Our day began earlier than yesterday because we were visiting a very important location in the United states and Korean history, called Camp Humphrey. Camp Humphrey is the largest military base outside the United states, and it is located Pyeongtaek which is approximately 90 mins away from Seoul. We rode the bus to the base and we arrived at about 9:45 am. The first thing I noticed one I got to the base, was how the familiar the streets looked. On exploring the Seoul the previous day, I noticed that most of the signs indicating the street names and exits were on a blue board and were written in a different font whereas those at camp Humphreys were on green board which is just like those in the US.
Upon our arrival at the base, we watched a video which explained that the creation of a US army base in Korea was to prepare and train Korean soldiers in case of any attack by the North Korean government and to strengthen their international ties with South Korea , which is their closest ally after Britain. Next, we were given a warm welcome by Lieutenant general Laneve, who also grew up in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania . He mentioned that, we he heard that students from the university of Pittsburgh were interested in visiting Humphreys, he felt a special connection and decided to talk to us personally about his missions, and decisions on why he decided to join the army. We also walked through the Korean army veteran Hall of fame, were we saw pictures of different Korean veterans who had served and their year of service.
After the welcome message, it was lunch time. Lunch is set to be served at exactly 11:30 am, however we arrived about 15 mins earlier than that, which means we had to wait a little bit longer before entering the cafeteria, since the army is very on point when it comes to time. As we entered the cafeteria, I noticed that there was a large variety of Americans meals like grilled cheese, curry chicken and pasta. The set up of the cafeteria sort of reminded me of the set up of cafeterias in US colleges like; The Eatery at Pitt.
After lunch, our next stop was a static display at the 21D. Here, we were introduced to Major Johns and her team, who are all army engineers. At the beginning of the tour, I was a little bit confused about the job description of a military engineer, as well as what exactly they had to study in the school of engineering in order to get to such position. This is doubt was quickly cleared up by Major Johns who explained that military engineering did not have a particular path or engineering major, she explained that she had originally graduate with a B.sc in Civil engineering but her current position involved mostly operating military vehicles and less application from her degree. I found this branch of engineering very fascinating because essentially, military engineers are made up different categories of engineers who all work together and share ideas from their different disciplines. We also go to see different military machines and we learnt about their strengths in the army field like; land mine resistance, their ability to carry heavy weights and ammunitions, and the ease of their controls.
Our tour at camp Humphrey ended with a wind-shielded tower(in the bus) around the rest of the camp. Camp Humphreys houses about 40,000 military personnel and their families. It is has 4 gyms, 5 schools, one of the largest PX and 4 churches. The setting is like a whole town and aside from the military base, one could thing is a more modern suburban residential area. The roads are wide just like American roads but the living complexes are styled in accordance to Korean infrastructures.
Overall, the visit to camp Humphrey was very educational and somehow inspiring. I learnt about the purpose of the US-Korean alliances, and the how important it is to maintain such good international relations. Additionally, I learnt about a new engineering path, its purpose, perks, and description which really changed my overall view of the army.