing on and getting off of the F-22 is a great first step. Now let's see if the contractors and Air Force pundits can make the shift.

Family and Friends

I know that it has been awhile. I have been on vacation for the last few weeks on and off. It has gotten me thinking and family and friends. Sometimes I find myself being very isolated - I want to do what I want to do with my family and don't really care to be with others. Then there is some reason for us to get together with family and friends and I once again realize how I could not truly live without them. For me it is a constant struggle to balance these two feelings.

I go to go to my Sister-in-laws wedding. It is so great to see them just starting out together. I envy them discovering things together. Having been married over 16 years, my life is so intertwined with my wifes that I can't imagine living without her. They are only starting to be this way. I wish them many happy years together.

High Water Marks

A few years ago when we were moving out the Virginia, my wife and I stopped at the Flight 93 Memorial in Shanksville, PA. Although there was only a temporary memorial, it was still a very moving experience. As an aside, I have been to all three locations that were attacks on 9/11 and can not help but get emotional all over again at each one. It occurred to me at the time that we were just about 100 miles from Gettysburg, PA. When I visited Gettysburg as a kid, I remember standing at eh "High Water Mark" -- the furthest advance that the Confederacy made into the North. it was at that point that the Union began to fight and win against the Confederacy in what was a long and bloody struggle. I hearken Shanksville a "High Water Mark." It is the point where we atarted to fight back against the terrorists and win. it to was the start to a long and bloody struggle with many fits and starts similar to the Civil War. Much like the Civil War it is a struggle worth fighting.

Bat Mitzvah

We are just over 5 months from my oldest daughter's Bat Mitzvah. We are in the heat of the battle between balancing the spiritual with the party. I think that she is actually doing a better job than me. Although she complains whenever I tell her she has to study, she is doing great. As part of her service she has to write three different "speeches." Again she has floored me with the insight and maturity that she has shown in the drafts that she has put together.
I am sure that the anxiety will only ramp up as we get closer. It is nice to know that she is well grounded and hopefully that will help us all.

As an aside, we went to one of her friend's Bar Mitzvah last weekend. He had invited some of his friends that attend a different synagogue. These kids were the rudest kids I have every seen at a religious service. They were talking, playing grab ass, etc. I finally had enough and told them to be quiet twice. The third time, I told the "ring leader" to move over by me. He said "no". I could have killed him. My thoughts were how to subdue him without making a scene or any more noise. It was awful. Of course then I felt even worse because of how mad I got during a service. I could not enjoy it until I forced myself to focus and get something out of it.
It was the old "He made me fell that way," but i chose to feel differently.

Odyssey of the Mind - The Tournament

We finally had our Odyssey of the Mind (OM) Tournament last weekend. It was the culmination of all of the kids hard work. They did a great job, but had a little bit of a let down. They built a great tower. They learned from their prototype and made some improvements. One of their observations of the prototype was that it looked "messy" because some kids used "too much glue" (can you see the foreshadowing yet?).
The kids got all checked in and then had to wait an extra 15 minutes because the previous teams had gone through so quickly. It was good that we waited as some parents barely made it there in time. They got set up and started their skit (Oh yeah there is a creative part of the score, not just how much you tower can hold). They decided to put the big weight on first. So the 45 lb weight went on. Almost as soon as it was set, the tower buckled. The kids kept their composure and finished the performance, but we clearly disappointed. In their quest to be "neat" they did not put enough glue at the intersections and it failed at them rapidly.
Although I was concerned about this, the rule prevented me from telling them. I asked them questions to try and get them to figure it out, but they went with what they had. It is all part of the learning process.
Overall OM was a great experience for me. The parents all told me that they kids enjoyed it and that they appreciated it. Some of them wanted to know if I was coaching next year. Even the friends that I talked into judging enjoyed it.
I highly encourage it for kids of all ages.

Bailout Funds Part II

I don't often read the comic Zippy the Pinhead, but I did today and am glad I did. Here is a link to today's strip. It sums up perfectly my view of the bailout funds.

