Tag: USFK

I am issuing an idiot alert in the Western Corridor after reading this in the Stars and Stripes:

The Yankees already had gone home or at least farther south when two buses carrying about ninety South Korean protesters arrived outside several U.S. bases near the Demilitarized Zone Tuesday.

The Western Corridor bases targeted by the protesters were vacated by 2nd Infantry Division units last year and soon will be returned to the South Korean government. So when the protesters mostly university students who were trailed by a few Korean National Police officers arrived, they found only empty buildings, rusting barbed wire and uninterested South Korean security guards.

Seth Robson hit that one on the head real well

Isn’t empty American bases what these people wanted to begin with?! That the Yankees go home, or in the case of the Western Corridor, go to Iraq?

Here is an idiot comment for you:

The lowest form of American culture spreads out from the bases,âsaid Lee Yongnam, 50, claiming that the soldiers bring crime and prostitution.

Okay, if the soldiers bring prostitution to Korea than how do you explain all the “barber shops” and “sports massage parlors” everywhere in Korea not to mention Paju? Shouldn’t have all these establishments in Paju closed down after the soldiers left? How come they are still there? Prostitution is a Korean problem not an American one. American MP’s cannot enforce Korean law. If this guy is so concerned about prostitution then get your own country’s police force to arrest the bar owners.

Here is another idiot comment:

Lee said the group was aware that the bases they visited had been vacated, but they chose to stage the protests to highlight their effect on the local community. The presence of the bases puts building restrictions on surrounding areas, he said, stunting industry and growth. The economies in areas outside the installations were fueled by bars and other businesses geared toward soldiers, so the soldiers departure had hurt the areas as much as their presence had, Lee said.

So does he want the US military to come back then? Plus the business owners in Dongducheon aren’t complaining about the soldiers. Just people like this.

These students came from Kyeonggi University and interestingly enough I met a student from Kyeonggi University when hiking up Pukhansan today. A good guy and former KATUSA who had obviously better things to do then hang out with idiots from his university at vacated camps.

I wonder if they visited the vacated camps because they got attacked by the business owners in Dongducheon the last time the idiots came up here?

This story in today’s Stars and Stripes is strange but really not surprising:

Local police are seeking a South Korean man who works for the U.S. military in connection with the discovery of about 12 tons of U.S. military shell casings and live ammunition in a commercial warehouse Monday.

Detective Im Il-soon of the South Yangju police station identified the suspect as a 47-year-old man named Kim who works for the 17th Ordnance Company, which operates from the Kwangsa-ri ammunition depot, south of Dongducheon.

Im said three other South Korean men, none of whom work for the U.S. military, are being held in connection with the case.

Camp Kwangsa-ri is located between Dongducheon and Uijongbu just off of Highway 3. The camp is mainly run by the ROK Army with a handful of civilian workers and even smaller contingent of US soldiers. All training ammunition is picked up and dropped off at this camp for 2ID. It appears the Mr. Kim they are looking for who I actually have had to interact with before at Kwangsa-ri to turn in ammo, if it is the same Mr. Kim, was trying to sell the shell casings as scrap metal but was negligent and let live rounds mix with the expended rounds when he handed over the brass to Mr. Shin. The Korean workers are extremely careful to seperate brass and live ammo at the facility so this slip up is equally strange:

The police detective said the three men in custody helped broker a deal between Kim and a man identified only as Shin, who paid about $30,000 for the casings and ammunition as scrap metal. Im said Shin was not arrested because police believe he didn’t know the merchandise was stolen when he purchased it.

The detective said some of Shin’s employees who had military experience became suspicious of the ammunition boxes and contacted the police.

Im said that as former soldiers, the employees said they knew that “if even one bullet was missing in their units, it would be a really huge problem for them.”

Im said 5.56 mm, 7.62 mm and .50-caliber rounds and shell casings were found in the cases.

Since Mr. Shin turned over the ammunition to the police this leads me to believe he probably didn’t do anything illegal. However, if they did try to melt down the ammo it really could of turned into a dangerous situation for those involved. I just wonder how long Mr. Kim has been selling the old brass for $30,000 a pop? He has been there for quite a while. If Mr. Shin didn’t turn them in, Mr. Kim would have never gotten busted. It also makes me wonder how many other illegal activities such as this goes on in Korea without USFK knowing?

UPDATE #1: Yonhap has a few more details about the taxi cab incident this weekend. However, nothing has been provided yet to explain what happened to cause soldiers to “run amok.”

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The Lost Nomad inquires why incidents between soldiers and Koreans keep happening in 2ID. The Marmot also is wondering what the heck is going on in 2ID. I’m sorry but this is a long post but some things just need to be said.

