UPDATE: The commenter claiming to be PFC Dupry looks like a fraud but the lessons learned from it are still valid.

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The USFK soldier who was beat down by Itaewon police for reasons still unclear has spoken out about what happened at the Marmot’s Hole.  The soldier PFC Mario Dupry also made another posting at Lost Nomad proclaiming his innocence.  After reading what he has to say and the media reports I think it is very clear he was unfairly beat down by the Itaewon police, however am I surprised?  Not at all.  Were the policemen in the wrong by beating him as severely as they did?  Yes and I would be very surprised if anything happens to them.  Like it or not the Korean police are the legal authority and they will cover for each other, especially against accusations from a drunk GI.

This should serve as a lesson to all USFK personnel, especially if you have been drinking, to don’t go start sh** in a Korean police station.  You will only make the situation worse.  Go get an MP to go with you to the police station or if for some reason you can’t find one call your platoon sergeant or somebody in your unit’s leadership.  You should contact your unit leadership even if you find an MP because the MP doesn’t carry as much weight with the Korean police compared to somebody in the unit leadership going down to the police station to handle whatever happened.  One drunk PFC is not going to help the situation at all at the police station, it will only make things worse. 

I have been able to on a few occasions to get soldiers out of hot water with the Korean authorities for minor offenses by going to the police station as a member of the unit leadership and apologizing for the soldiers behavior and promising that the unit would punish the individual.  I stress the word minor offenses because if you do something major like stab somebody or better yet start a brawl in the police station forget it the Korean police are going to prosecute you.  Usually for minor offenses the police will hand you over for the unit to process an Article 15 punishment on. 

Since PFC Dupry didn’t do any of the above he is in deep, but escapable trouble.  My best advice to him would be instead of bitching at the Marmot’s Hole about his predicament, to instead go to the police station with his lawyer and unit leadership and make a sincere apology to the police officers involved even though they Rodney King-ed him.  If he does this he will probably escape with a small fine.  If he thinks he can fight for his innocence in the courts because he was Rodney King-ed he will receive a much stiffer penalty.   It didn’t work in LA, it sure the hell won’t work in Itaewon. I don’t know of one soldier that has ever been found not guilty in a Korean court.  The soldier will be found guilty of something, it is in his interest to minimize the damage.  You have to swallow your pride.

This leads me to another point, the soldier says he joined the Army to help his wife and family.  When people get into hot water they always tell me to take their family into consideration before punishment and my response is always why didn’t you take your family into consideration before you got yourself into trouble?  Why is someone that is married with a family hanging out drunk in the the ville to beginn with?  Nothing good happens at late hours in the ville, especially when you are drunk.  Stay in the barracks and play Playstation like many other married soldiers I knew would do or go to on post club if you are looking to drink a few beers.

PFC Dupry also says he is facing a Chapter 14 discharge due to this incident.  Here is a good link for all you soldiers out there of AR 635-200 Active Duty & Enlisted Administrative Separations.  This is what a Chapter 14 is defined as:

This chapter establishes policy and prescribes procedures for separating personnel for misconduct because of minor disciplinary infractions, a pattern of misconduct, commission of a serious offense, conviction by civil authorities, desertion, and absence without leave.

If this soldier is being chaptered for a pattern of misconduct that means he has a documented history of bad behavior.  If this is the case it takes a lot of documentation to support a pattern of misconduct which means this guy is somebody the Army really doesn’t want around.   However, it is possible in this case that he could be chaptered for conviction by civil authorities, however his unit leadership cannot chapter him until he is convicted.  It seems premature to start a chapter on someone when they haven’t been convicted of anything yet.  Also keep in mind the unit leadership is not obligated to chapter him if convicted anyway.  For example if the soldier is just fined for the incident in the police station; I don’t see any reason why the unit leadership would chapter him if he is a quality soldier.  That is why I tend to think this soldier may have more discipline issues than he cares to let on if the unit is pushing to chapter him out of the military. 

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