I have been sitting here scanning the headlines from the past few weeks and have decided I really haven’t missed much. People are still fighting over two rocks and textbooks read by .1% of Japanese students. However, Korea is taking a back seat to the foolishness of this whole mess and letting the Chinese make fools of themselves instead. The Chinese government allowed the protestors to vandalize Japanese restaurants which some were owned by Chinese to begin with and then allowed them to throw eggs and rocks at the Japanese consulate in Shanghai. Amazing that a country that is hosting the Olympics in a few years has allowed state authorized vandalism. Well at least they are not cutting off their fingers or setting themselves on fire yet.

Then a couple of traffic incidents in one weekend put USFK drivers back on the map. A E7 was arrested for drunk driving after hitting a civilian. This idiot will get prosecuted in the Korean court system and face Korean punishment. So we shouldn’t hear anything about the unfair SOFA. On top of that, this E7’s military career is pretty much through as the Army has little to no tolerance for drunk driving, especially in Korea.

Then there is the other soldier that alledgedly caused a pile up on the Banpo bridge after making an illegal U-turn. I will hold judgement on this because often USFK personnel get blamed for accidents that were not their fault. I have seen this happen over and over again. The most outrageous example I can think of is when an NCO I know was attacked by what we call a “terminator” truck in GI lingo here. The “terminator” was pissed off that he got cut off by the USFK vehicle trying to make a turn so he passed the vehicle later down the road and pull in front of it. He then put the truck in reverse and smashed the front of the USFK vehicle with has back bumper and then called the police and said he had been rear ended. The NCO’s driver was ticketed for causing the accident by the Korean police. When the USFK MPs came and investigated the scene they found the truck driver responsible for the accident. The MPs
even found a witness to confirm the US soldiers story because the MPs always travel in pairs with a KATUSA for incidents like this and the KNPs still would not change the ticket.

So we will probably never know the truth about what happened on the Banpo bridge but I am suspicious to say the least. I have read some blogs suggesting that USFK drivers are out of control but fail to realize that not all the accidents that are reported to be the fault of the USFK driver really are. Then every time there is an incident it makes the front headlines of the paper. Imagine if every Korean traffic accident was featured on the front page of the paper. So if anyone thinks getting rid of USFK drivers is going to prevent traffic accidents that is about as realistic as those who believe the USFK drivers are responsible for all the air pollution in Seoul.

The crackdown on black marketing in Area 1 I found humorous.

Military officials are targeting a black-market scheme that involves spouses of U.S. soldiers and civilians buying duty-free food at commissaries in Area I and II for resale to South Korean restaurants, according to ration control officials.

“It has gotten so bad we can’t even go in to the commissary to buy meat,” she said. “The black marketers know what days the meat is delivered. They come in and buy it all up. You can’t go in and buy a roast because all the meat is taken.”

This woman is right. Meat and other products that sell well on the black market get gobbled up quickly in the commissary. What I find humorous about this is how out in the open the black marketing is. I go to the commissary and just stand there and look around. You will see a soldier with bottles of women shampoo, spam, and a pot roast at the checkout line. I just wonder why is this guy buying this stuff? Probably because some girl down in the ville asked him to buy it for her. Then you will see the Korean nationals with popular black market items all in their carts too. If you want to know what the popular items are just go to the 2nd Market in Dongducheon or the market in Uijoengbu not to far from the train station to see all the commissary items for sale. Hopefully USFK is serious about cracking down on these people because it wouldn’t be to hard to do.

However, the biggest story talked about in the field was the Air Force security personnel in Osan accused of “shaking down” bar owners for money and sexual favors. Alledgedly the security personnel responsible for patroling the clubs in Osan threatened to put the clubs “off limits” if they did not give them what they wanted. An “off limits” club pretty much puts an end to the club due to the clubs being geared towards the US military. Currently one airman is in the Camp Humphrey’s military prison due to this issue. What I find suspicious about this is that the security personnel cannot put a club “off limits” only the base commander can and the club owners know this. There is probably more to this story but either way it is going to be a black eye for the Air Force because there was probably something unprofessional going on.

Like the military needed any more bad publicity. Anyway I’m still glad to be back.