The body of the first ROK Army fatality in the Global War on Terror, SGT Yoon Jang-ho has arrived in Korea:

U.S. Ambassador to South Korea Alexander Vershbow visited the military hospital in Seongnam, just outside of Seoul, where Yoon’s body lay in rest, and delivered the U.S. Bronze Star Medal and his condolences to Yoon’s bereaved family.

The medal is the fourth highest in the U.S. armed forces, and can be given to non-American soldiers who died while carrying out missions with U.S. forces.

Tuesday’s attack is believed to have targeted U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney, who was visiting the area, according to the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS). Reports stated that the Taliban has claimed responsibility for the bombing that also killed one American soldier, an American contractor and 20 Afghan civilians.

Yoon’s parents flew to Kuwait and received the body, which was airlifted by the U.S. military from Afghanistan on Thursday.

The body arrived at a military airport in Seongnam, a city just south of Seoul, at 7:15 a.m. aboard a chartered flight amid falling rain. The plane also carried Yoon’s parents and some 300 South Korean soldiers returning home after completing a six-month mission in Iraq.

Yoon’s body was met solemnly by Army Chief of Staff Park Heung-ryul and some 100 soldiers from the military unit to which Yoon belonged before his departure to Afghanistan.

I think it was a nice gesture by Ambassador Vershbow to award the Bronze Star to SGT Yoon.  As a commenter pointed out, an American died in this blast as well, PFC Zizumbo who like SGT Yoon was from the midwest and also 27 years old.  I’m sure he will post-humanously be awarded the Bronze Star and a Purple Heart for his sacrifice as well.  Let’s also not forget the 20 Afghan truck drivers and children that were killed by this cowardly suicide bomber. 

What I’m curious about is where is President Roh?  President Roh so far is treating SGT Yoon’s death like how he treated the death of the six ROK sailors that died fighting off a North Korean ambush in 2002; by ignoring it.  It just seems callous to me that the US Ambassador is able to get to the hospital and meet SGT Yoon’s family and award him a medal before President Roh does. 

In other news related to SGT Yoon’s death, predictably the Hankyoreh is using SGT Yoon’s death to bash the United States:

The U.S. invaded Afghanistan following the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 because it had provided refuge to al Qaida, and it toppled the Taliban government there. Its oppressive occupation policy since has lasted six years and has made the people of that country turn against U.S. forces and has actually strengthened the Taliban.

(…)

Given the situation, Korea needs to give serious thought as to whether the Korean military should continue to support the U.S.-led occupation forces when they are not recognized as legitimate. The Korean government has continued to ignore calls for withdrawal coming from all sectors of society, all the while invoking its obligations to the U.S.-Korea alliance. However, being true to your duties as a true member of the alliance means making the U.S. listen to the views of the international community and not blindly following the U.S. around while having to put up with international criticism. The government needs to immediately start the process of withdrawing our soldiers from Iraq and Afghanistan.

"Oppressive occupation"?  The Taliban conducting public executions, banning music, treating women no better than dogs, among a host of other wonders of Sharia Law was oppressive.  The US building schools, roads, establishing a democratic system of government among a host of other reconstruction projects is not oppressive.  Than again this is the Hankyoreh and they probably think the US presence in South Korea is an oppressive occupation.  It is totally dishonest to say that the people of Afghanistan have "turned against US forces" because then why does the Taliban have to hide in Pakistan if they supposedly have the support of the Afghan people?  It is because the vast majority of the Afghan people can’t stand the Taliban and are glad to see them go.  The Hankyoreh really needs to read this story if they think the Afghan people dislike the United States.

Also the Hankyoreh left out any mention that SGT Yoon volunteered to go to Afghanistan and deeply believed in the mission that he was doing.  If the Afghan people hated the "oppressive occupation" so much, how come all these Afghans were coming to receive job skills training from SGT Yoon and the rest of the Korean contingent in Afghanistan?  It is disgusting to me that instead of honoring SGT Yoon’s death as the hero that he is, the Hankyoreh is using his death to push their own political agenda, but I’m not surprised.   

The ROK Army is getting a defense upgrade with the introduction of the XK2 “Black Panther“:

Korea’s first domestically-made amphibious tank, featuring an auto loaded 120-mm cannon, rolled off the assembly line in Changwon, Friday (March 2).