Now let me shed some light on what is going on. Basically the ville here is a big play pen for the soldiers. With the curfew and other restrictions on the soldiers they have few options other than go to the ville. There are very limited entertainment options on post so they turn to the ville. Then to top things off the battle buddy policy makes it nearly impossible for the soldiers to carry on any meaningful relationship with anyone other than drinky girls. How many girls would like a boyfriend that has to bring their buddy with them on every date everywhere they go. Not my idea of a romantic time out.

Something else that ukes me is that the USFK leadership constantly harps on alcohol abuse and human trafficking and prostitution but what do we do, we send the soldiers to spend the majority of their free time in a place that promotes alcoholism and prostitution: the ville! The Army creates conditions for these soldiers to get in trouble through their policies that indirectly promote what I call the “ville culture”.

What I really find interesting is that the drinking age is raised to 21 to reduce alcohol related incidents but these underage soldiers are still allowed to go into all the clubs. Why are the underage drinkers allowed in these clubs to begin with? Underage drinkers are not allowed into drinking establishments in the US so why should it be allowed here? We tell the underage people not to drink but then we set conditions for these guys to fail and get in trouble because the alcohol and sex is waved right in their face. You got 18-20 year old soldiers in a club with ajuma pushing alcohol and half naked Russian & Phillipino drinky girls on them making the soldiers feel like a king. A lot of them cannot resist the temptation at their age. So the soldiers drink get involved with these drinky girls and take this I’m king of the ville attitude with them everywhere else they go in Korea.

Things like fights in the ville, beer bottles over the head, and other similar incidents happen in the ville but the club owners do not publicize it. They let the MPs handle it and let it go through UCMJ (Uniform Code of Military Justice) channels instead of the local police because they don’t want to harm business with the GIs in the ville. Soldiers do get seriously hemmed up under UCMJ. If you get an alcohol related incident you can count on some serious punishment. However, this “what happens in the ville, stays in the ville mentality” carries over into the real Korea outside the play pen called the ville by some of these soldiers.

So when a drunk Korean in a situation outside the ville bumps into a soldier and they exchange words and maybe a few shoves the “what happens in the ville, stays in the ville” mentality takes over for some of these soldiers because these soldiers may have seen over their time in Korea people get in fights in the ville over the same reason and appear not to get in any trouble because they do not see the UCMJ process that takes place. So they get in an with the ajushi and walk away thinking it is no big deal. When it happens in the play pen called the ville it may not be a big deal but outside the ville it is a big deal because there is no business interests that wants to keep it hush hush.

Even if the soldier did not provoke the fight in the end the soldier will be the bad guy and ajushi an innocent victim. I have seen it to many times with my own eyes the Korean police side with crooked or drunk ajushis over altercations with soldiers though the ajushi was clearly in the wrong. Another factor that plays into this; is that in the US when you are provoked or assaulted you feel you have the right to self defense and will not get in trouble if you are assaulted by someone else. Here in Korea it is usually the guy who is beat up the most who is declared the victim no matter who started the fight. So if a soldier got the worst end of a fight with an ajushi and a beer bottle across his face you would hear nothing about it and it has happened before because I have seen it with my own eyes.

I will give you an example of an altercation that could of gone bad if the NCO involved didn’t keep his cool. Four NCOs get in a cab at the ville to get back to camp before curfew. One of the NCOs closes the door to the cab and a sun visor on the window falls off and ajushi starts claiming the NCO broke the sun visor and demands $30. The NCO will not pay ajushi because he knows all he did was shut the door and ajushi set him up to claim that he broke the sun visor. So the NCO continues to refuse to pay and the ajushi begins to grab the NCO and push him and making a scene demanding that he pay him. Ajushi is clearly trying to provoke a situation where some people may have hit him or pushed him back for the pushing and grabbing he was doing of the NCO.

If the NCO would of hit ajushi the Korean media would of dubbed it an American NCO runs amok in 2ID assaulting a taxi cab driver after being drunk and damaging the taxi. That is how it would sound in the Korean media with no reference to the soldier’s side of the story. That is why I say we should wait for more of the story from these past couple of ville incidents. But the soldiers in the other incidents even though they may have been provoked by the ajushis; they should not have beat the crap out of him even though they felt justified to, because they will not win in the Korean courts and have absolutely no chance of winning in the Korean court of public opinion. So as I have said before, swallow your pride and walk away because I hate seeing soldiers get hemmed up or thrown in jail for this stupid stuff.

Anyway back to my story, the NCO refused to be provoked by the taxi cab driver though he felt he was being by the cab driver. Eventually the KNPs come over to see what is going on. The NCO had the other NCOs with him as witnesses to what happened and the KNPs say that they are biased witnesses since they are his friends. Then he finds other American soldier witnesses who were standing nearby and saw what happened and they verify the NCO’s story. The KNPs say that those witness are not reliable because they had been drinking. The taxi cab driver then has other taxi cab drivers verify his version of events and the KNPs take that to be the truth. How are the American witnesses all biased but the other taxi cab drivers are not? The KNPs demand that he pay $30 or he will be taken to jail. He says fine take me to jail because I will not pay this crooked taxi cab driver.

