....kim chee, of course.
I'm back in Korea for a few days. Seoul, to be exact, a very different place from Busan, the southern port city where we usually stop with the Flagship. Seoul is to Busan as New York is to Norfolk. Seoul is sophisticated, cosmopolitan, with a panoply of architectural delights and any delectable ethnic cuisine that you want. Driven in from the airport this evening, I saw a Mexican restaurant next to an Australian fish house. Did I mention cosmopolitan?
Seoul is one of those cities that you know you'd love if you could just spend more time getting to know it. We usually stay in Busan two weeks at a time twice a year. I get to Seoul once a year for two days of meetings. Make no mistake, Busan is just fine to visit. Even neighboring Chinhae has its own special charm. But Seoul is an international destination, like many of the world's capital cities. Koreans go to Busan for a beach vacation. Americans go to Seoul to see Korea.
Oh yeah, I know about that crazy man up north and his erratic shenanigans. So what? As it should be with any terrorist, he doesn't deter the ROKs from enjoying life, even within range of whatever destructive toys he claims to have pointed in their direction today. Maybe living under that repetitive threat enables the GSMA* denizens to enjoy life all the more. "Better the devil you know," right? Would victims of 9/11/2001 have lived their lives differently knowing they were under imminent attack? Perhaps for the better. Life is fragile, wherever you live and whoever has you in his/her gunsights. So, carpe diem. The ROKs seem to have a heckuva good time doing just that.
Koreans typically use metal chopsticks...washable, reusable. You can take them with you if you have to move in a hurry. Japanese use wood, some of which are washable, many disposable. Plenty more from where those came. They don't plan to move any time soon.
Although they certainly have their own history and culture, ROKs seem more westernized. They drive on the right side of the road. ROK music and movie stars are pop icons, even in Japan. In general, our ROK friends seem less encumbered by history, tradition, and austere culture than their Japanese counterparts. Neither is bad. This job enables me to learn about both these and the many other Asian cultures in the region.
Naturally, each culture enjoys its own cuisine. I relish both. I can wrap my lips around Korean BBQ any day, or bulgogi, or bibimbap, and -- yes -- kim chee. I also enjoy my sushi, sashimi, ramen, and tempura. It's a blessing to have access to both. (As well as the scrumptious Chinese food to be had in Singapore, but that's for another post on another day.)
Tomorrow we will parlay with our ROK medical counterparts over some fairly serious business. We do live in a hazardous world that makes for daunting challenges in force health protection and operational medical support. Our main purpose, however, is learn about each other's capabilities, so we can work together as a team. After these serious discussions, then, we will do what men and women of good will and mutual respect often do when teambuilding. We will man up our metal chopsticks and dine together. We'll probably drink a bit together too. That's diplomacy, folks.
*GSMA ("gizma") = Greater Seoul Metropolitan Area
Showing posts with label engagement. Show all posts
Showing posts with label engagement. Show all posts
Wednesday, December 8, 2010
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
Engaging a Class Act
For those who wonder what a Fleet Surgeon without patients to see really does to earn his pay, the answer is that I engage.
As one of my persistent priorities, I develop partnerships with my medical counterparts in other militaries across the western Pacific. I recently completed a very rewarding engagement with one of our premier partners, the Republic of Singapore Navy (RSN). Much like the nation they support, this Navy and its medical team is a highly developed, sophisticated, and competent enterprise. I enjoyed a rewarding several days of ship and hospital tours, culminating in a live afloat exercise involving medical evacuation (MEDEVAC) of a simulated patient off a U.S. ship onto an RSN frigate for emergency resuscitative surgery. Forward resuscitative surgery on small operational platforms is a new capability under development by both navies. Testing the concept at sea is an important step in that development.
The day began with helo transport via a Singapore Air Force Chinook to the deck of the Tank Landing Ship (LST) RSS Persistence. I joined several U.S. and RSN Flag officers in observing an operational exercise associated with the annual CARAT (Cooperation Afloat Readiness and Training) between our two navies. Upon conclusion of that event, our medical team boarded an FCU (Fast Craft Utility) boat for the short sea transfer to the frigate RSS Steadfast where the medical exercise would take place. (The LCU resembles those landing craft featured in "Saving Private Ryan".) The conclusion of the transfer involved an engaging ascent up a road ladder hung over the side of the ship. How many civilian docs ever get to do that?
Soon the U.S. Navy HS-60B Seahawk arrived on the flight deck with simulated patient on board. The RSN medical team demonstrated superior acumen and professionalism in triaging and transporting the patient mannekin from flight deck to hangar bay to the medical centre, which is a one-room resuscitation/treatment area similar to what we have on our own smaller vessels. These treatment rooms are not designed for surgery, hence the cutting edge nature of this exercise. The RSN team executed the drill with flawless medical precision, moving from resuscitation/stabilization to "damage control" surgery with alacrity.