Purim

Today begins Purim. It is the standard Jewish story -- they tried to kill us, they failed, let's eat - with a small twist. In this story, the hero is a heroine. Esther shows great courage - physical and spiritual - to save her people. It is one of the harder right vs. easier wrong tales. She probably could have lived a very comfortable life as the Queen even if the plot to kill the Jews had come to fruition as her heritage was a secret from the King, but she chose to put it all on the line (literally) to save her people. It is a lesson we could all learn from for today.

USMC Accountability

For those of you who did not read the news about the Marines firing 4 leaders and discipling many others over the Hornet crash in San Diego a few months ago here is a link. This is the kind of accountability that I would love to see the Air Force start displaying. It was focused, timely and public.

God bless the Corps.

Enough of Winter

It is now official. I have had enough of winter. Of course, my kids are excited to possibly have one more snow day before the season is out, but I want it to be over. I want spring. I want to go back out side. Can someone make that happen for me?

Bailout Funds

I wanted to pass on my basic thoughts on all of this bailout money that has recently passed. I am afraid that this is more money to prop up an unsustainable economy based on personal deceptions. I am not saying that people have been decieved (although some of that has obviously gone on), but people have been deceiving themselves. People have been taking loans that they knew that they could not replay. Banks have been giving loans that they could not absorb to people that they knew could not repay. Investment banks have been giving money to people that they knew couldn't make money, but they deceived themselves into believing that it could happen. US manufacturers deceived themselves into believing that old wares repackage with a new twist is innovation that will sell to the world consumer market. Retailers believed that individuals would always spend money like they have on luxury items.

I believe that it is time for some tough love. Let the free trade market work the way it should. Let the government ensure that individuals who are unknowingly caught in this web are taken care of, retrained and put back into the market place. This is government's job, not trying to infuse Trillions of dollars to keep an unhealthy economy going like nothing happened. Americans hate to lose at anything, but pruning of the tree makes it stronger in the long run.

Land of Israel

In the Bible, God refers to the Promised Land (Israel) as the land of milk and honey. I think that it is interesting that these two foods are chosen. The are the only two food that we eat that do not require destroying life. (Salt may be a third, but that would be a stretch in my book). So if the land is supposed to run with these foods that do not require any life to be destroyed to eat, maybe it is saying something about the land itself. Maybe we are all supposed to enjoy and take part in the land without destroying life.

I know that this sounds somewhat idealistic and we have significant history to overcome. If this is an valid interpretation, maybe we should all take it heart.

INVADE CANADA!!

The nefarious plot of the Canadians to undermine the US has finally come to light. The NTSB has determined that Canadian Geese brought down the US Airways flight that landed in Hudson River a few weeks ago. It is obvious that the Canadians have been training their geese for years for this type of suicide mission. I am sure that this is just the tip of the iceberg for insurgent Canadian animals. What is the US to do about this???

We need to invade Canada! There is no way that we can live with this kind of wildlife threat along our northern border. Where will these Geese strike next? No on is safe until we neutralize this threat.

As a military man, I am willing to lead the invasion. Once I have secured all of the Molson and Labatt's breweries, the rest of you can follow!

If you are with me please response as soon as possible. Every day that we wait is another day we are vulnerable to this great threat.


This warning is brought to you by the American Sarcasm Society - Head Of Local Excitation.

Air Fore Accountability

WARNING***I am in a very cynical mood***WARNING

This past summer the CSAF and SECAF were fired. One of the major reasons given was the lack of accountability in the AF especially in the Nuclear areas. We now have had at least three Nuclear related inspections failed, yet no on has been fired. We had a Two-star General call residents of the Florida Panhandle "cracker house" "rednecks". He is still in place. A Col, Group Commander in Europe sent an e-mail that alienated many religious groups from her official e-mail. Yet she is still in Command. Where exactly is the accountability??

On the staff we have leaders at all levels that are afraid to make a decision - right or wrong. What are they afraid of - getting fired? I think not as evidently that doesn't happen in today's "accountable" Air Force.

