Tag: USFK

My guess is that Congress is giving the Pentagon flexibility on how to manage troop levels in the Indo-Pacific region without having to focus on maintaining the 28,500 troop level number in South Korea:

The U.S. Congress passed its annual defense budget bill Wednesday with no ban on the reduction of U.S. Forces in Korea, a clause that had been included in the bill for the past four years.  
   
Every year, the U.S. Congress passes the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) to determine the funding for military activities under the Department of Defense and the Department of Energy.  
   
The bill was passed by Congress on Wednesday to authorize a total of $777.7 billion in spending for the 2022 fiscal year, namely on strategic competition with China and Russia and on disruptive technologies like hypersonic weapons and artificial intelligence, amongst other U.S. defense priorities.   
   
Missing this year, however, was a clause legally restricting the U.S. government from reducing the number of U.S. Forces Korea (USFK) from its current level of around 28,500. 

Joong Ang Ilbo

You can read more at the link.

These two actually got off light in the Korean court system by not having to go to jail. However, they are probably being chaptered out of the Army with a possible bad conduct discharge:

Two American soldiers have been given suspended prison terms for smuggling cannabis into South Korea from the United States, a court said Monday.

One of the soldiers was sentenced to 2 1/2 years in prison, suspended for 3 years, for hiding two cannabis cartridges in his baggage and flying to Incheon International Airport from Atlanta in April, the Suwon District Court said.

The other soldier received the same sentence for purchasing four cannabis cartridges and other cannabis products from an overseas website and attempting to smuggle them through an international flight in March.

The soldier was found to have again placed the same order for the drugs the following month after his first attempt was caught by customs authorities here.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but how much of a pothead are you that you get caught once and yet you try to order your marijuana again?

Apparently the homes on Yongsan Garrison that were handed back to the Korean government are now a popular location for the Korean public to go and take pictures at:

These brick townhouses were once home to American officers and their families, but South Korea has gained control of this tract of land on the southeastern tip of the Army’s Yongsan Garrison, nearly two decades after the U.S. and Korea set in motion a plan to relocate the bulk of America’s troops in the country to a location south of Seoul and return the property to the government. 

The village, which consists of 18 buildings, is now open to the public, and it is crowded with people who came to get a glimpse of the inside of the garrison and to snap selfies against the backdrop of American-style, two- and three-story townhouses.

Korea Times

Though cases are dropping nationally in South Korea there has been a slight uptick in cases in Seoul which has led to this decision:

U.S. Forces Korea put four districts in Seoul and three in adjacent Gyeonggi province off-limits following a rise in COVID-19 cases there, according to an announcement Wednesday.

Only mission-essential visits are permitted to the Jongno, Yeongdeungpo, Guro and Geumcheon districts in Seoul and the Gwacheon, Dongducheon and Ansan districts in Gyeonggi, according to USFK’s weekly travel restrictions update. The command placed 10 districts off-limits Wednesday.

The Jongno district includes the U.S. Embassy, Seoul City Hall and the presidential Blue House. Camp Humphreys, the headquarters for USFK and the U.N. Command, and Osan Air Base are in Gyeonggi province.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link.

It looks quite a storm system hit Pyeongtaek:

 Several Army helicopters were damaged in a storm that battered this U.S. base 40 miles south of Seoul on Friday evening, according to the 2nd Infantry Division.

The division declined to provide specifics on the damage, citing operational security policies, but the command was “conducting maintenance checks across the fleet,” according to a statement to Stars and Stripes on Monday.

The helicopters were not in the air during the storm and no injuries were reported, Lt. Col. Ryan Donald, the division’s public affairs director, said Saturday.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link.

Condolences to all the friends and family of SGT Lott:

A 2nd Infantry Division soldier stationed near the border with North Korea died at a local hospital on Sept. 19, the command said in a press release Wednesday.

Sgt. Damionia Lott served as a supply sergeant with the 70th Brigade Support Battalion, 210th Field Artillery Brigade at Camp Casey, according to the release. The command said her death was not attributed to a training incident but declined to provide additional information.

Lott, a Louisiana native, enlisted in the Marine Corps in 2016 and joined the Army four years later. She arrived at the battalion in South Korea in July. Her age was not provided.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link.

Hopefully no one in the U.S. military had any travel plans to Seoul anytime soon:

The military command responsible for U.S. troops in South Korea has temporarily restricted troops from traveling to 41 districts following a surge in COVID-19 cases in the country.

The updated travel guidelines announced by U.S. Forces Korea on Wednesday reflect a recent increase in coronavirus cases around the country, according to a post on the USFK official Facebook page. The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency on Saturday reported 3,271 new cases, a new daily record in the country.

The surge comes days after Chuseok, the nation’s harvest holiday. South Korean health officials previously said they expected a dramatic increase in cases and warned residents to limit their travel plans during the three-day holiday Sept. 20 to 22. Nearly 33 million people traveled during the holiday week, according to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport.

USFK has divided the country into roughly 230 districts to reflect changing rates of coronavirus infection. USFK service members, civilian employees, family members and contractors are prohibited from traveling to districts with 50 or more confirmed COVID-19 patients per 100,000 people over a seven-day period. The command updates its district guidelines every week.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link, but the article states that 80% of Seoul is off limits due to the COVID surge.

You can add this as another one of the Only in Korea stories. What a bizarre and horrible murder of this young child:

A woman of Philippine nationality has been detained for allegedly beating to death the three-year-old son of her acquaintance from the United States Forces in Korea (USFK). 

The Pyeongtaek Police said, Monday, that they had detained the 30-year-old suspect and are investigating the case.

According to the police, she and the USFK service member knew one another, and the latter had asked the woman to briefly mind his two sons ― seven and three years old.

She is accused of beating the younger boy to death in her room, provided by a bar where she was employed, at around 7:30 a.m., Sunday. The older child was not harmed.

The bar owner discovered the victim around 8 a.m. and reported it to the police.

The police then began to search for the suspect, but she had been taken into custody at a precinct station nearby as police had received reports of the woman roaming the streets naked.

Korea Times via a reader tip

You can read more at the link, but the woman when she was detained was not only naked, but incoherent. However, despite being incoherent supposedly confessed to the crime. If I had to guess I would say she was likely under the influence of some drug that probably influenced beating the 3-year old child to death. Some advice to all USFK service members, do not leave your kids at the bar to be watched by a Filipina juicy girl.

By the way, any bets what the father was doing while leaving his kids at the bar to be watched by the juicy girl?

The COVID spread is getting worse in USFK:

 U.S. Forces Korea on Tuesday announced the fastest surge of new coronavirus cases among its personnel, surpassing a record set in July.

Forty people, including U.S. military family members and South Korean contractors, tested positive for COVID-19 on Thursday and Friday, the command said in a news release. The previous record was 37 infections over a three-day span between July 5 and 7.

Fifty-one USFK personnel tested positive between Aug. 23 and Friday, which is, so far, fewer than the previous record of 58 cases during a weeklong period in July.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link, but according to the article half the cases are at Osan Airbase. It is unknown if the higher number of positives had anything to do with the maskless party recently held at the Enlisted Club.