Category: Uncategorized

This is pretty good advice:

U.S. Forces Korea personnel should avoid protests during a major training exercise to begin later this month, according to a military news release.

¿Officials expect both registered and unregistered gatherings¿ during the Aug. 21-Sept. 1 command post exercise dubbed Ulchi Focus Lens, the release stated.

No gatherings were registered formally as of late last week, according to the release.

Military personnel were urged to follow force-protection guidance that directs them to avoid ¿large civil gatherings and interaction with protestors.¿ Civilian employees, contractors and family members were urged to follow the same precautions, according to the release.

There is no reason for anyone to be any where near these protests.  Those not familiar with protests in Korea, which will be primarily people who come from the states to participate in the UFL exercise, are the ones that USFK really needs to get a hold of and educate about these protesters, in order to avoid any incidents from happening.

Here is a rundown of scheduled protests:

• Aug. 8: Civil gathering at Camp Walker; 2 p.m. civil gathering in front of Kunsan Air Base.
• Aug. 10: Civil gathering at 3 p.m. to oppose the Foreign Trade Agreement; location unknown, but it could be Suwon Air Base.
• Aug. 11: 1 p.m. anti-U.S. and anti-war march and proclamation for unification of the Koreas; location unknown; 7 p.m. anti-U.S. cultural festival, possibly in Gwanghhamun.
• Aug. 12: 10 a.m. anti-U.S. civil gathering in front of Pyeongtaek Train Station with 2,000 attendees expected; 7 p.m. march from the station toward Daecuh-ri for a candlelight cultural festival.
• Aug. 13: 2 p.m. civil gathering in front of Camp Red Cloud; 6 p.m. unification festival at Yonsei University, 4,000 attendees expected.
• Aug. 14: 2 p.m. civil gathering in front of Yongsan Garrison or U.S. Embassy, 4,000 attendees expected.
• Aug. 15: 10 a.m. anti-Japan civil gathering in front of the Japanese Embassy, 2,000 attendees expected; 3 p.m. unification celebration march from Daehakro to Kyobo Park, 30,000 attendees expected.

This is weird:

A South Korean soldier has been found dead while on daytime duty at a unit in Paju, north of Seoul, the Army said Friday.

On Thursday, Pfc. Jeon Sang-hu, 20, was discovered bleeding from the chest from a gunshot wound at a guard post, according to his senior partner. Corporal Kim Hyeon-jun, who found the body, immediately reported it to the unit headquarters, an Army official said.

Hopefully they find out what happened.

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.

Here is a great posting about the excellent work the Canadian military is doing in Afghanistan.  A lot of the idealogues and politicians on each side of the border bash each other over the War on Terror issue; granted the US-Canada relationship has improved recently with the new Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper.  However as is usually the case, the reality of the US-Canada relationship is quite different for those who serve in each nation’s armed forces.Canada just a few days had 4 soldiers killed in Afghanistan causing the Canadians to have the second highest total of casualties behind the United States in Afghanistan with a total of 23 Canadians killed in action in Afghanistan.  Despite this Canada continues to maintain 2,300 soldiers fighting the terrorists in Afghanistan.  It is important to remember who America’s real allies are and Canada is definitely one of them.

The invasion of Korean Christians into Afghanistan has now drawn the attention of even Afghan President Hamid Karzai:

Afghanistan’s President Hamid Karzai has ordered the ¿complete expulsion¿ of all Koreans who went there to take part in a ¿peace march¿ organized by an evangelical organization, the Foreign Ministry said Wednesday. Lee Joon-kyu, the ministry¿s director general in charge of consular affairs, told KBS radio that Kabul informed the Korean Embassy of the decision on Tuesday.

For those not familiar with this issue, over 1,000 Korean proselytizers descended on Afghanistan and some of them have been roughed up and threatened by Afghans opposed to their Christian activities.

Well now this story even gets weirder:

Afghans have taken to the streets against a bizarre ¿peace march¿ planned in the devoutly Muslim nation by hundreds of Korean evangelicals as violence continued unabated in the country. It emerged Thursday that an explosive device was recently discovered in the vest of a Korean aid worker.

Hundreds of students, Islamic clergy and residents protested against the peace march at the Blue Mosque in northern Afghanistan¿s Mazar-i-Sharif on Wednesday, Foreign Ministry officials dispatched to Kabul told the Chosun Ilbo by telephone. “We’ve heard that some in the area were told, `Leave. If you don’t it will be dangerous,¿” one said. Reuters quoted protestors as saying the Afghan government must send the Korean back as they went there to proselytize — a grave offense under Sharia or Islamic law.

Rumors that Korean prostitutes had entered the country and that the Christian groups were carrying ¿giant crosses¿ marching through downtown did little to defuse the situation.

Korean prostitutes in Afghanistan?  I wonder how much a drink for “juicy girl” in Afghanistan costs?

The ROK Army is trying to do their part to improve the sagging birthrate in Korea:

The armed forces are trying to persuade military couples to have more children amid record-low birthrates. Army couples have to move frequently across the country and are separated for long periods, but under new measures they will be able to spend more time together. The Army said Tuesday new personnel management measures being implemented now will allow newlyweds to live together for five years to create a favorable environment where they can give birth and raise children.

