Private that defected to North Korea gets time served, and the Navy solves their retention issues

| September 22, 2024

You’ll remember Travis King, soon to be formerly a private in the US Army, was the boneheaded turd that was supposed to be escorted to the airport to fly back to the states from South Korea. As I recall he was being chaptered out. Somehow he slipped his guard, snuck into a tour group visiting the DMZ, and then just ran across the border into North Korea. For some reason, the United States government wanted him back. We got him a month later, and he’s been sitting in confinement since then, which is about a year now.

Well, Mr. King has pled guilty to desertion and other charges, and has been sentenced to time served with a dishonorable discharge. So he’s got that going for him, which is nice. No word on if his parents are going to be invited to the White House so their traitorous son can be called a hero.

In other stupid news, this article from Military Times on naval aviator retention issues is equally funny. It seems that with the length of a modern naval aviator’s training pipeline, then only get one sea duty rotation out of the way before they’re given a shore assignment. When they come next up for their sea duty, it’s right about the time that their MSO is running out and they leave for greener pastures. Big Navy being what it is has found a great way to keep from having to send aviators back mid-tour. They’re just going to force them to stay. The beatings will continue until morale improves!

Category: "Teh Stoopid", "The Floggings Will Continue Until Morale Improves", "Your Tax Dollars At Work", Army, Korea, Navy, WTF?

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Major Tuddy

First!

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Major Tuddy

Sorry, folks; I meant this for the Sunday meme thread.

Can someone move this to that thread?

Note to self: First coffee, then breakfast, THEN post.

26Limabeans

Can’t read the expiration date on the jar but I suppose it
doesn’t matter if you eat one of those things for breakfast.

jeff LPH 3 63-66

Those look like pickled sausages we used to get at the Norfolk NOB Tradewinds enlisted club. Wallmart sells the pickled sausages in the same jar as the Tradewinds used to sell 60 years ago.

Anonymous

Is he related to Shaun King? That would make sense.

Last edited 1 month ago by Anonymous
RCAF-CHAIRBORNE

Talcum X?

Anonymous

The very same. Familial stupidity, whether inherited or adopted, could explain much.

Hack Stone

Hack is willing to be a mailbox door that Private Travis King’s enlistment package contained at least two waivers. At the least, he was an end of the month enlistment that was only processed to meet recruiting goals.

26Limabeans

Don’t forget all the wavers in the tour group as he ran for the border.

Hack Stone

Hack Stone would have loved to be sitting in the SNCO Club that evening as they were knocking down a few beers and trying to top each other with who had the stupidest troop. “Oh yeah, have many of you had your POS cross over into North Korea?” Then the entire club burst into laughter.

Jay

“There’s a waiver for everything”: every operations officer, ever…but especially the last contracting day of the month

Green Thumb

“There’s a waiver for everything”….and extra recycles.

JustALurkinAround

Din do nuffin’.

Jimbojszz

It’s pretty rare that North Korea gives an American soldier back without garnering something in return of value. So this guy was not even valuable to the North Koreans. I can hear the negotiations” NK: We want prizes for this one. US: Please keep him, we are going to put in prison if he gets back here any how. No deals. NK: Please take him back, we need the prison space for our citizens. And he’s just stupid and knows nothing. No value to us either.” US: Okay we take him back, what will you give us!”

Anonymous

He wasn’t worth the food he’d cost them.

5JC

Left with a big chicken dinner though.

Dennis - not chevy

The movie Skyjacked comes to mind. The hijacker thought the Soviets would greet him as a hero, nope, didn’t happen. Maybe the NORKs cost compared a few days of prison food vs a bullet; there couldn’t be much difference in price.

SFC D

Only time I ever escorted a chapter case in Korea, he was cuffed to me all the way from the commander’s office to the air stairs at Osan. Used to be a regularly scheduled chapter flight.

Eggs

Anything like the movies?

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SFC D

Well, he was blonde. Other than that, nope!

Odie

Did he say “I gotta pee” on the way to the hand off point?

A Proud Infidel®™

Not only will he have to go through the rest of his life with that DD which will by law prohibit him from voting or owning a firearm, he will be remembered as THE ONE rejected by a third-rate tinpot Dictator. “We no need a prisoner THAT bad!” like what was said to the Larry Linville’s character Frank Burns by a pair of Norks in the TV Show M*A*S*H.

5JC

His story will be “d33p cover operations. They had to deny my existence, top secret squirrel! don’t never trust the government man!”

Skippy

Wow on the time served..
I had to escort someone hearing voices
From VBC to Kuwait
What a thankless detail
The DFAC at Ali AB was one of the base I’ve ever
Seen and had a bite at

Blaster

I escorted a Soldier out of Afghanistan to Kuwait, but it was nothing like the stories on this thread. His baby son had died and we weren’t going to leave him alone. One of the most pitiful things that I have ever seen. I’d much rather of escorted some POS that I didn’t care was shivering uncontrollably in the back of a C17 at 30000’

RCAF-CHAIRBORNE

That’s heartbreaking. I’m glad they got him out of there. I couldn’t imagine a worse situation for a man.
My (ex) wife was pregnant with our first son during my deployment to KAF in ’07.
Thankfully, all went well and he is now a 6’1″ 17yo that I couldn’t be more proud of.

