By GI Korea on December 30th, 2007 at 8:10 pm

Stars & Stripes Looking for Overseas Gambling Feedback

• Kingkitty
  4:30 am on December 31st, 2007 1

  I find its a gamble every monday morning to put just 50 cents into the Stars and Stripes paper machine and expect it not to be set for a dollar

• ChickenHead
  6:08 am on December 31st, 2007 2

  I gamble every time I read Stars & Stripes in Korea and expect in-depth reporting of real stories by reporters who are not afraid to expose the truth… check facts or diligently follow up on past stories of interest that leadership would rather see quietly go away.

  The odds are slightly more than winning the lottery but slightly less than being struck by lightening… so I don't buy S&S on cloudy days.

  By requesting to "Tell us your story" S&S knows they are going to get a lot more, "I lost my family and career because I have no self control (but it is the machine's fault)" than "I won big and was able to buy a new liver for a hare-lipped orphan."

  Are they pushing an anti-gambling agenda for leadership? This is not reporting the news (Airman Writes Bad Checks to Cover Gambling Debt)… this is guiding it… and, when the story is written, we will know for sure.

  How about this for a story, S&S… pester leadership until you can determine who is responsible for illegally allowing all the ajumas to play the slots… who is responsible for authorizing them to come on base… how does the system work and why is it allowed to continue… what else is allowed by these same people… etc.

  That would be a much better story than inevitable generic formula-following fluff that will start with "Sgt. Bob's two young children were very proud at their father's promotion ceremony"… and end with, "If I had stayed away from those machines, I'd still have my family and my career."

  Ho-hum.

• Pete
  9:20 am on December 31st, 2007 3

  As far as the military is concerned – leadership is pro slot machine because of the "easy money" they bring. With regards to ajumas playing the slots and losing a very large part of the 120 million annual slot profit; of course leadership knows what is going on.

• Kingkitty
  10:01 am on December 31st, 2007 4

  I won 3 dollars lastweek as soon as I heard about this legislation

  My view is if some officer couldnt control himself the rest of us should not be penalized. Slot machines is just one of those things that make Korea….next thing we know they will start naming new baseball parks at Camp Humphreys with cliche names like "independence Park" instead after an historical icon in the same area…like " Beacon Field"

  OH WAIT THEY DID THAT ALREADY

• Anonymous
  6:36 pm on December 31st, 2007 5

  Statistics show only 2-3% become addicted. So for some 6,000 troops out of a 300,000 force, making the millions does more good than these 6,000 destroying themselves. I see both sides of the argument.

  In response to "I gamble every time I read Stars & Stripes in Korea and expect in-depth reporting of real stories by reporters who are not afraid to expose the truth… check facts or diligently follow up on past stories of interest that leadership would rather see quietly go away."

  All you have to do is ask the soldiers and airman who work for S&S or AFN, and they will tell you that they cannot make the US look bad in any way, defamation to the US Government will likely have its consequences, whether it be a bad evaluation rating or more. (better yet, ask the junior soldiers as the higher ups will never divulge that information, of course) With the keeping the peace in the balance in Korea, Do you think S&S will do a story on the illegal activities that USFK has been allowing for years? No way. Will CNN do it? I know they will.

  If it takes getting rid of these machines on post that could save another soldier from commiting suicide, then so be it. If you want to gamble, go off-post.

  Getting rid of these machines will get rid of a lot of the corruption and illegal activities going on on post. The post security is a joke when any Korean can still pay his way on post to gamble, just like last night! Is USFK so blind? All the have to do is hang outside DHL and Commiskeys. I'd like them o ask Roxanne at DHL, how about checking IDs of the non-americans? And ask Mrs. Kim, since her cash cow is about to end, that she should find another illegal way to make money, I guess she will just bring people on Yongsan to golf only. I want to know who else on post she paid for her to continue her business after yher arrest in 2005?

  If you owned a restaurant and a drug dealer is selling cocaine inside, and it brings in a lot of customers. You cannot just look the other way and say you didn't know what was going on. USFK has been doing this for years, and its not just General Bell (who actually is doing something) or LTG Campbell, but all the past post commanders, MWR, KORO, all of them know whats been going on.

  I guarantee I can have a Korean civilian pay their way on post tonight. And if I can do it, I worry that a terrorist can do it too.

• Anonymous
  7:12 pm on December 31st, 2007 6

  http://rokdrop.com/2007/08/17/general-bell-respon…

  In response to ChickenHead::

  Are they pushing an anti-gambling agenda for leadership? This is not reporting the news (Airman Writes Bad Checks to Cover Gambling Debt)… this is guiding it… and, when the story is written, we will know for sure.

  How about this for a story, S&S… pester leadership until you can determine who is responsible for illegally allowing all the ajumas to play the slots… who is responsible for authorizing them to come on base… how does the system work and why is it allowed to continue… what else is allowed by these same people… etc.

