Category: USFK

It sounds to me like the embassy is just doing their job:

As it stands now, John David Ruiz isn’t a citizen of any country.

John is the newborn son of Camp Casey transition center employee Juanito Ruiz, a former soldier whose application for his son’s passport and record-of-birth abroad was denied because of what the U.S. Embassy in Seoul considers questionable circumstances.

Ruiz said his four previous marriages and his foreign wife’s unexpected pregnancy shouldn’t count against the infant.

“I married badly, so what? Why are we using this against my son?” Ruiz asked. “I have no doubt whatsoever that the child is mine.”  [Erik Slavin – Stars & Stripes]

Basically this guy has to get a DNA test to prove the child is his in order to get the proper paperwork for his child. The test costs $1,640 bucks. If the guy is adamant about getting his child US citizenship he should just pay to get the DNA test done. 

More over at Marmot’s Hole.

It looks like there are problems once again with 2ID gate guards:

A former Camp Casey unit policeman says some South Korean security guards at the installation slept and drank on the job, routinely left an entrance barrier open, and on one occasion, let a drunken soldier with a knife leave the installation.

U.S. Army Spc. Sung Jun Kim, a tenant unit soldier provided to the garrison to assist at the gates, said he observed “gross infractions” by South Korean security guards.

“The quality of the work they’re putting out — it really threatens the safety of the soldiers who are stationed there,” said Kim, who served at Camp Casey from August 2006 to August 2007. “They are more of a danger than a safety to the base.”

Kim said he contacted Stars and Stripes because post leadership did not respond to his complaints. He said he had waited more than six weeks and had never been asked for a statement.  [Ashley Rowland, Stars & Stripes]

When I last left Korea in 2005 I was not impressed with the overall quality of the gate guards who were well known for taking bribes to allow people on post to gamble until they got busted.  Also the guards on the smaller camps were definitely less than adequate.  There was times I would drive to Camp Castle North and the guards would be asleep in the guard shack or not even bother to check IDs and just wave us through. 

When I went back to visit Korea this past June I noticed a new company had been hired to take over the security job for the 2ID camps.  I found the guards to be better than the last security company in my limited dealings with them, but apparently at least with the night shift over at Camp Casey, there are still some issues. 

UPDATE: I did some further research and MAJ Townley was actually featured in the Stars & Stripes before:

You really graduated from Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Clown College?
Yes. Don’t worry, that’s not how I got my commission. I auditioned as I was transferring from the Navy in the summer of 1990. It wasn’t until the summer of 1991 that I received the call that I made it to the final selection board and eventually found I had been accepted to attend.

Do they have a degree program?
My diploma reads “Bachelor of Fun Arts.”

What did you major in?
Circus Clowning — Clownology and Clown Antics. I was taught to be a kid in a grown-up body and to speak to a man in the very top row of Madison Square Garden by only using my body.

Did the teachers dress like clowns?
Indeed they did! My instructors were the senior clowns from Ringling Brothers and other famous clowns like Master Clown Lou Jacobs and David Larible, the only clown to ever be the star of RBBB Circus. The director of Clown College was also a clown.

Read the whole thing, but he sounds like a really good guy that is doing great things over in Wonju. 

_____________________________________________

Some people think field grade officers are nothing but a bunch of clowns, which isn’t always the case.  However, sometimes it is true, literally:

MAJ Bruce Townley enlisted in the Navy in 1986 as a radioman, specializing in Naval Communication. His Navy commands include: USS New Jersey, Communication advisor on the Admiral’s staff aboard the USS Enterprise, Naval Embarked Advisory Team, and the Reserve Force for the USS Missouri.

MAJ Townley is a 1995 ROTC Distinguished Military Graduate from Lincoln University in Jefferson City, Missouri where he received a Bachelors of Science in Public Administration. He also holds a Masters degree in Human Resource Management from Nova Southeastern University in Fort Lauderdale, Florida and a Bachelor of Fun Arts from Ringling Bros and Barnum & Bailey Clown College.

His Army assignments include: Executive Officer, D 369th Signal Battalion, Commander, E 369th Signal Battalion, PL and BMO, 67^th Signal Battalion, S6, 212^th FA Brigade, Deputy G6, III CA, Commander, B 1-79^th FA.

His military schooling includes: Radioman “A” School, International Morse Code Operator School, Naval Embarked Advisory Team School, Signal Officer Basic, Signal Captains Career Course, and CAS3.