Female military personnel can delay moving to newly assigned posts between the second month of pregnancy and six months after giving birth to reduce possible miscarriages and give them a minimal amount of time to take care of their children. Another incentive is giving all military personnel and staff with a third child the option to change their assignment to an area of their choosing. ¿Military couples have a birthrate of 0.83, which is even lower than the nation¿s average of 1.08,¿ a military official said. ¿The new measure will help increase our birthrate and also contribute to improving welfare and boosting morale in our armed forces.¿

Here is an idea, pay the soldiers more so they can afford three kids.

I have to wonder about this thinking.  The Korean government wants operation war time control of the military in the name of “independent defense” despite calls from all of Korea’s past defense ministers claiming that the ROK military is not ready for complete war time control due to a number of capabilities the ROK military does not possess, but the US does.

However, what I find interesting is that the cornerstone of the “independent defense” policy of the current Korean government is that if war did break out the Yankee cavalry will come in and save our asses anyway.  So how is this really “independent defense”?

I have been reading Ralph Peters latest book, Never Quit the Fight.  Peters is an ex-US Army intelligence analyst who has written a number of books about the War on Terror and transforming the US military to meet today’s and the future’s challenges.  In fact so far from reading this book Peters has perfectly described Hezbollah’s tactics against Israel fairly closely despite writing the book before the latest conflict.  Hopefully in this book he provides his insights into the North Korean nuclear issue as well.

As I read this book I am going to blog some quotes I have found interesting from this book as I go along.  Here is the first quote:

“Even those that despise religion had best pay attention.  The issue of God’s will, as interpreted by discontented human beings, will reshape the governance of continents in the coming decades.  We insist that our wars are not religious wars.  But they are.  Because our enemies believe them to be so.”

I agree with Peters that even if you have no interest in religion you best study and understand it.  I wished I would have studied Islam more before I deployed to Iraq, though Iraq turned out to be quite a classroom to learn about it.  Religion is continuing to play a role in the current crisis in Lebanon and will play a further role in the looming crisis with Iran which has even more religious complexity due to their Shiite brand of Islam.  Plus you can even look at my own country the United States and see how religion plays a role in the American government.  The controversy over the stem cell research is a perfect example.

Here is some more food for thought:

“We are learning that many beings prefer certainty, no matter how oppressive and primitive, to the risks and responsibilities of freedom.”

This is also a very true statement we are finding out the hard way.  Not every country has Jefferson’s, Adam’s, Washington’s mobilizing people to seek freedom.  Instead in the Islamic world you have Bin Laden’s, Nasrallah’s, and Zarqawi’s mobilizing people to oppression and death and many people are willing following them.

Here is my favorite quote I have read so far:

“Of course, we shall hear no end of fatuous arguments to the effect that we can’t kill our way out of the problem.  Well, until a better methodology is discovered, killing every terrorist we can find is a good interim solution.  The truth is that even if you can’t kill yourself out of a problem, you can make the problem a great deal smaller by effective targeting.”

The point Peter’s makes here is that the media and the international community is trying to create the paradigm that all killing is bad, even killing your enemy.  Just look at the crisis in Lebanon to confirm this.  Peter’s makes the case that US government’s decision for precision bombings and the reduction of casualties even against Iraqi military units during the initial war came back to haunt the US when Sunni Arab areas in Iraq never felt defeated after the war because they were not leveled or immediately occuppied by US troops.  Possbily today’s insurgents could have been killed during the initial invasion if the US military used it’s fire power to inflict maximum carnage on the Iraqis followed by a swift and overwhelming occupation..

That is one of the things that has frustrated me about the Iraq war.  The perception was that the US military flattened Iraq during the war in 2003 when in fact many areas of Iraq you wouldn’t even had known there was a war going on. The US military didn’t just mindlessly blow people away like the left wingers would have you believe.  Bus and taxis were running in some areas we went through, people working in the fields, and the infrastructure was largely intact; it was kind of surreal in a way.  The Shiites in Iraq were already living back in the stone age, but maybe bombing the much more afluent Sunnis areas in Iraq back to the stone age and inflicting maximum carnage on them may have reduced the violence we see now in Iraq?

I think Israel has been paying attention though to the lessons learned from Iraq and they seem intent on bombing Hezbollah back to the stone age and finishing them off once and for all, no matter how much the international community complains.  We should find out over the coming months if that strategy actually works.

I am reposting last week’s Korea finder with an additional hints that should help someone name this mountain.

Who can name this prominent Korean Mountain?

Hints:  This mountain is also a national park of the same name.  It is located adjacent to a very large lake in the middle of the country, and the name begins with a W.

Somebody should be able to get this now.

The woman convicted of setting a fire on Yongsan Garrison in Seoul, now has a new excuses for setting the fire:

The South Korean woman found guilty of arson in connection with a March fire on Yongsan Garrison is appealing her conviction, according to her new court-appointed lawyer.

Kweon Jung-ja is due in Seoul High Court, South Korea¿s appellate court, on Aug. 17 to argue she set the March 16 fire out of self-defense, according to Park Byeong-kweon, her lawyer. Kweon says she set the early morning fire to defend herself against a threat of terror, Park said Wednesday.

A threat of terror?  The article didn’t provide what this threat of terror was, but none the less it is obvious this woman needs some serious mental help.