I had high hopes that the new AF leadership would turn around the erosion of AF Values. I know that you cannot fire everyone at the drop of a hat. We are not a one mistake AF, but come on. There has to be some standards. I was always taught (and still believe) that leaders are held to a higher standard. To Command is a privilege not a right. It should be treated as such. I have been a Squadron Commander. This is how I try to Command and live in all aspects of my life.

The AF needs to wake up and refocus our moral (and mission) compass or else we risk losing our relevance.

Easy Ways to Give Back

I just wanted to pass on two easy things that I do regularly to try and give back to those in need.

First, every time we go the grocery store for our family trip, we by 4-6 extra cans of food or soup. We have a bag in the garage where these cans go so that when as canned food drive is going we have a significant donation. it is pretty easy to do as you can get canned veggies or soup from the local brand for less than a dollar. This is easier than running our to buy something or feeling guilty when the canned food drives come by.

Second, I am sure that everyone has received the e-mail about clicking for Mammograms. If you go the their web site there are actually six different efforts that you can support just be clicking. You can make this your home page so that it comes up right away for you to do or put it at the top of your Favorites/Bookmarks to remind yourself to click everyday.

Just my ideas - enjoy :)

Profile

For those that would like to know a little bit more about me. Washington Jewish Week did a short profile on me. They do this every week on various people in the DC are Jewish community.

Here is the link:
http://washingtonjewishweek.com/main.asp?Search=1&ArticleID=10066&SectionID=4&SubSectionID=&S=1

Odyssey of the Mind Spontaneous Tournament

As I have mentioned before I am coaching an Odyssey of the Mind (OM) team of 3rd, 4th and 6th graders from my daughter's Elementary School. This past weekend, the Thomas Jefferson High School OM Team hosted a Spontaneous Problem Tournament. For those of you unfamiliar with OM, a Spontaneous Problem is one where the team get a problem. They have 2-4 minutes to think about it and work out a solution and then 2-4 minutes to execute. As you can image, a lot can go wrong in 4-8 minutes when dealing with Elementary grade kids. I am happy to report that nothing bad happened to our team. In fact the kids did much better than I anticipated. When we did practices at my house, some of the kids had a tendency to freeze under the pressure. None of them even flinched during the real deal. They worked together, remembered the lessons that they learned during practice, were creative and had fun. I was so very proud of them. Additionally, at least one parent from each kid stopped by and saw what they are doing. I think that some of them were amazed at how well there children did also.
I have always been interested in teaching. Experiences like this just strengthen that desire. Unfortunately my big drawback is the pay. I know that I am not going to get rich in the military and enjoying my job is very important to me. I know that teaching would be very rewarding, but I don't know how I can take a teaching job knowing that I've got two kids to put through college. I can already see how hard it is going to be when I leave the Air Force. I don't want to have to become and adult and figure out what I want to be when I grow up!!!

Book Review

I recently finished One Day Too Long: Top Secret Site 85 and the Bombing of North Vietnam. It was from the Chief of Staff Air Force's Reading List. I have read many book off of these lists over the years. I have enjoyed most of them and found them very helpful for my professional development. This book was different in some ways.
It is an amazing story. In summary, the US was desperate to hit North Vietnam, but the weather did not cooperate much of the time. They modified some radar equipment that would allow F-105 Thuds to bomb through the weather. This program was very secret not only due the nature of the equipment, but the fact that the equipment was located in Laos, a "neutral" country at the time. They got the equipment set up and operating, but it never really had a big difference against North Vietnam. They used it extensively to bomb Laos though. The North Vietnamese more or less controlled the surrounding area and decided to "take care" of the facility. Due to bravado, poor strategy, a fouled-up management set-up and a general disinterest in human life, the US did not evacuate the site in time and there were many Americans there when the North Vietnamese overran it. These Americans fought bravely with little to no training. The Army, AF and Air America pilots flew courageous missions to rescue as many as they could.
If this were the end of the story, it may have been a lesson in mistaken Strategy and poor tactical planning, but the story does not end. For the next twenty years, the Air Force tried to keep the entire story a secret and roll over the families of those that died there. It is a tragic tale of basic cold heartedness. I understand that sometime secrets need to be kept. I also understand that when a Serviceman/Servicewoman dies, we owe it to him/her to take care of the family left behind. In this case we did not.
It is because of this second half of the story that I wonder why the CSAF put it on his reading list. I am not sure what lesson I am supposed to take away from this book. I am not sure how it relates to what is happening in today's Air Force.
Additionally, the writing isn't that great either. It is very well researched, but the book digresses to an "I'm right and they are wrong" position piece toward the end.
It is fitting that a book is written to tell the story of these brave Airman and their tragic end. I am just not sure that it belongs on the CSAF reading list.

