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Well, Im goin to Korea next week

rogue_robrogue_rob Member Posts: 7,033 ✭✭✭
edited April 2002 in General Discussion
I know none of you really know me, just a few sporadic posts here and there, but I get a kick out of reading these boards.
I have been in the army for 13 years and am a SFC(E-7). I am a 45K4P. The first 6 years I got to do some neat stuff like jump out of airplanes and play in the sandpile in Iraq, but they finally got me...........I'm on the way to Korea.
If any of you have any advice, I would be glad to hear it.
BTW, I wont be gone, They are actually letting soldiers get internet and phone in their barracks rooms now-a-days. haha.

Comments

  • He DogHe Dog Member Posts: 51,593 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Well you just have to think of it as a chance to learn! Try the food, see the country, try to enjoy being there as much as you can. I hear the winters are fierce, so if you will be there a while, take the big coat and GI issue ear muffs! Tell us about it when you get settled in rogue_rob.
  • MercuryMercury Member Posts: 7,830 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Korea is GREAT!!!!

    I spent a year in Kunsan......much fun to be had!

    Great country, great food, friendly people! Get out and SEE THE COUNTRY! Don't just sit on base!

    Merc

    NO! You may not have my gun! Now go crawl back into your hole!
  • sig-mansig-man Member Posts: 591 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Man, hasn't anyone told you yet?, Korea is the Army's best kept secret,you will arrive at osan air base most likley and then go to Camp Coiner in Soeul and in process at the turtle farm, then you will go to your unit by bus where you will finish inprocessing. Do you have any idea of your duty assignment,did you get a welcome letter from any specific commands? I was staioned in Korea for almost two years( involuntary extension )and had pretty much a good time while I was there.Watch out for the club girls who want you to buy them a drinkie, which is a $5 glass of orange juice.If you get a chance get away from the bars and clubs and see the country, it is beautiful once you get away from the bases.Good luck and keep in touch with this board. My, nephew is going back for his second tour in a few months, he will be at Osan AFB, and he can't wait to get back, well like I said before, keep in touch and an-yi-ha-sey-o...

    R.I.P 45, 28, 3
  • sig-mansig-man Member Posts: 591 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    I forgot to say to stay away from the national drink soju, it tastes like rubbing alchol and formaldihide, and it will creep up on you and make you stupid...

    R.I.P 45, 28, 3
  • budmottbudmott Member Posts: 155 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Both of my sons spent their year in Korea.
    One stayed at the base and was misreable.[the whole year]
    The other got out and saw people and places, time
    went a whole lot faster.
    Oh, the other one did shape up, he is with Special Forces
    in Bosnia now.
    Later,
    bud
  • Warpig883Warpig883 Member Posts: 6,459
    edited November -1
    THere is nothing wrong with SOJU. It is best when drunk out of a large tupperwarewear bowl with ten other GI's and strippers ALL in the front leaning rest each with their won straw.


    18 months in Camp Humpfreys

    Warpig883
  • idsman75idsman75 Member Posts: 13,398 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    rogue_rob--

    Just a lowly E-6 95BV5 working in USAREC here to give you the advice that others have given me regarding Korea--a country that I have yet to visit. Don't buy drinks for the "Drinky Girls". They are there to simply get you to spend more money at the bar. Their drinks will cost you 3 times as much as your own drink and the only thing you get from it is conversation from a woman that just wants you to spend more money at the bar that she works for.

    Secondly, eat lots and lots of kim-chee of you want your supervisor to leave you alone. You will become used to the smell that will eventually spew from your pores but they won't.

    Thirdly, bring about 10 brand new pairs of Levi's (in smaller sizes that will fit Koreans). A pair of Levi's is one of the ultimate bartering tools in Korea. They will be worth five times what you spent on them. It is the ultimate reward for a KATUSA that does an outstanding job.

    I am assuming that prostitution isn't up your alley but it is rampant and quite legal in Korea and the UCMJ Article that applies to prostitution is not enforced there. You will be hounded by pimps on the streets constantly. They will leave you alone if you tell them you are looking for a man with no teeth and big ears. There is one prostitute in Korea that gives you a complimentary t-shirt after the act is performed which bears the "number served" when you are finished with her. She isn't much to look at but many of the GI's employ her just so they can get the t-shirt to prove that they were #9,752.

    Buy a mink blanket! They are dirt cheap and are OH SO WARM! Actually, buy multiple mink blankets. They make great gifts back home. Also, get a suit while you are there. They are of high quality and are tailored to your exact measurements and are dirt cheap as well.

    If you smoke, quit now. The pollution that enters your lungs in Seoul is equivalent to smoking a few packs a day.

    Warn your family and friends that you will smell strange when you come home. You will become accustomed to the stench of Korea but will emit it for weeks when you return to the states. I bumped into a guy coming back to the states from Korea while flying from Fort Drum to Fort Leonard Wood for some training. I decided to have a beer at the airport bar and bought a drink for the young Private as well. I spent five minutes sitting next to him at the bar and almost fell over from the assault on my nose.

    Korea is rough if you are married but it is a blast if you are single. Most single guys tell me that they'd love to go back.

    I'm sure there's a lot of fun to be had by an Armament Repairer even if he is a crusty old SFC

    SSG idsman75, U.S. ARMY
  • rogue_robrogue_rob Member Posts: 7,033 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    HEHE, thanks guys.
  • idsman75idsman75 Member Posts: 13,398 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    As a matter of fact, let me send you money so you can buy ME a mink blanket!

