The Good Democrat

It’s about time!

Proposal Would Let U.S. Troops in South Korea Have Families With Them

WASHINGTON — The commander of American forces in South Korea is urging the Pentagon to allow thousands of troops stationed there to have spouses and children live with them during tours of duty.

The proposal by the commander, Gen. B. B. Bell, is a recognition that the military must do more to improve the quality of life for troops and their families. It would reverse decades of policy for South Korea, recognizing that an attack from the North has become unlikely given the enduring American presence as a deterrent and the growth in size and sophistication of the South Korean armed forces. In any case, American troops have been shifted away from the front lines. . . .
General Bell told of speaking with a young captain, the father of a 2 ½-year-old girl, who arrived alone in South Korea just five months after returning from more than a year in Iraq. The captain had spent less than eight months with his child in her life.

“You know, we can do better than that,” General Bell said he told the captain.

You’re right, General Bell. We can do better than that. The fact that 2000 families have moved to Seoul on their own to be near their family members in the service shows how important family is to our service members.

I remember being about 5 years old when my father was deployed to South Korea and Japan. My sister was something like 2 years old, and if I remember correctly, Mom’s disease was getting worse and she might have been pregnant with a third. We were told that we couldn’t go abroad with my father, and we were shipped off to New Jersey to live with my grandparents.

Life with grandma and grandpa was some of the best times of my life, but it was bittersweet because Daddy wasn’t around. I remember trying to share our life with him over cassette tapes, but it just wasn’t the same. He spoke on tapes and sent them to us and we would record others and send them back to him. It was tough for me to understand why Daddy couldn’t be there.
This separation caused more major issues that I won’t discuss here, but I will say that I truly hope that the US govt. does the right thing and makes moves to keep families together as much as possible, even when they are deployed across the globe in areas that are no longer war zones.