Category: Uncategorized

The wife of a sailor killed in the 2002 West Sea Naval Battle with North Korean warships has reportedly left the country.

Kim Jong-seon, the widow of Petty Officer Han Sang-guk, who was killed in a June 2002 naval battle with North Korea in the West Sea, turned her back on her homeland Sunday and boarded a flight bound for the United States. Before getting on her flight, she said, “If the indifference and inhospitality shown to those soldiers who were killed or wounded protecting the nation continue, what soldier will lay down his life in the battlefield?”

In the battle on June 29, 2002 — one day prior to the closing ceremony of the Korea-Japan World Cup — six sailors were killed and 18 wounded when a North Korean patrol boat that had crossed over the northern line of control ambushed a South Korean naval vessel. The bereaved have spent the last three years in an atmosphere where it was difficult to even grieve. Nervous government officials, worrying that the incident might cast a pall over the Sunshine Policy, even warned the families to please be quiet.

I posted on the neglect the families of this tragedy have received last summer. The point of my post last summer was how hippocritical things here in Korea are when USFK is still having protests about the two girls killed in an accident in June 2002 which everybody up the chain of command including President Bush apologized for and we the military have made huge improvements to further improve safety and reduced total convoy movements to prevent another accident in a country where thousands continue to die from domestic traffic accidents anyway while in the same month a few days later the North Koreans diliberately kill six South Korean sailors in an ambush to draw media attention away from the World Cup finale the next day and nobody cares. Where are the candle light vigils, demands for apologies, demands for compensation, and calls for a more equal relationship? Obviously the North Koreans are getting the better end of this relationship and the families of the victims are getting a cold shoulder from their own government.

Here’s a quote from an article last summer that really really stood out to me.

The father said, “My son is buried in the National Cemetery. But I’m going to take my son’s remains to my family burial site in my hometown.” Having watched the situation develop, he thought his son who was killed by North Korean soldiers was considered nothing more than a criminal. Some parents said that they are more scared of people who consider the U.S. a bigger enemy than North Korean leader Kim Jong-il, who killed their son. We lose courage to defend the country, when we hear that a wife whose husband fell in the battle is preparing to leave this country. Reading a condolence letter from the USFK commander to mark the second anniversary, the wife said, “The Americans remember my husband and his brothers-in-arms better than Koreans… Frankly, I hate Korea.”

Frankly I can’t blame her for wanting to leave Korea after the treatment the families have received.

A Navy study has found that sailors who smoke are more likely to be seperated from the service than non-smokers.

Recruits who enter service as heavy cigarette smokers are nearly twice as likely as nonsmokers to be separated early, mostly due to “substandard behavior,” according to new research aimed at easing the U.S. military’s disturbingly high attrition rate.

For all its achievements over three decades, the volunteer military has had one chronic problem: an alarming washout rate. A third of all new entrants fail to complete initial service obligations, driving up recruiting and training costs.

This shouldn’t be a shock to anyone because when I was in high school back in the day, the people who smoked were usually people who had authority problems and smoked just to piss people off.

Now this is interesting:

Now it appears pre-service smoking habits could well be the equal of a diploma for predicting if a recruit will succeed in service, said Dr. Eli S. Flyer, a former senior manpower analyst with the Defense Department.

I can’t imagine the military not letting people enlist because they smoke. Especially with the recruiting problems of today.

Now this I find hard to believe:

Just more than half — 51 percent — of all servicemembers smoked in 1980. Smoking declined to a 29.9 percent level in 1998, but smoking increased to 33.8 percent according to the 2002 survey of Health Related Behaviors Among Military Personnel.

Only 33.8% of people in the military smoke? I would think it would be around 50% or more. The military has so many smokers IMHO because it is the easiest way to sham out of work. The laziest soldiers I know are all smokers who hide in the smoke shack and they hide there because the people in charge of them smoke to and are in the same smoke shack. Just about every soldier that I know of who gets into trouble is a smoker.

As many of you know 2ID has started a campaign to ban smoking on the 2ID camps. All this does is cause the smokers to go to the far off smoking designated point to smoke removing them from work that much longer. What the army needs to do is limit the number of smoke breaks to one in the morning for 10 minutes and one in the afternoon for 10 minutes and implement a sign in and sign out roster to track it. If the soldier has to go through a lot of hurdles to take a smoke break that will cut the number of smokers because many of them smoke just to get out of work.

This is just one person’s opinion, so feel free to comment if your unit has nothing but hard working smokers because mine doesn’t and I’m willing to bet many other units are the same way.

Apparently an agreement has been reached to resume the North Korean nuclear talks:

Leaders of the two Koreas agreed Saturday to resume talks between their nations that broke down last summer and to discuss the international standoff over the North’s nuclear weapons ambitions, an Indonesian official said.