Visit to Charlottesville

I recently took a trip to Charlottesville, VA and I want to cover three topic. First, a visit to Montpelier, home of James Madison (and a little about him). Second, a visit to Ash Lawn- Highland, home of James Monroe (and a little bit about him). Third, some observations about our country's founding fathers, where they hailed from and their philosophies of founding a nation.

First Montpelier. It is absolutely stunning! The house is being restored back to its 1820 grandeur. The grounds are beautiful. The Visitor Center is less than two years old and very well put together. The tour of the house was very personal (we went in Jan and there was only one other family on the tour...no guarantees in the summer). They had one of the rooms "cut away" so that you can see how it is made and how it is restored - very interesting. The house used to belong to the DuPont's. When the last DuPont resident died, they turned it back into the historic sight it is today. They did major demo and restoration to get it into the shape it is currently in, with lots of work ahead. The Visitor Center and tour kept touting Madison as the "Father of the Constitution". Although his involvement with the constitution is well documented, it may be difficult to call him the "Father". Additionally, they glossed over some of the lesser parts of his Presidency - like the War of 1812 when he was duped by the French into fighting and almost lost the Union. There is a significant amount of information and relics associated with Dolley as well. Quite a woman for then and today. Overall, well worth the visit!

Second, Ash Lawn-Highland. Not nearly as stunning as Montpelier, but equally as interesting. Madison inherited his land and house from several generations back. Monroe bought Ash Lawn and built his own house (without going bankrupt like his neighbor Jefferson). There is no Visitor Center to speak of and tour is a Machine Gun of facts about Monroe, his wife and life. The house has some originals, but many items are "era" pieces designed to give you the right impression. The day we were visiting "Col Monroe" himself was there to greet us. He did a great job discussing various parts of his life and was very knowledgeable. More impressive, he did a great job of relating thinks from his time to today's situation in the US without breaking character - even the kids were impressed. They also had a presentation on Civil Rights 1776-Present. It was an ok overview that again the kids seemed to appreciate. Finally, there was an interesting demonstration in the kitchen cooking over an open fireplace. Although the visit was interesting, there was as sense of "see this an then move on" - you couldn't just stand and check things out. Once again, I am impressed by President Monroe. An orphan and self made man. He truly fought in the Revolutionary War taking a Hessian ball in the shoulder during the Battle of Trenton and eventually becoming President. Throughout the years we should have more closely followed the Monroe Doctrine and it may have kept us out of trouble. Again well worth the visit.

My third thought of the post. I was in Iraq this summer and did not get to watch the John Adams series then. I got it for my birthday and am on Episode 5 of 7. I did read the book while I was deployed. I find it somewhat interesting that John Adams who was raised on the Puritan work ethic was very concerned about the esoteric portion of establishing a new Nation (what to call the President, should we have political parties, etc.). The Virginia Founding Fathers were mostly "Liberal in thought" and true land owning gentry, but were more concerned about making th new Nation work (Treaty with England, central bank, etc.). Of course I am generalizing on both sides, but is seem interesting that there roles are reversed of what they seemed that they should have been. I suppose it takes all sort which is what our History has taught us. All just some observations right or wrong.

White House Web Site

Sorry for the double post in one day, but I just looked at the new White House Web site and I am very impressed. I guess it was up almost immediately after President Obama was sworn in.
This seems to already be a much different administration. This should be very interesting if he is able to keep this inertia up.

