I was speaking in the past tense. You're right, they're are both old now. I loved the movie even though it certainly had a liberal bias. Robert Altman, the director, said that the movie was really about Vietnam not Korea. The screenplay writer, Ring Lardner, Jr was a real left winger. He was black listed in the fifties and had been a communist party member back in the thirties.
Originally Posted by joe bloe
I didn't mean anything other than stating a, to me, surprising fact. I would have guessed that Kellerman was at least a couple of years older than Swit. I too liked the movie, even though I knew it was a leftist, anti-war movie. I like a whole gamut of leftist, anti-war movies, though I did recently see one that really reeks:
Tunnel Rat 1968 by Uwe Boll.
I can't understand why we are still in South Korea. South Korea is a relatively wealthy country.
Originally Posted by joe bloe
Consider for a moment that South Korea wouldn’t exist except for the U.S. military presence in South Korea. The Korean War began when Kim Il-sung perceived weakness in the resolve of the U.S. to defend South Korea. He mistakenly thought the U.S. would abandon South Korea in the draw down after WWII; never-the-less, he almost achieved his goal of unifying Korea under the communist banner.
Why do we have to provide free defense for them?
Originally Posted by joe bloe
I did my stint at Camp Carroll near Waegwan. U.S. presence in South Korea has played a big part in keeping that region stable after the Korean War.
If we stay there, the Koreans should pay us.
Originally Posted by joe bloe
An FYI, U.S. ground combat duties have been transferred to the ROK army, thereby reducing the likely numbers of US casualties.
The Status of US Forces Agreement (SOFA) grants land for bases and training areas at no cost. Various taxes and highway tolls are also waived; public utilities charge concessionary rates, while some public facilities are gratis.
Since 1991, the US has received assistance from the ROK for the cost of building military facilities outlined by the Special Measures Agreement (SMA). The SMA is renewed every 2-3 years and each time ROK's share of the burden increases. Unused money under the SMA should be repaid to the ROK. Instead, since 2002, the USFK keeps this surplus in a special fund which has now accumulated US$10,000 million. Under the SMA, the ROK paid US$725.5 million in 2007 and US$741.4 million in 2008 to the USFK, yet the USA continues to demand more.
In essence, the ROK is meeting nearly all the costs incurred in US base relocation through the combined payments under the SMA and the agreed 55% allotment under the Base Relocation Agreement. http://wri-irg.org/node/7314
BTW, I am for force projection and agree with Sun Tzu's old maxims: "The best defense is a good offense." "And therefore those skilled in war bring
the enemy to
the field of battle and are not brought there by him."