I am an AF E7 PCSing to Osan. I was stationed there in 92-93 but TDYs to Korea since then tell me things have changed dramatically. Which is better, living off base or on? Should I bring my car?

Welcome!

I lived off base and it was the best decision I made while I was there. After work I like to “leave the military behind.” Some people like to live close to all of the support facilities. I guess it is personality dependant if moving off base is better for you.

I would not bring a nice car to Korea. If you have an older car you don’t mind getting dinged, bring it over. You can get a decent car for less than $1,000. I bought mine for $800 and it lasted me the whole year. I sold it to a friend and he has not had a problem 6 months later.

There are over 100 cars in the classifieds, check them out.

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Visit USFK Classifieds, the FREE classifieds in Korea!

I agree with Mike, don't bring a new car to Korea, you may regret it. There are scads of good used cars there for sale. If you decide to bring a decent used car, ship some spare parts in your household goods, i.e. light bulbs, headlights, fan belts, don't forget the hoses, duct tape won't fix everything. If anything goes, you might not find it there and there are limits to creative mechanicing. I've been gone for awhile now but if you can live off base and are thinking about it, check to see if the base FMO still loans out refrigerators, stoves and anything else you may need to set up house. If they don't it can get to be an expensive hassle. I knew one guy who knew he was only going to stay there for his one year so he stayed , month to month in a hotel. However, they had a shortage of on base billets then. Good luck and most importantly, have a good time off duty.

I agree dont take a car, you can get one there for plenty cheap.

And live off base it is the best way to go. Leave work behind and if you are brave enough to want to go out during exercises you pretty much have the town to urself, just be careful of curfew!

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Chip Councill
Former Osan Junkie 92-99

There are a lot cars that others are selling as they PCS. As far as living off-base, that would be up to you and what you are looking for. Right now the E-7 dorms are full and it is about a 3-week wait, so you would be staying at the Turumi in the mean time. I was told that Song Tan has been cleaned up quite a bit since 2000. Wanna go lady and juicy's are still a staple here, but prostitution has been cleaned up from what i'm told by friends stationed here back then.