Squadron Officer School

I have been told many times that I am an Officer first, and a Doctor second. My day to day work does not feel that way and being in the medical group it is hard to feel connected to the flying duties and mission that the USAF carries out simply by the fact that I don't fly, load bombs, drop bombs, evaluate threats, or otherwise protect the American people (and many people around the world) with some sort of armament. So when my leadership approached me and offered a slot to attend SOS (Squadron Officer School) I jumped at the opportunity. I had been working on it via the distance learning class but had not been enjoying it much. In-person was much better than what friends told me. So what were my goals? 1) Learn more about the Air Force and what other people do for a job, 2) Have fun, 3) Train up for the USAF Half Marathon (more on that later), and 4) Eat lots of Mexican Food. 

I left on 31 July and arrived in America on 1 Aug. First stop? Chipotle. Not really Mexican food but pretty close and it had been 1 year since I had enjoyed Chipotle so why wait? 

The 5 weeks I was here I ate out a lot. Not because I wanted to but because we lived in a hotel and though I had a fridge and small stop top, most everyone wanted to go out and enjoy the company. However, I was super excited to try Chobani yogurts that I don't get to sample in Korea: Lime, Mango, Lemon, Blackberry. All so good. 

Home meals were much more simple but I like it that way. Chicken, Zucchini, Summer Squash, fresh corn on the cob, and onion. 

So here is a confession right off the bat. When I scheduled my flights, I accidentally looked at the schedule for the August class of 2015. Why is this even on the website ?!?! So by showing up 2 days early, I actually arrived at 3 pm on the first day of class. So when I walked in on day 2, everyone cheered and was happy to see I was alive. I felt really, really foolish. No excuse so I just told them I made a mistake and luckily my flight and flight commander were really cool about it and I worked double-time to catch up. Here we are at night using the Wi-Fi in our classroom. This became my little home away from home.

It is the military and we are organized by 6 flights (15 people each) to a squadron. There are multiple squadrons. We were the Tigers and one night Miguel and I heard some noise in the hall at 9 pm. We thought this was strange so we went out to discover that the Dragons had been putting pictures up all over the place in a spirit mission. We took them all down in 2 squadron areas and then came back for more the next day before class started - undoing their spirit mission. They were not happy and went crazy on another flights room thinking it was them. We just smiled and let it go. 

The first weekend I looked up where the local church meeting was held - about 2.5-3 miles off base. So I  packed some water (it is warm here right now) and started the trek nice and early 

Had to walk through some shady neighborhoods but I made it. Selfie mode reverses the image - not sure why.

2-3 weeks before leaving I hurt my back doing seemingly nothing. I really struggled even walking to and from work, and sitting down. The physical therapist did some dry needling and other stuff on my back right before I left.  The trip was very uncomfortable and painful as I had to sit for the 16-hour flight. Through constant stretching, step elliptical, ear electrostimulation (like acupuncture), ice, Motrin, and just staying active, I did my best to run and exercise as this was a part of the curriculum. 

Maxwell AFB, Alabama is located in Montgomery, Alabama, and is a very pretty, historic town. It was quiet which made running nice. 

It is home to a minimum security level prison. The prisoners are used to maintain the grounds and buildings including the golf course. Great idea if you ask me. 

This was an inviting sign. I decided to not run along the river. Later I found another trail that ended up leading back to this sign so I guess I was just fine. I did run past a snake that I never saw but sure heard as it hissed at me. 

Here I am trying to put my little action camera to good use. I have started referring to it as my Pho-GoPro.

More pictures of the trail

One morning we had a break in class for 2.5 hours so I changed and went for a quick run from 9:30-to 10:30... So hot! All I could do is lay there and sweat. 

And sweat. This is 20 min after laying under the fan. And the room was held at 70 degrees as well. 

Loved the fan after hot runs. 

Alright, I have not seen clouds like this in about 1 year. Korea is pretty but often smoggy. I just loved being outside no matter how hot it was because the air is so clean compared to Korea.