By this time the American MPs arrive and see what is going on. They do nothing and tell the NCO to pay or he will be arrested by the KNPs and will make the blotter and his chain of command will be notified and be angry with him. He had already called his battalion Command Sergeant Major so the chain of command was already notified and trying to coordinate transportation to pick them up. However, the other NCOs with him all decided to chip in and pay the $30 because it was now past curfew and they just wanted to get back to camp. They ask the MPs for a ride and the MPs say they are busy and can’t give them a ride. They needed to take a taxi back to the camp.

All the other taxi cab drivers would refuse to take them and told them they had to take the taxi cab of the driver that just extorted $30 from them. All these taxi cab drivers in the ville are vultures that work together to extort money from GIs so they all were going to let this taxi cab driver further extort money from these soldiers because they all do the same thing. So they had to take the taxi back to camp and the driver extorts them by demanding $10 for a ride that by the meter would cost about 4000 won.

What kind of image of Korea do you think these GIs will carry of Korea the rest of their lives when they return to the states? Basically they will remember a trashy ville filled with prostitutes and alcohol, ajushis trying to rip them off, crooked policemen complacent in it, and MPs that did nothing to help them. That is the image Korea is portraying to many GIs. USFK only adds to the problem by setting conditions that cause things like this to happen by promoting the ville culture due to all the restrictions and regulations. A simple thing that could of prevented the incident from above from happening is that buses that run between camps should run later. Currently they stop running at 2100. There should be what I call the curfew bus that picks everyone up out of the ville at curfew or have a fleet of AAFES taxi there waiting to pickup soldiers so they don’t have to deal with the Korean cabs.

That is my two sense on what is happening. This is what the Nomad thinks should happen:

Why don’t we read about military personnel from Taegu, Camp Humphreys or Osan doing stuff like this? Is it something in the water up there? I have to wonder how long before USFK leadership cracks down, and hard?

Maybe, just maybe, it’s time to stop holding only the individuals accountable. Maybe, just maybe, it’s also time to hold their supervisors accountable. And their supervisor’s supervisors. Or, if someone from a unit screws up like this, make the entire unit pay for it – lock them on base/post for 30 days with no liberty, period. Maybe, just maybe, it’s time to stop concentrating on stopping prostitution (which should be left to the Koreans in the first place) and start concentrating on what’s causing this recent rash of incidents. Something is broken and it needs to get fixed.

First of all it would be easy for somebody to say why does all the other Area’s in Korea have all these drunk driver’s and hit and runs that give all us here in Area 1 all a bad name? There are drunk drivers in Area 2,3, & 4 because of the conditions there. Many soldiers until recently when the regulation was changed to E7 and up could drive vehicles in those areas, where in Area 1 you cannot. So you add the promotion of alcohol along with the ability to drive and you have drunk driving incidents.

You don’t have as many drunken fights between soldiers and Koreans because in the other Areas there is much more to do on post compared to 2ID camps. Going to the posts in Yongsan and Osan is like going to Disneyland for someone from 2ID. However to say these areas do not have their own share of problems is untrue. The infamous Shinchon Stabbing Incident involved soldiers from Camp Humphreys. Yongsan has had a soldiers that killed prostitutes in Itaewon just like 2ID has. So their is plenty of finger pointing that can be done depending on ones perspective.

Some of suggestions the Nomad has provided has already been done. I have seen multiple units get locked down on post for weeks at a time due to a string of alcohol related incidents in the unit and that still does not fix the problem. The incidents keep happening.

The only way I see to reduce the problem is to change the culture in ville. However, the problem will never be fully eliminated because there will always be stupid people who do stupid things. Is the military able to eliminate all alcohol related incidents in the US? No way, so it can’t be expected that USFK can end all alcohol related incidents in Korea.

However, more can be done to reduce the amount of incidents such as providing more things to do on post for one. The crappy clubs on post filled with guys and slot machines get old after a while. Why isn’t there regular shuttle buses that run to Everland or Lotte World? Or regular shuttle buses to different Korean National Parks that run at regular times? How about giving out more passes to soldiers to stay out over night so they can travel to some of these places. I can think of many things that can be done that provides something other than getting drunk for soldiers.

