June
18-19, 2014
from Allan Howze
We have just completed personal visitation with Changil for 2 days at the US
Army Base, Fort Jackson, South Carolina. Changil (CJ) worked with us this year and part of last. We were so glad to be there for Changil's award and his graduation. Hopefully, his Korean friends
will help translate parts of this for his family and many friends still in Korea.
Darren
and I traveled from Chicago to Fort Jackson, South Carolina for Changil's Army
Basic Combat Training Graduation (BCT). Wow, it was an emotional,
learning and 'eye opening' experience. Being
an American is so often taken for granted. For our friends in South Korea
and the world over, I'm sure it is the same. I request everyone to visit
an Armed Forces graduation. The amount of dedication and hardship our
Soldiers are confronted with is incredible. Most of us would simply give
up immediately. Changil did not give up.
He is an amazing person and has a good heart and soul. His
family is sure to be very, very proud of him. You have taught him well! It has been 10 weeks since anyone has had actual
communication with him. No phones, but
an occasional letter. We wrote often to offer support and try to lessen
the depression he would feel. Now, we
get to visit with him for 2 days (Family Day and Graduation).
Family Day
(9 a.m., Wednesday, June 18, 2014) started with about 500 graduating men and
women marching and getting into formation. It was about 95° F (35° C), a
very bright and sunny day with 80% humidity (Changil says that he never will
live in South Carolina, US because of the intense heat, humidity and memories
of his sweaty hot training in the sun every day, LOL). The new soldiers were divided into different
groups called 'Companies'. Changil was in Bravo Company which is known to
be the hardest and most strict of any Company. We couldn't see him in his
group. It was then announced about 27 new Soldiers would become citizens
of the United States at this moment. And, there he was, 5th row,
center. Very thin, very dark skin tanned
and no hair. Everyone must choose their life's path.
Changil did this and he has worked extremely hard to get what he
wanted. Although, he still has a long journey ahead. Changil is now a United States citizen!
It was then announced that visitors could go down and find their Soldiers on
the field. As we walked down the steps, JEONG, as he is called by all, sees
us. He gave his usual big smile. We reached him and of course he was overjoyed. His first request to
us was to quickly take him and get the HELL away from this place.
LOL. We don't blame him. He
has had no privacy and quietness for 10 weeks.
Changil’s day begins at 4 a.m. and ends at 9 pm with lights out. Sometimes the soldiers would only get 3 or
less hours of sleep at night. We could
now take him anywhere on the army base ONLY and be with him without his drill sergeants
screaming at him. First, he led us to his barracks where he shared
living quarters with about 50 other young men.
His bed was the top ‘bunk bed’, bed #45.
He had a nice wide locker for his 3 uniforms, boots (that he cleaned for 2 days) and a few personal items. He got his cell phone back and activated it from the 10 week rest.
We had
a rental car and took him to stores on base to purchase new Army pants because his
existing pants were much too large for him after he lost so much weight. Then, we shared his first meal with him...Popeye’s
fried chicken, a 16 piece family meal. LOL.
Everywhere we went was a ‘culture shock’ for him because he was not allowed
these privileges for the past 10 weeks. We
spent the entire day updating him with World News, friends and listened to interesting
stories of his experiences. Soldiers are denied access to any outside
news because this would only cause distraction for the soldiers. It was hard for him and hard for all
soldiers. He said many times that he couldn't believe that the 10 weeks had
ended. 10 weeks seemed much longer because of the tireless and endless
training he had completed. He misses everyone and the life he used to
have. But, he must now think and be a soldier. The day passed too quickly and we drove him
to his barracks for his 20:00 check-in (8:00 pm). We said our good night and then left base.
Today is Graduation Day (9 a.m., June 19, 2014). After the Graduation Ceremonies,
we get to check Changil out and drive away OFF the Army base camp. We see
CJ marching forward in the center of all graduates, first row. He is to
get an award! During his gun training, he hits all 40 targets and scores
a PERFECT SCORE of 40 out of 40! He is the only one out of all 500
graduates and the ONLY one to do this in 3 years at this Army Base!!! HE
IS NOW KNOWN AS 'HAWKEYE' BY THE ARMY AND ALL GRADUATES. He truly is a
celebrity now. Everyone knows his name! Wherever we went, other
soldiers would say to their families "this is the guy I told you about, he
is Hawkeye". This was incredible to experience because Changil
has touched the lives of people more than the 500 graduates. But, also
their families! Incredible. After
a while, Changil felt the need to run away from all of the ‘movie star’
atmosphere because he couldn’t relax.
After
graduation, we helped to complete his requests.
They are (IN ORDER)...Starbucks (he hasn't had coffee), Target Store
(personal shopping store for face creams, sun block, laundry soap...), + a few
small stores. CJ is very tanned and dark now from hours and days in the
sun. Next, was a McDonald’s lunch complete
with 20 pieces of chicken nuggets and soft serve ice cream. The ice cream became too sweet because he
hasn’t had anything really sweet for 10 weeks.
It is now about 2 p.m. in the afternoon and we had about 7 hours
remaining before we had to give Changil back to the Army at 21:10 (9:10 p.m.). We spent the rest of the day relaxing in
quietness. He really needed to just get
away from everything. We took him to our
hotel where he could watch TV, listen to music, rest, and shower in peace
without anyone around. Showering with 50
guys fighting for water was not fun.
At
9:10 p.m. we had Changil back at his post for check-in. Families and friends said their last goodbyes. And then, it began all over again. The soldiers were called to attention for
line up. Check in was completed, they
were updated with tomorrows activities and told to go to bed. We waived goodbye with no wave back because
he couldn’t. Tomorrow, we leave for our
trip back to Chicago. CJ will begin his
transfer to AIT (Advanced Individual Training) at 6 a.m. at the same Army Base
in South Carolina for 8+ weeks. Many soldiers
will be transferred to other Army bases across the US. Changil is due to graduate from AIT in mid-August. AIT will teach Changil his Army job for the
next 4 years where he will be stationed at any Army base in the US or abroad.
Changil
and our troops need your support! Remember
that our freedom is special and exists because of our armed forces.
We will soon have CJ’s new mailing address for those who want it.
Allan