Thus stabilized, the simulated patient was then moved to a temporary ICU set up on the aft mess deck. Again, the medical care rendered was flawless. The lessons learned from adapting spaces not usually dedicated to emergency surgery will be great value to both our navies.
The exercise was by any definition a huge success, and I proudly posed for an after-action photo with this superb medical team.
We then boarded a RHIB (Rigid Hulled Inflatable Boat) for a rapid sea transfer to another frigate, RSS Tenacious, for the voyage back to Singapore's Changi Naval Base.
From there a taxi brought me back to my hotel, where I entered my room at 0130 this morning. I was pretty tired after a long and action packed day, but grateful not only for the opportunity to be part of cutting edge operational medicine exercise, but also grateful for time spent with my warm and very engaging RSN friends.
And friendship, ladies and gentlemen, is what this job is all about.
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
Big Top Impressions
Way back in my pre-Navy Texas days, a certain radio commercial always caught my ear. A guy with a prototypical Texas accent would exhort, "Yah don't wohnt half a shebang, yah wohnt the whole shebang!"
I forget what that particular Texan was selling, but I doubt I will ever forget my first visit to Laem Chabang, Thailand. Now Laem Chabang is just a huge seaport, but Pattaya City, a mere 15 miles away, is indeed the whole shebang, at least for this elder sailor's first visit to Thailand. Expecting to devote several blog entries (most with photos) to this particular shebang, I begin with a description of our Flagship's signature maritime partnership engagement event, the Big Top.
A Big Top, named for the large awning/tent erected over the main deck, is a reception that we host whenever we visit a a foreign port for engagement. These are serious events, every bit as important for our national security interests as more traditional maritime operations. For all the treaties, all the diplomacy, all the high level negotiations, all the state dinners between our nations and its allies in this part of the world, nothing has more shebang for the buck than fundamental human interaction between American sailors and the people whose countries we are honored to visit.
Our hard working enlisted sailors, culinary specialists as well as volunteers from other rates, spend several days preparing for this event. Not only do they convert the main deck into a reception pavilion, they prepare a superb selection of hors de'ouvres, bake a nicely decorated cake featuring the flags of the U.S. and our host nation, and break out the ship's supply of wine and beer that is otherwise closely held under lock and key. Most of this occurs right outside my stateroom just below the main deck, so I see that these kids work hard to put on these events. They do so with enthusiasm, because they appreciate the value of their product to the overall mission of the Fleet Commander.
Once the evening arrives, Officers and Chiefs don their dress uniforms, a red carpet is laid out, and the Fleet Band takes its place, not only for national anthems but to provide the evening's entertainment. (Capable of any musical genre, the latter men and women could just as well play Carnegie Hall. Tonight's offering was New Orleans jazz, which our guests thoroughly enjoyed.) Dignitaries and senior officers from the host nation are bonged aboard with proper ceremony. Colors are paraded. The Admiral and his most senior ranking counterpart render honors for the national anthems, then make appropriately short speeches. Finally the guests and hosts engage in great conversation, and great fun.
Our opening Big Top in Thailand was especially memorable. Several hundred people from a variety of backgrounds and nationalities came to socialize and network. We hosted not only the Royal Thai Navy leaders and members, but various embassy staffs and military attaches from a range of nations. The band was superb. The food impeccable and tasty. And the wine and beer was welcome not only to our guests, but to those of us who had just survived a week of sleep-deprived circadian rhythm disrupted exercise activity sustained by gallons of caffeine and sheer perseverance.
So these activities are indeed fun, but the main purpose remains team building with our guests, a key part of our mission. Each of us is expected to do his/her part and act like the excellent ambassadors we are -- one conversation and one courteous gesture at a time. For this consummate introvert, that's a tall order. But the outcome is always beyond expectation. And, if we do this job right, maybe we can sustain peace in this region of the world without a shot ever being fired in anger.
A few vignettes from this particular engagement:
Met a Royal Thai Marine who is a dedicated bicyclist like many of us on the staff. He gave us advice on how/where to ride. We wheelpeople do appreciate local advice before venturing forth on our first ride in a foreign land.
A corpulent Omani military attache, probably born only a decade after me, dancing to the jazz music and maneuvering to get photographed with one of our attractive young female ensigns.
Our civilian wunderkind intelligence expert, who is same age and much resembles Katie, chatting with a Russian and then Chinese guy, each in their native languages.
My liberty buddy and fellow cyclist rounding up the local volunteer police to give us more advice on where and how to ride the next day.
