Appointments to 121 in Yongsan, Sound Familiar?

Does this sound familiar to anyone stationed in 2ID?:

Soldiers¿ duties are being affected because of obstetrics and gynecology appointments at Yongsan Garrison¿s 121st General Hospital, a sergeant told camp officials.

¿I find myself adjusting my schedule just so (female soldiers) can go down to Yongsan,¿ Choi said.

That trip can take about two hours each way, depending on traffic. Most soldiers also must factor in bus schedules, waiting at the clinic and the appointment itself, he said.

Choi said he¿s had to shift other soldiers¿ schedules to make up for the lost personnel.

Arranging for an appointment down at 121 is basically giving the soldier the day off.  The clever soldiers try to schedule the appointments on Fridays or Mondays in order to give themselves a three day weekend and a early start on their weekend down in Seoul.

Keep in mind it isn’t just female soldiers going to gynecology appointments.  There are just as many males who may or may not have legitimate back, knee, shoulder, etc. injuries that are bothering them and appointments are scheduled for them down in Yongsan to see a specialist there.  It got so bad in my unit that our Battalion Sergeant Major took a trip down to Yongsan on a Friday to see what was going on and of course found soldiers in the PX.  Of course they said they were waiting for the bus, which the last bus had left 10 minutes ago, so they of course said they lost track of time.  So draconian measures were implemented to stop the abuse of people milking appointments to Yongsan to get off of work.  So what happened was that the companies could not be released for end of the day formation until everyone on appointment attended the final formation.  You wouldn’t believe how quickly people got back to the unit and the amount of appointments decreased when these people realized the rest of the company was waiting on them to return before they could get off of work.

It would be an interesting study to see how many work hours the Army loses with people attending appointments down in Yongsan.  At least it is finally being addressed, but then again the camp consolidation at Camp Humphreys would solve this problem completely.