A soldier stationed in South Korea has landed himself exactly where every soldier in South Korea doesn’t want to be — on the commanding general of U.S. Forces Korea’s radar.
A message posted by U.S. Army WTF Moments on July 20th says that an “underage soldier” assaulted a taxi driver and stole the vehicle after a night of drinking, resulting in him getting tased. Per the message, the soldier is facing “charges of Assault, Robbery, DUI, and underage drinking,” but public affairs officer for the 2nd Infantry Division, Lt. Col. Martyn Crighton, told Task & Purpose it is still under investigation.
“We are aware of the incident involving a U.S. Soldier and Korean National Police in Itaewon last weekend and are cooperating fully with all legal authorities,” Crighton said. “We take this matter very seriously. We are committed to ensuring our Soldiers obey Korean laws, U.S. military regulations and remain good neighbors with the Korean community.”
Gen. Robert Abrams tweeted on Sunday that U.S. troops in Korea are “Ambassadors who represent our country on and off duty,” reminding the soldiers under his command that they are “guests here.”
https://twitter.com/DogFaceSoldier/status/1152863876536401920
This comes just weeks after Gen. Robert Abrams decided to temporarily lift troops’ curfew in Korea.
Things had been going smoothly, according to Brig. Gen. Patrick Donahoe, who told Task & Purpose in a previous interview earlier this month that it had thus far been a “pleasant surprise” with the curfew lifted.
Leadership in Korea has been on a mission to improve the quality of life for soldiers by cutting through the bureaucratic red tape so often installed by the U.S. military — one of those steps was suspending the curfew.
So in other words: Don’t fuck it up for everyone else.
Editor’s Note: This story has been updated to include comment from Lt. Col. Martyn Crighton.