South Korean Prime Minister Lee Hae-chan and North Korea’s No. 2 man, Kim Yong Nam, met on the sidelines of an Asian-African summit in Jakarta, said Jacob Tobing, Indonesia’s ambassador to South Korea. It was the second meeting at the summit between the two leaders, who addressed such key issues as attempts to persuade the North to return to six-party talks aimed at getting Pyongyang to suspend its nuclear program.

The North Koreans have agreed to continue to continue nuclear talks? It must be true because the Norks wouldn’t agree to something just to back out of it later would they?

When I was in Kuwait waiting for the word for my unit to cross the berm into Iraq we stayed out in the desert in a camp made up of circus tents and porta-potties. During this time there was somebody who was deliberately crapping on toilet seats in the different porta-potties and would then write about his exploits on the walls of the porta-potty. He became known as the “Shithouse Bandit”. If anyone would have ever caught the “Shithouse Bandit” he would of been beaten to a pulp but no one ever did before we rolled out.

Anyway now in Korea I think a disciple of the “Shithouse Bandit” has surfaced. I call him the “Elevator Bandit”. For the past couple of months somebody in my apartment building keeps pissing in the elevator. This pisses me off (no pun intended) more than than the “Shithouse Bandit” because at least in Kuwait you had other porta-potties you could go to. Here there is only one elevator to get to my apartment and I live on the 15th floor. So when there is piss all over the elevator, guess what I got to climb up all those stairs because I’m not about to stand in a puddle of piss to get to my hooch. I have complained to the apartment security about this problem and they told me they are conducting an “investigation” into it. What the heck are they investigating? DNA samples from the urine? How about installing a camera!? No, after their lenghty investigation my mighty all over 60 years old army of security guards who just happen to smell of soju most days have instead come up with a better plan to stop this master criminal known as the “Elevator Bandit”. They have posted a sign asking him to quit pissing on the elevator. I’m sure that will scare him.

Has anyone else out there had their elevators pissed on? Is this a common occurence in Korea? I have seen many ajushis urinating on buildings in public when they get the urge because of the lack of public restrooms here. Anyway I will keep everyone informed if there are any updates in the security investigation of the “Elevator Bandit”.

Only in Korea could there be a human rights commission run by the government that is not concerned about human rights.

Asked in a parliamentary session on Friday what its priority was, the North Korean regime or human rights, the head of the National Human Rights Commission Cho Young- hoang replied, “It’s hard to tell.” The commissions is “yet to decide whether it can deal with North Korean human rights as it does with human rights” in the South, he explained. This is a reply by the head of the country’s top human rights agency, mind, after he watched footage of a public execution by firing squad in the North.
The NHRC is so concerned about human rights that it has taken a stand on teachers reading diaries written by schoolchildren expressly for the purpose of learning to write. When there was debate over sending Korean troops to Iraq, the commission raised an objection, asking the administration and the National Assembly to protect the human rights of Iraqi war casualties. National borders didn’t matter then, nor did the realities of individual countries, nor vital national alliances. But faced with egregious human rights abuses in the North, it will not open its mouth.

The NHRC has either caved into or is colluding with a particular political force now in power. It ought to speak where the administration is silent, but instead the two are as one when it comes to handling the Stalinist regime in the North with kid gloves. If it continues to close its eyes and block its ears to human rights abuses in North Korea, the National Human Rights Commission might as well give up its status as an “independent” agency and become a civic organization. There is no need to waste any more taxpayers’ money on it.

The Battle of Kapyong was recently remembered. Veterans from Canada, England, New Zeland, and Australia met at the Battle of Kapyong Memorial in the city.

KAPYONG, Kyonggi Province – More than half a century after one of the most important battles of the Korean War, veterans from four countries returned here on Friday to celebrate their victory and remember fallen comrades.

The past 54 years have done nothing to blunt the lingering emotion from the battle, which could be seen etched on the veterans faces, many of whom were returning to Korea for the first time since being discharged. “It’s very emotional to come back here,’’ said Hank Daniel who, along with several of his mates on the visit, served with the Canadian Army during the 1950-53 war. “We’re always thinking of those of us stayed behind.’’

I have posted about this battle before, and hopefully the city cleaned up the site before this memorial considering how trashed the place was the last time I visited there. Never the less this was an extremely important battle during the Korean War and everyone in Korea should be thankful for the sacrifices these men made during the war in defense of freedom on the peninsula.

According to Stars and Stripes loan sharks working out of pay day loan offices have been targeting the US military.

