Category: USFK

A Korean woman earned herself $1.2 million dollars by illegally signing people on to the installation, according to the Stars and Stripes:

A 48-year-old South Korean woman was arrested Tuesday on charges of using her access to Yongsan Garrison to charge entrance fees in exchange for signing in almost 180 South Koreans during the past three years to gamble, according to Seoul police.

The woman has been accused of charging each person 30,000 won ($30) for access an estimated 900 times between April 2002 and January 2005, and the numbers could be higher, said Chief Detective Jang Sung-yoon, who works in the foreign affairs section of the Seoul Police.

The woman is officially charged with running an illegal currency exchange business, in which she charged interest while exchanging won and dollars, Jang said. The police found a bank account in her name containing more than 1.2 billion won, or $1.2 million, he said.

The woman, whom Jang would identify only by her last name, Kim, gained access to base through her membership in the Korean-American Association, Jang said. He said Kim never had worked on base or for U.S. Forces Korea.

To gain access to a USFK facilty an ID card holder only needs to sign that guest on to post and the guest gives up their ID card until they are signed out by midnight that same night. This whole scam is really amazing. The fact that illegal gambling is going on isn’t amazing, what is amazing is how much money she made signing people on to post. $1.2 million dollars and signing in 900 people in 3 years!? How the heck didn’t anybody notice she was signing in all these different people all the time?

The biggest question I am concerned about is force protection. If USFK has a curfew because of all the terrorists lurking in Itaewon just waiting to get us than you would think access to the camp would be much tighter. Heck the terrorists can get on camp for $30 and bomb us there too unless they get caught up to long on a slot machine. Maybe soldiers are safer in Itaewon after all?

Contractors working for USFK were denied their request to be compensated for back pay due to the USFK curfew policy.

An Army colonel has rejected a request from nine Army Corps of Engineers civilians for five months of “standby pay” for complying with a mandatory overnight curfew.

The letter from Army Corps of Engineers Far East District commander Col. Janice Dombi dated March 11 and delivered to a union steward on March 15 states the curfew didn’t require Defense Department workers in South Korea to maintain a state of readiness, a requirement to receive standby pay, according to Dombi.

In her response, Dombi refers to orders from U.S. Forces Korea commanders issued last year defining the curfew, which in September began to include not just servicemembers but civilian workers, contractors and their families. That mandatory compliance for civilians and private workers was lifted March 1; the curfew remains in effect for servicemembers.

The contractors may have lost the battle of receiving back pay but they did win the war against USFK because the curfew has now been lifted on them. The curfew for all the soldiers is now 0100 on weekends extended by one hour from the prior midnight curfew. The army maintains the curfew is necessary for force protection reasons due to credible terrorist threats. I don’t know why the army doesn’t just come out and admit the curfew is in place to curtail prostitution which the army has been able to reduce dramatically. I guess protecting soldiers from “juicy girl” can be considered a form of force protection depending on one’s perspective.

This here is actually a pretty good idea. The Warrior Replacement Center at Camp Mobile near Camp Casey has had it’s name changed to the Warrior Readiness Center and it focusing more on educating soldiers on Korean culture.

The division recently announced that its newcomers’ orientation now will include more on Korean culture and an extra two days of briefings at the facility, formerly known as the Warrior Replacement Center. Last week, for example, dozens of new 2nd ID soldiers ended their five-day orientation with a tour of northern Gyeonggi Province, where 2nd ID is based. Starting at Camp Mobile, it included lunch at a South Korean restaurant, shopping at the Home Plus department store in Uijongbu and visits to the Gyeonggi provincial government’s northern headquarters and the Odusa Unification Observatory near the Demilitarized Zone.

Before all the WRC did for soldiers was provide assistance to fix pay problems, give you your field gear, and send you on your way. Now they are educating soldiers about Korea. I find it amazing how many soldiers know little or nothing about the Korean War, don’t know who Kim Jong Il is, or even spot Korea on a map. Well hopefully this is a step in the right direction.

Something the article did not point out was that leaders who are inprocessing (NCO’s and Officers) will actually spend two weeks at the WRC learning convoy safety, risk assessments, touring the entertainment establishments where soldiers get in trouble, and looking at the off limits area along with a host of other safety classes. This should be really informative for new comers. Serving in Korea is unlike any other duty assignment with all the weird stuff that goes on around here and hopefully the new comer training will get new leaders up to speed quicker and also keep them out of trouble because a lot of officers and NCOs get in trouble too for stupid stuff here. So overall a great idea from BG Anderson.

It has been coming but now Camp Page has officially been closed.

Citizens from the South Korean city of Chunchon said goodbye to U.S. soldiers serving at Camp Page in a ceremony last week marking the end of a 54-year mission.

