WOW the Doc finally blogs!!

Well, I've thought a lot about putting my view of the world for those who cares to see but now I'll put those thoughts into action. I've been a physician for 15 years. Started out as a military Doc in Korea and Hawaii, then settled into a family practice in rural Ohio. I had my own practice for 10 years but recently sold it and am now pondering my next move. I've been all around the world and seen about everything at least once. Even though 'm still a young man at 41, I do have some time to sit and ponder the world more than most.

I have read a good bit about North Korea in the news lately.
I spent 13 months in Korea near the DMZ, '93-94. I was there when Kim Il Sung died and his crazy son took the reins. We were on alert seemingly non-stop after that because no one was sure he wouldn't just up and attack the South when he took over. He was deemed that unstable. Interestingand somewhat unnerving times because we were really considered a mere speed bump on the road to Seoul.
All military Officers in our division were required to read a history of the Korean war and I read several. It was heartbreaking to study the suffering of our troops that were urgently deployed from Hawaii and Japan in August of 1950. They were ill equipped and ill-trained for deployment and had basically been hanging out in Japan and Hawaii partying when the balloon went up.
If you want to read a tale of woe and sacrifice read about Task Force Smith that left from Hawaii as the rapid reaction force to Kim Il Sung's invasion.
I was walking around on base in Hawaii after my Korean tour one early morning and acidentally came upon a small plaque honoring Task Force Smith and was deeply moved, since I had also stood in Korea where they had landed and was acutely aware of the hardships they endured. The rolling hills of Southeast Ohio look amazingly similar to those of the Korean countryside that I often swept over while hanging out the door of a UH-60. (pilots hate when the Doc does things like that). They bring back may memories of the year in Korea and often trigger a memory of the stories in the history books of the war that raged in Korea nearly 50 years before I stepped foot there.
One interesting story I often tell of those unnerving days right after Kim Il Sung's death was that immediately after Kim Jung Il took the reins from his dad, I was in a Brigade level staff meeting and the brigade S-4 (Intel officer) briefed us on a curious finding. All military personnel in North Korea had been ordered to shave their heads. All 1.7 million or so. Interesting, but why are you telling me this we asked? Well either they are preparing for attack and the shaved heads fit much better under a gas mask, or there has been an outbreak of lice with no money in the austere budget to pay for the treatments.
I found myself in the curious position of hoping that an entire army had lice .
Well he didn't attack, as most of you are well aware but he sure did shake up the world scene. From the acquisition of nuclear weapons to the near starvation of his people, and tales of his outrageous appetite for western excesses to cross border attacks into South Korea (nothing new there really).
Here it is over a decade later and it appears that relations with South Korea and the West are truly warming. The reactors have been shut down and there are scheduled summits with the south. Now if we could get the 50 tons of fissionable uranium into safe hands.
It sure would be nice to get our forces off that peninsula and into the rotation elsewhere. There is an entire division of the US Army up near the DMZ (bout 17 000) and total US forces on the peninsula of 35,000.
I was told that every base and every building on every American military base is obligated to be simply handed over to the Koreans when we eventually leave. Billions of dollars of barracks, offices, runways, hospitals... I bet there are Korean developers just drooling over the chance to get thier hands on that real estate at a bargain price.
I think the South Koreans can take care of themselves now. We have met our commitment to protect the free Korean people and then some don't you think?
As for my sacrifice for the cause, my only daughter was born when I was stationed there, and while I was granted leave for the birth, I shipped back 3 days later and didn't see her again until she was 6 months old.
Interesting stuff , maybe next time I'll stick to medicine topics?