His decorations include: Meritorious Service Medal, Army Commendation Medal with oak leaf cluster, Army Achievement Medal, Navy active duty Good Conduct Medal, National Defense Medal with bronze star, Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal, Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, Military Outstanding Volunteer Service Medal, Army Service Ribbon, and the Sea Service with Bronze star.  [HT: Marcus]

Major Townley is the garrison coordinator for Camp Long and Camp Eagle which I mentioned in a prior posting had a recent successful crackdown on blackmarketing.  With his success in stopping blackmarketing on Camp Long maybe USFK needs to bring in more clowns to help run things.  I have heard people say USFK is a three ring circus and who would have thought it is true. 

I guess we will see if this ends Plane Ticket-gate:

A South Korean judge recommended Friday that the U.S. Embassy Association Business Center pay a $4,000 settlement to an American family for an airline ticket mix-up in 2006.

Marine Col. Thompson Gerke, and his wife, Catherine, want $11,054 for a March 2006 airline ticket mix-up in which they received business-class, not first-class, Delta Air Lines seats.

The Gerke family moved back to the United States earlier this summer, but their South Korean lawyer said Friday he thinks the family would accept a $4,000 settlement.

Business center spokesman Jimmy Park, reached by phone Friday afternoon, said his organization would hold a board meeting to decide whether to settle.

The contracted vendor business center agreed to close its travel service to the U.S. military community in the midst of the battle with the Gerke family. [Hwang Hae-rym & Jimmy Norris, Stars & Stripes]

And what about Mrs. Gerke rolling around on the floor?:

In court Friday, business center employee Bruce Lee told the judge that Catherine Gerke’s odd behavior — including when she lay down on the floor and screamed that she wanted $20,000 or $30,000 — damaged the center’s credibility.

Judge Cho Mi-ok said that was a separate issue.

The travel agency is contemplating counter-sueing Mrs. Gerkes over rolling around on the floor.  I’m not sure how that will work out considering she now lives in America. 

Courtesy of Korea Beat comes news that the old MRE scam is alive and well in 2ID:

On the 14th the Gyeongnam police department’s foreign affairs division has applied for an arrest warrant for a Mr. Park (43) on suspicion of selling US military rations on the internet without a license.  According to the police, since March of last year Park is suspected of selling 100 boxes, worth W50,000,000, of emergency rations from the 2nd Infantry Division stationed in Dongducheon to at least 80 people through the internet.

The police say the rations sold by Park were obtained from a person working in the US military and that the investigation is continuing. [Joong Ang Ilbo]

The scam used to be much worse a few years ago but crackdowns on the MRE scam beginning in the US where soldiers were convicted of selling MREs over E-Bay has improved accountability of MREs in the mility.  However, as this shows some MRE scams are still going on.  Some may wonder why in the world someone would want to buy MREs in Korea?  The MREs get sold in the marketplaces to primarily fishermen as well as some campers who want non-perishable food.  

The corruption in the Joong Ang Ilbo article probably involves someone working in one of the Camp Casey dining facilities that issue MREs.  It used to be easy to get MREs from the dining facility but in recent years accountability of the MREs has greatly improved but as this shows it has not improved enough. 

Another way the blackmarket gets MREs is when units go to the field each battalion has an "ajumma tent" assigned to them that sell Korean food to the soldiers.  This probably still goes on secretly because soldiers are not supposed to do this, but before soldiers could give ajumma an MRE for a cheesy ramyon meal.  That cheesy ramyon probably cost ajumma a dollar while she can sell the MRE she gained for five dollars.  Ajumma makes huge profits from the MREs, but like I said before this is not supposed to be going on anymore. 

General Bell has released a new Bell Sends letter that criticizes the Stars and Stripes article about the new installation access policy for Korean civilians that I covered here.  Reading the letter it appears General Bell’s main beef with the Stars and Stripes is that he believed it portrayed that an "inquisition" was going to be waged against Korean citizens who hold passes to access USFK facilities. 

Also General Bell goes on to say that the policy change was implemented in order to meet Department of Defense ethics standards.  The General goes on to explain that the policy change addressed the issue of money changing hands in order to receive access passes in the past.  This has been one of the worst kept secrets in USFK that for years money was being paid to people who work in the various US-Korea friendship groups in order to gain access to USFK facilities.  It was basically like paying your country club fee because these people were buying passes through the friendship groups to golf and play slot machines on post.  Paying off the friendship groups was much cheaper than actually buying a golf membership at a Korean golf course.  The rumor mill was that this open secret was allowed to go on for all these years because of the money it was bringing in for the military’s MWR program. 

