Tag: USFK

Despite what the anti-US hate groups say the SOFA Agreement continues to work just fine:

Five soldiers were found guilty and sentenced to prison in Uijeongbu court on Tuesday for the Christmas-night assault and robbery of a taxi driver.

Pvt. Kidrem Cortez Porter, 21, received four years in prison, minus 67 days of time served at a Seoul detention center.

Four others received sentences of three and a half years in prison: Spc. Nicholas John Durkin, 21; Pfc. John D. McCall Jr., 21; Pvt. Javon Joshua Reid, 20; and Spc. Ivey Nathaniel Westbrook, 21, who received credit for two days of time served in detention.

You are all military personnel of the U.S. Army and therefore must respect Korean law,lead judge Cho Yun-shin said through an interpreter.

Pretty stiff sentences because I have seen plenty of people do far worse and receive less punishment through the Korean courts, but I really don’t feel sorry for them. Hopefully this will send a message and end these taxi cab related incidents.

This is why 18 year olds shouldn’t be at Hongdae at 4AM in the morning:

The first thing Jasmyn Chambers, 18, remembers from early morning Feb. 25 isn’t the pain of a jagged beer bottle slicing through her face. What struck her first was bewilderment.

She still has trouble understanding why a soldier, or any man, would slash a woman’s face so badly she would need 80 stitches.

“I can’t believe he’s a person that would do that to somebody,” said the Seoul American High School senior.

The accused soldier, Pfc. Christopher Myers, 20, of the 435th Medical Detachment at Camp Humphreys, is charged with multiple offenses including aggravated assault and underage drinking.

This soldier is undoubtedly going to face stiff military punishment and will possibly also be subjected to punishment from the Korean authorities as well. This guy has to got to be quite a scumbag to hit an 18 year old girl with a beer bottle.

Now why an 18 year old girl is clubbing at Hongdae, well that is open to debate.

USFK soldiers dominate the Army’s annual Outreach Awards:

The Outreach Awards recognize the best of the Army’s worldwide public outreach initiatives in three categories: individual accomplishment (series of efforts), ongoing programs and special events.

The judging panel received 25 entries from major Army commands, the Installation Management Agency, field operating agencies and from direct reporting units.

Army Chief of Public Affairs Brig. Gen. Vincent Brooks presented the following awards March 6:

Individual Category Winners

1st Place – 1st Lt. Chang, Suk Won of the 1st Heavy Brigade Combat Team; 2nd Infantry Division, Eighth U.S. Army (Republic of Korea) spearheaded two triumphs – the Dongducheon “Second to None” foreign language school and the division’s “Angel Run.” Through his programs and his unit’s closeness to the demilitarized zone Change reinforced the urgency of fostering positive community ties and in helping tremendously to sustain the ROK-U.S. alliance.

2nd Place –No, Won Hyon, Community Relations Office, 19th Theater Support Command, Camp Henry, ROK, tirelessly ensured Soldiers experienced a continuous stream of tours, cultural activities and community events. Of the many activities he orchestrated throughout 2005, the two which stood out was the program he created to provide English language instruction to less than fortunate Korean school children. He also coordinated with local television media to tell the Army story to more than 500,000 Korean citizens.

3rd Place –Capt. Sungjean P. Kim, chaplain, 307th Signal Battalion, 1st Signal Brigade, fashioned a highly publicized and comprehensive program between the battalion and the Samseong Won Orphanage which became a shining example of how well Soldiers and children can enjoy each others company. He was represented by a Capt. Marilisse Gonzalez accepted the award at the ceremony.

Ongoing Programs Category

1st Place – “Team 19 Community Relations Program,” 19th Theater Support Command, Eighth U.S. Army, ROK was selected for being the most comprehensive and integrated community outreach program and fosters positive relations which have resulted in increased support between the local Korean community and the Army.

2nd Place – “Baker Reach Outreach Project,” Fort Benning, Ga., was selected for its program which focused on Soldiers and civilian employees who took on the challenge of helping to improve the lives of children from the Baker Village housing area who needed role models, positive activities and people who would take the time to care.

3rd Place – “Fort Polk Community Outreach Tour,” Fort Polk, La., targeted a wide variety of key stakeholders in local communities by providing a unique interactive experience for community leaders who were afforded the opportunity to participate as role-players in a joint readiness training center rotation exercise.

Special Events Category

1st Place – “Community Leader Updates: June 14-15, 2005,” Fort Stewart/Hunter Army Air Field, Ga., was a new community relations approach in which base officials wanted to improve understanding by community leaders of the Army’s mission and how much the Army appreciates the support of its neighbors.

