The Stars & Stripes bringing you another story that will never make headlines in the Korean media:

A group of 8th U.S. Army soldiers traded their uniforms for oil-resistant coveralls and rubber boots Wednesday to help clean up the worst oil spill in South Korean history.

Forty-five soldiers boarded a bus at Yongsan Garrison early Wednesday for the three-hour trip to Baeknipo Beach, in Taean Coastline National Park, where they donned protective gear and used old clothing to scrub oil off rocks.

Thousands of South Korean workers have been laboring on the coast since a barge came free from its tugboats in rough waters and smashed into a Hong Kong supertanker seven miles from shore on Dec. 7, spilling 10,500 tons of oil.  [Stars & Stripes]

Yongsan was able to get 200 soldiers to volunteer over the next six days with the clean up.  That is a great turn out and what will be even more impressive is if USFK can get all the posts involved and keep clean up volunteers going to Taean for the next few weeks to provide the long term help needed to clean the coast line. 

This statement from a Korean volunteer really shows the potential long term impact these soldiers who are volunteering are having on the people they are interacting with:

The soldiers’ eagerness impressed Korean volunteers at the beach.

“I’m really thankful that the Americans came out to help,” said Lee Hae-choon, a volunteer from Asan. “Not even all the Koreans are helping, so the U.S. soldiers coming is really incredible.”

This Koreans reaction is not unusual.  I have met many Koreans indoctrinated by the Korean media’s constant negative depictions of GIs, who always react with astonishment when the stereotype doesn’t match the GIs they actually meet for the first time.  Likewise the same can be said when GIs actually meet real Koreans from outside the ville who also do not match the stereotypical Korean found in the ville areas of USFK.  This was a great idea by whoever organized it and outstanding job by the troops who are taking part in the clean up. 

More over at Lost Nomad.