A-Town

Behold. A-Town in all its glory.

America Town has quite the history. At the expense of going into great detail and wasting your time, read this related link as to its background and recent happenings.

Kalani O'Sullivan's page on A-Town




Alan and Brookie made it down from Osan yesterday and wanted to go to A-Town to eat dinner. I figured it would be fun since I hadn't been out there in months, and I consider Alan and Brookie both to be really cool friends. We ate dinner at Mr Choe's BBQ and then went to a country bar where we shot a few rounds of pool and had a few drinks.




A-Town used to be fun. I emphasize the words used to. I came to Korea originally in 1995 and remember when you could live down in A-Town and not get hassled by Town Patrol or anyone from Wing Leadership because you were raising hell and making noise. So long as you weren't throwing fists or breaking anything, it was a wildman's paradise. I even had an apartment in A-Town the final months I was here for my first visit which was awesome since I could go home after a night of drinking and crash without having to catch the drunk bus back to base and fumble for my ID. Those were definitely some good times.




Now look at the place. Completely vacant, especially on a 4-day weekend. This photo was taken around 9pm last night and considering curfew is 1am, this place would normally be hopping with people. Instead of partying here, people now go to Kunsan City instead to avoid the over-bearing Town Patrol where they can let down their hair and not worry about Mom and Dad looking over their shoulders every 5 minutes.

When I returned here last year I was hassled by the cops 3 separate times within a 10 minute period. I was out on my Green Bean with my friend Joey, when the first set of cops told me it was time to leave - curfew wasn't for another 45 minutes, and instead of arguing with the dude, I simply said "Okay" and started heading back to catch the drunk bus back to base.

I tried getting on the bus, but a second cop told me I had to wait for the next bus since it was completely full. Bullshit. There was plenty of standing room in the aisles, only he was feeling pushy and arrogant behind his badge. "Okay, whatever. I'll wait for the next bus then" I concluded and waited in the corner with a bunch of other drunk dudes.

Not a moment later, a third cop, his buddy, decides to give me shit by asking where my wingman was. "I'm standing here with these guys! THEY'RE my wingman!" I fired back, somewhat perturbed by now. I was clearly getting fucked with despite the fact I hadn't said or done anything remotely to warrant such treatment. Had numb-nuts been paying attention to my conversation with the second cop, he would've known I was told just to chill out and wait for the next bus to arrive.

It was through that one event last year that I was convinced to stay the hell away from A-Town, anywhere on base like the NCO Club or the many hooches around the place, or anywhere else on the Republic for that matter. If Town Patrol is going to act like Darth Vader's Storm Troopers then I figure the best way to avoid any future confrontations would be to remove myself from the equation all together. A bit extreme perhaps but considering what I had just experienced, it was the best option around.




Alan, Brookie and myself went to a total of 3 different clubs last night and we were essentially the only people in each of the clubs, aside from the owners and the Juicee Girls working. During that time frame we saw more Town Patrol poke their noses in than it took us to finish 1 beer. Madness.

This place has really become a ghost-town and to say that it's on its last leg is a definite understatement. While I won't get into the "who's" and "why's" of how this place has become what it is (Kalani O'Sullivan goes into better detail than I could possibly), it's a crying shame to see one of the last bastions of the "old Air Force" die a slow and painful death. Yes, change is inevitable but the old phrase "Leave well-enough alone" also comes to mind.

Brookie and Alan decided to call it an early night by returning to base to see whether the NCO Club was livelier - that was dead too. They decided instead to go to the BX, buy a bottle of booze, and call it an evening. A shame too, considering they both had a really kick-ass time when they were stationed here in 2002, and were hoping to recapture some of its former glory.

For the past year I've told friends and family alike to stay away from Kunsan. It is no longer fun, even with the most mundane aspects of traveling to Kunsan City for the day. Sure there are programs through the Recreation Center for tours and trips, but the unspoken word around base is that any independent traveling on your own is highly discouraged. Alan and Brookie both finally saw what it was I've been saying all along.

Sorry guys, I am really disappointed you didn't have a fun time when you came down. For your next trip I promise we'll go to Kunsan City instead.



"See you again" - not if I can help it.