Picture of the Day: The Future of the Camp Humphreys PX

Tags: Camp Humphreys, USFK

• tokyojesusfist
  7:25 am on April 5th, 2010 1

  I don't understand why you would need to have such an elaborate military base. It looks more like an amusement park.

• Retired GI
  7:36 am on April 5th, 2010 2

  DAMN! The Gulag will be much improved. AAFES should be able to turn a good profit.

  What will they do about the "ville". The Hump is supposed to be a "family Oriented" Camp, or should I say "Base",or even Fort, moving forward.

  My I "assume" Soldiers will start being treated as they are in the States?

  After around 60 years, it seems that America is here to stay in Korea.

  I suppose that all the billets that were condemned, but still being used by the Aviation Units are down by now. (over by the Chapel) They were condemned in 2003, but still housing troops. C company 52 AVN REGT at the time.

• John
  7:50 am on April 5th, 2010 3

  American is here to stay in Korea, because of the unique-one-of-a-kind geography, being adjacent to Russia, Japan, China, and N Korea. No one could've dreamed up a more inhospitable location for a small nation such as ROK.

• Retired GI
  8:15 am on April 5th, 2010 4

  It would seem that the ROK did just that. It really must suck.

• Leon LaPorte
  8:17 am on April 5th, 2010 5

  Wait! This may distract the soldiers from their mission. There's a war on! Not every soldier can access such amenities therefore, none should have them! BULLETS or WHOPPERS?!? What it comes down to is focus. It's a zero sum game! Burger King is attempting to sap and impurify my bodily fluids. This is a war zone, not an amusement park. Whargarbllll!!1!one!!!eleventy!!1!!

  They're coming to take me away aha!…

  …*Whew* what a bad dream. I dreamt I was sitting in on a strategy session with GEN McChrystal and CSM Hall. Yikes! Anyway, it was only a bad dream and could never actually happen. I'm glad this isn't true. It would be pretty insulting to the soldiers.

• Marcus Ambrose
  8:41 am on April 5th, 2010 6

  Well, first, artist renderings are always a bit prettier than the final product. But, why can't you have buildings that aren't blocky and brown? Plus landscaping and green space? Oh, the horror!!

• a listener
  8:44 am on April 5th, 2010 7

  You sure do like talking about Burger King Leo

• a listener
  8:47 am on April 5th, 2010 8

  Judging from the depiction, it looks like Korea is slowly going to in tge future be transformed into anytown USA. The colonization is now complete…

• a listener
  8:56 am on April 5th, 2010 9

  Judging from the depiction, it looks like Korea is slowly going to in the future be transformed into anytown USA. The colonization is now complete…

• Burma Bob
  11:02 am on April 5th, 2010 10

  For 40+ years, most troops in Korea (outside of Yongsan, anyway) lived in quonset huts, decidedly temporary housing. Occasionally in some camps, you might see pre-fanned metal barracks, but again, only temporary. Only the Air Force really spent any money on its installations in Korea, no matter how remote. But anybody serving in 2ID from the 50's through the 80's can tell you how shitty things were.

  Not until the late 1980's did USFK start to build more permanent (and habitable) structures. Part of the reason was availability of a budget, expansion of command sponsorship opportunities, and the perception (perhaps) that if North Korea was going to attack, they would have already done so.

  What is going on at Humphreys is long overdue, especially if we will be in Korea for even another 10 years. If a whole bunch of people are going to be using that PX, then it can't be housed in an over-sized quonset hut anymore.

  As far as "colonization" is concerned, that's bullshit. Any and all facilities built can and will be turned over to the ROKG when the US leaves. Then the ROKG's elected leaders can apportion the spoils any way it wants to.

• Leon LaPorte
  11:10 am on April 5th, 2010 11

  It's just the silliness of the whole thing…

• Hamilton
  11:36 am on April 5th, 2010 12

  The list is endless. No need for the outreach schools. No need for airconditioning, no need for heating above what is required to keep the pipes from freezing. No need for flushing toilets, no movie theaters, no snacks or sodas of any kind. No need for barbers, one set of shears per squad, do it all in house. No magazines, just one newspaper and the GIs can share, might cut down on the need to ship in toliet paper. No need for a commisary, everyone should eat in the messhall and the Army didn't issue you a family, they can fend for themselves. All those items detract from the focus of the warfighter, tie up transporation assets and cost the taxpayer money.

  —-

  I imagine re-enlistment will soar.

• ChickenHead
  11:43 am on April 5th, 2010 13

  The amazing thing is the paint they are using on the surrounding buildings in the picture. They almost look clear. Why don't they paint tanks with that stuff… BDUs, too?

  On another note, remember back when the farmers were demonstrating over the loss of their life-long farms?

  Nice to see they have been turned into full golf courses and expansive esplanades.

• Leon LaPorte
  12:10 pm on April 5th, 2010 14

  Hamilton,

  I think no one could state it better than it was done at Boss Mongo http://bossmongo.blogspot.com/:

  Why Ask Why?

  Okay, read this article in a the UK Telegraph stating that GEN McChrystal and CSM Hall have decided to do away with some of the amenities on large Afghan bases like Bagram and Kandahar. Burger King, TGIF, etc are about to disappear because, in the Command Sergeant Major's words, "what it comes down to is focus." Uh-huh.