A female senior Naval Aviator engaging an Indian Air Force officer on aviation topics. Flying has its own universal language.
Chatting with the Australian defense attache and reminiscing about our swing last fall through Sydney and Cairns.
These were just a small part of the individual conversations and gestures that came together over the course of a single night to weave a tapestry of understanding, mutual respect, and discovery of shared values and shared visions of a free society.
You'll never read about this in the newspaper, and you won't see it on any of the news channels. But it is a real mission, carried out with utmost aplomb by dedicated professionals, and achieving the desired effect of promoting peace throughout the world. It was, indeed, the whole shebang.
I forget what that particular Texan was selling, but I doubt I will ever forget my first visit to Laem Chabang, Thailand. Now Laem Chabang is just a huge seaport, but Pattaya City, a mere 15 miles away, is indeed the whole shebang, at least for this elder sailor's first visit to Thailand. Expecting to devote several blog entries (most with photos) to this particular shebang, I begin with a description of our Flagship's signature maritime partnership engagement event, the Big Top.
A Big Top, named for the large awning/tent erected over the main deck, is a reception that we host whenever we visit a a foreign port for engagement. These are serious events, every bit as important for our national security interests as more traditional maritime operations. For all the treaties, all the diplomacy, all the high level negotiations, all the state dinners between our nations and its allies in this part of the world, nothing has more shebang for the buck than fundamental human interaction between American sailors and the people whose countries we are honored to visit.
Our hard working enlisted sailors, culinary specialists as well as volunteers from other rates, spend several days preparing for this event. Not only do they convert the main deck into a reception pavilion, they prepare a superb selection of hors de'ouvres, bake a nicely decorated cake featuring the flags of the U.S. and our host nation, and break out the ship's supply of wine and beer that is otherwise closely held under lock and key. Most of this occurs right outside my stateroom just below the main deck, so I see that these kids work hard to put on these events. They do so with enthusiasm, because they appreciate the value of their product to the overall mission of the Fleet Commander.
Once the evening arrives, Officers and Chiefs don their dress uniforms, a red carpet is laid out, and the Fleet Band takes its place, not only for national anthems but to provide the evening's entertainment. (Capable of any musical genre, the latter men and women could just as well play Carnegie Hall. Tonight's offering was New Orleans jazz, which our guests thoroughly enjoyed.) Dignitaries and senior officers from the host nation are bonged aboard with proper ceremony. Colors are paraded. The Admiral and his most senior ranking counterpart render honors for the national anthems, then make appropriately short speeches. Finally the guests and hosts engage in great conversation, and great fun.
Our opening Big Top in Thailand was especially memorable. Several hundred people from a variety of backgrounds and nationalities came to socialize and network. We hosted not only the Royal Thai Navy leaders and members, but various embassy staffs and military attaches from a range of nations. The band was superb. The food impeccable and tasty. And the wine and beer was welcome not only to our guests, but to those of us who had just survived a week of sleep-deprived circadian rhythm disrupted exercise activity sustained by gallons of caffeine and sheer perseverance.
So these activities are indeed fun, but the main purpose remains team building with our guests, a key part of our mission. Each of us is expected to do his/her part and act like the excellent ambassadors we are -- one conversation and one courteous gesture at a time. For this consummate introvert, that's a tall order. But the outcome is always beyond expectation. And, if we do this job right, maybe we can sustain peace in this region of the world without a shot ever being fired in anger.
A few vignettes from this particular engagement:
Met a Royal Thai Marine who is a dedicated bicyclist like many of us on the staff. He gave us advice on how/where to ride. We wheelpeople do appreciate local advice before venturing forth on our first ride in a foreign land.
A corpulent Omani military attache, probably born only a decade after me, dancing to the jazz music and maneuvering to get photographed with one of our attractive young female ensigns.
Our civilian wunderkind intelligence expert, who is same age and much resembles Katie, chatting with a Russian and then Chinese guy, each in their native languages.
My liberty buddy and fellow cyclist rounding up the local volunteer police to give us more advice on where and how to ride the next day.
A female senior Naval Aviator engaging an Indian Air Force officer on aviation topics. Flying has its own universal language.
Chatting with the Australian defense attache and reminiscing about our swing last fall through Sydney and Cairns.
These were just a small part of the individual conversations and gestures that came together over the course of a single night to weave a tapestry of understanding, mutual respect, and discovery of shared values and shared visions of a free society.
You'll never read about this in the newspaper, and you won't see it on any of the news channels. But it is a real mission, carried out with utmost aplomb by dedicated professionals, and achieving the desired effect of promoting peace throughout the world. It was, indeed, the whole shebang.
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