    SSG idsman75, U.S. ARMY
  • rogue_robrogue_rob Member Posts: 7,033 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    alrighty,
    I should be up and running in about 2 weeks.
    robcantor@hotmail.com is my addy
  • sig-mansig-man Member Posts: 591 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Warpig, when were you at Humphries? and what unit, I was B co. 3rd of the 501st Avn Regt, and A co. 3rd of the 501st Avn regt, from 1988 to 1990...

    R.I.P 45, 28, 3

    Edited by - sig-man on 04/12/2002 18:13:20
  • dheffleydheffley Member Posts: 25,000
    edited November -1
    Don't smoke any "Sun" cigarettes. They stink! Also, say hello to my Uncle Pete. He was scattered over about a mile of land in an Airforce crash in 1952. We didn't have more than personal items to bury.

    Save, research, then buy the best.Join the NRA, NOW!Teach them young, teach them safe, teach them forever, but most of all, teach them to VOTE!
  • v35v35 Member Posts: 12,710 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Two winters in a tent in Frozen Chosen didn't endear the place to me. On the plus side, I "owned", tinkered with and fired lots of U.S., European and captured small arms that included WW2 Lend lease "27A1 & M1A1 Thompsons and Johnson rifles. Because few GIs wanted to chance land mines, bird hunting was great and native Ringneck Pheasants and Blue Mountain Grouse improved my menu.
    A buddy and I both got Ptomaine poisoning in the Newsmans Cafe which was the only eatery in Seoul that wasn't off limits.
    Moose (Museme) hunting was pretty good but you needed to check VD cards. One talented Moose pulled a double shot from me.
    The place was incredibly primitive,dangerous and inhospitable at the time. All that has apparently changed with the infusion of $$$$$$ over 50 years.
  • instrumentofwarinstrumentofwar Member Posts: 1,545 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Rob: Look out for the midget, trust me from what I hear you'll know when you see her. Things are going to be ALOT different with the re-alignment of posts and all. Not sure when they start that, but I assume you have heard?

    v35: Which Chosin? Were you recently there or were you there at the actual Chosin Resivoir? Just wondering, I'm currently attached to 1-32 INF. The true "rozen Chosin"

    Some people just shouldn't be allowed to breed
  • v35v35 Member Posts: 12,710 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Chosen,the Japanese name for Korea, 7th Div, 707 Ord, Tungduchon & Yonchon, Camp Casey '53-'54
  • SNIPER1048SNIPER1048 Member Posts: 144 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    ROB: THE 12 HOUR PLANE RIDE WAS NO FUN BUT I HATE WALKING.
    ADVICE: IT'S COLD OVER THERE! THE TEMP MAY GET UP TO 0 DEGREES SOME DAY'S DURING WINTER. TAKE WITH YOU AN OD GREEN ELECTRIC BLANKET TO PUT ON YOUR BED. MAKE SURE YOU LOCK IT UP DURING THE DAY OR ONE OF YOUR BUDDIES WILL STEAL IT! THE PEOPLE ARE WONDERFUL TO DEAL WITH. MOST OF THEM SPEAK ENGLISH BECAUSE WE HAVE BEEN THERE FOR 50 YEARS.
    NO TREES!! ALL BURNED FOR FUEL OR SHOT AWAY DURING WAR. YES THE PLACE DOES SMELL BECAUSE THEY USE NATURAL FERTILIZER. O.B. IS THE NATIVE BEER. MOCKLIE?? THE NATIVE HARD STUFF. WHEN YOU GET TO KIMPO AIR BASE AND THEY WILL HAVE YOU GO THUR THE WELCOME TO KOREA TALK; THE CRUSTY OLD SARGENT WILL TELL YOU ABOUT K.A.T.U.S.A.'S.(KOREAN AUGMENTY TO THE US ARMY.) THESE GUYS ARE HIRED AND PAID FOR BY THE US TAXPAYER TO REPLACE A G.I. OVER THERE. STICK YOUR HAND UP AND ASK HOW MANY G.I.'S IN KOREA? WHEN THE DUMMY TELLS YOU 40,000 OR SO, ASK WHY DOSEN'T THE US GOVERNMENT HIRE ANOTHER 40,000 OR SO AND SEND ALL OF THE REAL GI'S BACK HOME!! SEE HOW MANY OF YOUR FELLOW GI'S AGREE WITH YOU! GREAT WAY TO START YOUR TOUR!! I EARNED MY C.I.B. OVER THERE UP ON THE DMZ.
    I WAS THERE '69-'70 AT CAMP CASEY AND DMZ. LIVED IN QUSONET HUTS LEFT OVER FROM KOREAN CONFLICT. THEY FINNALLY BUILT US A 3 STORY CONCRETE
    BARRACKS WHICH WE MOVED INTO 1 MONTH BEFORE I ROTATED HOME IN 1970. WHEN YOU HAVE BEEN THERE FOR A COUPLE OF MONTHS; ASK THE OLD TIMERS TO EXPLAIN THE MEANING OF THE FOOT PRINTS ON THE TOLIET SEAT.

    "START THE BALL ROLLING THERE, TECTOR"
  • Matt45Matt45 Member Posts: 3,185
    edited November -1
    If you end up at CP Casey or CP Hovey- head down to Tong Du Chon ("TDC"-it's the "ville" outside of the CP Casey main gate) and go to the "Silver Star". When I was there (95'-96') I practitaclly lived there when I could.

    Don't forget to see the rest of the country, especially Seoul and Itaewon.

    Reserving my Right to Arm Bears!!!!
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