The next-generation tank, code named “XK2” and nicknamed “Black Panther,” will replace the older K1 and American M47/48 tanks starting in 2011, defense officials said.

The new model features an auto loaded 120 mm cannon, can reach speeds of up to 70 km per hour, and can cross rivers as deep as 4.1 meters using a snorkle, according to its developer, the Agency for Defense Development (ADD).

At the launch ceremony for the tank, President Roh Moo-hyun stressed that Korea’s development of a top-tier weapon such as the XK2 with its own technology testifies to the country’s defense capability.

“The development of the world’s top-level tank–in both mobility and firepower–with our own technology shows the world our commitment to self-defense,” Roh said during the ceremony held at the ADD facilities in Changwon, Gyeongsang nam-do (South Gyeongsang Province).

This really does appear to be a great tank. The tank is a bit lighter than a US M1 and the armament and speed are slightly better. The tank can also drive underwater with a big snorkel which I would love to see a demonstration of how long it can stay underwater like that. You can watch this KBS video of the K1 in action which includes a demonstration of it underwater capability. The XK2 just like the K1 also maintains the hydraulic technology that allows the tank to fire down hill, which is extremely important in mountainous terrain like Korea.

The automatic loader feature of the XK2 is a great innovation, which means that the tank crew is one man less than a normal tank crew. It may not seem like a big deal, but when you start massing producing these tanks across the force that saved man power adds up. Additionally it has its own C4I technology which means that the tank commander has a screen where he can digitally see through GPS technology where friendly and enemy units are located at and send messages and issue orders through this screen to adjacent units. This is a great system if it works. What I’m curious about is if the C4I technology is compatible with US C4I? Would the ROK Army assets appear on US military C4I screens? I suspect not.

The air defense capabilities of the tank may be over stated. I have seen M1 tanks during National Training Center rotations shoot down helicopters plenty of times by massing fires on the target. US air defenders who used to man Bradley Stinger Fighting Vehicles would train shooting down helicopters using the Bradley’s 25mm cannon. So the fact that the XK2’s main gun can shoot down a helicopter is nothing new. What is interesting is that the fitted the tank with a Identify Friendly Foe (IFF) system that is used to interrogate aircraft to see if they are hostile or not. This tends to indicate that the tank may be used as a primary air defense weapon. It will be interesting to see how this plays out because if the tank can properly execute an air defense mission then that could save more man power by not needing as many air defense soldiers.

The importance of saving man power may not be important now for the ROK Army, but it will be important if the ROK decides implement an all volunteer force in the future. First of all you don’t have to recruit as many people and secondly you don’t have to pay to train or retain those soldiers that would normally fill that position. Over the long run that becomes a big defense savings. Additionally, countries that Korea may attempt to sell this system to, may have all volunteer forces which makes the system more appealing to them to purchase.

The price of the tank is steep though, costing about $8.5 million US dollars per tank. Compare that cost to a US M1 Abrams that the latest models cost around $4.3 million US dollars per tank. The bottom line is that the tank is slightly better than an M1 Abrams, but is it worth double the cost of buying a M1? That all depends on the size of the pocket book of countries interested in buying it. Especially when you factor things like how much does it cost to up keep the tank per year? Additionally, the availability of parts is another critical aspect of this tank for any international buyers.

I think it is important to realize that the production of this new tank is more likely driven initially by its export potential than President Roh’s claims to a “commitment to self-defense”. Take a look for example at Korea’s recent introduction of the K-9/K-10 “Thunder” self propelled artillery system.

The K9/K10 system is one of the best self propelled artillery system in the world and superior even to the US M109 “Paladin” system and vastly superior if equipped with the K10 package. However, before the system was even fielded to the ROK Army it was being sold and exported abroad. The first country the developer of the K9, Samsung Techwin, sold the system to was Turkey who received its first batch of K9s in 2004 and has since bought the license from Samsung Techwin to domestically produce the K9 in Turkey. Turkey is expected to field a force of 300 K9s by 2011. This total deal for Samsung Techwin was worth a reported $1 billion US dollars.

Samsung Techwin is continuing to test the system for potential international buyers such as Malaysia, Australia, and Spain to name a few interested countries. The K9 is expected to claim 31% of the world’s self propelled artillery market by 2015 making them the world’s leaders in this field over rivals such as Germany and Japan. While the K9 is being sold overseas to countries like Turkey, the ROK Army still hasn’t been fully fielded with the new K9.

