Ugly American strikes again? Or not? Wonder why soldiers get a bad rap?

Police investigating Seoul taxi robberies question soldier

Stars and Stripes
Pacific edition, Wednesday, May 17, 2006

SEOUL A U.S. soldier was detained and questioned by South Korean police Sunday for allegedly robbing a taxi driver and allegedly attempting to rob a second driver in Seoul, according to police officials.

The soldier, who police identified only as Private W, was released to U.S. military custody after the initial round of questions, police said.

They said the soldier threatened a taxi driver with a knife and a chunk of brick around 11:20 a.m. Sunday in Seoul Gangnam district. After stealing 70,000 won (about $70) from the man, police said he hailed a second cab and attempted to rob that driver. Police said they detained him on the scene.

An 8th Army spokeswoman declined to name the soldier because he has not been charged. The spokeswoman said the soldier is back with his military unit, has been placed on legal hold and the Criminal Investigation Command and Korean National Police are conducting a joint investigation.

Seems like we are due for an assault like this once a month.

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Here are a few more idiots!

Stars and Stripes
Pacific edition, Wednesday, May 17, 2006
Soldier fined for lewd act on South Korean subway

A South Korean court has ordered a U.S. soldier to pay a fine of more than $1,000 for allegedly exposing himself last February aboard a subway train in Gwangju, authorities said Monday.

The February incident led senior leaders from the soldier’s battalion to visit the Gwangju mayor and apologize for the Feb. 5 incident.

Pfc. Joseph B. Freydenfeldt of Battery B, 2nd Battalion, 35th Air Defense Artillery Brigade, drew the sentence from Gwangju District Court on May 4 and was given one month to pay, a court official said. The court fined him 1 million South Korean won, or $1,077.

Freydenfeldt and two other soldiers involved in the incident also have been punished by their unit under Article 15 of U.S. military law, a spokeswoman for 8th U.S. Army in Seoul said Monday.

Gwangju police said Freydenfeldt exposed himself while the other two laughed, made sexually explicit motions and took digital pictures as Freydenfeldt sat next to a female passenger.

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This is a follow up to the incident which actually happened on Feb 5. About the time the category III (low enlistment score) troops started to show up in Korea...
Coincidence?

What is it with Soldiers doing stupid sh*t and taking pictures? (evidence)...Drop them in a Korean Jail. No mercy, there's far too many incidents lately. Send a message, a hard no nonsense message.
And yes, I'm an active duty Soldier with 24 years, and much time served many tours in the ROK from 83 until now...

Welcome UJB!

I agree with you. I think a better method would be to stop sending people 18-19 years old to Korea. I know that may be difficult, but with the drawdown from 37,000 troops to 20,000 or so it may be easy.

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Maybe the Army wants to send them here first and get them trained some before sending them to battle, where other's lives may depend upon their warfighting skills?

This would lead to a shortage of young, junior enlisted. So guys who are now junior NCOs who have done there time sweeping the motor pool and doing all the shi+ details, would be right back there doing that stuff again. That would be really bad for morale.

I was under the impression that Army guys did not want to come to Korea. I know in the Air Force most people do not want to go to Korea. This is why they offer $300-$400 a month to stay for two years. They have to pay extra just to fill in the slots!

It is standard practice throughout the Air Force to restrict certain places/jobs to rank. I know at JICPAC in Hawaii you had to be a prior-enlisted LT or they would not send you.

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Of course, Korea never was a popular PCS destination. But knowing that there's a good chance you'll be spending one or two years of your "State-side" tour in Iraq has made Korea a mighty attractive duty assignment in recent years.

As far as offering $300-$400 a month to stay for and extra year - the Army gives a guy an extra $3,600 - $4,800 to stay an extra year and it saves many, many times that amount by not having to ship the soldier who is here back to the States, and it also doesn't have to ship the soldier that was to replace that guy to Korea. When you PCS to Korea, you can move your family to a designated location in the States - there's another several thousand that the Army saves.

And what about the value of having a soldier who already knows the ropes staying for another year? Can't really put a monetary value on that - but it's a very valuable for the command to have soldiers like that around.

It's definitely a win-win situation.