Excerpt
Another short tour in Korea completed; my third one in the Hermit Kingdom, the Land of the Morning Calm. I heard somewhere that after five tours you’re eligible for Korean citizenship. I doubt if I’ll ever get that far but this one has really flown. Or, is it that perhaps I have just learned how to cope with these tours?
Some guys don’t, you know. Some of them come here bitter about being separated from their family and they stay bitter to the end, griping about every thing around them. And then, when their tour is over, they leave here still bitter and they return home bad-mouthing the country and its people.
Other guys become work-a-holics and never seem to leave their barracks or office or motor pool, or wherever, unless absolutely necessary. They never venture outside their compound and get to know and enjoy the people and the country. It’s a shame for they don’t know what they are missing. It’s a beautiful country and the people are more than willing to share with you their ancient and exotic culture.
Still others turn to alcohol and the excessive use of the stuff seems to be their crutch to help them endure and make it through the year long tour. Everyone probably has one or two now and then at the club at night or at the frequent weekend gatherings amongst friends which seems to be somewhere every week end. But some just can’t seem to get enough of the booze.
Then there are others, mostly the younger guys, away from home for the first time who turn to another commodity readily available to them--sex.
Around every installation and in all of the large cities the girls abound. They offer themselves to the young GI for a reasonable fee for a quickie in a nearby hotel or overnight in their own small house or hooch, as they are commonly called. If the girl is lucky she may even latch on to one of the young guys as her Yobo, a sweetheart, on a more or less permanent basis for a monthly monetary fee. That fee is usually bolstered by whatever she can coax out of him in PX goodies that she sells on the black-market. Occasionally these liaisons end happily and sadly some end in tragedy.
In my job as a CID Special Agent I mingle with the gripers, the recluses, the drunks, and the young, over-sexed would-be Casanovas. I also get to associate with the people and, on a professional and not personal basis, enjoy the company of the young ladies and with the real power brokers in any GI Ville, the Mama-sans. God love them, these old ladies are a crafty bunch. They will pretend to become your friend; might even resort to outright bribery; probe you for any possible weakness they can employ against you; or lure you into an indefensible position from which they can exploit you. You must stay on your guard at all times and understand where they are coming from. It becomes a game of matching wits and you need to know every trick in the book. But, getting to know them is vital and if they like you, they can be very friendly and your association professionally productive for both of you. On the other hand, if they don’t like you, as I said, guard your back at all times.
Unfortunately, when a crime is committed either on the compound or in the local community involving the military, I have no choice but to set aside any friendships and call the shot whichever way it happens to turn out. At times this can be a very narrow and hard road to walk and on occasion it may even require the magical skills of a Houdini, even the Wisdom of Solomon.
Oh, well, to each his own! It’s a short tour of thirteen months. You’re here, accept it. You are not going anywhere for the next year so make the most of your time. Get yourself a short timers’ calendar and as the days pass mark them off as you await the arrival of your turtle. Your turtle? That’s your replacement, so called because it seemed to take him so damn long to get here.
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