Due to the potential furlough, we will host town hall meetings for service members, family members, Department of Defense civilians, contractors & those who rely upon installation services on Mon. Feb. 24. Check with your local installation for specific times and locations.
It sounds like Daegu is beginning to turn into Wuhan:
In this Wednesday, Feb. 19, 2020, photo, medial workers wearing protective gears move a patient suspected of contracting the coronavirus from an ambulance to the Kyungpook National University Hospital in Daegu, South Korea. The mayor of the South Korean city of Daegu urged its 2.5 million people on Thursday, Feb. 20, to refrain from going outside as cases of a new virus spike.
South Korea reported its first coronavirus-linked death Thursday, while Daegu urged residents to stay home as the southeastern city struggled to contain an outbreak of the pneumonia-like disease.
The Army garrison in Daegu also restricted access and announced that schools and non-essential business would be closed for a second day.
In an exception to policy, U.S. service members were authorized to wear face masks in uniform regardless of air quality conditions, according to the garrison’s Facebook page.
Fast-moving developments this week were a blow to South Korea’s hope that the crisis was easing.
Instead, health authorities reported dozens of new confirmed cases in recent days, pushing the total number of infections past 100.
U.S. Forces Korea said no personnel have been infected with COVID-19, which first appeared in December in Wuhan, China, and spread to nearly 30 countries. More than 2,000 people have died — most in mainland China.
You can read more at the link, as well as this link back to the original USAG Daegu Facebook posting announcing the reduction of military operations in Daegu. All the best to everyone in Daegu.
The next rotational brigade to support the 2nd Infantry Division has begun arriving in Korea:
Tanks and other equipment are off-loaded at a port in South Korea ahead of the arrival of the Fort Riley, Kansas-based 2nd Armored Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division.
Tanks and other armored vehicles rolled off a ship onto the Korean Peninsula this week in preparation for the arrival of the new rotational brigade.
The Fort Riley, Kansas-based 2nd Armored Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division, known as the Dagger Brigade, will be the eighth rotational brigade to serve in South Korea since the system began in 2015.
It is replacing the 3rd Armored Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division, which will return to Fort Hood, Texas, after its nine-month rotation.
The transition comes as the U.S. and South Korean militaries are expected to begin joint exercises next month. The allies have reduced the scale of the drills in a bid to avoid antagonizing North Korea amid stalled diplomatic efforts to persuade it to give up nuclear weapons.
This is all pretty much common sense advice from the USFK commander that everyone should be following whether there is a coronavirus or not:
Masked commuters travel through Seojeong-ri Station, north of Pyeongtaek, South Korea, Monday, Jan. 27, 2020.
USFK commander Gen. Robert Abrams said good hygiene practices and minimum contact with anybody who has returned from mainland China in the past two weeks or is exhibiting cold or flu-like symptoms are the best prevention measures.
Anybody who detects symptoms themselves should go to the doctor and stay home, he said in a statement on the website.
“More importantly, do not go to work or school. Stay at your home or in the barracks while you are recovery,” he said. “We must do our best to prevent the spread or it will have a significant impact on our ‘Fight Tonight’ readiness!”
He also promised the situation was being monitored “very closely, around the clock.”
“We currently assess a low threat or risk to our USFK formations and installations,” he said. “We will keep you informed as the situation develops and if our assessment changes.”
I think everyone saw this one coming and this is not the first time this has happened:
Camp Humphreys, the Army’s sprawling garrison south of Seoul, as seen in 20
The U.S. military has warned of likely service delays at Camp Humphreys and possible furloughs for thousands of South Korean employees as Washington and Seoul remain deadlocked over cost-sharing.
Nearly a month after the expiration of the previous Special Measures Agreement, under which South Korea shares the costs of stationing some 28,500 U.S. forces in the country, the garrison told residents to brace for delays to services.
“Due to the Special Measures Agreement lapse and implementation of USFK austerity measures, including cessation of overtime pay for Korean National employees, USAG Humphreys will experience some delays to certain installation services,” such as the post office and after-hours maintenance work, according to a message posted on its Facebook page.
Some bus routes operating after 1 a.m. also have been cut back due to the lack of overtime pay.
