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I was directed to drop him at the airport. I wasn’t directed to watch him in case he made a break for it.
Exactly. He made the decision on his own to leave the airport and join that tour. One could say it was premeditated, it's pretty obvious he knew in advance what he was going to do. I would hope they wouldn't hold the escorts responsible.
Exactly. He made the decision on his own to leave the airport and join that tour. One could say it was premeditated, it's pretty obvious he knew in advance what he was going to do. I would hope they wouldn't hold the escorts responsible.
I would guess that if they carried out their orders, they won't be blamed.
4). True, I don’t know where he was let off. My assumption is that they escorted him to immigration, but they might’ve just dropped him at the airport like I did in my story.
The news article I read said he was in fact only escorted to customs, they watched him go through, then there was nothing to stop him from exiting and hoping on a bus to go wherever he wanted.
The news article I read said he was in fact only escorted to customs, they watched him go through, then there was nothing to stop him from exiting and hoping on a bus to go wherever he wanted.
Yes. The story I read was that after he went into immigration, he told the Koreans a story where his passport was missing, so they escorted him back out into the main airport to correct the situation.
Perhaps he concocted a story where he said someone is bringing him his passport, I can only guess at that part.
One thing is odd though, everyone knows that active duty military don’t need a passport to enter and exit South Korea, all you need is CAC and orders. Of course, the airport officials don’t know who is military and who is a normal tourist until you show them your documents or passport.
Anyway, once he was left alone in the main airport, he likely bought a bus ticket and got out of dodge. There are so many busses coming and going at once from Inchon, it’s easy to get lost quickly.
One thing that impresses me though is how he was able to take a bus out of Inchon, go to some random place, and then somehow link up with a DMZ tour bus. I could be wrong, but I don’t think DMZ tours would pick people up at Inchon and then start the tour. That’s weird, you fly in to Inchon and then start a tour immediately? I always thought people started those tours from other places, not the international airport.
Those tours don’t just go to the JSA, they make multiple stops at different sight seeing places around the DMZ.
So my best guess is that he stumbled across the tour bus by accident, not by design. Then once he was on the tour bus, he of course wound up at the JSA.
I’m thinking it was a spur of the moment decision. He ran away from his flight, jumped on a bus, stumbled across a tour, and then as he was standing on the steps overlooking North Korea and seen how easy it would be to walk briskly over there, and inspiration hit him. This is a way out of his troubles, at least momentarily. He won’t have to go back to CONUS to get kicked out of the Army, and he won’t have to face his family and explain to them he failed as a soldier.
I think it was an impulsive decision, no thought went into it, and he bolted to the border.
Can you imagine being a North Korean soldier, bored out of your mind, doing duty on the DMZ, just another day looking at the all the tour groups come by, and all of a sudden, some black dude crosses the border? They haven’t seen this kind of action in decades, haha!
I would guess that if they carried out their orders, they won't be blamed.
Really, everyone involved except the runner did nothing wrong, they followed their orders, I guess no one really expected this guy to do what he did. Because North Korea does not have much of an illegal immigrant problem, as this guy is finding out now, it's not that great a place to live.
I would say he's solved his own problem as far as the Army is concerned, they can and should just close out his files, and honestly I don't see any point in a debrief or changing SOP. This is such a freak happening that it's not going to happen again regardless of what you do or don't do. I think he was handled the way this sort of thing is normally handled, and can't blame the guy who dropped him off at the airport, simply carrying out his orders as stated, nor the guy who gave the order, he was simply handling a personnel problem and no doubt "by the book".
I have some experience in root cause analysis, and while I have not properly studied this event, I would expect the root cause to be "This guy simply flipped out!"
I sincerely hope the Army does not waste a single dime trying to get him back. He will only cost the Army and the Nation money, money for a trial if necessary, money to keep him in the brig, and when let out at the end of his sentence I hardly see him becoming a pillar of his community, rather I see him doing new bonehead things as a dishonorably discharged "veteran" of sorts.
