I AM KOREAN AMERICAN

Own Words

I was a soldier, got out as a Staff Sergeant after 12 years in the US Army Infantry. Part of me will always be a soldier, couldn’t clean it out of me if you tried. I have more than a few friends in Arlington National Cemetery. I miss them, loved the pageantry but hated the finality of their funerals. I’m working on two historical novels about Asian American soldiers. My work ethic comes from my mother. My temper also comes from my mother. I was probably the biggest bleeding heart liberal in the Army at one point, dang near got my ass whupped when I told someone that I voted for Clinton in ’92. I can’t bring myself to believe that the world will end during the Winter Solstice in 2012. Music that got me through some rough deployments: Eric Clapton Unplugged, Scarecrow by John Mellencamp, Pink Floyd’s The Wall, Aretha Franklin’s Greatest Hits, Mozart’s Jupiter Symphony, Exile on Main Street by the Stones, the Beatles’ White Album, the Rosamunde string quartet by Schubert, and the Purple Rain soundtrack. I used to hate fighting until I realized that the other boys hated it more. Once I came to grips with that, I stopped getting my butt kicked in school. I almost pissed myself on my first parachute jump, but the rest were cake. My second year of college is one long drunken blur, which means I probably had a great time. I dropped out and enlisted soon after that. Having a child beats just about anything I used to do for an adrenaline rush – like, for instance, standing up in the middle of a firefight because I couldn’t see the enemy from my safe position behind a stone wall. Not smart. Don’t do that at home, kids. One of this country’s bravest heroes used to be in my squad, is still on active duty, and is as queer as a three dollar bill. When DADT came out, I told him, “I never asked and you never told, so no worries.” I’d love to see him get married one day. Opening my own restaurant taught me everything, and in great gory detail, about how to run an unprofitable business, how to mistreat subordinates, and how to pass the buck. My new favorite past-time is chasing Ryan around the house. I didn’t know jack or s*** about wine or fine dining until Chef Bob Kinkead hired me to tend bar in his restaurant. When I asked him why he hired me with no experience, and only meeting me when he came to my dive bar once or twice, he said, “You made me laugh, kid.” My biggest regret is not finishing college. My biggest pride is my son, Ryan Joonsoo Kim.

My blog is www.ryansappa.wordpress.com.