The base, it’s major feature an airstrip built after Chunchon was recaptured from communist forces in March 1951, is due to close by the end of next month, officials have said. The U.S. 8th Army announced this week that one of the Camp Page units, the 542nd Medical Evacuation Company, including about 120 soldiers and their equipment, will move to Fort Campbell, Ky., by April.

Another Camp Page unit, the 1st Battalion, 2nd Aviation Regiment, will move to Camp Eagle, near the South Korean city of Wonju, about an hour’s drive south of Chunchon, according to an 8th Army statement.

Some people are happy about this:

People living near the base, some of whom have filed a lawsuit seeking damages for severe noise from U.S. aircraft, will be happy about the base closure. So will landlords who have faced height restrictions on buildings near the base, he said.

However, others are not:

U.S. Forces Korea Korean Employees Union Kangwon chapter representative Yi Un-song said the ceremony was nice, but that it was not a good feeling to see the city spend $30,000 on a party when it had done nothing to help South Korean employees losing their jobs at the base.

Only 80 out of about 270 Camp Page South Korean base workers have had job offers from USFK so far, and all those offered jobs will have to relocate, he said.

Kim Yong-bak, a chief of the planning section for Chunchon City Hall, confirmed the cost of the ceremony but said it is not the city’s responsibility to help laid-off base workers.

Most Chunchon locals will miss Camp Page, which contributed greatly to postwar restoration in Chunchon during the 1950s and 1960s, Kim said.

Maybe the 8th Army worker that defected to North Korea was one of the guys who got layed off? Who knows? But it was time for Camp Page to close though. Camp Page is actually a good place to be stationed because it is located so far away from the rest of 2ID and is in a great area of Chuncheon. However, the base is located in the middle of the city near the river which has become a burden on the city with the continued development of Chuncheon. The noise of the helicopters, on this former aviation base, coming and going every day from this location in the city probably does get annoying after a while for nearby residences. Expect more base closures to come.

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UPDATE:  For those interested I have since published an up to date profile about Camp Page at this link. 

If you haven’t heard about this issue yet let me give you a quick summary. In September USFK issued a new curfew policy on all USFK personnel to include civilian contractors because of force protection reasons. Alledgedly there are terrorist suicide bombers hiding in every alleyway here in Korea. Just about every contractor I know is furious about the curfew. Not so much because they want to go down range late at night and hang out with drinky girls but because they feel that they are civilians and shouldn’t be treated like children by the army.

What I find interesting is the fact that force protection is the reason for the curfew when in fact every soldier and contractor is not fooled by the curfews real intentions. Everyone knows the curfew is because of human trafficking and prostitution. If the army would just come out and say that than they would probably have less people complaining because now they seem very disingenuous every time they claim force protection. If the reason contractors and soldiers have a curfew is because of force protection than why doesn’t the army make all the Korean civilian contractors comply with the curfew? They work on every US military installation across the country and since Korea has such an “extensive terrorist network” they could easily be targeted by the terrorists just like civilian workers are targeted in Iraq.

Now the latest update to this only in USFK soap opera is that the contractors union is demanding back pay for the time they are confined to their homes at night. This is actually pretty clever.

The union that represents civilian U.S. Army workers in South Korea is planning this week to ask for thousands of dollars in back pay for the more than 700 hours its members have spent at home complying with U.S. Forces Korea’s curfew policy, according to the union’s president.

The union says its current contract with USFK and the 8th Army requires the government to pay the normal wage for hours spent on “stand-by duty” in response to military restrictions that require civilian workers to remain home in a state of readiness.

Since September, USFK leaders have ordered civilian workers to comply with the troops’ nightly curfew to ensure safety and readiness among all personnel — servicemembers, civilian workers and private contractors — who support the military mission here on the peninsula.

The expected request from Local 1363 of the National Federation of Federal Employees will ask for an estimated $15,000 to $20,000 for each civilian worker and will serve as a first step toward filing a formal grievance on the issue, the local’s president, Jeffrey Meadows, said Friday from his Army Corps of Engineers office at Humphreys.

“We respect the authority the Army has to impose the curfew on us,” Meadows said during a phone interview. “We believe that management should compensate us for it.”

Wow that is a lot of money they are requesting. Here is the excerpt of their contract they are pointing to as reason for the back pay.

“If he wants to maintain readiness, we deserve to be compensated,” Meadows said.

A portion of the union’s current contract states civilian workers should be considered on the job if “the employee is restricted to his or her living quarters or designated post of duty; or has his or her activities substantially limited; and is required to remain in a state of readiness to perform work.”

It will be interesting to see how the army responds to this. Here is a excerpt from the article I found most interesting.

USFK repeatedly has defended the curfew as a necessary tool to protect and prepare those who are a part of the U.S. military effort in South Korea. Part of that effort includes enforcing a 51-year-old armistice between North and South Korea, as well as responding to the more modern threat of terrorist acts, USFK spokespeople and commanders have said.

