2nd Infantry Division 1st Battalion, 503rd Infantry
I am "in-processing" into my new unit in Korea and I have gotten my wish - I am going to get some work as combat medic in a line unit in a light infantry unit. The way it works is that medics rotate from the troop medical clinic, to infantry platoons, and in the evacuation unit. So I hope that I'll be working with the "Joes" at least a third of a time. In-processing is going painfully slow but I suppose it could be worse, I almost went to the 2nd Battalion, 9th Infantry who I was told like to stay in the field - a cook said that what I heard about staying in the field no more than 90 days a year was "bullshit. 2-9th goes to the field 6 months out of the year!" Also, I am in Camp Casey, the center of activity in 2 ID.
So now to the interesting part, the gossip! I'll start with everybody's favorite topic, sex. I'll also finish with sex since I don't have anything else I am interested in saying. Males are at a sexual disadvantage in South Korea since the majority of women want to be paid. There are the "juicy girls", pretty girls who work in bars and won't give you the time of day until you buy them a drink - a very expensive drink. Then there are the conventional prostitutes from various locales - Korea, the Philippines, China, Russia, and Australia! The Australian women are there because of a lack of Australian men - the ratio is ten to one - and Australian men tend to treat women poorly. So Australian women work as whores in South Korea to meet American G.I.'s.
Just because a woman doesn't demand money up front doesn't mean she doesn't expect something in return. Korean women hook up with soldiers all the time in hopes of scoring that magical ticket to America along with citizenship and benefits that go along with being an Army wife. And that still leaves the Army women... There is a saying in Korea that male soldiers use with females about being a "queen for a year". If they used the words "ho' for a year" they might be telling the truth. So the story is that everyone is having sex in Korea and getting in trouble for it. (except me!) The quickest way to become an E-5 in Korea is to come as an E-6. The army is cracking down on prostitution and has always looked askance at NCO's and officers having carnal relations with privates. Yet soldiers risk demotion and public humiliation for sex with a lower ranking soldier. Natural human folly I suppose.
Those of you in the audience concerned about my innocence and the corrupting influence of desperate Korean women selling their bodies rest assured - I refuse to have sex with a woman who does not speak English as her first language.