With the curfew and travel restrictions in 2ID it is tough for the soldiers to do anything other than get drunk and go to the ville. So it is important the change the current ville culture. So how do you do this? First of all, why are underage drinkers allowed in the ville? Why are clubs that have Russian and Phillipino drinky girls not off limits? Everyone knows they are not there to sweep floors but for prostitution. With all the preaching about human trafficking and prostitution, why are they not off limits? It is because USFK doesn’t want to piss off the locals who maintain the play pen. If underage drinkers were not allowed in the ville and places with foreign nationals were put off limits the club owners would lose a lot of money and may cause problems for USFK by publicizing “incidents” or holding protests. However, in the long run these club owners would have to change their business models and clean up the ville and create a club atmosphere that is more what you would see in states. These are just some simple suggestions.

If the Army really wants to create a culture change around here allow more command sponsored families here. All these married guys wouldn’t be getting drunk and hanging out in the ville if their families were here. This would greatly reduce the amount of people in the ville thus reducing incidents. Plus the ville would have to have to adjust their business models to attract families to want to go to the ville such as more family restaurants that would replace some drinky girl clubs. This is something that the other areas in Korea have going for them compared to Area 1 where there in no command sponsored families. This may be why Area 1 may appear to have more incidents.

Obviously this is a very complex problem that is not easy to solve. I don’t pretend to have all the answers, but I am just offering what I believe to be worthwhile suggestions that could improve conditions around here. In the mean time I will continue to do my best to keep my soldiers informed and out of trouble. From the conditions I have to deal with, it is not an easy thing to do.

UPDATE #4: Budaechigae has got a posting on this that provides a link to a video of the protest.
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UPDATE #3: Of course the Marmot has a great post covering the battle at Camp Humphreys.
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UPDATE #2: Mark has got more on this at his site. He compares the battle to Pickett’s Charge during the Civil War. Not a bad analogy.
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UPDATE #1: Nomad has got more on this at his site. He also draws some conclusions about the hypocracy and greed of the people involved in this from this article in today’s Chosun Ilbo..

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Original Posting:

There was a very violent protest that broke out at Camp Humphreys on Sunday. The protesters were protesting the ROK governments move to buy adjacent farm land around the camp to begin building the needed facilities in order to move soldiers stationed on Yongsan and the 2ID area to Camp Humphreys by 2008. Camp Humphreys for the most part is surrounded by rice paddies on three sides which makes Camp Humphreys the ideal place to expand a camp to relocate soldiers.

However, the local farmers don’t think so and have thus begun to protest. Some of the farmers may legitimately not want to move for whatever reason but I have a feeling that many of the local farmers are protesting in order to get a sweeter deal from the ROK government to sell their land. What do they got to loose by protesting? It only helps them in negotiations with the government. These farmers have teamed up with the “peace activists” which I use this term very loosely because would real “peace activists” do this:

This wasn’t violence that just accidentally happened and got out of hand. This was obviously very well planned because the “peace activists” or for sake of clarity I will just call them thug protesters brought plenty of weapons to assault the riot police and brought wire cutters to breach the fence line.

The pictures seem to support my theory that the thug protesters out number the rice farmers at the protest. Basically it appears, I could be wrong that you got the usual suspects (ie-Hanchongryun) that show up at all the anti-American protests joining with some local farmers to raise hell and then they all go back to Seoul drink a few beers and tell their buddies how much fun they had assaulting policemen and destroying private property because that is basically all they accomplished.

Something I find interesting about the thug protesters is that they always try to make things out like they were the victims. Here is this quote from the International Action Center site.

South Korean government dispatched over six thousand police including the notorious 1001 Unit from Seoul. During the ensuing struggle, over 200 people were hospitalized from the brutal attack by the police and hundreds were arrested.

Brutal Attack?! What do you call this picture?!:

This looks scene from Braveheart. I can just picture the Hanchongryun leader yelling, “You may take our lives but you will never take our rice paddies!”

All I see is the thugs attacking the police! I saw the after action review report today and many policemen were seriously injured and one of the policemen is facing life threatening injuries because these people want to go cause trouble and be stupid.

Why should any young policemen be subjected to getting beat down by these thugs? The reason is because nobody does anything to discourage this activity. If you assault policemen you should go to jail. Why should policemen be treated as some ones private boxing bag? Policemen should be held in high regard and they are not in this country. That is why protesters feel free to seriously injure these young mandatory service draftees at these protests. I get extremely frustrated by this because I see these young men getting beat down and these young men are no different then the young soldiers I’m in charge of and I would never subject them to what the Korean policemen are subjected too.

The slogan on the left of the stage says “Drive out the US military” and the slogan on the right says “This land is our life, we will guard it to the end.”

I make a point to periodically thank the Korean police around my camp for what they do. They really do have a tough job and execute their duties the best they can which I appreciate. I wish their own government would do more to appreciate what they do by preventing them from getting injured in the first place by arresting anyone who assaults a policemen. There should be mandatory jail time for this.

