It is good this guy was caught and sentenced, but how stupid and gullible are the victims to fall for this scam?:

A former Camp Stanley employee has been sentenced to five years in prison for fraud and related charges after selling nonexistent base jobs to more than two dozen South Koreans.

The employee, surnamed Gang, worked more than 20 years in the Uijeongbu-area base, most recently as an ambulance driver, before being fired in March over the allegations.

Gang used a U.S. soldier who was unaware of the scam to interview Koreans by phone to test their English, South Korean police said. More than 30 victims paid him a total of $750,000 for the fake jobs over six and a half years, according to sentencing documents from the Anyang branch of the Suwon District Court.

Gang was also convicted of counterfeiting documents and circulating forged documents. He wrote 11 false letters of employment, using a computer at a U.S. military medical facility in Uijeongbu to produce at least one of the letters.

Among his victims was a woman who paid Gang 25 million won (almost $21,500) in 2013, believing she was securing a civilian job for her son with U.S. Forces Korea. Another woman, police said, paid Gang 100 million won (about $86,000) for administrative jobs for her husband, son and daughter. Gang promised some of his victims he would pay the human resources manager at an Army hospital, and their jobs would be guaranteed until retirement at age 68.  [Stars & Stripes]

You can read the rest at the link.

That is what the commandant of the US Coast Guard had to say recently:

The United States Coast Guard maintains “a significant force package” as part of a war plan for North Korea under which all vessels and servicemembers would be deployed, the commandant of the U.S. body said Wednesday.

“We have a campaign plan that addresses North Korea and what forces do we need to bring to bear in the advance,” Adm. Paul Zukunft of the U.S. Coast Guard said in an interview with a small group of reporters in Seoul.

“I cannot elaborate, but I will state that the Coast Guard has a significant force package, ships and coastguardsmen on our part of the campaign plan, which will augment the overall force for a campaign with North Korea,” the four-star commander said.  [Yonhap]

You can read more at the link.

Will your kids be able to identify these obsolete technologies?http://t.co/Htz4SE5gHj pic.twitter.com/g7CAc53FtO

— The Telegraph (@Telegraph) September 17, 2015

A South Korean Marine shows his camaraderie by pouring water on a U.S. Marine’s head to beat the heat at a training camp in the western border town of Gimpo on Sept. 17, 2015, after finishing their training as part of a three-week joint exercise. The drill involving 500 South Korean Marines and 600 from the Third U.S. Marine Division, is aimed at improving their combat readiness and boosting joint combat skills. (Yonhap)

A comment I recently received discussed a helicopter crash that occurred back in 1973 at Camp Page.  What was strange about this helicopter crash was that it involved family members of the pilot.  Digging through the Stars & Stripes archives I was able to locate the details about this crash.  The crash happened on April 7, 1973 when the pilot of the UH-1 Huey helicopter from the 55th Aviation Company crashed into the Han River near Camp Page:

The above article is from the July 12, 173 edition of the Stars & Stripes newspaper.

Inside of the helicopter was the pilot, his wife and son, and two soldiers.  Tragically the pilot’s 18 month old son died in the crash along with one of the soldier crew members.  The two bodies were recovered by two USFK personnel who happened to be scuba certified.  Talk about a horrible tasking to be stuck with:

The above article is from the April 11, 1973 edition of the Stars & Stripes newspaper.

The pilot who survived the crash would go on to be medically retired and wrote a book about his helicopter flying experiences in Vietnam.  He then became an ordained minister and currently lives in Nebraska with his wife that survived the helicopter crash.  I could not find anything that said what caused the crash, but regardless a pretty sad story that fortunately the pilot and his wife were able to rebound from the loss of their son.

Note: You can read more GI Flashbacks articles by clicking on the below link: 

The Chinese may act angrily and say all the right things to the international community, but the Kim regime is counting on that they won’t do anything that would threaten to destabilize the regime.  This is because the Chinese likely fear a collapsed North Korean state more than they do the backlash from North Korean provocations:

If North Korea launches a rocket into space or conducts a nuclear test in the coming weeks, as observers suspect it may, China is certain to respond angrily, and perhaps with an unprecedented level of economic punishment. The question is whether North Korea can be swayed even by its most important ally.  (…………………)

China’s response to North Korea’s last declared nuclear test, in the spring of 2013, was considered something of a watershed in degree of harshness. China swiftly joined the international community in condemning the action, called in the North Korean ambassador to protest, and, according to some indications, slowed the flow of goods across their border.

A new nuclear test or rocket firing could lead China to enforce existing and future sanctions more vigorously.

“China will strongly oppose (a test or launch) and will be sure to implement future United Nations resolutions even more resolutely,” said Zhang Liangui, a North Korea expert with the ruling Communist Party’s main research and training institute in Beijing.

China may also take unilateral steps such as cutting back on cross-border trade, Chinese experts say. Such measures could target the industrial commodities and luxury goods Kim needs to keep the moribund North Korean economy ticking over and ensure the loyalty of regime supporters.  [Associated Press]

You can read the rest at the link.

https://twitter.com/dramafever/status/644590648868233216

Gen. Jang Jun-gyu (R), the new Army Chief of Staff, receives a flag of the Army as a symbol of his authority to command from Defense Minister Han Min-koo during an inauguration ceremony at Gyeryongdae, South Korea’s main military compound in the city of Gyeryong, central South Korea, on Sept. 17, 2015. (Yonhap)

Corruption investigations have led to a large number of Koreans killing themselves to include 15 people so far this year:

The apparent suicide of a researcher after being interrogated about defense corruption is shedding light on prosecutorial investigations that lead to suicides of suspects or witnesses.

A 43-year-old senior researcher, surnamed Kim, who worked at weapons supplier LIG Nex1 was found dead Monday on the ground outside an apartment building in Osan, Gyeonggi. He was living in an apartment on the 23rd floor. The police are investigating how he died.

Kim was questioned by a joint government investigative team on defense ministry corruption led by prosecutors, military prosecutors, the Board of Audit and Inspection and the National Tax Service. Prosecutors suspected his involvement in corruption regarding the development of Hyeongung, a mid-range personal guided missile.  (…….)

According to New Politics Alliance for Democracy Rep. Lee Sang-min, the number of people who committed suicide after being questioned by the prosecution, either as suspects or witnesses, was 79 between 2010 and June this year. Last year, 21 people committed suicide, and 15 died this year up to June.  [Joong Ang Ilbo]

You can read the rest at the link.

Please leave anything you want to discuss in the comments section.