I was settling into my new role as the chief of the Armament Maintenance Branch, Deputy Chief of Staff, Matériel, 19th Support Command, Camp Henry, Korea. My NCOIC was Master Sergeant John Maynard. Master Sergeant Maynard lived in the same apartment building as me in the Sue Song Heights complex in Taegu. Within a week, Master Sergeant Maynard showed me which Korean bus route to catch to ride to and from work every day. That way, my wife wouldn’t have to drive me to work and then drive back home every morning and every evening once she arrived in country. However, I noticed that Master Sergeant Maynard never actually rode the bus himself. I wondered what was up with that? One day, a few weeks later, Master Sergeant Maynard saw me running up the hill to our apartment in Sue Song Heights and asked me where I had been. I explained that I had been out running down past the end of the lake. I said that I had followed the road as it looped up and around this long winding curve up a hill to the right and dead ended. When it dead ended, I simply turned around and ran back. He asked me how far that was? I replied, “Well, judging by the length of time that I’ve been gone, I’m going to say that it’s at least 10 miles.” He replied, “Ten miles?!? If it was that far, you should go hiking with me sometime.” “Name the day and time. I love to hike.” “The hiking I’m talking about is all straight uphill.” “That’s okay with me.” A couple of days later, Master Sergeant Maynard came up to me and said, “Hey, Sir, I drove that route you were describing for your run.” I replied, “Okay?!?” “Well, it really is 10 miles. It’s actually a little over 10 miles to where the road dead ends. And it’s all uphill going in that direction. How in the hell did you run it so fast?” “Well, I’ve been stationed at a few places at high-altitude previously. And I used to run extremely long distance while I was stationed at those locations.” “If you don’t mind my asking, where were those places?” “I don’t mind. Have you ever heard of Fort Huachuca, Arizona? How about Denver, Colorado? I was stationed at both places. And I ran long distance up and down hills in both places. And I was up at altitude, over a mile high at both locations.” “Okay. I guess we can go hiking Saturday.” Well, after Master Sergeant Maynard took me hiking the first time and showed me the way up the hill, I started hiking every weekend. A couple of things I noticed about Master Sergeant Maynard were that he really didn’t like Koreans much at all. In fact, he cursed at them under his breath all the time. The second thing was that he only hiked up the hill about a half mile and then stopped. He flat refused to go any further. I knew that he could. He just wouldn’t. He was petty stubborn that way. Well, I couldn’t work out with the guy because I like the long workouts and he obviously liked very short workouts. That was just not my style. Additionally, I wasn’t really sure what was up with his petty hatred of Koreans. Pretty soon I was hiking with a weighted vest and weight belt as well as ankle weights. I carried a total of 30 pounds of additional weight every time I went up the hill. Additionally, I wore a web belt with two canteens attached to it filled with water. There was a Korean weightlifting club at the top of the first hill that I climbed. I usually stopped there to stretch, lift a few weights, and refill my canteens. The Koreans who ran the weightlifting club saw me lifting weights one day and told me that the weights were for members only. But the guy that was in charge of the place watched as I was bench lifting. I slowly worked up to where I had every plate of weights that the club owned on the bar. Then, I proceeded to perform a set of bench lift repetitions with that weight. Apparently, nobody else in their club could lift that much weight. They seemed kind of surprised, not only that I was able to lift it, but that I was able to lift it more than once. They allowed me to join their club as an honorary member. It wasn’t long before I was traversing the whole mountain range from one side of Taegu to the other side. Soon, I started running up and down the ridges after I got to the top of the mountain. I ran everywhere on that mountain range. I was even welcome in the Buddhist monastery that was tucked back in the hills. One day, the 19th Support Command, Command Sergeant Major came up to me and said that I needed to take a PT test. I told him to name the date and time and I would be there. He asked me if I could do it that afternoon? I said, “Sure. What’s the big deal? It’s just a goddamn PT test.” He looked at me and asked, “Are you sure you don’t need to practice Sir?” “Practice?!? Is that a joke? For push-ups, sit-ups, and the two-mile run? Seriously? That is a joke right?” “All right?!? If you’re sure.?. But most guys, especially the officers, need to practice first.” “Listen, Sergeant Major. I ain’t most guys. And I definitely ain’t most officers. Let’s just get it over with. Okay? Tell me where to be and when to be there.” “We will meet at the track over at Camp Walker. Okay?” “Fine with me, Sergeant Major. What time?” “4:00 PM sharp. Wear a PT uniform of some sort. You know. Something respectable. A T-shirt, well-fitting gym shorts and running shoes.” “Got it. Don’t show up naked, and don’t advertise for the ladies. Anything else?” When I got to the track over at Camp Walker, the Sergeant Major was already there and waiting for me. He looked at me and said, “Go ahead and warm up.” I replied, “I’m warm already. It’s kinda hot today. Let’s just get started. How many push-ups do I have to do to Max the push-ups?” “For your age group, you have to complete 79.” I started doing push-ups and when I got up to 100, I stopped and said, “That’s enough.” The sergeant major looked at me and said, “You did well over the max. You didn’t have to do that many.” “I know. But I like round numbers. One hundred is a nice round number. Okay. How many sit-ups do I have to do?” “Assuming you want to max the sit-ups, you have to do 82.” “Yeah. I have to do as many as the goddamn youngsters coming into the Army. You know. The ‘cruits. But that’s okay. No problem.” When I got up to 90, I stopped. This time, the Sergeant Major said, “I’m not even going to ask.” I replied, “Good. That means we can get started on this silly ass run. How many laps do I have to do, and how fast do I have to run them?” “You have to run eight laps and you have to finish in 13 minutes and five seconds to Max the run.” “Okay, Sergeant Major. Just say, go.” “Don’t you want to stretch first?” “What in the hell for? Look, Sergeant Major, you do things your way, I’ll do things my way. Let’s see who runs faster.” “All right, but I think you’re making a mistake.” “Just at ease that shit and say go. I didn’t ask you to think.” “Okay. Go.” With that, I took off. I counted off the laps as I ran past the Sergeant Major. Without all my weights, I could barely feel my feet touching the ground. I felt like I was floating. About halfway through the run, I poured on the coals and opened the afterburners. It was time to give her all she had. I crossed the finish line in just under 12 minutes. As I did, I was thinking to myself, “If I had just started running faster a little sooner, I could have finished in 11 minutes. Oh well, maybe next time.” When I walked over to the Sergeant Major, I asked, “So, did I pass?” The Sergeant major looked at me and said, “You’re kind of a smart ass, aren’t you, Sir? You already know how damn well you did. Just out of curiosity, how far can you run?” I replied, “How far or how fast?” “I was sort of asking how far? I think I have already got the answer to how fast.” “Well, not really. See, I think I could’ve run that two-mile run a little faster if I had started running a little faster a little sooner. However, I don’t know how long I could maintain a speed like that. For really long distances, I don’t run that fast. I run a little slower. How much slower? I don’t know? Cuz I haven’t timed myself. I don’t usually run for time. I run to see how far I can run.” “Do you think you could run all the way out to Camp Carroll?” “I Don’t Know? How far away is that?” “Well, it’s less than a marathon in distance. But it’s at least 20 miles.” “Well, the only way to find out is to try it. Why do you ask?” “You go out and try it and I’ll get back to you.” “All right. That sounds like a plan.” I had to drive the route a few times before I had it in my brain so that I could run it. I didn’t want this run to become another exercise in futility.
by 
by 