Here is some more stupidity from the IAC website:

As part of the U.S. military’s strategic global realignment plan, the role of U.S. military in South Korea now encompasses all of East Asia. To support their new military role, the U.S. military plans to expand their bases in South Korea in addition to building a number of Patriot Missile Bases along the west coast of South Korea, targeting China.

Plan to expand our bases in South Korea?! We have been shutting down bases up here in 2ID land left and right plus redeploying soldiers back to the US to cut troop numbers here. The goal is to get troop numbers here down to 17,500 by 2008 and we are well on our way to achieving that. Plus it is an out right lie that that is being passed here that the US is building PATRIOT missile bases in Korea. The PATRIOT missile batteries are located on Korean Air Force bases in Kwangju and Suwon and also on the US Air Force’s Osan and Kunsan airbases. In addition to this, the PATRIOT missile cannot be used on offensive strikes against China, North Korea, or anywhere else because they are a purely defensive weapon system. A PATRIOT missile is not a Tomahawk Cruise Missile. But these people believe their own garbage they put out.

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Is this Korea or the Gaza Strip?

I really have no problem with them protesting. It is their right to protest which I fully support. However, I do not support violence and destruction of private property. The only way to stop this is by arresting people and dishing out steep sentences.

Finally what I find most ironic about all of this, is that these same thug protesters that went down to Camp Humphreys to stir up trouble are the same people who protest outside of Yongsan Garrison demanding that it be moved. When a plan is made to move the garrison these same people protest about that. Where do they want us to move to? Out in the ocean? When the USFK says screw you guys we will just redeploy soldiers back to the US these same people complain that the US soldiers can’t go home yet because that may increase the mandatory service time which these protesters are trying to avoid. We just can’t win. So I say screw them and let’s buy land on Cheju Island instead.

Hey, way to go idiots teach the kids to hate Americans early before they even have a chance to meet an American. If the kid is really lucky maybe he will get his head cracked open like the guy below. Why in the world would someone bring children to something as violent as this?

According to the Stars and Stripes a group of local protestors will continue to sit at the site of last Friday’s traffic accident. This group feels USFK doesn’t do enough to prevent traffic accidents:

Kang said he’s tired of U.S. military promises that officials will work to avoid accidents. He wants U.S. leaders to “take substantial measures” and “stick to them.”

One idea, he said, is to restrict the movement of bigger military vehicles during peak traffic times.

I can guarantee that 2ID’s traffic accident rate is well below the Korean average. I have seen all kinds of accidents on these roads up here including one just yesterday I saw where a car took out a moped. 2ID puts a lot of emphasis in driver’s training. You have to go through a full week 40 hour block of instruction before being allowed to even take the driver’s test. When the soldiers take the driver’s test guess who tests them? A Korean official. The Korean official is the one that grades the tests and decides who passes and receives a learners permit. The US Army does not pass people on driver’s test the Koreans do.

Then after receiving the learners permit the soldier still has to receive 8 hours of road testing from the unit’s Master Driver before becoming officially licensed. It is by no means an easy process to get a license. Then just to dispatch a truck to drive off post there is a whole other set of procedures you have to go through that is not easy.

Then there are the procedures you have to go through for convoy operations. I once sat in a 4 hour convoy briefing with the Assistant Division Commander. Every driver and passenger in the convoy had to brief the General on his or her’s duties during the convoy. You really have to see one of these convoy briefings to realize how elaborate they are.

Then Mr. Kang’s idea to restrict 2ID vehicle movements during peak traffic times is not a good idea either. The traffic stays congested up here from eight in the morning till about seven at night. That would mean the military would have to work at night. I’m sure all the business and club owners in Dongducheon would love that. Anyway, at night accidents will still occur because of the number of drunk drivers on the road. In my unit there was a HMMWV that was hit by a drunk driver early one morning during a convoy movement when the drunk driver crossed the median. The drunk driver died in the wreck and seriously injured some soldiers. No headline news on that wreck.

I’m of the opinion that if military traffic is banned during the day then all the big trucks on the road should be banned during the day. I have seen numerous accidents involving the big Korean trucks but they don’t get put on the front page of the paper.

Here is something else I disagree with the protestors on:

Kang also blasted the process that South Koreans must use to request compensation from the U.S. military after an accident. Many South Koreans become frustrated, he said, because it’s too difficult — and takes too long — to fill out and submit paperwork for a claim he said usually doesn’t result in enough compensation. “The Korean victims cannot be compensated properly for all the damages,” Kang said.

Having worked a manuever damage control position here in Korea I can tell you we pay out big bucks to people for any property damage they receive due to 2ID vehicle accidents. It is by no means a difficult process. This is just propaganda Mr. Kang is throwing out there to smear the Army with.