I expect the XK2 will probably also be aggressively marketed overseas to potential buyers just like the K9/K10. This statement by ADD Direct Ahn Dong-man tends to support my thesis:

Having developed a tank, a land weapon symbol, based on independent technology, we not only can secure superiority over the panzer force of North Korea but also can export the tank since it has high-tech performance and price competitiveness.

You can read more here and here.

This is a picture I found over at Korea.net and here is the caption:

A group of white-naped cranes, designated by the Korean government as a natural monument, take rest at Cheonsu Bay, a migratory birds’ haven on Korea’s west coast, on Feb. 21, as they prepared to migrate to Siberia after spending the winter in the southern part of the Korean Peninsula. Cranes traditionally symbolize loyalty to the king and longevity in Korean literature.

This time of year is actually a great time to go bird watching.  One of the best places is up the Chorwon area near the DMZ.  You can usually see quite a few of these birds up there as well.

The recent historical dispute to flair up between Korea and Japan is the comfort women issue.  What sparked the latest controversy was US Congressman Mike Honda’s resolution to condemn Japan for World War II sexual slavery and demand an apology from the Prime Minister of Japan.  Like I mentioned before the Japanese Prime Minister should apologize, but not because of some resolution from Mike Honda who would rather condemn sexual slavery of Koreans that happened 60 years ago, but is willing to make excuses for sexual slavery of Koreans happening today in China. 

With that said, I cannot believe the Japanese Prime Minister who has at least tried to be conciliatory about the Yasukuni issue would say something as outrageous as this (via Marmot):

Japan’s nationalist prime minister denied Thursday that the country’s military forced women into sexual slavery during World War II, casting doubt on a past government apology and jeopardizing a fragile detente with his Asian neighbors.

The comments by Shinzo Abe, a member of a group of lawmakers pushing to roll back a 1993 apology to the sex slaves, were his clearest statement as prime minister on military brothels known in Japan as “comfort stations.”

Historians say some 200,000 women — mostly from Korea and China — served in the Japanese military brothels throughout Asia in the 1930s and 1940s. Many victims say they were kidnapped and forced into sexual slavery by Japanese troops.

But Abe, who since taking office in September has promoted patriotism in Japan’s schools and a more assertive foreign policy, told reporters there was no proof the women were forced into prostitution.

“The fact is, there is no evidence to prove there was coercion,” Abe said.

His remarks contradicted evidence in Japanese documents unearthed in 1992 that historians said showed military authorities had a direct role in working with contractors to forcibly procure women for the brothels.

There is some debate over the translation of what Prime Minister Abe said, but clearly he is out of line on this issue simply because he is going against the official recognition and apology the Japanese government gave in 1993 to the women effected by World War II sexual slavery.  The Japanese government has clearly all ready accepted the fact that the Imperial Japanese Army committed sexual slavery of primarily Korean women, but why is Prime Minister Abe trying to change the Japanese government’s stance on this issue?  I know he is sagging in the opinion polls in Japan, but is this really going to give him a boost? 

Plus he is allowing the demagogues like President Roh in South Korea to come out and condemn him:

Japan must atone for the atrocities committed during World World Two through concrete measures, South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun said on Thursday, adding it was key to better ties between the two countries.

Roh in a speech marking the 1919 uprising in Korea against Japanese colonial rule said the international community had not forgiven Tokyo for its wartime aggression.

"(Japan) may try to cover the sky with its hand, but we were able to confirm once again that the international community does not forgive the atrocities committed by imperial Japan," the South Korean president said.

Japan colonized the Korean peninsula from 1910 until its defeat in World War Two in 1945. Former Japanese prime ministers have apologized for the country’s colonial past, but Roh has said Tokyo had not done enough to back its words with action.

"We hope that Japan will not try to glorify or justify a mistaken past, but instead show sincerity by following its conscience and the international community’s generally accepted precedent," he said.

I consider President Roh and demagogue on this issue simply because he has no creditability to advocate for these women when he continues to do absolutely nothing about the plight of North Korean sex slaves in China now.  What are the chances President Roh would make a statement like this towards China’s modern day sexual slavery of Korean women? 