Law assistant professor Chris Peterson and geography assistant professor Stephen Graves examined the locations of thousands of payday lenders in 20 states, and found they tended to congregate in counties and zip codes near military facilities.

Outside of Fort Bragg in North Carolina, 18 payday lenders have set up shop within three miles of the front gate. Fort Hood in Texas has 13 instant lenders within one mile of the base perimeter.

Foot Hood only has 13? When I was at Ft. Hood there seemed to be a lot more than that. These pay day loan operations target the US military because they know they will get their money. Soldiers can face military legal action for not paying their bills. So these pay day loan shops give out loans and charge 30% interest and get soldiers into massive debt.

When I was stationed state side I knew an NCO who could not control his wife’s spending habits. She would keep buying computers, TV’s, DVD players, etc. which they could not afford. She kept taking out loans from the loan sharks and when those loan sharks would contact the command she would then get a loan from another pay day loan place to pay off the prior debt or use new credit cards to pay them off. In total this family was $50,000 in debt to loan sharks and $35,000 in debt with the credit cards plus they had 5 kids. He ended up getting chaptered out of the Army because of his money problems.

Many of these loan sharks are retired military and know that the Army can chapter soldiers out for not paying them off so they make it as easy as possible for soldiers to get a loan and then kill them with the interest fees.

Fortunately here in Korea we do not have to worry about soldiers running to a pay day loan place and getting in massive debt because they run themselves into enough debt with just credit cards. The loan sharks probably cannot setup business here due to issues with running such a business in a foreign country. Hopefully it stays that way.

You can always count on President Roh to provide blogging material. Now President Roh is complaining about pro-American Koreans.

In a talk with Korean residents here during a three-day stay in Turkey, President Roh Moo-hyun has worried aloud that his countrymen approached issues involving the South Korea-U.S. alliance too much from an American point of view.
Without giving examples, Mr. Roh complained Saturday that some Koreans are too what he called pro-American when they discuss relations between Seoul and Washington.
“I am most concerned and feel troubled when I see that there are Koreans who possess a more pro-American way of thinking than Americans themselves,” the president said.

President Roh is trying to increase his approval rating before the elections by pulling out the good old Korean nationalism card. He makes it sound like if you favor the US policy you are against the Korean people. Will people keep falling for this crap?

However his remarks about some Koreans being more pro-American than Americans reminded me of a Polish military friend of mine I trained with in the states. He told me the biggest surprise he had coming to America was learning how much Americans hate their own country and how much the Polish love America. With such a comfortable life in America he was shocked by the anti-Americanism. He thinks the Polish love America more than many Americans. Keep in mind this was before the 2004 Presidential election when the Democrats were on TV every day complaining about how bad America was which he watched every day. So this may have influenced his opinion. Who knows, maybe we can exchange some of the anti-American Americans for pro-American Koreans and Poles?

I have been sitting here scanning the headlines from the past few weeks and have decided I really haven’t missed much. People are still fighting over two rocks and textbooks read by .1% of Japanese students. However, Korea is taking a back seat to the foolishness of this whole mess and letting the Chinese make fools of themselves instead. The Chinese government allowed the protestors to vandalize Japanese restaurants which some were owned by Chinese to begin with and then allowed them to throw eggs and rocks at the Japanese consulate in Shanghai. Amazing that a country that is hosting the Olympics in a few years has allowed state authorized vandalism. Well at least they are not cutting off their fingers or setting themselves on fire yet.

Then a couple of traffic incidents in one weekend put USFK drivers back on the map. A E7 was arrested for drunk driving after hitting a civilian. This idiot will get prosecuted in the Korean court system and face Korean punishment. So we shouldn’t hear anything about the unfair SOFA. On top of that, this E7’s military career is pretty much through as the Army has little to no tolerance for drunk driving, especially in Korea.

Then there is the other soldier that alledgedly caused a pile up on the Banpo bridge after making an illegal U-turn. I will hold judgement on this because often USFK personnel get blamed for accidents that were not their fault. I have seen this happen over and over again. The most outrageous example I can think of is when an NCO I know was attacked by what we call a “terminator” truck in GI lingo here. The “terminator” was pissed off that he got cut off by the USFK vehicle trying to make a turn so he passed the vehicle later down the road and pull in front of it. He then put the truck in reverse and smashed the front of the USFK vehicle with has back bumper and then called the police and said he had been rear ended. The NCO’s driver was ticketed for causing the accident by the Korean police. When the USFK MPs came and investigated the scene they found the truck driver responsible for the accident. The MPs
even found a witness to confirm the US soldiers story because the MPs always travel in pairs with a KATUSA for incidents like this and the KNPs still would not change the ticket.