2nd Place – “Watchpup Olympics,” 8th Military Police Brigade, HQ, Eighth U.S. Army (ROK), was the culmination of a long-standing relationship between command Soldiers and the Sung Ro Won Orphanage which proved to be the experience of a lifetime.

3rd Place – “Soo Locks Celebrates 150 Years,” U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Detroit, Mich., focused on the 150th anniversary of the Corps of Engineers responsibility for the operation and maintenance of the locks that supply waterborne raw materials to the Great Lakes region.

Great job by all the soldiers recognized.

The Osan Shakedown Scandal leader’s light 2 year sentence will stand according a US Air Force general after doing all of this:

Davis pleaded guilty to running illicit police undercover operations, accepting gifts and cash from club owners, maintaining illicit sexual liaisons with bar girls, breaking the U.S. military’s curfew that the town patrol had the duty of enforcing, being drunk and disorderly, having sex with women who were not his wife, illegally possessing weapons, illegally keeping an off-base apartment, using racial and ethnic slurs, filing a leave request with false information as to his intended destination and maintaining an improper relationship with a subordinate airman.

He is lucky he didn’t get caught doing BAH fraud as well because he might have actually done some real time.

Let me get this right, this guy gets 18 months for BAH fraud and this guy gets 6 months for adultery, conduct unbecoming of an officer, and giving classified information to a KGB agent. WTF?

Camp Red Cloud officials help with Korean highway expansion project:

Fifteen years of negotiations and planning came to fruition Friday when a bulldozer punched a hole through Camp Red Cloud’s old outside wall.

The Army Corps of Engineers and its contractors finished building a new base wall several months ahead of schedule, thereby giving Uijeongbu city workers a head start on widening Highway 3, said Army Corps of Engineers project manager Kenneth Jen.

This highway expansion project is much needed because the traffic in front of CRC is absolutely horrendous most of the day and has a high amount of traffic accidents. Hopefully this highway expansion will cut down on the traffic problem and make the road safer as well.

Here is a good news story, that USFK will never get credit for in the Korean media, that was published in the Stars and Stripes:

Orphans from Dongducheon got a taste of holiday fun here Thursday at a Thanksgiving feast served up by 2nd Infantry Division soldiers.

The dinner, served at the 4th Squadron, 7th Cavalry Regiment Dining Facility, was for children from the My Home Orphanage. It was part of the division’s Good Neighbor Program, said 2nd Lt. Tae H. Rose with Headquarters Headquarters Company, 1st Heavy Brigade Combat Team.

Rose, 34, who was born in South Korea but raised by adoptive relatives in New York City, said he felt a special bond with the My Home kids.

“My parents both passed away when I was a child. My aunt was married to a GI and she adopted me,?explained Rose, who grew up speaking English but studied Korean in college.

After graduating, he worked five years for an advertising agency in South Korea to hone his language skills before joining the Army five years ago. South Korea is his first overseas tour, he said.

Soldiers with his unit visit My Home regularly to play with the orphans there, he said.

This is a common event throughout USFK spending time with children from the orphanages not only during the Holidays but also during regular weekends. There is never a shortage of volunteers to go spend time with kid’s at orphanages or other activities like teaching English at area public schools.

However, all the good will these soldiers create is always seems to be negated by a couple of idiots getting drunk and standing on top of a taxi and the story is spread all over the Korean media.

Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and Korean defensive officials have agreed to “appropriately accelerate” the operation control of the ROK Army issue:

Korea and the U.S. have agreed to “appropriately accelerate” discussion on the return of wartime operational control, which currently rests with the U.S. It was one of 13 points agreed at the 37th annual bilateral Security Consultative Meeting here headed by Defense Minister Yoon Kwang-ung and his U.S. counterpart Donald Rumsfeld.

U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld speaks at a press conference after the annual Korea-U.S. Security Consultative Meeting at the Defense Ministry in Yongsan, Seoul on Friday.

To an official request from Korea for the return of wartime command, Rumsfeld said he agreed with Seoul but cautioned matters must proceed to ensure they help peace on the Korean Peninsula. Sources close to the talks said the joint statement pledged to “appropriately accelerate” discussions. Asked what that meant, Rumsfeld told a joint press conference after the meeting, “It’ll take place at the moment when the Republic of Korea and the United States of America decide it’s appropriate.”

Notice he doesn’t say when this acceleration is going to take place. He only says when appropriate. The whole issue of the Korean government taking operational control from the United States during war time is nothing but an empty slogan to play to Korean nationalism since President Roh Moo-hyun’s approval ratings are in the twenty percentile range.