Like I mentioned before in regards to the Yasukuni issue the historical problems with its Asian neighbors is what is preventing Japan from truly reaching the global status it should have for a nation of 120 million people with the world’s second largest economy.  For a nation that wants a seat on the UN Security Council I really have to wonder if the nation can have the creditability to handle the major pressing issues of the day.  If Japan can’t even come to a resolution over the Yasukuni, comfort women, or Dokdo conflicts how can we expect them to handle something as volatile as the Palestinian-Israeli conflict?

Once again you can read more at Marmot’s Hole and Japundit.

Great posting at DPRK Studies about how North Korea’s nuclear program is being dishonestly reported on in the US media.  I’m not sure if it is due to just complete journalistic incompetence or planned demagoguery on the part of the journalist, but read it and you be the judge. 

It looks like Korea is serious about starting a space industry:

South Korea also plans to build a rocket launch pad on its own soil, though it will focus on uncrewed satellite launches. Hyundai Heavy Industries, the world’s largest shipbuilder, on Tuesday said it had won an order to build South Korea’s first space rocket launch pad.

The contract from the Korea Aerospace Research Institute calls for a launch platform and related facilities at the Naro Space Center on a southern island off the town of Goheung.

South Korea plans to launch a 100-kilogram (220 pound) satellite into orbit from Naro in October 2008. Construction of the space centre will be completed early in 2008.

Following completion of the project, South Korea will become the world’s ninth nation capable of launching a satellite with its own technology. So far it has relied on centres in other countries to send its satellites into orbit.

Financial terms were not given but Hyundai Heavy said it would build launch facilities, fuelling systems and a control room for the launch pad, which will be able to accommodate two rockets.

It will be interesting to see if Hyundai intends to develop this launch capability strictly for domestic Korean use or plan to expand it to compete for example against the Russians for launching international satellites.  It good to see Hyundai looking to the future and getting into the space industry.  I’ll really don’t see any reason why Korea couldn’t make quality rockets considering the technological capabilities of the country. 

Here is a map that shows the island where the launch pad at Goheung will be built:

Goheung is definitely a remote enough area of Korea to build a launch pad at.  It is actually one of the few areas of the country I haven’t been too.  Here is a satellite image of the island that will host the space center:

When this launch pad gets built I will have to get down there to see a launch some time. 

USFK Commander General B.B. Bell has released a statement recognizing the ROK Army sergeant killed by a terrorist bombing in Afghanistan:

“We mourn the loss of this brave soldier who died while rebuilding Afghanistan so that future generations there might enjoy the peace and liberty which have made Korea a beacon of freedom in Asia,” Gen. B.B. Bell said in a news release.

“On behalf of all USFK servicemembers, I express our deepest sympathies and condolences to his family,” he said in the release. “This tragedy reminds us all of the sacrifices made by all who risk their lives in the name of freedom, and we solemnly honor his memory.”

Classy statement by General Bell. 

Second Infantry Division Commander General Coggins has an interview in the Stars and Stripes defending his recent decision to implement a .10% blood alcohol policy.

Usually I just ignore e-mails critical of me and my site, but this time I figure I would respond and let people who read this site share their opinions on if I am a Korea basher or not. Below is a email I received recently, I won’t publish the name or e-mail address of this person because this person probably means well, but is sending me this e-mail with little information about me or having much of an understanding of Korea in general, and has obviously read very little of my site. So I will give this person the benefit of the doubt unlike what is given to me that I am a automatic Korea basher.

Here is the e-mail:

Hello! I have a few comments about your wesite.

You are obviously an American who has the typical supremacy complex. You feel that anything that isn’t socially acceptable in America, is wrong in other countries. This just shows how egocentric Americans are. I am sure that people who visit America have millions of thoughts describing how ignorant and rude Americans are.

When anyone visits another country, they should be respectful of their culture, not critical.

How would you feel if soldiers from another country, on the other side of the world, comes and tells you what to do and criticizes the way you act – I am sure that you would be angry, offended, disgusted, etc…

About your comments about Seoul… you have obviously never been to New York City, Los Angeles or Chicago. When you describe the problems in Seoul, you would find those same problems in any major city in America.

