Fencing.Net - Your Guide to Fencing & Fencing Equipment

Soldier · 04-24-2005, 01:57 AM

So I'm getting sent TDY to Kunsan Air Base, South Korea this July. Any tips/warnings/wisdom to share?

CvilleFencer · 04-24-2005, 02:51 AM

I have been to Korea twice. Once to Kunsan and once to Osan. I got shot at by a guy stealing a fire truck at Osan and I got sliced up by a beer bottle in Kunsan. My advice for Korea is don't go! The fact that my next duty station would have been in Korea was the primary reason I didn't re-enlist. Saudi was a land of fun and joy comparatively. Well, torturing Marines with cold beer brought in on KC 117's from the comfort of my "hotel room" while they got to live in tents and betting on spider/scorpion wars was a lot more fun than getting sliced up with a beer bottle anyway. Of course the fact that I still get sand falling out of my ALICE pack when I turn it upside down and I was there like 13 years ago leads me to believe it probably seemed much worse while I was actually there...

Anyway, I hate Korea almost more than words. I still get queasy when I smell Kimchea. Don't eat anything sold from street vendors or in the markets, keep your money and ID in a very inaccessible place, remember that the marines in town from the DMZ on a three day pass are more nuts and unstable than normal and if your AFSC permits taking your M9 with you when you go off base is not a bad idea. Also anyone on a wheeled conveyance of any sort seemed to be actively aiming for pedestrians. If you can make friends with a ROK Marine they are hard like woodpecker lips and fun to party with. They also tend to know where to go and if they don't want to go somewhere you sure as hell don't, M9 or not. Soju is an interesting experience, as are Ammo bowls and you can pick up some cool knock off stuff in the markets. There is the usual collection of seedy bars, strip joints (if you value your humanity pass on the "gorilla tiger" shows) and overpriced trinket shops. I was told it was possible to get some great deals on custom made clothing and that there were cool things to see and do (was told this by a med tech while he was pulling glass out of my arm) but I never made it around to any of them. Of course the last time I was there was 93 so things might be better. As I recall things were a bit tense back then and it is/was the type of place that can change a lot in 12 years. Best of luck and try to have some fun. You will have to tell me what it is like nowadays.

Cipher · 04-24-2005, 02:55 AM

Well, that sucks. I was only in Kunsan for a very short while when I was in Korea. Most of my time was on Camp Howze, about 7 miles from the DPRK border. When I wasn't there I was either in Tong du chon by Camp Casey or in Seoul. In general the air bases are much better than the Army camps, but I saw some pretty crappy barracks on Kunsan. Stay out of the Kum unless you go upstream of the city, that is one dirty river.... actually I wouldn't even go in it upstream.

Find yourself some drinking buddies. It gets pretty boring over there. As far as the nationals go, a lot of the college aged people are not in favor of our presence, the older ones are usually better about it. Stay away from most of the other nationalities you see over there. The west coast is a staging point for a bit of illegal activity so a lot of the shadier looking foreigners are probably up to no good. I never had a problem with the Russians though. There are a few Russian neighborhoods in Seoul that are pretty nice. Learn some conversational Russian and you'll never have to buy your own drinks again. You have to put up with their funky techno music though.

If you get the chance go try some authentic korean food at a nice restaurant. You should get some Koreans to show you the best places. If there are any KATUSAs running around there snag one and have him show you around.

Cipher · 04-24-2005, 03:00 AM

Hehe, CF, you're not supposed to tell him all the details. Where else will he accumulate lots of groovy scars?

Zilverzmurfen · 04-24-2005, 03:51 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Soldier

So I'm getting sent TDY to Kunsan Air Base, South Korea this July. Any tips/warnings/wisdom to share?

Cool!

No tips or warnings from me, but I hope you'll get time to enjoy your stay, inbetween your duty hours!

L.O.A.S. · 04-24-2005, 05:16 AM

Make sure you know what type of meat you are eating. The vendors may not be able to speak english, but they know how to make animal sounds (Baaa, Moo, Oink, Woof-woof).

LordTofuDog-jnr · 04-24-2005, 06:52 AM

Don't even think about taking them on in any video games! Ever!

World of Warcraft, you're screwed.
Warcraft III or Starcraft, you're putting a nail in your own coffin.
Counter-Strike, high stakes now; loser commits seppoku.

Zelda · 04-24-2005, 08:13 AM

POSTCARD! I want a postcard! please??

You have my address......

VorpalCat · 04-24-2005, 10:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cipher

If you get the chance go try some authentic korean food at a nice restaurant. You should get some Koreans to show you the best places. If there are any KATUSAs running around there snag one and have him show you around.

True said!

My favorite description of drinking soju: 'My first night out they talked me into trying it. Didn't seem bad, in fact didn't seem to have any effect at all [said in a tone of disappointment]. Until I tried to stand up and realized I couldn't feel anything from my waist down.' Never had soju myself but this story stuck with me because <i>everyone</i> in the room agreed with it!

Oh, and watch out for some of the drinkie girls. ;-)

Zilverzmurfen · 04-24-2005, 11:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by L.O.A.S.