What is interesting about this group of protestors is that there is only 2-4 of them out there when I drove by the other day. Not exactly a big following. In fact this whole thing has amazingly not been blown up out of proportion compared to 2002. Probably the fact she was an old ajumma in the highway where there is no crosswalk has something to do with it compared to two girls going to a birthday party getting crushed by a tracked vehicle in 2002. Though they to were walking on the highway.

I think a big factor that has prevented this from getting blown out of proportion was the quick action by the Army to show regret for what happened. Even President Bush gave his condolescences to President Roh the next day.

Also in 2002, it was only two years since the historic North and South summit in Pyongyang and many South Koreans began to feel the North really wasn’t that bad and that the US was the primary cause of tension on the peninsula.

Plus in 2002 you had the World Cup going on that drove nationalism to never before seen levels. This all combined into the xenophobic anti-American Hatefest that was 2002.

Now three years later it is obvious that North Korea is not a misunderstood cousin but a gangster state with their constant brinkmanship, defector testimonies, and lack of reciprocal benefits for all the aid that South Korea gives them.

Also the US is serious about removing troops from Korea. Many Koreans will say they want to troops to leave Korea but when it begins to happen people begin to drag their feet because the reality of no USFK begins to sink in. Even if they don’t want to admit it many people here in Korea still want us around.

Finally Korea’s xenophobia has been focused more on Japan than the US anymore due to the Dokdo and history textbook disputes. All of these things combined is what I believe has led to just 4 people protesting instead of the ten of thousands in 2002. Then again it is still only a week after the accident. Still plenty of time to begin a US Hatefest 2005.

If Jodi from the Asia Pages thought the picture below was bad:

Well, I just can’t wait until she sees this:

Here some background on this image from the Star and Stripes.

If you are wondering if MAJ Laporte is related to USFK Commander General Laporte; he is General Laporte’s son. Anyway I think it good that students get to hang out with soldiers and see the equipment. Heck even Uri Party law makers came to Camp Casey and the Korea Training Center to check out American weapon systems. As long as these displays are handled professionally and don’t turn into a playground of kids running around with guns or jumping around equipment unsupervised, students should leave with a better understanding of the US military’s role here in Korea and the soldiers can feel proud that people are taking interest in what they do.

This was their first time interacting with Americans so who knows how many negative stereotypes they may have had before were changed and vice versa between the soldiers and the Koreans. However, the comment about the strength of the ROK Army is a common one I have heard from Koreans here before, but Koreans should feel confident that the ROK Army is a highly trained and capable force that can competently defend South Korea.

Overall, I think the visit is a good idea and I’m sure they will continue because many Korean schools contact the Army to have us setup displays like this. Like I said before as long as they are handled professionally it should be an interesting learning experience for everyone involved.

NOTE:  I have a much more updated posting about Yongsan available at this link.

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The Garrison – Yongsan Garrison is a large compound located right in the middle of Seoul. It is truly an odd sight for such a big base in the middle of one of the world’s largest most vibrant cities. Could you imagine a large military base in the middle of Manhattan? That is why there are currently plans to move the compound within the next three years.

If you are lucky enough to get stationed here enjoy the place while it lasts because it is a great place to be stationed. Yongsan is one of the nicest military posts I have been on to include anywhere in the United States.

The camp houses some 6,000 soldiers, 1,000 ROK Army KATUSA soldiers that are augmented by 1,000 US civilian workers and 6,000 Korean civilian workers. The on post housing is outstanding with many new barracks buildings for the soldiers. There is also the newly renovated Hanam Village for families that are housed off post. For those that choose to live on the economy off post beware that there are numerous people willing to swindle you, so make sure you read your housing lease very closely. Click Here for the latest Yongsan housing information.

The shopping on the post cannot be beat. The PX is the largest I have seen in the army accompanied by the largest commissary I have ever seen. The post also has numerous mini-malls to augment the already great shopping at the PX.

The Post also has a multitude of eating establishments to choose from all over the post. The nicest restaurants are located at the 5-Star Hotel The Dragon Hill Lodge.

That’s right, Yongsan has it’s very own 5-Star Hotel. The Dragon Hill is one of the nicest hotels in all of Korea and is affordable to the average GI. Not only are the rooms and restaurants great but the hotel also has numerous bars and shopping areas to keep you occupied not to mention the fitness center and swimming pool.

Shopping – The Itaewon district just outside of the Yongsan garrison offers plenty of both shopping and entertainment. The district is the easiest market for shopping for foreigners in Korea. The shop owners in Itaewon all can speak some English and are familiar with western tastes. Unbelievable discounts on suits, leather jackets, hand bags, wallets, jewelery, etc. can be found in Itaewon. You will be absolutely amazed by the bargains there. Make sure you always haggle for the best price because in Asian culture haggling is expected so don’t by shy to negotiate for a lower price. Just tell them “kaka-chu-seyo!” This is Korean for, “I want a discount.” Use this phrase because it will save you money. Don’t pay more than you have to because if you do it encourages the shop keepers to raise their prices to rip off other foreigners.