Gee, Koreans are learning English.. what morons! If you aren’t aware of this… English is the accepted universal language. It is the business language that connects the world. If you have ever taken the time to visit other countries, you will realize that any country that keeps up with the ever-changing global community, learns English. As for their speaking abilities, have you ever tried to learn another language fluently enough to hold a conversation?? If you aren’t aware of this, English is one of the hardest languages to learn and master. In America, we have citizens (who are born and raised here)Â that still can’t speak English correctly. Also, the best time to learn a foreign language is when you are young.

Now, you are probably thinking that I am a pompous Korean… big surprise!!! I am American, who is ashamed that you are the representation of an American GI. You are the reason why everyone else thinks that Americans are stupid.

While I appreciate your ideas and opinions, because everyone has their right to their opinions, please take mine with the same feeling.

I find it interesting when I am accused of having a supremacy complex when the person accusing me is the one saying that Koreans must learn English to be successful in the world. If that isn’t a sign of a supremacy complex I don’t know what is. Obviously this person hasn’t been reading my blog very long.

I have long been saying that Koreans shouldn’t put so much emphasis on children to learn English especially if the emphasis isn’t on speaking ability. Koreans that study English learn to read and write well but have poor speaking skills. If a nation is going to put an emphasis on English than at least emphasize speaking ability. The best and brightest of Korean males are selected to serve as KATUSA soldiers with the US Army in Korea to complete their mandatory service. Many of them when they come to the unit do not speak English well even though they have been studying it since they were little kids. The unit has to train these soldiers to become proficient in English and usually by the time they leave after two years of service they speak English much better and with more confidence compared to the years of English education they received from Korean schools and hagwons. I could take a cheap shot and blame it on foreign English teachers not doing their job well, but I actually blame it on a system that rewards memorization of words instead of speaking ability. I know very well how hard learning English is and that is why I think Koreans should not spend as much time as they do dwelling over learning it.

It is fallacy to believe that the only way to be successful is to learn English. I tend to think that Koreans can be successful speaking Korean, imagine that?  Yet, I am the American supremacist? Japan is no where near as English friendly as Korea and their educational system does not put an emphasis on English education as much as Korea and yet they are a major power in the world with world’s 2nd largest economy. They didn’t become a major power by having their kids coming back from English hagwons at 10PM every night.

I consider Korean culture to be their food, language, history, etc which is something I have never criticized. In fact on this blog I have highlighted Korean history a number of times and if all anyone has to do is look at the What I Like About Korea list to see the number of cultural things I enjoy about Korea. However, I don’t consider Korean culture to be throwing soju bottles and trash all over the beautiful Korean country side, or parking on sidewalks right in front of a no parking sign, or running red lights which has led Korea to be second among OECD nations in car accidents per capita. This fact has led Korea to lead all OECD nations in children fatalities from car accidents.

I also don’t consider the lack of concern for sexual assaults in Korea to be part of Korean culture. The South Korean government giving a billion dollars a year to North Korea in order to fund a regime that continues to keep 250,000 political prisoners in gulags and in turn causes North Korean female defectors to become sex slaves in China, while at the same time refusing to properly fund the US-ROK alliance which has been directly responsible for the development of the ROK for the past 55 years to be part of Korean culture. I could go on and on, but I guess I should ignore all these things because I am being undiplomatic?

As far as criticizing Seoul I almost thought this person was confusing me with Nomad. If anything I have been supportive of Seoul. I am a big supporter of the Cheongyecheon Stream project, critical of things that make the city look ugly, plus I have been strongly supportive of Mayor Oh Se-hoon’s attempt to green Seoul, and turn Yongsan Garrison into a city park. Plus I have complimented the city’s mass transit system including the recent expansion of the subway to Dongducheon. There is a lot to like about Seoul, but anyone who thinks Seoul is paradise on Earth is sadly mistaken. Go ask Nomad, he can provide the details.

Just for the record I have been to Los Angeles, Chicago, and New York and I’m willing to wager I have been to more countries than this e-mailer has been to states in the US. I can read Hangul and have a working knowledge of Korean. I would study Korean even more if it wasn’t for things like deploying to Iraq where I was immersed in Arabic among other countries I have been to for what I like to call combat tourism.