You are more likely to get hit by a terrorist attack in the United States than you are in Korea yet there is no curfew on soldiers and contractors in the United States. Plus if readiness is an issue than why did USFK have no curfew as little as a few years ago the last time I was here? The army has waged a campaign against human trafficking and prostitution and the army has wanted to cut down on the amount of off-post incidents. This curfew is a tool to make that happen. The army just isn’t selling it very well.

Yesterday Uri Party law makers took their show on the road to Camp Casey to meet with USFK commanding general Leon LaPorte. When asked about anti-Americanism in Korea the general responded:

General Leon LaPorte, commander of the U.S. Forces Korea, said yesterday in a meeting with Lee Bu-young, chairman of the governing Uri Party, and 10 Uri Party lawmakers that anti-U.S. sentiment in Korea did not bother him because he was proud defending a democracy where such freedom of expression is possible.

Here is something that really infuriates me by these pin head Uri politicians.

Addressing the causes of anti-Americanism in Korea, the Uri Party chairman claimed that an accident in June 2002, in which two girls were killed by a U.S.-armored vehicle participating in a training exercise in Uijeongbu City, could have been prevented with more caution.

First of all the accident didn’t even happen in Uijeongbu, it actually happened in the country side of the city of Yangju. So if you are going to make accusations at least get the location right. Secondly the army does bare some responsibility for the accident but not any more than the Korean government. The accident happened because two convoys of oversized armored vehicles were approaching each other on a very narrow country road. The convoy with what is called a AVLB which is a large tracked vehicle with a bridge on the top of it had to manuever to the shoulder of the road to avoid the on coming convoy. The driver of the AVLB cannot see to the right of his track due to his view being blocked by the armor of the track. So the driver is dependent on the track commander who sits on top to warn him of any hazards on the right side of the track. Due to some communications problems in the vehicle, the driver was not warned in time about the two girls who were walking on the side of the road. Why were they walking on the side of the road you ask. Well there are no sidewalks out there for pedestrians to walk on.

Many soldiers including myself have complained about the lack of sidewalks before the accident because there are so many civilians who walk on the roads that are in or near or training areas. Plus the civilians have grown so used to seeing large military equipment that they do not move out of the way of them.

So if the Uri politicians want to assign blame well let’s look at this. Guess who approves all convoy movements for 2ID? The ROK Army does. Guess who makes the roads in Korea? Yes, you guessed right the Korean government does not the US Army. Who makes side walks in Korea? Yes again the Korean government. Imagine that. What blame can be placed on the army? The communication problem was definitely an army issue, but with military equipment you are going to have communication problems no matter what you do. Sensitive electronic equipment riding around in tactical vehicles means commo problems. Happens all the time. That is why other safety measures like wider roads and sidewalks are needed. If these measures were in place this accident would have never happened. The fact that no accident happened before this one is a tribute to how seriously 2ID takes convoy safety. I challenge anyone to find an organization that takes convoy safety as seriously as 2ID.

Quietly now the Korean government in the area the accident, is now widening the roads and making sidewalks. I just wish someone would challenge these pin heads when they are so quick to jump on the US military for this accident when there is an equal amount of blame that should be placed on the Korean government. Then again why should we expect any Korean politician to be held responsible for anything. It is easier just to blame America for everything. The life of a global scapegoat.

If I was talking to these guys I would of asked the politician if he knew how narrow the roads were and why there was a lack of sidewalks to begin with. They probably didn’t even know about these facts because nobody in media has put that information out there. I then would ask him what measures the Korean government is taking to ensure US soldiers are not kidnapped or stabbed and murdered by Korean civilians in the future. What you haven’t heard about these incidents in the fair and balanced Korean media!? Click Here to find out more. I would love to see their faces when challenged.

The army is to much of a punching bag here, sometimes we just need to punch back in an effort to inform and influence public opinion. The US chain of command has taken responsibility for the incident and apologized all the way up to the President of the United States. What has Korea done to accept in responsibility in this? Nothing, it easier to play the role of the small, weak country. It is easier to avoid any responsibility this way.

Yongsan Garrison may be closing down by 2008 but at least soldiers will still have the Dragon Hill Lodge to take advantage of.

For those who have never stayed in the Dragon Hill, it is a 4 star hotel that serves exclusively US military personnel. The rooms are very nice and the hotel has many good restaurants and shops for its guests. Room rates at the hotel are determined by a soldier’s rank thus making the hotel affordable for the lowest ranking soldiers. Often the military gives reward hotel stays for soldiers who have done an outstanding job. Needless to say this reward is very popular and highly coveted. Good to see that they are keeping the Dragon Hill around.