Hack Stone

He needs to reach out to Jesse MacBeth for tips on how to cope when you are irrelevant to both sides of the political spectrum.

https://valorguardians.com/blog/?p=60020&cpage=1

Green Thumb

And Phil Monkress looks on….

Hack Stone

Hack just checked out Psul’s profile on Missing Linked In, claims to be working two jobs currently as Senior Director BD & Capture for company located in Falls Church. If you look up the address, a nondescript strip mall. That suite they occupy has the dimensions of mailbox drop. Since he claims to be holding down two jobs, maybe he can start paying back Bank of America.

26Limabeans

He should write a book “Escape from North Korea” and donate
a portion of the proceeds to whatever.

Deckie

The biracial romance author himself?!

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RCAF-CHAIRBORNE

Muslim Romance Novels? 🤣
‘ Mohammed caressed the inner thigh of Lola, his beloved sheep and reached for the butter ….’

A Proud Infidel®™

“Mohammed Achmed shivered at the thought of what could happen between him and his favorite Goat if she discovered his affair with Ali-Shamhock’s Sheep …”

rgr769

What a shame that lying bastard has produced six spawn. He should have been neutered.

A Proud Infidel®™

OH, so the skinny little jizz-whiz is a muzzie “Author” now? He truly led the way in bringing Stolen Valor to people’s attention.

rgr769

The lying little phony never even made it to the Gunga Dan line.

SFC D

I never would’ve discovered milblogs if it wasn’t for Jesse MacBeth. So he’s got that going for him. Which is nice. Can’t remember if the news I read on him took me to Blackfive or Castle Aargh. From there I surfed on to here and Neptunus Lex.

Hack Stone

Hack Stone ended up here after following a link from one of the many posers featured on POW Network. And Hack Found the POW Network after following a link in Stars and Stripes about a Sailor stationed in Yokusaka who was back home on leave telling his buddy how he was a Navy SEAL who deployed to Afghanistan in the immediate aftermath of 9/11. His tales were so fascinating that somehow the Sacramento Bee ran a feature article on him, which immediately drew attention from the US Navy SEAL community. Last thing Hack heard about him, he was working for some Defense contractor in Merritt Island Florida.

Jimbojszz

I came here after checking out an acquaintance of mine who claimed UDT training. We had just formed a business relationship and I think he was trying to impress me. Don Shipley verified him as not being listed during Korea as UDT. I ended my business relationship with him. And he stopped the UDT nonsense. Found POW Network doing that search.

rgr769

Ditto with me. I was readiing POW Network and Blackfive; I think the link to this site was on both. One or the other brought me here.

5JC

I first showed because I found out my old platoon sergeant had been rocking a phony Ranger tab as well as few other pieces of tin for nearly two decades. There was a nice write up on him.

Graybeard

I was looking at/for milblogs while Airborne Son was deployed to Iraq (before he became Airborne).

I guess as a father I was hungry for any inkling of what was going on and what my son was experiencing.

I do not recall what particular incident(s) brought me to TAH and becoming an admirer of Jonn’s work, but y’all been stuck with me ever since.

5JC

The military has been looking for an eight year commitment from aviators for the last decade. It’s tough to choke down.

Jimbojszz

They would do better to offer no woke policies for the next 8 years as a contract condition. And maybe a fifth of whiskey as a bonus. Jim Beam

rgr769

I had all the paperwork, physical report, and command approvals to go to Army flight school in early February, 1970. But I had some experiences that deterred me from extending my active duty obligation from four to five years. Had I gone to flight school, I might not have survived Operation Lam Son 719. Shortly thereafter, I received my orders for RVN.

BlueCord Dad

Re: naval aviator retention….😎

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USAFRetired

What is the MSO for earning your wings in the Navy,

When I retired from the USAF our was 10 years.

Andy11M

I’m sure naval aviators won’t find creative ways to time their career assignments to avoid getting screwed on a deployment at the end of their first term. Remember, the folks flying now grew up minmaxing their pokemon

Blaster

“No word on if his parents are going to be invited to the White House so their traitorous son can be called a hero.”

Ya know, there was a time when I would have read this understanding it was written in jest. Not anymore. It’s now almost expected.

KoB

Not anymore. It’s now almost expected.” Yep…and awarded with The Medal of Freedom since, after all, he was running to freedom from an oppressive, racist oppressive country to a Socialist Paradise where all of the people have an equal opportunity…to starve to death. Anybody want to place bets on when he will show up here on a FGS Thread someday?

Big Navy needs to bring back karaoke bars and beach volley ball games if they want to goose people into flying in the danger zone. All of the mavericks have put those thoughts on ice, man.

Wilson

Not nearly punishment enough.

Give it a couple years, and his discharge will be upgraded because “institutional racism” or some such nonsense