By I have totaled up by unit the USFK servicemembers convicted of a crime in 2008 by using the USFK court martial results published every month on the USFK webpage. The results are posted below with a link to the respective court martial result that describes the crime that was committed.
Comparing Court Martial Results
Overall the amount of USFK servicemembers convicted for court martial offenses is down dramatically from just one year ago:
- 2007: 70 servicemembers convicted
- 2008 – 47 servicemembers convicted
Notice that my 2007 statistics runs from April 2007 to March 2008 because that is when I started to publish the monthly court martial results on my site. So there is a bit of an over lap with this year, but still think it is accurate to say that court martial offenses have dropped from just a year ago. So what is causing this drop in crime you may ask?
Why Has Crime Dropped?
Well here is a rough break down of some of the more serious crimes committed in 2008 compared to 2007:
- Larceny – 2008: 13 / 2007: 22
- Drugs – 2008: 4 / 2007: 12
- Assault – 2008: 9 / 2007: 11
- Child Porn – 2008: 3 / 2007: 4
- Sexual Assault – 2008: 3 / 2007: 1
- Rape – 2008: 1 / 2007: 5
- Attempted Rape – 2008: 1 / 2007: 1
The steep decrease in larceny and drug convictions is the main reason why court martial offenses have dropped dramatically compared to just a year ago. Regular readers of the ROK Drop should be well aware that many of these larceny cases involved BAH fraud. Maybe with all these people getting convicted of BAH fraud in the prior year, more servicemembers in 2008 were disuaded from committing BAH fraud themselves?
The steep drop in drug convictions is not really as steep as it seems if you discount the six servicemembers convicted last year in the percocet case on Osan AB. Nevertheless it is still a welcome drop in drug convictions.
Mark Seldes convicted of rape.
Something else that is really good to see is the steep drop in rape convictions. One rape is still one too many, but still it is good to see such a drop in rape convictions. The one rape in question some readers may remember as the Kunsan rape case involving a Major who was convicted of raping the woman he was having an affair with.
Does 2ID Commit Most of the Crime?
Something else of interest is who is getting convicted for most of the court martial offenses. Normally the perception is that 2nd Infantry Division soldiers commit the majority of the court martial offenses however if you compare the crimes committed by 2nd Infantry Division units to the rest of the units in Korea it breaks down like this:
- 2nd Infantry Division: 19
- Other USFK Units: 28
USFK has 28,500 soldiers stationed in Korea that are roughly broken up into half being 2ID units and the rest filling the other miscellaneous units on the peninsula.
Units with the Most Convictions
Below I have broken down the court martial results by mostly battalions with some smaller units included as well. According to the court martial results the biggest criminals in USFK are:
- 194th CSSB – 5 convictions
- 302nd FSB – 4 convictions
- 4-2 AV – 3 convictions
- 121 Hospital – 3 convictions
- 19th AG – 3 convictions
Unit patch of the 501st Sustaimnet Brigade which is the parent unit of the 194th CSSB.
What else is interesting that out of the top five, only one unit 4-2 Aviation, is a combat arms unit with the rest being combat support or combat service support units.
Anyway below are the court martial statistics for everyone to look at. It will be interesting to see what kind of conclusions people can draw from the statistics other then what I have already demonstrated above. So have at it and share your thoughts in the comments section.