Make sure you know what type of meat you are eating. The vendors may not be able to speak english, but they know how to make animal sounds (Baaa, Moo, Oink, Woof-woof).

Woof-woof..? Ewww...

D+F+P=Hadouken! · 04-24-2005, 11:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zilverzmurfen

Woof-woof..? Ewww...

Meeeeoooowww.... yeah baby.

Cipher · 04-24-2005, 01:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zilverzmurfen

Woof-woof..? Ewww...

Yeah, it's called kaegogi (dog meat). There are actually dog farms around too. My unit used to run down this one road where there was one and the smell was about the worst thing I have ever encountered. I'll spare the details of why it smelled so bad because it is rather inhumane and disgusting.

Soldier · 04-24-2005, 08:18 PM

Thanks for the tips, all!

Unfortunately, since I'm a cadet, I don't have an M9 yet. I talked to an old friend of the family who went there, and I guess the -16 squadron's pretty tight there.

I have no intention of trying kimchea. We'll see what the rest of the food is like, though.

Don't have World of Warcraft, though I intend to remedy that shortly. Starcraft is too old school for me, Warcraft III is too new-fangled, and I can already tell you I really suck at Counterstrike - I'm actually bad luck. So, I'm not too worried about the videogame angle. Though if it came down to it, some of my old squadmates could probably hold their own in Counterstrike pretty well...

Any case, thanks for the info - I'll be sure to bear it in mind!

LUDICROUS · 04-25-2005, 01:30 AM

Tofu, can't forget Diablo II.

Starcraft SUCKS. GOD DAMN IT! HOW CAN YOU LIKE IT?

Also, koreans don't commit seppuku, as far as I know..

CvilleFencer · 04-25-2005, 01:34 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by LUDICROUS

Starcraft SUCKS. GOD DAMN IT! HOW CAN YOU LIKE IT?

Dirty ill-mannered pagan peasant. Starcraft is the best game to come out of Blizzard since Warcraft II. Mainly because they took one of the best games of all-time and added guns.

LUDICROUS · 04-25-2005, 01:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CvilleFencer

Dirty ill-mannered pagan peasant. Starcraft is the best game to come out of Blizzard since Warcraft II. Mainly because they took one of the best games of all-time and added guns.

Pssh, go play Heroes of Might and Magic II if you want a good old game, or Red Alert if you want something like SC. Man, those games ROCK. *wonders where his copies are*

I'm not much of a blizz fan, but D2 had me for a year or two. Glorified treasure hunt, yet I played it so much

CvilleFencer · 04-25-2005, 01:55 AM

My Fiancee still plays D1 and D2. I wonder if I am the only person left who still plays Alpha Centari and Masters of Orion II? Talk about some great old games. Hmm... I think we are thread jacking...

LordTofuDog-jnr · 04-25-2005, 02:18 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by LUDICROUS

Tofu, can't forget Diablo II.

Starcraft SUCKS. GOD DAMN IT! HOW CAN YOU LIKE IT?

Also, koreans don't commit seppuku, as far as I know..

Nah, they aren't anything special in D2, I on the other hand..... Then they nerfed the Paladin's Charge, then I lost 20 good points worth of skills, grrr.

Starcraft is good because it was the first game to have truly balanced teams. Ever. And the game play is just fun, until my idiot ally loses and I get more losses to my name.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Soldier

Don't have World of Warcraft, though I intend to remedy that shortly. Starcraft is too old school for me, Warcraft III is too new-fangled, and I can already tell you I really suck at Counterstrike - I'm actually bad luck. So, I'm not too worried about the videogame angle. Though if it came down to it, some of my old squadmates could probably hold their own in Counterstrike pretty well...

From what I hear WoW is terrible, monthly fees, massive lag, didn't even finish most of the game before it was released, terribly unbalanced characters. In fact, the entire of the Blizzard team behind Starcraft and Warcraft and Diablo left the company before WoW was made, so it's like it was made by another company.

They all left and made ArenaNet, one game has been made, Guild Wars, now that is coming out in 3 or so days and it is apparently far better than WoW. I'm getting it SO fast, it's MMORPG without the damn fees!

noodle · 04-25-2005, 02:29 AM

world of warcraft is easily the best mmorpg ever.
that being said, there's still plenty of problems, things that are lacking. it will be better eventually.

the big problem is that everyone bought it and started playing immediately upon release. it was completely sold out for a while. way more than blizzard expected, so they had to spend their time compensating with hardware and support, instead of developing the game as planned.

LordTofuDog-jnr · 04-25-2005, 02:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by noodle

world of warcraft is easily the best mmorpg ever.
that being said, there's still plenty of problems, things that are lacking. it will be better eventually.

the big problem is that everyone bought it and started playing immediately upon release. it was completely sold out for a while. way more than blizzard expected, so they had to spend their time compensating with hardware and support, instead of developing the game as planned.

thanks but no, the best MMORPG is far from an accurate description of Wow. Aside from the flocks of people who are leaving due to its woeful lack of PvP and massive amounts of level 60s just beating on level 15s it also has monthly fees. This does not make for a good game. And it still lags badly by all accounts, not to mention that 50% of characters are "evil" and the other 50% are "good" and the two groups can't mix.