American crosses North Korean border

[Hawkmoon]

I'm waiting for...

Is that the chubby dictator's little sister?

[dogmush]

Private second class?

Yes. The junior enlisted ranks have changed since I was in the Army during Vietnam. Back then, Private (E-1) and Private 9E-2) had no stripe. Somewhere along the way, what had been the single PFC (E-3) stripe was  assigned to the newly created rank of Private Second Class (E-2), and the Private First Class stripe got a rocker.

It still is just "Private".  E1 and E2 are both just Privates, with E-3 being Private First Class.  This is laid out in Tables 1-1 and 1-2 of Army Regulation 600-20

[sumpnz]

I’m betting this dude was on the wrong tail of the intelligence quotient distribution curve to start with.  Factor in alcohol and someone probably telling him that the Norks treat western defectors like royalty (part of their propaganda) and he probably figured he could escape the consequences of his bad decisions by making a colossally worse one.

[Hawkmoon]

It still is just "Private".  E1 and E2 are both just Privates, with E-3 being Private First Class.  This is laid out in Tables 1-1 and 1-2 of Army Regulation 600-20

Yes, but Private E-2 is now abbreviated PV2, and they get a stripe. When I was in (shortly after Charlemagne and the signing of the Magna Carta) Privates E-2 were still slick-sleeve and the abbreviation for E-1 and E-2 was PVT.

Of course, back then the Specialist grades went all the way up to E-7. Now it's limited to Spec 4.

[230RN]

dogmush unparalleled:

"Young idiots will spend money, and girls will pretend to like them for money.  I imagine there were some hot young Celts near Hadrian's Wall raking in the Denarius (Denari?) and there will be hot young Martian girls at the frontier stations willing to spend time with Colonial Marines in exchange for credits."

Sooth, sooth, verily truth.

Thanks for the belly laugh.

Terry, 230RN

[JTHunter]

I'm waiting for...

Yeah, those Orion slave girls can be very influential. 

[WLJ]

The U.S. Army soldier who crossed into North Korea earlier this week "may not have been thinking clearly," Army Secretary Christine Wormuth said.

Ya think?

https://www.foxnews.com/us/army-secretary-soldier-crossed-north-korea-may-not-have-been-thinking-clearly

[French G.]

I get the sense that you lowly non veterans have never really had many up close encounters with the elusive North American junior enlisted ****bag. They are truly special and I had several of the Seamen/Airman Timmy work for me. Faking injury, real injury on purpose, going UA back home to the Rez, lack of any hygiene etc. This dude didn’t surprise me in the least.

[Hawkmoon]

I get the sense that you lowly non veterans have never really had many up close encounters with the elusive North American junior enlisted ****bag. They are truly special and I had several of the Seamen/Airman Timmy work for me. Faking injury, real injury on purpose, going UA back home to the Rez, lack of any hygiene etc. This dude didn’t surprise me in the least.

Too true.

I spent less than a year at a CONUS artillery unit and, in that time, I was involved in tracking down at least three AWOLs. And I wasn't an MP -- First Sergeant and the CO wanted to give them a break and try to get them back before we formally reported them as AWOL on the morning report.

[K Frame]

He crossed willingly?

They can have him.

[WLJ]

He crossed willingly?

They can have him.

Reported by a witness laughing as he went.

Leave him there to enjoy the freedoms of a non-capitalist state

[Hawkmoon]

Reported by a witness laughing as he went.

Leave him there to enjoy the freedoms of a non-capitalist state

I wonder if he's still laughing.

[Ron]

Unless he was already on their payroll I suspect he is in for a not so pleasant surprise.

[WLJ]

Red flags popped up early

Weeks earlier, on Sept. 4, while serving at Camp Bonifas near the southern end of the Demilitarized Zone that separates North and South Korea, King skipped out on his daily formation and took off to a nearby city, ABC News reported.

When the base managed to reach King, who served as a cavalry scout, he “refused to return to post or America,” a U.S. official told the outlet.

Travis King told officials he wouldn't 'return to America' nearly a year before fleeing to North Korea
https://nypost.com/2023/07/22/travis-king-showed-signs-of-defecting-before-fleeing-to-n-korea/

It remains publicly unclear what exactly motivated King to flee, though an official said that last year he said he would not return to America.

"I'm sure that he's not being treated very well," McCaul said Sunday. "I think it was a serious mistake on his part, and I hope we can get him back."

'I worry' about 'price' to get soldier Travis King back from North Korea, McCaul says
https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/worry-price-soldier-travis-king-back-north-korea/story?id=101581768

Which raises the question
If they already knew this why didn't they make arraignments for him to be escorted back? Sounds like someone dropped the ball.

