Synchro is stationed in South Korea

So, in the Air Force now as an officer/eye doctor, Synchro had her basic training in Florida, and was shipped over to Korea. Here is an excerpt from her postcard, July 2000 -

I wear a flak vest (bulletproof) helmet, gas mask and play war games for a week at a time. There are jets screaming over my apartment day and night. I hang out with fighter pilots. They are interesting. It's like Top Gun. None of them go by their given names but go by their call names. So I hang out with people called Mojo, Ranger, Craps, Nickel.

Every day at 1730 the national anthem is played and everyone must stop and stand at attention. I was given a couple of days to adjust to the time change with R & R when I first got here - I went to Seoul and went shopping. I went to the night clubs here which are wild. Men like to dance here and they dance with other men. Not Koreans - I'm talking about American men. I'm told it's socially acceptable here and there aren't any women to dance with.

The off-base cops are called the Town Patrol. If you are off base past curfew the Town Patrol arrests you. Each night the MPs patrol off base and arrest drunk military personnel. Every night they play the US and Korean National Anthem through the base and city, followed by a jet fly-by. The jets are loud.

One of the religions in Korea is Buddhism. Kyongju is the home of Buddhism there. It was also the capital of Korea from 37 BC to 935 AD. I visited and there were lots of temples, tombs and statues (postcard photo above is from temple there). It's a very old city.

Next time - some hiking and nature in Korea