Additionally I have had plenty of conversations with foreign military soldiers stationed in the United States. There are thousands or foreign soldiers in the US either training at US military schools or permanently stationed at foreign bases such as the German Air Force Tactical Training Center in New Mexico or the Singapore Air Force’s flight training squadron at Luke Air Force Base in Arizona. I have had plenty of interesting conversations with these foreign military types and they have expressed criticisms about America to me, which I have always found interesting to talk to them about without accusing them of having a “supremacy complex”. I only became “angry, offended, and disgusted” one time with a foreign soldier when a Saudi officer try to treat me like one of his slave boys back in Saudi Arabia, but that is a whole other story worthy of a blog posting of it’s own one day.

Also, not for a minute did I think this person who e-mailed me was a Korean. Actually at first I thought great, another holier than thou Canadian English teacher sending me hate mail. I have had a few of those. (Note: I don’t think these e-mails are reflective of Canadians in general.) Why don’t Australians send me holier than thou hate mails? Anyway I really wasn’t surprised either when I saw something even worse, a holier thou American (English teacher?). Like I have maintained on this blog, the biggest anti-Americans are Americans themselves and the same thing is true with my hate mail; the greatest GI Korea haters are Americans. The e-mailer obviously has a low regard for herself with statements like, “everyone else thinks that Americans are stupid”. No, “everyone” may just think you are stupid.

This person seems ashamed to be American. It makes me wonder if this person is one of those types of Americans that walks around with a Canadian flag on their backpack? I have never hidden being an American, but I don’t rub it in people’s face either. I have spoken with many foreigners in many different countries that don’t agree with American foreign policy, dislike President Bush, or concerned about global warming for example, but the vast majority like the American people and want to visit the country if they haven’t already. It is possible to disagree with others and have an intelligent conversation without declaring the other side as being stupid.

I receive plenty of e-mails from people thanking me for creating this site which I really appreciate, especially from the numerous Korean War vets and retired soldiers that served on the DMZ before me. Those are guys I really enjoy getting feedback from because the soldiers in Korea today are carrying on a long tradition of service in Korea that started with those guys long ago. I also like answering questions from expats and soldiers that may be coming to Korea. There are people reading this blog right now who have e-mailed me questions about Korea that I have answered for them. However, if someone is going to send me hate mail at least read the site and then post the hate message as a comment on the posting you don’t agree with so I and everyone else can see it plus I can have a better context of what your gripe is.

I’m not a Korea basher and I consider Korea my second home. It just so happens that many of the issues going on in Korea are of a negative type. How can I put a positive spin on recent USFK issues? How can I put a positive spin on some of the nonsense going on with the anti-US groups? How can I put a positive spin on anything North Korea related? These are all major issues going on in Korea that don’t lend a whole lot to be positive about thus the blog reflects that. However, that doesn’t mean Korea is a bad place. Korea is country that has accomplished a lot that most of the world can learn from and hope to see the country do even more and that’s not stupid.

Does anyone remember this story about Olympic bronze medallist Toby Dawson’s search for his biological parents in Korea?  When the search first started Toby Dawson briefly became the Anna Nicole of Korea when every man in Korea was claiming to be his dad and Dawson had to leave Korea to escape the media pressure of being Hines Ward-lite.  It is now proven that a man from Pusan who claimed to be his dad is in fact his father:

According to the DNA test, Kim Jae-su is with more than 99 percent probability the father of the Korean-American skier, who was adopted in the U.S. 26 years ago. The test was conducted by DNA test firm HumanPass at the request of the Korea Tourism Organization late last month. The KTO was asked for a DNA test by Dawson when it contacted the skier to name him as an honorary ambassador for the state-run tourism organization. Kim accepted the DNA test and came to Seoul to present six hairs and epithelial cells from the mouth on Feb. 3.

Here are pictures of Toby Dawson, Mr. Kim, and Mr. Kim’s Son.  There is definitely a strong family resemblance.

This is how Mr. Kim said that he had originally lost his son in Pusan:

Kim lost his son in 1981, when the boy became separated from his mother in the crowd at a local market. Dawson was found near the same place and taken to an orphanage, where he lived until he was adopted by an American couple.

The Kims say they searched high and low for their lost son. “I didn’t think reporting it to the police would be of any help, so I went around looking for him myself,” Kim said. The couple covered most orphanages and markets in the city but could only search on their days off and got around on foot or by bus, so their progress was slow.

This is something he will have to explain to Toby Dawson, but how hard were you looking when your son was sitting in a local orphanage?  Sad story, but things have worked out well for Toby Dawson and I wish him the best.