[Hawkmoon]

Which raises the question
If they already knew this why didn't they make arraignments for him to be escorted back? Sounds like someone dropped the ball.

I read an article that said the escorts weren't allowed through airport security because they weren't going to be flying.

How many ways are there to spell D-U-M-B?

[WLJ]

Which raises the question
If they already knew this why didn't they make arraignments for him to be escorted back? Sounds like someone dropped the ball.

I read an article that said the escorts weren't allowed through airport security because they weren't going to be flying.

How many ways are there to spell D-U-M-B?

Yeah I'm aware of that thus why I was wondering why they didn't make arraignments for someone(s) to go with him considering his pass statements.

[dogmush]

I can promise you there was a GS-9 somewhere in the command that was like "We're not paying for an extra ticket there and back. We'll just pick him up at security in the states."

[WLJ]

I can promise you there was a GS-9 somewhere in the command that was like "We're not paying for an extra ticket there and back. We'll just pick him up at security in the states."

How did that work out?
They already knew this guy was flaky and a flight risk. Granted they probably didn't think he would run to N.K.

Now how much is Biden going to pay to get this "American hero" back? Please note the quotes

[Hawkmoon]

I can promise you there was a GS-9 somewhere in the command that was like "We're not paying for an extra ticket there and back. We'll just pick him up at security in the states."

I don't understand why he was being flown home on a commercial flight at all. With the continuing U.S. military presence in South Korea, we must have military planes flying in and out of the country on a regular basis. In retrospect, it would have been a lot wiser to send him and his escorts back on an empty cargo plane.

[dogmush]

I don't understand why he was being flown home on a commercial flight at all. With the continuing U.S. military presence in South Korea, we must have military planes flying in and out of the country on a regular basis. In retrospect, it would have been a lot wiser to send him and his escorts back on an empty cargo plane.

Without going into a ton of detail about Joint operations, it's not that easy to just throw a joe on a C17.  One, there are no "empty" cargo planes flying around the Pacific.  Two, this kid operationally belongs to Commander, US Forces Korea, but depending on exactly how he was deployed, his Administrative Control could still be running through 1st Cav back at Hood.  Neither of those commanders own any C17s. 

The folks that DO own those planes report to Air Mobility Command, and they are who decided who and what get's on an airplane based on the USINDOPACOM Commander's priorities and AMC's airframe availability.  Which is why we have SOPs for who and what get grey tail transport.  SOP for personnel entering and exiting theater is hit a theater gateway, and fly commercial.  There was nothing in this kid's backstory that I have seen yet that comes anywhere near close enough to warrant the General Officer override of that policy.*

And all that is assuming there were actually C17's leaving Korea and going anywhere near Texas, which is not a sure thing at all.  As far as I can tell from the stories, while he was flying home to face pending UCMJ, that could just be an Article 15.  I have seen nothing saying he was in any kind of custody for the trip.

How did that work out?
They already knew this guy was flaky and a flight risk. Granted they probably didn't think he would run to N.K.

Now how much is Biden going to pay to get this "American hero" back? Please note the quotes

I didn't say the GS-9 was right, I just said that's probably what happened.  For all we know his Company and immediate Chain of Command wanted to escort their crazy kid back, and theat exception to policy request hit Brigade's fund manager and stopped dead at that staff.  The Commander assumed risk he didn't even know about.  We need a "Sarcastic, dry humor" smiley.


*I say that as a person that has had to get those GO overrides and walk them through CDDOC to get AMC to put 5 people and their *expletive deleted*it on an airplane in Afghanistan.

[HeroHog]

Strap him under a wing or to the landing gear... It'll be fiiiiine.

[French G.]

The military seems very ad hoc when it comes to stuff like minor offender transportation and also commercial travel. I have been involved with both, nothing like dragging a guy all over Norfolk in shackles. Taking him shopping even so he has the required items for the brig. I was an aircraft mechanic, not a prison guard.

[dogmush]

In my Experience, for minor stuff It's the Unit's responsibility to get them there, so whomever is standing around at the Company Area that day get's "Hey You"d into transport.

I guess MP's are too busy writing tickets for jogging with earbuds in to bother with transporting anyone short of a felon.

[WLJ]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RktX4lbe_g4

[Hawkmoon]

The newest update I could find was from July 24: https://www.cnn.com/2023/07/24/asia/unc-conversation-begins-north-korea-travis-king-intl-hnk/index.html

It doesn't tell us much.