 

At night there would be lighting storms in the distance which reminded me of the movie Sweet Home Alabama. I'd like to watch that with Jari when I get home 

Weekend #2 the crew all went to Destin, Florida, and had a great time. I however stayed behind, borrowed a car, and drove north to Birmingham. The original goal was to do some trail running but my back and buttock were hurting and spasming too much so I did not do any trail running. Though I learned a shower at a Flying J stop cost $12. Ouch.  

As you can tell, my destination was the Birmingham Alabama Temple. 

Sepia shot because sepia-colored photos are awesome. 

The Birmingham Temple is a small temple so I had to bring my own clothing from back home. I am happy I went. So peaceful. 

I wish that I was better at getting to the temple in Seoul. It is only 1.5 hours away but getting babysitters etc makes it hard. 

Mexican food... El Cerrito was fantastic. Great prices and so delicious. 

Part of SOS was a series of obstacles we had to complete as a flight in a 15 min window. As you might guess you cannot touch red or black, and there are usually other strange rules at times like no talking, bringing all your equipment with you, etc. It requires a certain degree of athleticism combined with teamwork and problem-solving. 

Day 1 we finished 4/7. Day 2 was finished 6/7. 

Here is the crew when I was in charge of a simple obstacle. One of the rules is that we had to work very quietly so one of the guys put gloves over the pipes. It was very obvious we had to feed the pipe onto a smaller pipe and balance on it to cross. We all just looked at him like, "why on earth did you just put that glove on the pipe...?" He quickly saw his thoughts were in left field and took the gloves off. We did have to stop and grab a picture though. 

Day 3 was new. They usually have people play a game of dodgeball with close to a million rules that have not been enjoyed by many. So they let us do these obstacles again (the official name was Project X) but split us up half and half with another flight. We were not happy about this but the other team was actually really cool. The most they had got was 2/7 so they were happy for our help. 

In the end, Team A got 5/6 and team B (my team) 6/6. Our Team A was faster than another team B so they got to compete in one final challenge against another team B (they too got 6/6 but did them faster than us). In the end our team A won which was great! 

At the end of week 3, our Squadron Commander named us as the lead tiger flight so we got to keep the trophy for the week. 

Random storytime. Day 2 of SOS we were talking about building a good argument. Major Turner asked me to talk about what candy was the best and why. I selected Reese due to the combo of chocolate and BP and mentioned how the right combo of fat and sugar stimulates our brain the same way street drugs do.  They all just say in silence and said, "OK you win. Reeses is like heroin, got it." So Reeses became a running joke and on more than one occasion people bought me some. This picture was sent out in a group chat labeled "Fred"

Random hallway selfie

Here I am with Jared "DASH" Long. He is an RPA pilot stationed in New Mexico. He was actually at Creech AFB (near Nellis in Las Vegas Nevada) the same time I was but our paths never crossed. Here we are at a Biscuit game. They are a minor league baseball team. 

I don't care for baseball but it was fun to get out. 

One of our lectures was on emotional intelligence. The lady who spoke (cannot remember her name right now) was really funny and later invited us to go get hotdogs at a place called Chris' downtown. It has been open since 1917

Here is the crew awaiting these special hot dogs. 

And... here it is. $2.50 each. Each was the size of my pinkie (half the size as normal), covered with sauerkraut, and chilly sauce.  

Or you can add cheese...

Not good at all but the place was really neat at it was really historic. The business has been in the same family for generations. The owner came in and talked about segregation and all the famous people that used to stop in (Johnny Cash and others). 

Here is Major Turner. We had just had a lecture on diversity and then he wanted to celebrate some birthdays. We pointed out his cupcakes were not very diverse and had a good laugh. 

Poor focus but some pictures of various famous country singers from the 30s-60s. 

On another occasion, Kal Judah had a birthday so we went out for dinner for him. We ended up in the basement of yet another old building playing darts waiting for a table. Two hours later we still did not have a table but I finally won!  We did not stick around. We got Jimmy Johns sandwiches and went home. 

Black Flag = hot outside 

More clouds. Not as good of a picture but great. 

