A Profile of Camp Red Cloud, South Korea
The Camp
Camp Red Cloud is located in Uijongbu which is located just to the north of Seoul. The base is named after Corporal Mitchell Red Cloud who was posthumously recognized with the Medal of Honor for combat actions during the Korean War. You can read more about how the camp was named at the below link:
CRC is home to the 2nd Infantry Division command group, Special Troops Battalion, Air Force personnel, and a few other smaller units. The camp is a great place to be stationed. It has two pizza shops, a bowling alley, a food court, bank, commissary, PX, theater, and a small golf course complete with a country club.
An adequate playing field, a nice gym, and good weight room accommodates all the athletes out there. The housing at CRC is some of the best in 2ID with soldiers living in new barracks with no more than 2 people per room.
Here is a map of how Camp Red Cloud is laid out today:
The front gate of CRC along with other buildings near the front of the camp were demolished in recent years to make way for the new Uijongbu highway overpass. The first thing seen when entering the camp now is the old chapel, which is probably the most historic structure remaining on Camp Red Cloud:
Across the street from the chapel is the camp’s school:
This building used to be home to a computer lab, MWR, and a cafe, however due to the increase in families being allowed to PCS to Korea this building has been reestablished as a school. Behind the school is the new PX:
The PX isn’t all that big, but it is a much better facility than what CRC used to have. The old PX that sits adjacent to the bowling alley is used as a location where Koreans sell local products as well as housing the post’s clothing sales store:
Speaking of clothing sales, the old clothing sales store is now used as a arts and crafts store:
Besides the reconstruction of the front gate and the building of a new PX there really hasn’t been that many new buildings constructed on CRC. In fact some people are still working out of quonset huts:
Here is a picture of the Village Green parade field used for various ceremonies:
Here is a picture of typical barracks building on CRC that borders the Village Green:
Camp Red Cloud is also home to the 2nd Infantry Division Museum that is well worth anyone visiting CRC to go and check out:
CRC is kind of divided into two parts due to the helicopter pad and golf course located towards the middle of the camp:
Right across from the helicopter pad is the 2nd Infantry Division headquarters:
Passed the helicopter pad and golf course are the other batch of barracks on the far side of the camp:
This far side of the camp is where the commissary and the restaurant Mitchell’s is located:
Here are some historical pictures of CRC via Ottmar’s photos:
Photo 5:
Photo 8:
The Ville
The Uijongbu area has plenty to offer for GIs. The “ville” located just across the street from the CRC front gate has all you typical GI stores in Korea. You can buy suits, jackets, pirated software and games, plaques, coins, paintings, trinkets, and much more in the ville. Also the ville has a few clubs with your standard “drinky girl” scene in Korea. The drinky girls are mostly Fillipinas and Russians looking to make a quick buck from you buying them $20 drinks. Yes that’s right $20 drinks. The prostitution in the ville has been largely cleaned up due to recent media exposure and USFK’s crack down on human trafficking and prostitution
Things to Do:
The surrounding are has some great outdoor opportunities. Just out the back gate of CRC take a left and take another left just past the car dealership to explore the mountains just to the west of CRC. The road going up into the mountains up “Radar Hill” is a great place to go running or road marching. The forest scenery is outstanding, the air fresh, and no traffic. There is even a lake you can explore once you reach the top of the road along with a old ROK Army compound that is now deserted.
Also in the area is Suraksan Mountain that is just outside of Camp Staneley in Uijongbu. Exiting from the Camp Stanley ville gate take an immediate right and follow the fence line until you reach the hiking trail that leads up the mountain. Suraksan is a strenuous hike with amazing scenery. Bring a lunch and picnic along the stream running from the mountain or do some serious rock climbing to the summit of the mountain.
Another hiking trip you can take is up Dobongsan Mountain. The mountain is part of Pukhansan National Park and features some spectacular rock climbing to reach the summit. From the summit you can see all of Uijongbu, Seoul, and all the way into North Korea. In fact the North Korean flag pole located at Pamunjom is visible from the summit. If you are not into rock climbing then explore the many beautiful Buddhist temples located in the park. The monks at the temples are very welcoming to foreigners so don’t feel intimidated exploring the temples.
To reach Dobongsan just get on the subway at Uijongbu station and travel south on Line 1 and exit at Dobongsan Station. At the station walk across the street towards the mountain. The path towards the mountain has lots of hiking and climbing shops if you need any gear along with many restaurants. Once passed the ville area you will enter into the park. The cost to enter park is usually around 2000 won or about $1.75. So extremely cheap comparted to American National Parks. So get out and see some of these exciting parks around Uijongbu.
Finally Uijongbu has extremely easy access to the Korean capitol city of Seoul. The Uijongbu train station is only a 5 minute taxi ride from CRC and from there the subway can take you to downtown Seoul in less than 45 minutes. This is one of the best features about being stationed on CRC.
Downsides:
One downside to CRC is that it is often the site of protests that occur in the country against US forces since it is the division headquarters. The protests have picked up since June 2002 when an accident involving a 2ID tracked vehicle killed two Korean school girls. The leftist and pro-North Korean forces came out in force to protest American soldiers and start riots hoping to get a reaction from the US soldiers at CRC. These activities continue periodically to this day so pulling gate guard at CRC can be interesting at times.
Note: You can read more from the ROK Drop featured series “A Profile of USFK Bases” at the below link:
