What is Camp Casey Korea really like?

Question

hi, my boyfriend is also going there for his first duty assignment.I have several questions actually>

1.what is local transportation like?

2.how soon can i visit?

3. are there red zones our soldiers can't go to, and if so is it clearly marked?

my number one concern is his safety.I read all the stories about the s****s and stuff.Although i find it disgusting, it's everywhere our soldiers are.The only thing we can do is show our soldiers our love and support and wish them a safe return.

Answer 1

Local transportation is mostly in Korean, it will take some time for him to get used to it.  With the exception of the subway, everything is in Korean and English there.  You could visit anytime you want to, if you are an American citizen you only need a passport to come to Korea.  They will grant you a 30 day tourist visa, but make sure you have a round trip ticket to show them.  If you come on a one way they might have a problem with that.  There are red zones of which are listed in the barracks and CQ offices, unfourtuntely alot of the younger soldiers go to those places anyways.  Such as red light districts and nightclub areas.  The s****s that you've heard about are Filipino or Russian women that are trafficked into Korea for s*x and many of them end up marrying soldiers for the U.S. visa and citizenship.  Outside of Casey there is the "ville."  Slang for bars.  There are a good 100 foreign women from Southeast Asia and Russia that work there.  They are called juicy bars.  They will try to get you to buy them a drink or in some cases they'll ask for s*x.  Tell him to stay the h**l out of there, it is not the REAL Korea.  There is some decent shopping around there during the day, but at night it gets red.  Korea is one of the safest countries in the world statistically, and in the 6 years I've been here ( Army and then civilian) I've never really had any problems.  The funny thing is that most of the soldiers are their own enemies.  They mostly just fight each other and every now and then try to fight a Korean.  Koreans are tough, and I wouldn't recommend him to ever physically assault a Korean.  Tell him to explore and learn some of the language.  It can be a blast over here, however that depends on the choices you make.