This policy change of Korean nationals getting passes through field grade officers verifying membership in a good neighbor group is supposed to address the policy of buying passes in the past through the friendship groups.  Like I have said before, I will have to see this policy change work before I believe it.  I fully believe the golf courses and slot machines will still be filled with Koreans, but instead of buying their way into a friendship group they will buy their way into being good neighbors. 

The “TDC Ville” known in Korean as Bosan-dong, is the section of the city of Dongducheon located just across the street from the front gate of Camp Casey.

Camp Casey front gate, with Soyo Mountain in the background. I once saw a soldier arrested by the KNPs for pissing on the Indian statue.

This area is known as the “TDC Ville” because Dongducheon used to spelled Tonducheon and was shortened by soldiers to TDC. The ville is a bunch of old run down buildings that house a mixture of eating establishments, clubs, and shopping stores. The ville has actually seen much recent change. A large portion of the ville was knocked down to make way for the new subway line that runs through Dongducheon now.

New Dongducheon subway station

The new subway station is just a short walk five minute walk south of Camp Casey’s gate one. The subway is connected to the Seoul subway system and the trains running from Dongducheon actually reach Uijongbu in about 20 minutes. To reach downtown Seoul it takes about an hour and a half. Soldiers can even take this subway line all the way to Songtan, just outside of Osan Airbase, but it is a long two and a half hour ride.

Some of the new buildings across the street from Camp Casey. 

One of the fortunate things about knocking down the old buildings is that it has actually brought some much needed urban renewal to the ville. Some park like features have been constructed along with some newer buildings. There are still a number of vacant lots where nothing has been built yet, but I’m sure additional buildings will be constructed in due time.

Vacant lots left over from the subway construction

The ville is boxed on its eastern side by Highway 3 while on its western side is the Highway 3 bypass and to it’s north is Camp Mobile. The south of the ville is the Korean portion of Dongducheon known as the 2nd Market area.

Ville area highlighted in red

Shopping in the Ville
The shopping in the ville is really outstanding. You can buy a great hand made suit for about a $100. The tailors can make any suit that you have a picture of. I currently own three suits made in the TDC ville and I have never had any problem with them. You can also have leather jackets made. My leather jacket has lasted seven years so far with no defects. In the ville you can have unit coins, plaques, and other memorabilia made for the half the price it would cost you in the states. I actually had a buddy state side who sent me money to buy some plaques for his unit and to mail them to him because it was cheaper buying plaques from Korea and shipping them then buying them at his current post.

Plenty of shopping to be found in the TDC Ville

You can also buy lots of great Korean trinkets to send to your friends and family. Plus if you like furniture, Korea sells lots of beautiful hand crafted furniture with great oriental designs on them. This is just a small sample of what is for sale in the ville. If you need something the shop owners will find it and sell it to you at a reasonable price. Just make sure you bargain with them because the shop owners will initially give you a high price. In Asian culture you are expected to haggle over prices. So don’t feel rude trying to drive a hard bargain with the local shop owners because it will save you money.

The view from the entrance into the TDC Ville

The Food
The only American fast food establishment off post is the Subway located just outside the front gate. There is actually a Kentucky Fried Chicken located in the actual Korean part of Dongducheon but it is located quite a distance from the camp. The other restaurants are local Koreans who cook up everything from hamburgers, steaks, pizza, and Korean food for hungry GIs. Also it is possible to find Filipino eating establishments as well.

The Night Life
As far as the night life is concerned the TDC ville is loaded with clubs. The majority of the clubs are really sleazy joints with the infamous “drinky girls” in them. If you don’t know what a drinky girl is, let me explain it to you. A drinky girl is usually a third country national from mostly the Philippines that you can buy a drink of usually orange juice for $20 bucks and they sit there and make conversation with you. I’m not kidding it costs $20! What is more amazing is that people keep buying them these drinks. The last time I was in Korea the girls would at least hang all over you and you could feel them up but things have changed now quite a bit.

Picture of a “juicy girl” in the TDC Ville from a Time Magazine article on human trafficking and the US military in Korea.

Plus the last time I was in Korea the prostitution was quite public and in the open. The bar owners would always hit you up to buy the girl’s time for $200-$400 and to go back to the hotel and do whatever. However, things now are much more concealed due to the recent exposure the whole prostitution scene received due to multiple exposes’ in multiple media outlets expressing their outrage at prostitution in Korea. The problem I got with this publicity is that it is implied that the US Army is allowing this prostitution to go on when it is the Koreans that are allowing it.