2008 USFK Court Martial Results:
2nd Infantry Division Units
2-9 Infantry Battalion
Larceny – Feb. 2008
Assault – May 2008
1st Battalion, 72nd Armor Regiment
Assault – April 2008
Bad Checks – October 2008
1st Battalion, 15th Field Artillery
Larceny – April 2008
Bad Checks – July 2008
302nd Brigade Support Battalion
Larceny – April 2008
Assault – April 2008
Assault – September 2008
False Statement – November 2008
1-2 Aviation Regiment
Child Porn – May 2008
Assault – November 2008
2-2 Aviation Regiment
Sexual Assault – May 2008
3-2 Aviation Regiment
Larceny – Feb. 2008
4-2 Aviation Regiment
Adultery – Jan. 2008
Larceny – September 2008
Conspiracy – October 2008
70th Brigade Support Battalion
Sexual Assault/Adultery – May 2008
2ID Special Troops Battalion
Assault – Jan. 2008
Other USFK Units
Eighth United States Army
Child Abuse – Jan. 2008
United States Army Troop Command Korea
Child Porn – June 2008
121st Combat Support Hospital
Drugs – Jan. 2008
Drugs – Feb. 2008
Indecent Act – March 2008
168th Medical Battalion
Indecent Act – March 2008
18th Medical Command
Maltreatment/Obstruction – June 2008
HHC/ 65th Medical Brigade
Larceny – December 2008
19th Adjutant General Company
Larceny – Jan. 2008
Larceny/Drugs – Jan. 2008
Larceny – December 2008
36th Signal Battalion
Adultery – Jan. 2008
304th Signal Battalion
Assault/Adultery – April 2008
94th Military Police Battalion
Child Porn – June 2008
HHB, 35th Air Defense Artillery Brigade
Larceny – June 2008
3rd Battlefield Coordination Detachment
Adultery – March 2008
Armed Forces Network – Korea
Larceny – June 2008
498th Combat Sustainment Support Battalion
Assault – Feb. 2008
194th Combat Sustainment Support Battalion
Drugs – Feb. 2008
Assault – April 2008
Sexual Assault – June 2008
Larceny – July 2008
Larceny – August 2008
3rd Military Intelligence Battalion
Larceny – May 2008
8th Fighter Wing
Rape/Adultery – Feb. 2008
51st Munitions Squadron
Attempted Rape – Jan. 2008
Adultery – April 2008
9:31 pm on February 23rd, 2009 1
I wonder if you'll be able to include Murder in 2009's court-martial convictions. 19th AG Company runs the post offices. Larceny is a discomforting conviction to find amongst mail sorters.
9:44 pm on February 23rd, 2009 2
GIKOREA
I would like to point out that your old unit/my current unit is keeping itself off this list on a yearly basis. Sure there are petty crimes that happen when you bring in some of the garbage off the street but we've been good at nipping it in the butt before it becomes a major crime.
2:55 am on February 25th, 2009 3
Let's hope not but if you read through the court martial results you can see that mail fraud is definitely a reoccurring problem.
2:58 am on February 25th, 2009 4
Keep your fingers crossed that they stay off the court martial report. It must be good leadership in order to consistently keep a unit off the blotter because every unit has idiots but active leadership can often prevent them from getting in trouble.
3:22 pm on February 25th, 2009 5
I really appreciate the great analysis on the crimes! Especially the comparison, with USFJ. As an aside, we have been the "American" Forces Network of Korea, vice "Armed" for about a decade now… I just gotta get USFK to stop including that on their site as well.
Good blog! I enjoy reading it.
LTC Mike Lawhorn
26th Commander, AFN-K
5:40 pm on February 25th, 2009 6
Sir, thanks for stopping by the site.
I just copied and pasted the "Armed Forces Network" name from the USFK court martial results. You are right it should be American Forces Network.
2:42 am on September 10th, 2009 7
I am so glad I stumbled on this site! Of the 28,000 "Soldiers" (there are alot of Airmen, Navy, Marines in Korea that would shout out that they are here also) stationed in Korea there are roughly 1/3rd assigned to 2ID. I have been associated wih 2ID since 1999 and almost every major news agency that has produced a derogotory news report about the military in Korea has associasted that story with the Army and more specifically with the 2ID. I am not so sure if this has simply been allowed or 2ID has not stuck up for it self! The statictics reported with this site clairly show that the the 2ID is not the bunch of crimals that the USFK allows the major media to continually report as offenders in crime. I have seen at least 3 major media reports in reference to the "female prostitution trafficking" all of which implicate 2ID and the city of Tongducheon. Little be known that one of the biggest "Red Light", "Juice Bar", "42nd Street NYC", etc in Korea exist right outside (within 15 minutes walk) of the gates of the "major" Commands in Korea (USFK and 8th Army). I really have no personal proplems with any of this since we (U.S. Authorities in the USA) allow the same thing outside every American post in the USA (TT Bars). Let us start policing our own bars before we dictate to any other sovereign nation. I work with and live amognst the 2ID Soldiers on a daily basis and for the most part these men and women are the most professional and dedicated and leasts respected/supported from all major media. Everyone knows we here in Korea are not in OIF/OEF, but we are still in the Korean Theather of Operations (KTO), least not let America forget we have enforced the Korean War cease fire aggrement for the last 50+ years. Let all resonsible Commanders rightfully point all the major media to the "true offenders" and not simple point them at the 2ID. I must say that I have not researced the staistics on this site so all I have stated is based on this sites statistics and the media reports I have seen.