I went to see a chiropractor on several occasions which was expensive but helpful. Wish I had access to one on a regular basis.  Over time I was able to do situps and run better. 

Right before a squadron run and competition, they held a blood drive. Not great timing but always good to bleed to save a life. This is Brandon "LAGER" Mauney. He's a good man.  

Friday #4 we played a computer game we had been practicing called ADWAR which is like a little air battle that works by everyone connecting via a network and taking command of various planes, boats, etc., and running a battle against a fictional group of warlords. We practiced a lot and were scoring 94-96/100 points. So when we couldn't find the last Surface to Air Missile site that happened to have nuclear bombs which were eventually launched and hit us, we did not score many points. After this and a series of non-complete problem-solving sessions, we went from a front contender for the #1 flight to a much lower position, but still in the top third of flights. We were pretty bummed so we packed the cars and went to Destin Florida. 

Would gladly make this drive again. So pretty.

The last time I was in Destin was with Jari and Charlotte when Charlotte was only 6 months old. So it was fun but made me homesick. 

We stopped by this Irish pub which is famous and I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of food and music there.  As you can see people like to staple $1 all over the place and they reportedly have 1-2 million bills in there. They are all written on so doubtfully worth anything. I added 1000 Korean Won

Some of the crew

The bathroom break caught me off guard. Was I going in the womens' or mens' at first glance...? 

Great food. 

Amazing burger. So much food. 

The next morning started with a beautiful sunrise and a run.

Mustache is coming in nicely!

Then the rest of the day was spent playing in the water, sand, and playing volleyball. My team got crushed 4 games in a row. My competitive nature came out and transformed me in a way I was not super proud of. Just so hard to not win.

Here is an underwater picture. The water was full of seaweed that tickled as we swam. 

The sand was super fine. Here we are collecting mini muscles 

Dripping water on them would make them open and close really quick and dig their way deeper into the sand in my hand. 

Sunday morning started with a nice walk along the water watching the sunrise. 

Oh yeah... it was paradise for some. While I enjoyed the sun and sand I did not enjoy my hide-a-bed which housed bedbugs! 

Neck and shoulder

Down the left-back 

They were also on my chest, legs, and hands. Still itching a bit though some of the bites that are the worst were from fire-ants a few days later. Talk about unlucky.

And a few cockroaches. Not the best place.

5 weeks later - I am not the top graduate but we stayed in the top 1/3 of all flights. We all got along and had a great time. (Except for a flight member who was struggling with depression and suicidal ideation - that kind of dominated much of what happened our last week and may have something to do with some of our struggles the last week here. But we got this person the help they needed). 

The night before graduation I experienced something very unique to the  AF, a Roll Call. The tradition stems back to WWI and WWII where you expected 1/4 to 1/2 of your fellow aircrews that went on missions would not come back. After a mission they would have a roll call, ring a bell for every man who did not make it back and then they would drink and have a party because you did not know if you would make it back the next day. 

Today flying units will have a big party, call each other out for doing foolish things, and then give each other a call sign. In the end, my call sign became AFLAC (Asian Fred Lacks Awareness/Calendar). While the calendar is self-explanatory (showing up late) I guess I should explain the awareness. On day 2 of class (my day 1) our flight commander asked me if I had an FLA (I thought he was asking if I had a flaw) so I responded, "Yes, I have many flaws. Where do you want me to start?" Everyone laughed and explained the FLA was like a football jersey that we would have to wear during sporting events as a flight. So I was late and unaware of what was going on. 

In the end, I learned a lot about the AF, had a great time, my back improved and I got back into running (not back to where I was but I was able to run a 5K in 19:20) and ate lots of Mexican food. 

Some feedback from friends --  

Next stop Osan AB where I can see my precious children and lovely wife. I have missed them.

Oh - the mustache. It is no secret how much Jari dislikes the mustache. I clearly love the mustache. The last week of class we did a video chat and Charlotte laughed at me, Hazel just covered her mouth as if in great surprise and just shook her head over and over. In the end, the vote was to shave it, so shave it I did.