Over at the Lost Nomad, Gar brings us the big mess outside Camp Humphreys. What you need to check out, however, are the photos of the banners local merchants have put up in honor of Area III Col. Michael J. Taliento Jr.
UPDATE: See GI Korea’s commentary on the fun and games (or lack thereof) in Pyeongtaek.
3 Comments
Also posted this on the LN blog:
The Humphreys situation is ridiculous. The Anjung-ri area has traditionally been very pro-American. Then COL Taliento comes along and rewards our pro-American friends with sting ops and trying to enforce USFK regs on local business owners that do not coincide with Korean laws. The drinking age in Korea is 20.
If you are going to shutdown the pro-American clubs because of 20 year old drunk GI’s, then you’d better place every LG25, Family Mart, restaurant, hotel, super-market, sports stadium, amusement park and bar off limits in Korea because a 20 year old can buy alcohol anywhere in this country. Taliento’s gestapo tactics serve no purpose other than to alienate our friends outside the gate and make life miserable for the soldiers and civilians living here.
Punish the underage drinker who violates USFK policy. Don’t punish the local businesses who are in full compliance with their own laws. This isn’t rocket science but it seems everytime a puritanical leader with delusions of grandeur shows up, there are problems with the local community and the hard working American soldiers and civilians are the ones who suffer.
I always thought it couldn’t get any worse than LaPorte…I was wrong.
Except that when a bar advertises “US Armed Forces Personnel Only”, you’d better play by the US Forces rules…
Dda, Play by rules? Are you aware? Pay attention!