So we will probably never know the truth about what happened on the Banpo bridge but I am suspicious to say the least. I have read some blogs suggesting that USFK drivers are out of control but fail to realize that not all the accidents that are reported to be the fault of the USFK driver really are. Then every time there is an incident it makes the front headlines of the paper. Imagine if every Korean traffic accident was featured on the front page of the paper. So if anyone thinks getting rid of USFK drivers is going to prevent traffic accidents that is about as realistic as those who believe the USFK drivers are responsible for all the air pollution in Seoul.

The crackdown on black marketing in Area 1 I found humorous.

Military officials are targeting a black-market scheme that involves spouses of U.S. soldiers and civilians buying duty-free food at commissaries in Area I and II for resale to South Korean restaurants, according to ration control officials.

“It has gotten so bad we can’t even go in to the commissary to buy meat,” she said. “The black marketers know what days the meat is delivered. They come in and buy it all up. You can’t go in and buy a roast because all the meat is taken.”

This woman is right. Meat and other products that sell well on the black market get gobbled up quickly in the commissary. What I find humorous about this is how out in the open the black marketing is. I go to the commissary and just stand there and look around. You will see a soldier with bottles of women shampoo, spam, and a pot roast at the checkout line. I just wonder why is this guy buying this stuff? Probably because some girl down in the ville asked him to buy it for her. Then you will see the Korean nationals with popular black market items all in their carts too. If you want to know what the popular items are just go to the 2nd Market in Dongducheon or the market in Uijoengbu not to far from the train station to see all the commissary items for sale. Hopefully USFK is serious about cracking down on these people because it wouldn’t be to hard to do.

However, the biggest story talked about in the field was the Air Force security personnel in Osan accused of “shaking down” bar owners for money and sexual favors. Alledgedly the security personnel responsible for patroling the clubs in Osan threatened to put the clubs “off limits” if they did not give them what they wanted. An “off limits” club pretty much puts an end to the club due to the clubs being geared towards the US military. Currently one airman is in the Camp Humphrey’s military prison due to this issue. What I find suspicious about this is that the security personnel cannot put a club “off limits” only the base commander can and the club owners know this. There is probably more to this story but either way it is going to be a black eye for the Air Force because there was probably something unprofessional going on.

Like the military needed any more bad publicity. Anyway I’m still glad to be back.

I’m back from doing Army stuff. Going to the field always brings back the appreciation for little things in life like being able to take a shower, sleeping in a bed, having heat, being able to order a pizza, taking a crap on a toilet, having access to a telephone, watching TV, etc. This last training exercise was just over two weeks which compared to other things I have done isn’t long at all.

During a National Training Center (NTC) rotation in the US you go to Ft. Irwin, CA and train in the desert there for one whole month. You live in either a tent or vehicle, in my case a Bradley tank, the whole time. And oh by the way it is 115 degrees out. I spent one month in the field here in Korea during an ARTEP and Foal Eagle exercise 4 years ago. Many of the army schools include over a month in the field also.

During the war and the aftermath of it in Iraq, I lived in a Bradley for two months before moving into old Saddam Fedayeen barracks on an Iraqi military base that had no air conditioning so we just slept outside anyway because it was cooler. We had to dig holes in the desert to take a crap and that was only after we safely probed the area for land mines. Fortunately none of us had diarhea yet. That came later from drinking the Tigris River water. Some of us actually had our own folding chair with a hole cut out of the seat to use to take a crap with. Nothing funnier than seeing a bunch of GI’s squatting out in the desert next to each other taking a crap reading a two week old Stars and Stripes newspaper. We took showers from a 5 gallon water can with water purified from the Tigris River and baby wipes. Food was prepackaged Army Meals Ready to Eat (MREs) for the first two months until the chow halls got up and running. Plus we were up on guard, patrols, or missions for 36 hours and off for 12 hours every day. There are no days off in Iraq. Plus the temperature would regularly hit 120 degrees. Than let’s not forget there are those guys there that want to kill us to.

So spending a couple weeks in Korea in the cold and rain is really no problem by comparison so I can’t complain. But I and others older guys that have been around the block a little bit always get a kick out of the new privates or even NCO’s that have never done anything in their career, complain about being out in the field, how bad the food is, or how cold they are.

You can’t teach experience so that is why it is so important that Army units regularly go to the field so soldiers can get experience practicing their field craft skills, develop confidence in their equipment, and they can also develop that mental edge it takes to endure long periods of time when things just suck. And yes believe it or not, in the Army many times you find yourself in a situation where things just suck. Like we say in the Army, it is important to learn to suck it up and drive on.

So I will suck it up and drive on with blogging soon once I get caught up with work. Work back in the rear doesn’t stop just because you go to the field. It just piles up instead.