President Obama's Inauguration

I just listened to President Obama Inaugural speech. I do not remember a past Inauguration that had such widespread crowds and interest. It maybe my geographic closeness to this Inauguration versus past one, but I don't remember one that had more hype around it.
I do feel a sense of optimism from President Obama. I also feel a sense of risk and uncertainty. I am not sure that these feelings are tied together or not. In the last two inaugurations for President Bush, I felt neither a strong sense of optimism or uncertainty. Maybe these feelings of optimism and uncertainty do go hand-in-hand. Can you have one without the other? Can you have contentment with optimism?
I do know that this is a historic event and as an Air Force Officer I look forward to the future of a strong, free United States through his and future Presidential leadership.

What is in a name like Moses?

I just finished reading the Book "Who Wrote the Bible" by Richard Friedman. It was a very interesting read. Do not think that it is an anti-religious, Bible debunking book. It is not. It really helped me understand the book and where it came from. It actually increased my respect and interest in the Bible.
I was always brought up that Moses wrote the Bible as it was dictated by God to him. This Moses guys was something else. In fact at the end of the Torah, it states that there will never be another like him to reiterate this point. One of the big Moses questions that I have is this. Why did God not change his name? For all of the previous forefather, when God makes a covenant with someone or they commit their lives to him, he changes his name e.g. Abram to Abraham, Jacob to Israel, etc, but here comes the biggest Prophet of all time and he gets to keep his name. A name that is not even Hebrew, but Egyptian. The Talmud alludes to some stories that there were previous predictions that Moses would come along and free the Jews and lead them to Israel. These predictions do not give any names (one of the big critique of Christianity's use of the Jewish Bible to predict Jesus as the Messiah).
If anyone has any insight into this mystery about Moses, I would welcome the feedback.

Odyssey of the Mind

In my "free" time I am coaching a team of 7 elementary school kids (3rd - 6th Grade) for an Odyssey of the Mind team. It is pretty cool to see how they learn and work through problems. The big thing is that I or any other adult cannot give them any answers to how to solve the problems. We can answer their questions. We have a lot of Socratic discussion and even if they don't find there way to the solution that I had in mind, they do find a solution.
We are building an 8" tall tower out of balsa wood and we are going to drop weights on it. It should be fun. I will post pictures when we actually do it in Mar.

Air Force Evaluation System

Today at work we got to talking about how the Air Force evaluation system is inflated and has been since early memory. This inflation impacts so many other processes in the Air Force -- awards, promotions, assignments, etc.
Fundamentally this inflation problem comes down to an integrity issue. True integrity would drive people to evaluate individuals honestly. Not everyone is a Five every year for every assignment. We should expect people to have lower performance as they change jobs or move up in rank until they learn what they are supposed to be doing, but we don't do that. Those that have had high marks in the past tend to keep getting high marks so that we "don't ruin their career." This drives more inflation.
In order to fix this, we need a CSAF to step into every process and force some sanity. He or she needs to say that a medium performer is ok -- this person is potentially in need of leadership to make them better.
I have seen throughout my career people we were "low performers" flourish under the right leadership and right environment. The challenge it to get these people into these positions.
At the end of the conversation, we did come to the conclusion that despite all of these warts the system does pretty well. It promotes those that should be promoted and passes over that shouldn't. There are, of course, exceptions, but only a small percentage. So do we need the kind of drastic measures to fix the system if the end product is just fine? I would say that unless things get much worse, the time and energy as better spent on other areas in the Air Force. Which is another Blog entry waiting to be written.

Inital Entry and Background

This is my first attempt at a Blog. I have been thinking about it for quite some time, but finally got around to setting one up. Of course my main concerns is whether I have something to say that others will care about. I finally realized that I was going to do this to start to collect some of the thoughts that I have had floating around inside my head for a while and I will see where it goes.

A little background about me which may be pertinent to this Blog. I am a a married father of two. I am an Air Force Officer with over 19 years in service and I am Jewish. Why do I chose to include this information? Well, I think that it is pertinent and most of my initial entries will be focused on one of these areas.

I will be back in a few days with my first real entry.