USFK Soldier Facing Court Martial On the Run In South Korea
It might help to track this guy down if a picture of what he looked like was available:
A U.S. soldier under military investigation has disappeared from a base near the border with North Korea, a spokesman said Thursday.
The missing soldier is being investigated for a violation of the Uniform Code of Military Justice, said Lt. Col. Richard Hyde, a 2nd Infantry Division spokesman. South Korean police said the soldier had been scheduled to face a court-martial Wednesday, but the military declined to confirm that or provide details about the charges.
The soldier, who is in his 20s, is not wanted for a violent crime, Hyde said.
“We do not believe that he is armed or dangerous,” he said. “He is believed to be in Seoul.” [Stars & Stripes]
found him in Hongdae.
http://www.stripes.com/news/pacific/us-soldier-who-went-awol-is-found-on-crowded-street-in-seoul-1.410311
Granted I’ve been out of the military since before Reagan was elected, but I don’t think the young man was showing good sense here, going AWOL and such…
Used to be fairly common back in the day. Obviously really shortsighted though … because once the money ran out (which it inevitably always did) … the yobo who you thought was in love with you all of sudden fell out of love real quick! And then the guy invariably dragged his azz back to garrison … knowing he was done for.
The only one who lasted more than a month was a Korean-American kid … but even he gave up eventually.
Hmmm… I should set up an underground railroad for AWOL GIs.
…keep them in a safehouse on a diet of corn syrup and fund it all with their plasma donations… keeping them in line with fearful stories of the prison raape they face if they turn themselves in,,,
,,,not that they would escape anyway… being handcuffed to the bed and all.
You only need one kidney to stay alive, right?
In 1987 I was in Security Police at Osan conducting random, i.e., command-directed searches of outgoing vehicles at the now barricaded and closed Hill 180 Gate when we stopped an outbound AAFES taxi. Long story short; in the cab was a guy who had been AWOL for six years. He was headed home from a monthly trip to the commissary. I remember the trunk being chock full of commissary bags. He had an ID card and a ration control card (had to run across an imprinter). One or both of the cards were either expired or fake which is what caused us to take a second look at this guy when his name eventually surfaced on an AWOL list. I remember being amazed at how long he got away with it. Some MPs from Camp Humphries came and picked him up. Never heard what happened or followed up on the guy so my guess is he did a stint at Leavenworth. There were two Korean women in the cab with him (association with him unknown/forgotten).
@Mcgeehee, that is pretty amazing that this guy was AWOL for six years. You would think someone would have spotted his expired ID card sooner. Now a days with DBIDS scanning the cards this could not happen.
The AWOL GI has happened before and will assuredly happen again. A long time ago I had a guy in my unit who was stealing from other soldiers in the barracks to fund his juicy girl habit before being caught. He left post despite having his pass privileges removed by the commander while the court marital process was on going. He was picked up just over a day later in the ville. He just wanted to see the juicy girl one last time before getting busted. I suspect most of the AWOL GI cases in Korea are similar stories.
AWOL over 30 days ought to be Desertion, right? And, if no other charges, in peacetime, an administrative discharge (upping it to BCD if other misdemeanors and DD if felonies).
http://usmilitary.about.com/od/justicelawlegislation/a/awoldesertion.htm
So if this guy was smart … as soon as they snatched him up, the first words out of his mouth should have been, “But I was planning on coming back the whole time.”
@GIKorea, I almost didn’t post above incident because so many aspects of it didn’t add up: He shouldn’t have been able to get on base, get past the front door checker, or the cashier at the commissary. Speculation was one woman he was with was paying off someone (commissary, Pass & ID, ?). Ration control was real tight in those days, so having a ration control plate that worked would have been a feat that required some help (downstream unit reporting). It could have been he was using lost/found/stolen OR a fake/expired ID and ration control plate. I just couldn’t believe this guy was coming back on base every month for commissary shopping.
@Mcgeehee, good point that he may have had inside help. It is pretty amazing that this guy was taking that type of risk going back on base like that. Makes me wonder what the guy was doing to make a living down range?
It takes more work to be a successful (i.e., un-arrested) small-time crook than it does to be an honest Congress-critter…