Do you feel the 90 day suspension of the USFK readiness recall (aka, Curfew) will be lifted permanently, or will Soldiers mess it up?

CSM Carl Cunningham — Sun, 16 Jun 2019 00:09:12 -0400

Not everyone has been through this, but the 0100-0500 "curfew" is being temporarily suspended for 90 days to evaluate the possibility of lifted the curfew permanently. I wanted to get thoughts of anyone, but mostly former USFK personnel, on this topic.

Response by CSM Charles Hayden made Jun 16 at 2019 12:27 AM

CSM Charles Hayden — Sun, 16 Jun 2019 00:27:31 -0400

Odds are 9 to 5 that Soldiers will ‘mess it up’.

That is why a curfew was instituted. We must protect our Soldiers from contributing MPC, is it still used? to the local, illicit economy.

Besides American Soldiers must be “pure” and not partake of “undesirable contact with foreign nationals”.

Undesirable by whom? Ah -so GI! The politicians in DC!’. SGT Philip Roncari

Concertina was not an effective deterrent!!

Response by LTC Jason Mackay made Jun 16 at 2019 12:30 AM

LTC Jason Mackay — Sun, 16 Jun 2019 00:30:02 -0400

Was likely messed up by someone before you posted this

Response by SPC Private RallyPoint Member made Jun 16 at 2019 12:36 AM

SPC Private RallyPoint Member — Sun, 16 Jun 2019 00:36:25 -0400

Being junior enlisted in South Korea, its a lot of trust put on the soldiers. And far lord work for NCOs. I honestly feel bad for the NCOs that have to deal with the minor amount of soldiers that will have to be babysat and picked up by CPP. Ultimately, I believe it will come back. Possibly sooner than the 90 day period. It was lifted and put back in place years ago when the army was different and “more mature”. It will certainly happen with my generation.

Response by SSG Lyle O'Rorke made Jun 16 at 2019 12:51 AM

SSG Lyle O'Rorke — Sun, 16 Jun 2019 00:51:44 -0400

It will fail but I hope it doesn’t.

Response by 1SG Private RallyPoint Member made Jun 16 at 2019 3:38 AM

1SG Private RallyPoint Member — Sun, 16 Jun 2019 03:38:16 -0400

USFK can always say it was messed up and there are too many people to ever know if it was actually true or not.

Response by 1SG Private RallyPoint Member made Jun 16 at 2019 7:52 AM

1SG Private RallyPoint Member — Sun, 16 Jun 2019 07:52:08 -0400

Great question. It could be lifted permanently if the evaluation yields positive results. They wouldn’t even be doing the evaluation if they weren’t considering to permanently lift the curfew. The curfew was to provide a window for sobering before you would have to report in. What we’ve found was that Soldiers still we’re drinking they just weren’t off post drinking anymore, but in their rooms. So it just became a form of control over the Soldier not a ensurance that the Soldiers would be ready to go if the balloon dropped. I think now that the evaluation is going on with the suspension of the curfew there maybe more issues just because now they have that freedom of being out. And because of that they’re going to be out just to be out now. Which means they may drink and party more. Not all, but some will. We all know Soju is a problem because everyone is not a responsible drinker and some will over do it. But all may not so kudos to those.

***These are all my opinions from my experience. Thanks

Response by COL Private RallyPoint Member made Jun 16 at 2019 1:05 PM

COL Private RallyPoint Member — Sun, 16 Jun 2019 13:05:29 -0400

Expect it will be lifted. Joes will still get in trouble but it will be weighed against “should this have been prevented if there was a curfew?” Likely not. Short of something truly gruesome like rape or murder it will happen. So they will do what they can to permanently lift. IMHO.

Response by 1SG Private RallyPoint Member made Jun 16 at 2019 7:00 PM

1SG Private RallyPoint Member — Sun, 16 Jun 2019 19:00:37 -0400

SGM, when I was in Korea from 2009 to 2011, it was permanent for 11 months. If I recall correctly it was from September 2010 to August 2011. I seriously doubt it lasts.

Response by CW3 Private RallyPoint Member made Jun 16 at 2019 8:33 PM

CW3 Private RallyPoint Member — Sun, 16 Jun 2019 20:33:40 -0400

Never been to Korea, even in the decade plus I was on active duty. If there was a curfew, what did they do for senior personnel living on the local economy?

Response by SFC Private RallyPoint Member made Jun 18 at 2019 10:43 AM

SFC Private RallyPoint Member — Tue, 18 Jun 2019 10:43:31 -0400

I was there in 09 and 10 when it was lifted. There were no issues then while I was there. When I went back in 2015 it was back so somebody messed it up then, so it really is hard to tell. I know being there last the two biggest issues that were getting Soldiers in trouble were Curfew and underage drinking. So that could eliminate one reason people are losing rank.

Response by 1SG Thomas Jasak made Jun 21 at 2019 3:59 PM

1SG Thomas Jasak — Fri, 21 Jun 2019 15:59:52 -0400

SGM Cunningham. Good afternoon brother and great to see you back on RallyPoint and welcome back from Korea. I am glad to hear that the "big wigs" are given the Soldiers another chance by lifting the curfew again and hopefully the Soldiers will be adult about it and let the curfew be a thing of the past. Unfortunately my experience in Korea the 2 times that I was stationed there at Camp Hovey in 2005-2006 and 2011-2012 showed me that a "more than few" Soldiers would not be able to handle this freedom. Of course being that far North was a lot different than what my battle buddies experienced on other posts in Korea and hopefully things have gotten better for all since these time periods but I don't see this curfew being permanently lifted but hopefully I am wrong. I hope you and your family are doing great!!!

Response by CSM David Brock made Jul 19 at 2019 4:44 PM

CSM David Brock — Fri, 19 Jul 2019 16:44:00 -0400

SGM, I could only guess that when the situation is calm down it would be lifted. That depends on current events. Just a guess.

Response by LTC Jason Mackay made Jul 24 at 2019 6:20 PM

LTC Jason Mackay — Wed, 24 Jul 2019 18:20:50 -0400

CSM Carl Cunningham https://www.armytimes.com/news/your-army/2019/07/24/soldier-arrested-after-run-in-with-korean-police-during-curfew-suspension-test/?utm_campaign=Socialflow+ARM&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook.com&fbclid=IwAR1H5lLGCg2RQSjhj9P6N6e9fhopxr1qJWig45o8u68q-JizUWByexb0KKA

Soldier arrested after run-in with Korean police during curfew suspension test

The soldier is in U.S. custody, officials said.

Response by SGT Forrest Johnson made Aug 14 at 2019 7:59 AM

SGT Forrest Johnson — Wed, 14 Aug 2019 07:59:15 -0400

When I was there the last time in 1985 & 1986 the curfew did nothing to keep soldiers from messing up. For that matter the curfew was not in place to keep young soldiers from causing trouble but rather for unit readiness, you had to be signed back into your company area no later then 30 minutes after the curfew went into effect. Additional I do believe that Koreans were not allowed out on the roads after midnight as well, this was in the western corridor