  The whole line of reasoning, in both the UK Telegraph and in the CSM's post on the unit blog, sounds a wee bit mangled to me. Okay, the CSM states that "this is a war zone, not an amusement park." Thanks for clearing that up, Sergeant Major. I'm sure that the studs on their second, third, or fourth tour in the box were befuddled by the Pizza Hut trailer (yes, most of the concessions like BK and Pizza Hut are in little trailers, which only have an ordering window and a picnic table out front). In a previous post, I found and linked to a pretty good analysis that argued that In Iraq and Afghanistan, army combat troops often get 200 days of combat in one 12 month tour, which is more than their grandfathers got during all of World War II.

  I'm thinking that few of the kids that are over there have any illusions about where they are and what they are doing. Accusing a troop who looks forward to a whopper–maybe even something so decadent as a whopper with cheese–of not being mission focused, or of thinking that he's been sent to Coney Island for a year, is pretty f@cking insulting.

  Look, I'm sure that there are reasons for shutting down concessions that the troops enjoy–but I'm also pretty sure that those reasons have more to do with Command perceptions than reality. Those who say that "perception is reality" don't have a tight enough grip on reality.

  First of all, the reasoning that troops pushed out on small outposts don't have BK, Pizza Hut, et al is specious. REMFs will always get over compared to front line (or "on outpost") troops, that's the nature of the beast regardless of how many concessions you close.* Okay, the troops on outposts don't have hot chow, running water, or electricity. They are fighting for the mission and their lives every day. So closing Burger King is supposed to give the FOBbits what, moral parity? Have all the FOB Dining Facilities stopped serving Surf & Turf once a week? I've served both on FOBs and out in the field, and I can tell you that

  1. Nothing the FOBbits could go through would make me cut them any slack, and

  2. Although I never thought of it in these terms then, knowing the privations any REMFs were going through would not have ameliorated my own bitches about my own hardships.

  Oh, and do you think a troop assigned to a far-flung outpost might enjoy a Whopper when he passes through the FOB on that rare occasion when the mission pulls him back?

  Mongo Rule #4: Never begrudge anyone a good deal.

  Another reason proffered for saving our troops from the threat to good order and discipline that consuming french fries boiled up in hydrogenated vegetable oil is that Afghanistan-based units need the storage space and convoy volume in order to support the surge that are currently encumbered by concessionaires. Uh-huh. Then I'm sure that there is a staff study out there showing that combat troops are shorted because of (Burger King- rather than Dining Facility-bound) sesame seed hamburger buns.

  Also, let's at least be consistent. The CSM expounds on the decision on the ISAF blog, but while his post has a lot of good Sergeant Major shiite in it, it doesn't provide a lot of clarity to the decision making process. Burger King is being closed, but the Green Bean coffee shops are staying open. Let's see, where do people generally go when their explicit purpose is to f@ck off? A burger stand, or a coffee house? Do the troops on the combat outposts have Green Bean and Starbucks, but not Burger King, so that's why the BK has to go?

  I guess this is one of those command imponderables: why ask why?

• Matt
  12:58 pm on April 5th, 2010 15

  And we'll all have flying cars in the future…:) I'll believe this is what the Humphrey's PX is gonna look like when I see it built!

• silentgrayfellow
  5:50 pm on April 5th, 2010 16

  What is that, a Cheonggyecheon replica in front of the PX?

• silentgrayfellow
  5:51 pm on April 5th, 2010 17

  And where the hell is the parking lot?

• Retired GI
  10:16 pm on April 5th, 2010 18

  Leon–

  He is a fringing Sergeant Major! Do you really expect Logic and Reason from a Sergeant Major? What is their job discription again? Something like "keeper of the Guidon and senior enlisted advisor to the CO". Decision making process?

  You believe there was a "process"? He got an idea. He spoke to the CO. CO said "Ok, whatever CSM."

• Retired GI
  10:22 pm on April 5th, 2010 19

  Unless they change the rules on who can drive a POV. A parking lot is not needed

• Jennifer Kim
  8:44 pm on April 6th, 2010 20

  The parking lot will be underground. I found that pretty impressive since I haven't seen any underground parking lots on-base.

• Marcus Ambrose
  11:04 pm on April 6th, 2010 21

  Underground parking at the Hump is going to be PX, EUSA, and USFK HQs. The rest will have surface parking or above ground garages (comm center, hospital, etc)

• Leon LaPorte
  8:05 am on April 7th, 2010 22

  Fascinating.

• johsnon
  7:27 pm on November 4th, 2010 23

  I think that there schould be a buffalo wild wings on camp humphreys its so much better then the AMC.

• Braden
  7:47 pm on November 4th, 2010 24

  GOOD LORD I agree with Tokyojesusfist. Maybe Korea will be the 51st state of America?

• Leon LaPorte
  8:26 pm on November 4th, 2010 25

  #24 What an asinine and uninformed statement an an insult to both the US and Korea. Following such reasoning, I suppose that Texas is going to be annexed by Germany because there is a Luftwaffe base near El Paso.

• Braden
  9:03 pm on November 4th, 2010 26

  #25 Chill out:shock: I said that cause it looks totally out of place in Korea like some nasty Wal Mart. Maybe Affes could try a little harder and design something that fits the host country. It looks like Las Vegas track housing.

• john
  2:50 am on November 5th, 2010 27

  #8

  You are an idiot.

• john
  2:53 am on November 5th, 2010 28

  #1

  I don't understand why you need to use such an elaborate communications systems called internet?

  Maybe because there will be service members and lots of their families that will be living there, removed from their familiar homes and friends? AND because US govt cares for its service members and their families?

 

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