We were really excited to get orders to Spangdahlem Air Base in Germany in 1997, then the airman in my husband's job position over there extended his tour. I guess he really liked it! I would have loved it! Did he not know he was depriving a homemaker and her young ones of the greatest adventure of their lives?
Then we waited and my husband guaranteed that we would go somewhere. So in 1998 he gets a one year assignment to Osan AB, S. Korea ALONE. Unaccompanied!! Meaning we cannot go with him.
So I start praying for God to give us the opportunity to go as a family. The closer it got, the more that dream was going to come through. Now, it is not as perfect as it seems. We are going unaccompanied, which means we will live on the economy, no support from the military. We may not be able to shop at the commissary, the children will not get into schools, we may have no healthcare on base. This was going to be living off the grid for sure.
Around the middle of July we packed up our base housing and moved up to my parents house. We were only allowed to "hop" or take with us on space available flights two pieces of luggage, we chose a box and a suitcase each and a carry on. My husband was allowed to bring 500 pounds of household belongings and a vehicle, that was shipped prior to him leaving. We had sold our newer van and bought a 1984 Ford Econoline van. It was red and sparkly (glitter paint), with shag carpet on the walls and floor and no windows. WOW! This means there are 7 people with 21 pieces of luggage total to live on for one year, oh, and the 500 pounds of mostly uniforms and duty necessities for my husband. We checked on the space available flights leaving Travis AFB, CA and on August 11, 1998 my mom and dad drove us down in their motor home. They dropped us off at the terminal at Travis AFB, CA at 6am, my husband signs us up to "hop" to S. Korea. After waiting for hours to see if we were on a flight, excited with 22 pieces of luggage and 5 children, we do not get on a flight this day and my husband checks all flights for the following day. We are essentially stranded on Travis AFB. My husband rents a truck with a king cab and of course a bed that can fit all of our luggage. There is no room at the inn! (on base) So we drive around looking for a hotel, remember this is before cell phones and the speed of Priceline.com (which I now love when we travel). We take naps, because it has been a long start of the day and take a swim and enjoy the budget hotel. After a tight night in a small hotel room, we wake up early and arrive at 5:30am at the terminal, we sign up for a space available flight to Yokota AB, Japan on a KC10. We got on the plane and actual had airline seats. The flight was supposed to cost $12 per person and this included a box lunch. We felt God's presence with us. The children were super travelers, the $12 fee was never charged and the boxed lunches were decent. The flight was about 10 1/2 hours. We departed on August 12, 1998 and crossed the dateline, so our youngest son's birthday, August 13th only lasted a couple hours. As a treat for the kids, they were allowed to, one at a time, go visit the cockpit, we sang Happy Birthday and a special cupcake was presented to the birthday boy, who turned 7. We arrived in Yokota in the afternoon and we were soooo tired, still had 22 pieces of luggage and 5 children. Yay for us. While we were waiting in the terminal for our next move...a room, next flight, and food, an airman had seen my son wearing a football jersey with our last name on it. He followed him until he met my husband. Then introduced himself as Sgt Brindley and wondered if we were related somehow. After coming to the conclusion that he was not related to us, he asked about our plans. My husband mentioned he was stuck in the terminal with the luggage and no way to get around with it. This man was one of our angels. He offered his office, there at the terminal, to store our luggage. We packed in the backpacks all we would need for the evening and stored the rest of the luggage in his office. My husband stayed at the terminal to sign up for the next flight and get us a room somewhere. So hungry and tired, I checked out the base map, what could we do to kill time and for dinner, so the kids and I took off on the Yokota bus around base. The first thing we notice is how muggy it is. We are sweating just driving around on the bus. We had Burger King for dinner and went to the base pool. Which was an indoor Olympic size pool with basketball, volleyball, and games for the kids. We rested and played and the boys all got their energy out. Where do they get all the energy from? We met back up with my husband later and he had gotten us two rooms on base. We crashed early and were up early the next morning for our flight to S. Korea. We retrieved our luggage and waited for the flight. While we were waiting we met a family who were stationed at Osan AB, S. Korea they tried to discourage us and told us there was no way we were going to make it unaccompanied. There would be no resources available to us and I should turn back now with the children and go home. They became some of our good friends while at Osan. We worshipped with them at the chapel and enjoyed many church and base functions with them. While this news was very discouraging, we ran into an airman that used to be our neighbor on Beale AFB. His sons and daughter were our youngest children's age and very good friends. He negated all of what they said and reaffirmed our goals and our plans. He became our angel and later comes to our rescue. He had already spent 6 months at Osan AB and knew how to get around and where to go. Our flight was a short flight on a C130 to Kunsan AB, S. Korea. We had to get our Passports stamped to enter S. Korea and the nationals wouldn't let us through. My husband was escorted to a back room for interrogation and we were in a very small holding area. My husband had been warned by another Korean National that they may try to get bribe money from you. Little did they know, we did not have a dime to rub between us. After hours of waiting for the planes and process to in-process the country we were allowed to board the plane to Osan AB, S. Korea. We flew on a C130 to Osan. Our neighbor angel still with us and encouraging us all the way. We arrived at Osan AB late at night, our neighbor angel helped us get two taxis and a room to stay. The room we ended up getting ended up being a suite with a kitchen. The weather was so humid and the children kept saying it was hard to breathe. The rooms we stayed in were NQR (not quite right) , which became a regular sighting while in Korea. The ceiling was uneven, the shower was not square, the toilet was crooked. Hmmmm.... not in Kansas anymore! The next day my husband went out to look for a place to stay and check into the base. The kids and I hung out, walked everywhere. Within a few weeks my husband was able to get the commander to sign off on his family using the commissary, clinic, for medical care, and to register the kids on space available at the DOD school on base. So off we go to register the 4 older children, 14, 10, 10, and 7 at the school on base. We loved the chapel on base and within a few days my husband had found a furnished 700 sq ft apartment in Pyongtaek, right outside the base. Another blessing from God! We were able to walk to base from the apartment. The only thing we needed were beds. So I went shopping for futons for the kids. I went into a shop with the kids, while my husband was at work and actually got kicked out. Most of the businesses will not do business with women alone. They must have a man with them. So 50's! By August 28, the 7 year old had been accepted into the base school and the rest were going to be homeschooled. We were settled into our apartment and ready for some structure. I loved homeschooling the kids. They called me Mrs. Love during school hours and the youngest was even doing preschool curriculum. My class consisted of 4 very bright students, an eighth grader, two fifth graders and a preschooler. Bring it on!
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