Think about this logically. If Korea takes operational control during a conflict with North Korea do you for one minute think that the US government will allow ROK Army generals to command US stealth fighters, tomahawk cruise missiles, submarines, AEGIS destroyers, B-52’s, etc. during a war? The ROK Army generals are fine infantry, land warfare commanders for their theater of operations here on the Korean peninsula but, they are not trained or have the war time experience to properly implement the the combined arms fight that the US military can bring down on an enemy.

If Korea wants operational control they may just end up regretting it if the US military pulls out of Korea. Not that the ROK Army cannot win a war with North Korea because it most probably could, however victory is not certain without the US militaries involvement. The ROK military does not have the capability to conduct critical war time missions such as precision bombing over North Korea’s rear areas or collecting usable signal intelligence. These lack of capabilities even if the ROK military were to win a war would make any war here longer and more devastating than it needed to be. Is national pride worth the stategic consequences? For President Roh, that is a yes.

I’m actually for pushing this issue of the ROK military getting operational control because that would force them to buy capabilities they need to replace some of those currently provided by the US military. For every capability replaced by the ROK military that means a US military capability is then open to be used elsewhere to support the GWOT.

I wonder if Rumsfeld cook this whole idea up as a way to get troops out of Korea? Anyway, Korea likes to let the world know that they have the world’s 11th largest economy, so it is time to start using that affluence to buy the capabilities that they would lose once they do get operational control. If they don’t and the US military leaves, I sure hope for all the citizens here that the Sunshine Policy works because a war here would be absolutely devastating.

However, keep in mind that if a war were to occur on the Korean peninsula these same people crying about operational control now will be the same people begging the US military to come back and fight in a second Korean War. Hopefully it doesn’t come down to that.

The Stars and Stripes today is running an article the Korean contracted security guards providing proper force protection for US Army camps here in Korea:

Recent news reports blasting civilian contracted security at a handful of Army bases in the States and the U.S. European Command’s decision last week to conduct a comprehensive force protection assessment of all installations and facilities in the theater should not worry base residents in South Korea, officials here said.

That’s because anyone seeking to enter an installation here illegally would be up against multiple layers of gate security controls, including Korean National Police who patrol outside the bases, the 1,400 civilian guards who work inside the gates and the soldiers and technology that round out the package.

When I read this I began to immediately think of all the Koreans illegal on post gambling away despite all the security measures. The article did address this at least:

Stuart said 99.9 percent of the (contracted guards) are top notch. But anytime you gather a large group of people, he added, you’re going to have a few bad apples.

One example is the occasional television news story in which a reporter will secretly film himself bribing his way onto a U.S. installation usually the first step in getting footage of South Koreans illegally gambling on base slot machines.

The amount of Koreans gambling away at on post slot machine areas is due also to a systematic problem of people being signed in on post by ID card holders who then allow them to go to the slots, as well as corruption. Some may remember this scam uncovered last April when a Korean woman who was an ID card holder was signing people on to Yongsan for $30 a pop. The police found her bank account containing $1.2 million dollars from the scam.

You would think somebody would have noticed this woman coming in and out of Yongsan continuously with new customers the past three years. Not to mention employees at the casino noticing her dropping people off at the casino every day. That is why I think there was probably Korean employees complacent in this scam. I am willing to bet these activities are continuing on today. Just go to the on post slots or golf course. You think everyone in there is a valid ID card holder?

It looks like things are calming down at Camp Humphreys:

The head of a group representing club owners outside Camp Humphreys said Tuesday he’s hoping to persuade base officials to quickly rescind an order that placed a dozen local businesses off-limits last week and touched off an outcry from the merchants.

Camp Humphreys commander Col. Michael J. Taliento Jr. last week put 11 of the businesses off-limits, alleging they were selling alcohol to underage servicemembers. He put a 12th business off-limits for an alleged instance of prostitution or human trafficking.

Kim Ki-ho, president of the Anjung-ri Merchants Association, said merchants were so angered they hung a banner Friday in the heart of the bar district to protest the move.

“Commander Michael J. Taliento Jr., You go back to Afghanistan again,” the banner read. Taliento served in Afghanistan before taking command of the Area III Support Activity at Camp Humphreys in June 2004.

But the merchants have since put aside their anger and on Sunday afternoon took down the banner, said Kim.

I’m sure they will work something out, the clubs will be on their best behavior, and this whole thing will blow over. Given time, things will eventually be back to business as usual.