Nightlife – The nightlife in Itaewon is outstanding. There is a club for everybody’s taste in Itaewon. There are rock clubs, jazz bars, Irish pubs, rave clubs, and your typical “juicy girl” bars. One of the most popular bars in Itaewon that is great for meeting other foreigners is Geckos just across the street from Burger King. Definitely a good place to start your Itaewon adventures at. However, do be careful what bars you go into at Itaewon because many of them have been put off limits by the army.

You do not want to get busted by the MPs. The MPs do have people in uniform and plain clothes monitoring the off limits establishments. The penalties are severe for infractions. Overall you can have a great time partying in Itaewon without visiting the more shadier establishments. So don’t feel like you are missing out on anything.

The Camp

Camp Red Cloud is located in Uijongbu which is located just to the north of Seoul. The base is named after Corporal Mitchell Red Cloud who was posthumously recognized with the Medal of Honor for combat actions during the Korean War.  You can read more about how the camp was named at the below link:

• The True Story of How Camp Red Cloud, South Korea Got Its Name

CRC is home to the 2nd Infantry Division command group, Special Troops Battalion, Air Force personnel, and a few other smaller units. The camp is a great place to be stationed. It has two pizza shops, a bowling alley, a food court, bank, commissary, PX, theater, and a small golf course complete with a country club.

An adequate playing field, a nice gym, and good weight room accommodates all the athletes out there. The housing at CRC is some of the best in 2ID with soldiers living in new barracks with no more than 2 people per room.

Here is a map of how Camp Red Cloud is laid out today:

The front gate of CRC along with other buildings near the front of the camp were demolished in recent years to make way for the new Uijongbu highway overpass.  The first thing seen when entering the camp now is the old chapel, which is probably the most historic structure remaining on Camp Red Cloud:

Across the street from the chapel is the camp’s school:

This building used to be home to a computer lab, MWR, and a cafe, however due to the increase in families being allowed to PCS to Korea this building has been reestablished as a school.  Behind the school is the new PX:

The PX isn’t all that big, but it is a much better facility than what CRC used to have.  The old PX that sits adjacent to the bowling alley is used as a location where Koreans sell local products as well as housing the post’s clothing sales store:

Speaking of clothing sales, the old clothing sales store is now used as a arts and crafts store:

Besides the reconstruction of the front gate and the building of a new PX there really hasn’t been that many new buildings constructed on CRC.  In fact some people are still working out of quonset huts:

Here is a picture of the Village Green parade field used for various ceremonies:

Here is a picture of typical barracks building on CRC that borders the Village Green:

Camp Red Cloud is also home to the 2nd Infantry Division Museum that is well worth anyone visiting CRC to go and check out:

CRC is kind of divided into two parts due to the helicopter pad and golf course located towards the middle of the camp:

Right across from the helicopter pad is the 2nd Infantry Division headquarters:

Passed the helicopter pad and golf course are the other batch of barracks on the far side of the camp:

This far side of the camp is where the commissary and the restaurant Mitchell’s is located:

Here are some historical pictures of CRC via Ottmar’s photos:

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The Ville

The Uijongbu area has plenty to offer for GIs. The “ville” located just across the street from the CRC front gate has all you typical GI stores in Korea. You can buy suits, jackets, pirated software and games, plaques, coins, paintings, trinkets, and much more in the ville. Also the ville has a few clubs with your standard “drinky girl” scene in Korea. The drinky girls are mostly Fillipinas and Russians looking to make a quick buck from you buying them $20 drinks. Yes that’s right $20 drinks. The prostitution in the ville has been largely cleaned up due to recent media exposure and USFK’s crack down on human trafficking and prostitution

Things to Do: 

The surrounding are has some great outdoor opportunities. Just out the back gate of CRC take a left and take another left just past the car dealership to explore the mountains just to the west of CRC. The road going up into the mountains up “Radar Hill” is a great place to go running or road marching. The forest scenery is outstanding, the air fresh, and no traffic. There is even a lake you can explore once you reach the top of the road along with a old ROK Army compound that is now deserted.

Also in the area is Suraksan Mountain that is just outside of Camp Staneley in Uijongbu. Exiting from the Camp Stanley ville gate take an immediate right and follow the fence line until you reach the hiking trail that leads up the mountain. Suraksan is a strenuous hike with amazing scenery. Bring a lunch and picnic along the stream running from the mountain or do some serious rock climbing to the summit of the mountain.