  That would be a much better story than inevitable generic formula-following fluff that will start with “Sgt. Bob’s two young children were very proud at their father’s promotion ceremony”… and end with, “If I had stayed away from those machines, I’d still have my family and my career.”

  I agree with your comments that they are guiding it, but I'm glad for the truth to be told (hopefully). And I believe the truth will come out about all the illegal activities (especially with the Koreans who have illegally obtained id's by being "employees" of the contractors on post). Of course USFK will deny they knew anything.

  Just so you all know, it isnt just making money bringing the Koreans on-post. Its the illegal won transfer to US dollars that is the big money. Making $20-30 per $100 transaction. The civilan Koreans need US dollars to gamble. And even more money is in illegal loan sharking.

  And as far as the "inevitable generic formula-following fluff". Even though it is true, whatever it takes from possibly saving a fellow serviceman from this addiction and getting rid of the cooruption, and better security for the posts, I'm all for it. I've seen and just about heard it all.

  Even the CID Warrant Officers I know, knew of everything thats been going on for years. The higher ups allow it.

  AFN is not allowed to do investigative reports. But CNN and everyone else can.

• Kingkitty
  11:59 pm on December 31st, 2007 7

  Actually I dont think we ask anyone anything at AFKN on the weekends because it seems atleast the radio runs on recordings all weekend….It seems traditional that during mid days on Sundays that the time slot for the news goes into silence for about////well as long as it takes to play the news…then a song pops on in mid stride then cuts off suddenly and another song comes on

  Then the AFKN advertises for oldies Saturday night then plays the usual "family friendly" crap

  I think these people need a Staff Duty instead of an disinterested KATUSA or a private who cant lay down his IPOD long enough to keep an eye on what is being played on the radio

• ChickenHead
  7:25 pm on January 1st, 2008 8

  Pete,

  "As far as the military is concerned – leadership is pro slot machine because of the “easy money” they bring."

  I could almost believe that's true… until I notice that so many decisions in today's military are based on ideology or appearance rather than necessity… or even reality.

  And, in many cases, these decisions wind up spending more to accomplish less… or, at the least, make a big show of fixing something that isn't really broken… or just changing the same old things around to make it look like everything is moving forward… or fixing an easy problem to pretend the hard one doesn't exist… or… etc. You all know the deal.

  Once drinking, smoking, pornography, etc., have all played out, some careerist jerkoff decides he can beat everyone else to a star if he comes up with something new… like an anti-gambling agenda.

  Who can argue with that? People's lives have been ruined! And it is in leadership's power to stop it!

  "But… if it can save just one soldier" is used as the excuse to make pages of restrictive, feel-good-sounding policy complete with fancy logos and snappy slogans, no matter how blatantly ridiculous, ineffective or infringing on the ultra-vast majority who have no need of further restrictions which claim to solve problems they don't have… and will be quickly and easily circumvented by the targeted ultra-minority which actually need to be controlled for their own good (or, more probably, they need to be guided and supervised… "led", in other words).

  Suddenly, emotion-playing catch phrases become more important to a dumbed-down leadership playing to a short-attention-span, celebrity-obsessed public (and media) than long, sensible explanations which accurately describe the true scope of a problem, its possible solutions and their side-effects.

  And all the other spineless puss-tards in leadership are forced to go along with it while they silently cringe at the mind-numbing stupidity and counterproductiveness of the whole mess… and wonder how they can get brownie points by designing a quick fix to the inevitable problems the new policy will cause… a budget shortfall in the case of the slot machines.

  In this case, nobody dares to insist on personal responsibility or point out that a few expendable idiots are funding the morale of many excellent soldiers… or they risk the career-ending labels of "pro-gambling" or "uncaring about soldiers and their families"…

  …yet, as much as they hate it, they kick themselves for not thinking of that little promotion-generating program first. Drat.

  So… if this ball gets rolling, it will pick up speed quickly as everybody tries to look more caring for the plight of gambling-addicted soldiers and their families.

  And if GI Joe wants to go on a fishing trip he can't quite afford at full price, well… he can just put the balance on his Star Card.

  See… problem solved.

  The issues of slot machines encouraging corruption and the lack of help for gambling addicts who want to quit are serious issues… for next time.

• Kingkitty
  8:50 pm on January 2nd, 2008 9

  Tom

  Actually, especially in light of the post just before this one, if you wanted to stir the pot, you could mention that some archeologists have suggested the Kaya was a Japanese kingdom set up in Korea from which Japanese influence entered Korean society early on……I believe that is how it went…

  I have a habit of avoiding periods of history before sizable collections of print material or the written word, because archeology seems too influenced by the eye of the beholder, but I do seem to remember that there was one school of thought on Korean pre-history that said Kaya was Japanese….

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