My roommate Lucko looking goofy, as usual.
Caruso reading the last Harry Potter on the flight to Korea. I had started that morning and managed to finish it before we got there so he had to start next.
For some reason we all shaved our heads shortly after we got there, it was pretty hot!
High and floppy?
Phan was too short to really cut my hair very well, I had to bend down a lot.
Lucko's a little taller than I am so he finished it off.
More haircuting...
We slept in tents like these and it was pretty comfortable. Except the air conditioning was brutal, it was like sleeping in the Arctic. Better than the alternative, of course...
The frame of the tent before it's set up.
More framing
That day was really hot but it was still better than working in the office like we had to that point. It wasn't air conditioned and was easily 10 degrees warmer.
Um, teamwork?
Goofy, like I said...
Lt. Nell decided to pose.
I had to try my first flaming Dr. Pepper!
It was delicious, and potant!
MSgt Whitely had to have one after I did.
Sgt. Lankford in the background was too chicken, though.
Don't let his face fool you, he loved it.
Caruso smokes and this is an uninteresting poster. I'm sorry I uploaded it.
Pohang's downtown shopping area where they released the Marines when we had Liberty.
More shoppers
Unloading the trailers to set up the Group Opperations Center. There aren't a whole lot of pictures of this because we were busy the entire time, let me just say it was rediculous.
Heavy tent parts...
Etc.
The DMZ was an 8 hour bus ride away. Ehrhard and I slept most of the time while Caruso managed to read a bit.
The buses were very festive
The Joint Security Area. The blue buildings are UN controled, the silver are North Korean, the building in the background is North Korean and gets bigger and fancier as the South Korean counterpart grows
Ehrhard and the JSA
I never pose very well
The South Korean guards stand with part of their bodies covered by the building to provide a little bit of protection if attacked.
The US Army jointly defends the Area with South Korea. They also run the tour which has an exciting waiver that absolves the US government if you're killed by North Korea.
JSA
JSA Conference Room, where meetings are supposed to be held. Mostly the guards just stare at each other and break things.
On the right side of the ROK MP is North Korea
I'm in North Korea as I took this picture!
I'm in North Korea as this picture is being taken of me!
Now Joy's in North Korea!
It's a metapicture. I took a picture of South Korea getting her picture taken.
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This building is intended to host meetings and conferences between North and South. It's never been used.
We were always being watched and were instructed not make an gestures or wear clothing that could be used for propaganda by North Korea.
It looks like the guard has a rifle in this picture
But it may just be binos
These signs are the Military Demarkation Line
MDL sign
The Bridge of No Return. Prisoners at the end of the Korean War were brought here and allowed to choose which Korea they wanted to stay in, never to return to the other side.
Camp Bonifas, the US base maintaining the JSA, is named after an Army officer killed by North Korea during the Ax Murder Incident
These flags used to be on a shelf but two North Korean soldiers went into the conference room one day and defaced them. One blew his nose with the American Flag and the other shined his boot with the Republic of Korea Flag.
Those uniforms must have been hot...
always watching...
I'm not sure Dad would want to play here, hitting one off the green could be deadly!
Security tower
This 18 inch cement line shows the Military Demarkation Line between the conference huts in the DMZ. The MDL runs through the middle of the DMZ throughout the entire country and into the ocean.
What a fun job!
More guards...
This flagpole is approx 300 feet tall and has a flag that weighs around 600 pounds. It was built in response to a large South Korean flagpole and flag and the South Koreans decided not to try and match it. Supposedly Soldier of Fortune offered a million dollar bounty on square meter piece of the flag, but I wouldn't want to try it.
Bridge of No Return
Wire and mines were everywhere.
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The guest passes we recieved after signing out waiver
Mines!
This is the end of Infiltration Tunnel 3, one of several tunnels that North Korea dug under the DMZ to invade from. It was altered to look like a coal mine if it were ever discovered but nobody was fooled. Even though a defector told the ROK about the tunnel and gave a general idea of where it was, it took 3 years to actually discover and seal. Now it's a tour!
Land mines!
Barriers
The conference buidling again
Joy doesn't look thrilled to be leaving the DMZ.
None of these buildings have been used for their original purpose, they're just for show.
This statute is on the site of a former water garden. At one point a Soviet citizen on vacation in NK took a sprint across the line into SK seeking asylum. American and South Korean forces defended him from the the North Korean pursuit and he survived although there were some allied casualties.
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North Korea is where the trees go away. That's both for defensive purposes and because they burn a lot of wood for fuel. Most of their mountains are bare.
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Sunglasses help everybody look scarier
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The ROK soldiers guarding the DMZ are all taller, stronger, and smarter than the average soldier. They're definately taller than Joy!
Taller than me too, I must say.
These flowers were in memory of the Ax Murder Incident of 1976.
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