What really annoys me is that the drinky girls in the media are treated as victims even though most of them know what they are getting into and enjoy the attention and financial incentives of being a drinky girl. The few Russian girls that are left are in it for money and are really smart about playing soldiers and sucking as much money out of them as possible. I know many a GI that has lost his shirt to a Russian drinky girl. The Filipino drinky girls are mostly looking to get married to a GI so they can escape the poverty of their home country. I can’t say I blame them.

A street filled with sleazy bars in the TDC Ville.

However, the juicy girls that do play soldiers are extremely effective and if you go through my USFK Crime Archive you will see many cases of soldiers committing crime to feed their juicy girl habit. For some soldiers these girls are like drugs and is a leadership challenge that is unique to Korea that NCOs and officers coming to Korea should be aware of. Some of these relationships between young GIs and these girls in the bars end up becoming a marriage that from my own experiences I have seen filled with problems and with most of them failing.

Despite everything I have said about the juicy girls there are some good clubs in TDC. The website for Mojo’s Bar. has a pretty good list of the various bars in the ville as well as which ones to look out for. Some additional clubs worth checking out are located in the actual Korean part of Dongducheon commonly referred to as the 2nd Market Area. Have a KATUSA buddy bring you to one of these clubs so you can try something different out. Who knows you might like it. Plus there are also lots of coffee shops in the area that have phones on the tables where you can call other tables in the shop on. Weird, but fun believe it or not.

Be careful in the 2nd Market area though because there is an area near the bus station where Korean prostitutes display themselves in windows for potential customers that is known as the “Turkey Farm” that is off limits by the army. It is supposed to be off limits due to health reasons but I think it is more because the Koreans don’t want GIs messing with their prostitutes. Also in the 2nd Market Area there is lots of shopping you can do, but once again be careful because the infamous TA-50 Alley is also off limits to US personnel where they sell military equipment stolen by “slicky boys“.

A small park that has been built in the TDC Ville in recent years.

You can view more updated pictures of the TDC Ville now known as Bosan-dong at this link.

The Toko-ri Ville
Another ville area in Dongducheon is the village of Toko-ri right outside the back gate of Camp Hovey:

Toko-ri as viewed from Google Earth.

Toko-ri a few years ago used to be one dirty, sleazy, and crazy place. If you have ever watched the first Stars Wars movie and remember the bar with the space aliens in it, in the city of Mos Eisley, that is what Toko-ri was like.

Obi-wan Kenobi once described Mos Eisley as a “wretched hive of scum and villainy”, Toko-ri wasn’t much different. However, instead of horned, green, or beady eyed aliens, Toko-ri had Filipino and Russian juicy girls covered in chocolate and wax, a retarded barmaid, strippers that used to hold what was known as the P***y Olympics led by a Korean woman known as the Dragon Lady who did anatomy defying things with cigars and beer bottles, and to top it off there was even a midget. Before I had even ever stepped foot in Korea I had heard about the Midget of Toko-ri from old crusty NCOs about how they used to “stick to the midget” especially on New Years; that is how well known she is in the US military. After seeing the midget for myself I can’t imagine why anyone would want to “stick it to the midget”, but hey to each their own.

Anyway I have heard that Toko-ri has really died down and is not the wild place it used to be. I wasn’t able to confirm this myself on my last trip to Korea since my wife probably wouldn’t like the idea of me trying to confirm the status of the P***y Olympics, chocolate covered juicies, and the Midget of Toko-ri. So if anyone reading this knows the current status of Toko-ri feel free to offer you two cents in the comments section.

You can view more updated pictures of Toko-ri which is now spelled Teokgeo-ri at this link.

Overall – As you can see, the options in the TDC Ville are quite numerous. Great shopping, adequate eating establishments, and a very lively night club scene is enough to keep any GI stationed at Camp Casey occupied. It should be enough to do to get you through a year in 2ID. However, just don’t lose your shirt in the ville. Remember drinky doesn’t love you, she loves your wallet. Keep that attitude and you will be alright.

Note: You can read more from the ROK Drop featured series “A Profile of USFK Bases” at the below link:

Bad News for Contractors and Augmentees and good news for soldiers, the computer simulation portion of Ultimate FutiLity is still on while the field training portion has been cancelled.  This just begs the question of who is really running South Korea now a days, Roh or Kim Jong-il? 

Well it looks like the annual Ulchi Focus Lens exercise between the US and Korean militaries may be delayed or reduced in order to appease the North Koreans. There is much rejoicing in contractor and augmentee land.