Let me address your points as you appear to be lost.
Not lost, but thank for playing.
Quote:
Originally Posted by WK91
1) anybody can come and go from Inchon Airport. There are civilian busses leaving to go anywhere in the country. They are very cheap to ride, too.
Yes, you are right.
Quote:
Originally Posted by WK91
2) If you aren’t aware of the rotator that lands at Osan, I don’t know where to go from here? There’s an AMC counter at SeaTac if you want to do some research.
Nope, but I'm Army, I have never heard anyone (in my 21+ years in the Army talk about a rotator?). You're AF, but I'm going to assume that you mean MAC flights?
Quote:
Originally Posted by WK91
3) Have you ever flown out of Inchon? I have many times. They don’t allow non-passengers into immigration.
I have, stationed at USAG Humphreys 99 - 2000 and 2005 - 2009
Quote:
Originally Posted by WK91
4). True, I don’t know where he was let off. My assumption is that they escorted him to immigration, but they might’ve just dropped him at the airport like I did in my story.
So, when you go through customs at Inchon on outbound flight you should be stuck, because when you are on an inbound fight to Inchon you also go through customs, yes? So, how did he get out of the airport?
Quote:
Originally Posted by WK91
5). I’m not going to go into detail on my similar experience in the Middle East. If you don’t want to believe it happened, that’s fine, I don’t care. But to sum up, I dropped someone off at the curb of an international airport in the Middle East, who was met at his destination and taken into custody. I will not elaborate further, sorry. I don’t feel like this is a proper forum to discuss intricate details of a situation like that.
Don't need to, but as you stated earlier you did what you were told to do.
Quote:
Originally Posted by WK91
6) I’m a retired MSgt and I did 3 separate tours in Korea, all at Osan, for a total of 7 years in country. The first year I was there was 1997, and the last year I was there was 2013.
I'm a retired SFC, total time in Korea, 5 years at USAG Humphreys (2 tours).
Nope, but I'm Army, I have never heard anyone (in my 21+ years in the Army talk about a rotator?). You're AF, but I'm going to assume that you mean MAC flights?
I have, stationed at USAG Humphreys 99 - 2000 and 2005 - 2009
So, when you go through customs at Inchon on outbound flight you should be stuck, because when you are on an inbound fight to Inchon you also go through customs, yes? So, how did he get out of the airport?
Don't need to, but as you stated earlier you did what you were told to do.
I'm a retired SFC, total time in Korea, 5 years at USAG Humphreys (2 tours).
He told the Inchon airport workers that he had lost his passport, they bought his story, so they escorted him back to the main terminal and let him go to work it all out somehow. By that time, his military escorts were long gone.
What would’ve been funny is if they had stopped to eat before they left as Inchon has some good food options, and while they were eating, they seen this dude walk by.
Also, the “rotator” is a nickname for the Patriot Express, which is a scheduled weekly flight that brings people from CONUS to PACAF bases. It stops in Japan and Korea.
Who rides it? Everyone. Active duty of all services, dependents, Space A, Space R, TDY personnel. I’ve ridden on the rotator and there were many active duty Army personnel on there too when we landed at Osan. I’m surprised you didn’t ride it when you went to do your tour at Humphreys. But many people also fly commercial into Inchon as the rotator tends to fill up, or people prefer to fly commercial and they are high enough rank to make it happen.
But I’m certain that if they knew he was a flight risk, they would’ve put him on the rotator out of Osan. But they might’ve also had a different thought, which was to get him out of Korea as quick as possible. Planes fly everyday from Inchon to CONUS, but the Patriot Express only runs 1 or 2 days a week. So it probably never occurred to them he’d tried to flee, and anyway, as long as someone was there to make sure he went into immigration, nobody would’ve thought he would try to lie his way back out and then run.
If he's dishonorably charged, he is no longer considered a veteran.
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