1st Episode with Joey Yang (Interpreter to the Commanding General of the 2nd Infantry Division in South Korea)

Welcome to Ops Fitness Podcast! This podcast is geared towards the
people serving behind the front lines so to speak (firefighters,
paramedics, military, and police) to help them get into better
shape. There are too many fitness companies out there that are
focusing on the "elite warrior" for example like the special forces
operator in the military or the crazy in shape firefighter. But
what about that deputy fire chief that is stuck behind his desk all
day? Or that middle aged military member who is a clerk by trade
and has a young family, so she looks after everyone but herself? My
name is Scott Bisbee; I have six years experience as a firefighter,
both as a volunteer and career in the military and my other passion
is fitness. I have been a certified fitness professional for the
past ten years now. This idea came organically to me. Talking to my
friends that are still serving and seeing things first hand I
noticed that most people behind the front lines take care of
everyone else except themselves and I want to do my part to help
change that.  By bringing awareness to this, I'm interviewing
people like my first guest here about their job and their fitness
routines.  I also am not a huge fan of long podcasts; you can
expect mine to be under 35 minutes max. With these podcasts also be
on the lookout with the written interviews as well. Without further
ado. Here is Joey Yang!   1. Tell me a little about yourself
and what are you doing in the military? What is your trade? I work
for the United States Army as a civilian. For the last three years,
I have been the Interpreter to the Commanding General of the 2nd
Infantry Division, the only permanently forward stationed infantry
division in the United States Army here in Korea. Before that, I
was an environmental engineer in the private sector. I know an
engineer and interpreter seem very opposite ends of the spectrum,
and I can elaborate how I got to this point later.  I was also
in the Republic of Korea Marine Corps for three years as an
infantryman. I played football(the American one) in college and
played semi pro for two years, started researching and practicing
the strength and conditioning field and think it's safe to say that
I am the foremost subject matter expert in this field amongst the
football community here in Korea. I was the S&C coach for the
national team in 2013 and the S&C coach for the University of
Seoul from 2014-2015. For the record, I am also the only person who
has ever had that title for any football team here in Korea. Of
course, there was another "strength coach" who ended up taking my
spot for the World Championship in 2015, but...let's just say there
was a lot of shenanigans for that issue. I can elaborate later. At
the moment, I focus on my personal strength practice and am always
open to help out soldiers in the 2nd Infantry Division. I do also
conduct strength training workshops for football teams here in
Korea.   What was the hardest time of your life? What tools
did you use to get through it? There were several. First was when I
started college. It was a department I did not have much interest
in and had enrolled in mostly due to family pressure. I remember
being miserable all day during classes. Fortunately, I always had
football practice to look forward to, and that was what kept me
going throughout the day. The second hard time came when I first
joined the marines. I'm not sure how it is these days, but back
then, the Marine Corps was very infamous for hazing and beatdowns
of junior marines.I had just gotten to my unit after basic training
and infantry school, so I was pretty tired and sleep deprived. So
all junior marines will snore at night. My roomie at the time was a
senior marine, and he had just come back from a late night patrol,
and apparently, he wasn't happy to hear my snoring when he walked
into the room and kicked me real hard in the ribs with his boots
on...while I was asleep. I guess it doesn't take a rocket scientist
to figure ou