General Bell has also worked on stopping the blackmarketing but as long as the AAFES employees are corrupt it will be difficult to stop. Especially when AAFES employees are only given less then a year jail terms if that for stealing millions of dollars and then are quietly rehired when everything blows over.

I knew a AAFES taxi cab driver that got fired for stealing fuel to use in his personal car and he told me everyone was doing it but it just so happen he got caught when a very infrequent random inspection happened. Little frauds like this are going on all the time on post.

Changes in the SOFA agreement to hire more military spouses on post could go a long ways to stopping the frauds but the Korean workers union would have a shit fit because they would lose jobs to American employees and the ability to continue many of the frauds going on.

This is another reason I am for Camp consolidation because with fewer camps it will be easier to monitor the frauds going on. With 2ID consolidated on Camp Humphreys this should in theory make it easier to monitor the fraud, but it will take a strong commander to make that happen.

KATUSA Soldier's were not allowed to be Unit Police.

As far as punishment goes. We would get 60 soldiers and 15 NCO's for 90 days. They went through 1 week of training then 1 week OJT before they started. Do you think the units gave us top notch soldiers? Hell NO, we got problem children, people getting ready to PCS or ETS. We could not give them Article 15's because we the Unit Police did not have the authority. We would have to counsel them, give them corrective training and turn the packet over to the Chain of Command. Then we had no more say. Sometimes the Chain of Command would NOT take the soldier back. Many times I would go to there barracks and wake them up if they were there. Sometimes I just had to wait for them to show back up. I had some of them sleep in the immediate area etc. The unit is more worried about mission and just wanting to let the soldier move on so they don't have to deal with the headache or paperwork. And in today's Army it is hard as hell to kick a soldier out. The top leadership is to worried about reenlistment rate. They (I) have been told to just continue to give them corrective training on my time i.e. after work, mornings and weekends. You don't truly understand so much gets pawned off on NCO's and when you take it higher sometimes it comes back to you. And thier highers are only looking for paperwork on you.

I personally witnessed the Civilian on the US side GS-12 take and ID card and fire a guy on the spot for sitting in his car. But he was in charge of alot and could not go out to each gate every hour and check each person. When he went to one Gate or when we did searches the Koreans immediatley got on their cell phones and called their buddies. We were not allowed to randomly search cars unless directed by higher or we would get an Article 15! Go figure huh…something wrong with that picture.

If I caught a soldier sleeping he would come to the main gate and pull another 8 to 12 hours outside saluting each car as it went by.

What is learnt here. Another contract to give money to the Koreans to help the country. You can get on base through the fence if you wanted. You could run the single pole with sturdy vehicle. It is a show of force only to an extent. You will not get on post without the proper ID if you come through a main entrance. I witnessed a Korean tell a military dependent on leave with her husband and she was Korean she could not come on post. I told him to refer to 190-7 and he was wrong.

Why is he allowed to work the gate if he doesn't know the rules? Who you gonna tell?

All this will have to be in writing and enforced. If the COC doesn't support this it won't work.

PUT a 1LT(P) or CPT in charge with UCMJ authority

1 SFC NCOIC

3 SSG working shifts

15 SGT shifts at the gates

1. Put the UP's back in place 60 Soldiers.

a) no switchin unless it's and emergency

b) soldier will be immediatley replaced.

2. Let the NCO's and soldiers report only to the OIC for checks. This will stop at least 50-75 percent of the stealing when the word gets out.

We were only allowed to check at night…???

There is a barrack right by Gate 1 that is perfect for the soldiers and NCO to sleep in. It will allow for accountability, if someone doesn't show or is sick it's only a 2 minute walk to get someone.

The NCOIC and OIC will each need a vehicle. One TMP and one HUMMV. The vehicle should not be an issue at all because of the nature of the mission. But believe me I can't tell you the whole story. But it will be like pulling teeth.

Each shift will go through a roll call and inspection.

etc…it will work and save the Army money out the ASS.

there it is, like the 3rd time I have seen a problem and given a solution. This will be the 3rd time no action will be taken.

If that is not good enough bring in civilian from the US. EX Pres. Bush says it's cheaper to contract…

Any rate we are giving money to the Koreans as part of a deal. Who's making the money? ha ha you figure it out. If you think longer than 30 seconds…you haven't got a clue.

But beyond that the article rings partly true for the time I spent there. The real reason we had the Korean civilians there was for translation purposes. Quite frankly without them we wouldn't have been able to do our job. I loved those guys. Always eating Ramen noodles and joking around with us.

I don't remember too much sleeping going on, and the only time we did it was when another person was on watch. We always had at least two people at the gate. They actually were more professional than most the soldiers I worked with on the detail.

My most fond memory was the little puppy they raised at gate two. We had a little house for him and we would play with him during the night shift. He was great, they named him Sammy. But one day I came in and Sammy was gone. I found out that all the Korean Guards had got together and eat him!!! That is still one of my favorite stories.

Just because a soldier says he let the chain of command know doesn't mean the information he provided was credible, or reported to the proper authority. S&S has been known to not always verify accuracy before publishing.

If somebody caught a guard sleeping, playing cards, etc, it begs the questions, what did you do, and who did you talk to about it?

GI..thanks for the info on battle field tours. Much appreciated.

There is a double standard with the civilian gate guards where they are not held accountable for sleeping and even drinking on duty.