Osan Airbase’s A-10 aircraft have just had an upgrade that will allow them to continue to support USFK into the 2030’s:
All but one of nearly two dozen Air Force A-10 Thunderbolt IIs in South Korea have completed wing upgrades that should extend the service life of the close combat support jet well into the 2030s.
The new wings are designed to last up to 10,000 flight hours without a major inspection. The upgrade includes a new wiring harness created for easier wing removal and to reduce the chance of damaging the wing during the process.
“Most of our airplanes [at Osan] have between 9,000 to 12,000 airframe hours. They are old, but this upgrade is helping us to keep going. I wouldn’t be surprised to see some of the airplanes go 16,000 hours,” Senior Master Sgt. Dustin Schwartz, lead production superintendent for the 25th Aircraft Maintenance Unit, 51st Fighter Wing, told Stars and Stripes on Wednesday.
For some reason I bet there is far more than one person involved in black-marketing, it appears this guy just made it super obvious:
Shoppers entering the commissary no longer need to show identification on Camp Humphreys, South Korea, on Friday, Sept. 13, 2019.
A U.S. military retiree has been banned from bases in South Korea over allegations of buying excessive duty-free goods and black marketing, officials said Friday.
The move came nearly four months after U.S. Forces Korea, the main command on the peninsula, lifted monthly commissary purchase limits and eased other shopping restrictions intended to prevent such infractions.
The retiree, who lives in South Korea but was not otherwise identified, was banned Dec. 10 “from all U.S. military installations and facilities in (South Korea) for 10 years, for excessive purchasing of duty free goods and black marketing,” according to a post on the Camp Humphreys Facebook page.
In recent months I made my way up to Uijeongbu to visit friends and we ate dinner at a budaechigae restaurant near where the old USFK military bases Camp Kyle and Camp Sears were located. For people that have never seen Camp Kyle before, here is what it looked like before it closed in 2005:
Camp Kyle 2005
From the restaurant I could look right into where Camp Kyle was once located. Currently there are no buildings standings and essentially the land is slowly being reclaimed by nature:
Long time ROK Heads may remember that Camp Kyle was at the center of environmental pollution claims made by the anti-US groups and the ROK media at the time. For example the ROK media was claiming that Camp Kyle was so polluted that people had to walk around in “anti-contamination suits” to protect themselves. I knew this was bogus and did something no one in the Korea media decided to do and actually visited Camp Kyle. Of course I saw no one wearing anti-contamination suits.
Google Earth image showing what Camp Kyle looks like today.
Regardless Camp Kyle remained one of the frontlines in the USFK pollution debate with the ROK government demanding that U.S. pay to decontaminate the soil at the camp. ROK Heads may remember that the pollution clean up costs have come up during the ongoing US-ROK alliance cost sharing negotiations this month.
After eating dinner we then took a walk around the Geumo-dong neighborhood towards where Camp Sears used to be located.
Walking through Komo-dong neighborhood towards where Camps Sears used to be located.
For those that have never been to Camp Sears here is how it looked back in 2005:
Camp Sears 2005
This is what Camp Sears looks like today:
Google Earth image showing what Camp Sears looks like today.
Besides the typical commercial buildings that have gone up around the old camp, a couple of major government buildings have been constructed right on where Camp Sears was once located. The first is a Uijeongbu government service building:
Uijeongbu government services building
The other is the Northern Gyeongi-do Provisional Police headquarters:
Around these buildings a number of parks have been constructed on the old Camp Sears property, however they are not being maintained:
You would think that with all the money spent on these new government buildings there would be enough money left over to pay a gardener:
Around the government buildings there is now a road that has been constructed, Cheongbo-ro which is named after the mountain behind the old camp, Cheonbosan:
A walk completely around the old camp and could find no sign of the existence of the former camp anywhere. Adjacent to Camp Sears there used to be an area that housed ROK Army fuel storage tanks. This property now has a major construction project underway on it:
After walking around Camp Sears we then walked over to the major Geumo-dong shopping district that has not changed much since 2005 when Camp Kyle and Sears closed.
The Home Plus remains the major shopping attraction in the Geumo-dong neighborhood:
It may be hard to believe, but prior to 2000 this shopping area was actually home to various farms. The closing of Camp Kyle and Camp Sears is just a continuation of South Korea’s incredible development. The camp’s are mostly a long forgotten memory for people that live there, just like the farms the shopping district now sits on top of.
