I always like to put the "feel good stories" on the front page. A one-day food drive at the commissary at Yongsan last week brought in enough rice to supply a local orphanage for two months. Here are some stats from the Stars and Stripes:

“It took a … truck to get all the food over there,” said Sgt. 1st Class Dale Niedergall of the 94th Military Police Battalion.

All told, soldiers from the 142nd Military Police Company and the Headquarters and Headquarters Detachment — all part of the 94th Battalion — collected more than 2,000 pounds of food for the Namsan Orphanage at the Nov. 5 food drive.

That's a pretty amazing feet!

Mike

Excellent Story!!! Every Base In Korea Should Do The Same And Do It More Often...

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DAN BURESS

I agree. I think the U.S. military does a great job at actually setting up volunteer programs and helping out the local community, but USFK does a terrible job at getting the word out to the Koreans. We write-up tons of great stories in the Stars and Stripes and in the base papers, but how many Koreans read the Stars and Stripes and base papers?

USFK lost the public relations fight 10 years ago and this is why USFK is so misunderstood in Korea. The Korean newspapers are quick to print a story about a car accident involving a GI, but almost never present the feel good stories.

A good example of this is from Colin's request (university professor) for a USFK member to come speak to his class. His students have a bad impression of Amercia and it seemed to alarm him.

Mike

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Not so many years ago the US military presence was the primary source of income for entrepreneurs of all sorts in the areas near the camps and bases. The country has come a long way, but that presence still provides lots of cash, food and supplies of all sorts, including that which is given, begged, borrwed or stolen.
An individual I knew personally, was responsible for a lot of milk and cereal being dropped off to a certain orphanage near Osan. The dining halls were "issued" cases of milk from a plant in Seoul. When the plant had too much milk, it was "Force issued", which meant it had to be unloaded. When the truck came, this un-named person observed that the cartons not used were being cut and poured down the drain, as there was not enough refrigeration to keep it. At the same time, big cases of cereal were being thrown out, for the GI's only ate Corn Flakes & Raisin Bran. The un-named person worked it out so that the Orphanage got the excess milk & cereal.
He/she felt good about it. What the government didn't know didn't hurt anyone.
Uncle Sam has done a lot Korea. They can now stand on their own. We should slowly
fade away to fight another day.