Another hiking trip you can take is up Dobongsan Mountain. The mountain is part of Pukhansan National Park and features some spectacular rock climbing to reach the summit. From the summit you can see all of Uijongbu, Seoul, and all the way into North Korea. In fact the North Korean flag pole located at Pamunjom is visible from the summit. If you are not into rock climbing then explore the many beautiful Buddhist temples located in the park. The monks at the temples are very welcoming to foreigners so don’t feel intimidated exploring the temples.

To reach Dobongsan just get on the subway at Uijongbu station and travel south on Line 1 and exit at Dobongsan Station. At the station walk across the street towards the mountain. The path towards the mountain has lots of hiking and climbing shops if you need any gear along with many restaurants. Once passed the ville area you will enter into the park. The cost to enter park is usually around 2000 won or about $1.75. So extremely cheap comparted to American National Parks. So get out and see some of these exciting parks around Uijongbu.

Finally Uijongbu has extremely easy access to the Korean capitol city of Seoul. The Uijongbu train station is only a 5 minute taxi ride from CRC and from there the subway can take you to downtown Seoul in less than 45 minutes. This is one of the best features about being stationed on CRC.

Downsides:

One downside to CRC is that it is often the site of protests that occur in the country against US forces since it is the division headquarters. The protests have picked up since June 2002 when an accident involving a 2ID tracked vehicle killed two Korean school girls. The leftist and pro-North Korean forces came out in force to protest American soldiers and start riots hoping to get a reaction from the US soldiers at CRC. These activities continue periodically to this day so pulling gate guard at CRC can be interesting at times.

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

The Oranckay first reported about the MBC interview with SGT Mark Walker who was driving the tracked vehicle in June 2002 that accidentally ran over and killed two young Korean girls. The Stars and Stripes has picked up on the story now:

Former Army Sgt. Mark Walker is still haunted by the day three years ago when the U.S. military vehicle he was driving killed two South Korean girls on a country road in Uijongbu, according to a news segment that aired in South Korea late Friday night.

“I know there was nothing I could have done to stop it,” he said during an interview at a McDonald’s in the Atlanta area in April. “I have flashbacks every day.”

Walker granted the interview in April with producers from “W,” a South Korean news magazine that airs each Friday night on the network MBC. He told the network he lost 50 pounds during the subsequent trial and that he sleeps four hours a night, if he’s lucky.

Kim Hyun-Chul, an MBC producer and director, said he wanted the 20-minute news story to explore the American perspective of the controversial and traumatic accident. Kim and his colleagues went to the States last month and spent 10 days trying to find Walker.

They used Web searches on America Online, inquiries to the U.S. military and even random phone calls to dozens of people named Mark Walker in Atlanta before finding the right one, the segment showed. When they finally interviewed him, he agreed to a microphone but not an up-close camera shot.

Here is Walker’s and the Army’s version of what happened:

On June 13, 2002, Walker was driving a 60-ton tracked bridge carrier along Highway 56 in the northern part of the country as part of a convoy. According to court-martial testimony, Walker didn’t see the two 13-year-old girls as the vehicle went up a hill and rounded a curve. After his commander spotted the girls, Walker tried to brake, but the vehicle’s momentum carried them forward and they crushed the girls, according to U.S. military officials’ accounts of the accident.

This would seem to be a tragic accident but the internet rumor mill in Korea destroyed any search for the truth of this accident. The power of the internet is definitely displayed by this case. Many rational thinking Korean people believe Walker ran the girls over on purpose and the Army is covering it up and Walker should be rotting in a Korean prison.

I have had KATUSAs tell me they think the guy ran the girls over on purpose and then backed up on them again to make sure they were dead. Then the rumors about him celebrating after the accident and then joking about it once he got back to camp and caused a fight with a KATUSA. Many of these rational thinking people will tell you there is video of these incidents on the internet to prove their claims, though when asked to produce them no one can. Because they only exist in the collective minds of the people that pass these rumors to bash the US military for their own seperate reasons.

The MBC interview of course made sure to take the mandatory cheap shot at the US military:

The segment, which aired during South Korean prime time just before midnight Friday night, also addressed some of the failings U.S. troops have had in other foreign countries, including scenes from prison abuse at Abu Ghraib in Iraq.

What Abu Graib has to do with something that happened in 2002 is beyond me, especially considering the soldiers (I think shitbags is a more appropriate term) involved in that incident are in jail now or at least still standing trial. What happened in Abu Graib it could be argued is the same thing that happens in ROK Army basic training. I don’t think the shitbags at Abu Graib made the terrorists eat feces like the ROK Army does. I would rather be on a dog leash then be forced to eat human feces out of the toilet. So will the Korea media include in every story about the ROK Army the human feces scandal? I think not, but it is a fair comparison.

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?