I miss my Ford Windstar and we sold it before we moved and bought our Kia from some guy who was leaving when we got here. You can find a pretty cheap car here if you want, ours was $500.00.

Navgirl,

Thank you for the information. I am an Army E7 and it doesn't make that much difference for on-post housing selection in Hannam Village according to Yongsan Housing Office. They said that they will "try" to put my dependents in one of low-rises but there's possibility that my dependents will reside in high-rise depends on the availability of senior housing units. Well, since I will be working at 2nd ID, my dependents are "only" authorized two bedroom unit even though one of housing office official said they will "try" -again- to assign us three bedroom unit.

Since our concurrent travel was approved, they must put us in on-post housing as soon as possible. I don't think they will make us stay in DHL more than 10 days and I must report to Camp Stanley as soon as our housing situation solved.

Good luck on housing hunting in Uijongbu. Before my assignment was changed from CRC to Camp Casey, I was looking into apartments in Uijongbu. If you need a realtor, contact Jane at jane@juliesrealty.com. She was the one who was recommended by CRC housing office. I know Julie's Realty in Yongsan is off-limit for USFK personnel but one in Uijongbu is okay (so far).

That's kind of funny how housing will "try" to get you a 3 BR. The one right below us has been empty since the beginning of Feb and I know another 3 BR unit will become empty next month because I know the family in it now and they are moving to Ft. Drum, both are exactly like my unit. The one across the hall from us was empty for 3 months last year and it was move in ready after a week or so. So when the date of your arrival is closer I will let you know if any other units are empty, don't know if that will help because they could be under repair or whatever but the housing people usually get those units cleaned up and painted pretty quick.

I showed up in Korea in 2001 command sponsored with an assignment in 2ID. The Replacement Detachment at Yongsan said I would be given a whole extra day at Yongsan to help my family. So instead of leaving the next day, I didn't have to leave until the day after next.

The conversation went something like this:

Me: Only two days? What about my family?

RD: What about them?

Me: I need to stay for a few extra days to help them get settled.

RD: Don't worry. They'll be just fine.

Me: But...

RD: No buts. You're shipping out the day after tomorrow.

Of course, rules change all the time...and maybe they no longer do this. But even though an assignment in 2ID is not nearly as much of a hardship as it was in years past...old traditions in 2ID die hard. They still likes to brag that it's a hardship tour and you're there to soldier ~ not worry about family...just suck it up, pick up your dufflebag and start humping...

And remember...you're going to be one of the very few people up there who is command sponsored. The folks who don't get to see their families for the entire tour aren't going to be very sympathetic about your family needing you to help them get settled.

Willy, you are exactly right! So far, there's no sponsorship is existed. It took forever to get an answer for the quetion on anything about this PCS and that's why we rely on this forum more than our non-exist sponsor.

I am the one of very few Soldiers in 2nd ID who bring CS family with and not many of them up there try to understand our situation since they are here without their family. I don't even know why my command sponsorship/concurrent travel was even approved if there's no system to support my family. I am just doing my best to do whatever to help out my family.

There is a family support group for command sponsored 2ID families living in the Yongsan area. It's primarily made up of spouses of O-5s and above...and whether any of them will ever admit it or not...it's a rather cliquey bunch ~ that tends to give a cold shoulder to the small group of wives of more junior ranking soldiers.

There very well may have been /or is such a clique of Spouses living in the Yongsan area. I doubt that they would be of any value to newbies. Last year a colonel from Uijongbu had his family here in Itaewon. His Korean wife was pregnant and he came down on the weekends. Nice fellow. She was close to the 121 hospital here.
Individual situations cause different decisions as to where to live. We have lived at Osan when there was no hospital and no fancy apartments. We lived at Uijongbu when our daughter was three; we had a small apartment and cooked on a coleman camping stove for a year. The only commissary was at Yongsan. There was no subway, only a bus. Things are a quantum leap better now.
Some wives can readily adapt to spartan conditions. As long as everyone's health is good. Korean wives and Filipino wives are the majority of spouses living north of Seoul. Many American wives will not be as readily adaptable to the area, in my personal opinion based on experience. If they can make their own entertainment and are content staying home 5 days a week with little exposure to the comforts of the USA, give it a try. If you want schools, shopping, hospital and going out with the girls all the time, stay within walking distance of Yongsan. There are lots of things to do and a Family Support Center (Army Community Services) will help in all sorts of family matters. Look around and decide for yourself. If you are adventurous, want to speak Korean and join in with the local customs- go for it. Today I met two female soldiers in Shin Youngsan station who couldn't find anyone who spoke English-until they spotted me. They wanted to know how or where to change their dollars for won so they could ride to Dongduchon. I gave them 5000 won for $5, and my subway map with instructions on how to change from line 4 to line 1 at Seoul Yuk. Don't leave any Post without a map and won, and your home and destination already written out on a paper in Korean! As far as sponsorship goes- most units are terrible!! It is a sad and disheartening thing. But it is true. As soon as you get orders, write your commander and ask for a caring sponsor who will NOT be leaving Korea the day before you arrive!

The reasons I HAVE to leave my CS dependents in area II are:

1. Since our CS was approved in area II, I heard that there's no way to relocate my dependents to area I, for now.

2. During the research of family support system in 2nd ID area I couldn't find any due to the fact that the area is still considered as the NCS area. They just start giving CS slots to a few (enlisted) Soldiers in condition of leaving Soldiers' dependents in area II. Even though I get approved to move my family closer to my base in the North later on, I am not comfortable with leaving my family in the location without family support system; my wife is still considered as a new military spouse and she has a new-born baby to take care of during weekdays.

3. Due to the frequent change of the unit, it will be better to leave my dependents in one location where they can settle down. My duty location has been changed after we made the arrangements with local transportation office here and now I am spending extra time to change it again.

Well, (finally) I have a sponsor; however, he is the one that I am replaicing. No reply from him for a week since my intial email. I guess he is too busy with his OWN outprocessing.

I am so glad that I found this forum; we are getting so much information from you guys, which we should receive from my sponsor. I tip my hat off to you all!

I'm going to be living in Area I in Uijongbu in an apt very close to Camp Stanley. Not sure what the procedures were for my husband to get OHA however, I think that we should be just fine. Just as long as I don't have to leave my house much.. LMAO...

If you come here with an open heart and open mind, I think your wife will be ok. I don't know much about military wives and being cliquey but I assure you I could never be that way and laugh at the one's that ARE like that.

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