 •   

CHAPTER 10

Return to the United States

I

n the summer of , my normal three-year assignment with the

U.S. Embassy in Seoul was coming to an end. I had been asked to stay

for an additional year but instead requested transfer to a field unit in

Korea. By this time I had spent almost nine continuous years in the

Korean intelligence and high-level policy business, and I was anxious to re-

turn to more traditional military duties. In late summer, therefore, I was

assigned as executive officer of a communications brigade and spent the next

year working on problems of operations, maintenance, personnel, and all

the similar concerns of the typical military unit.

It was quite enjoyable duty. Among other things, I was able to fly all over

South Korea by helicopter, which evoked thoughts of changes that had oc-

curred in the countryside over the past generation. The predominantly ru-

ral and undeveloped landscape of the early s had been replaced by

a more urbanized setting, and the transportation network was especially

modernized. Where private autos had once been rare, they were now com-

mon. This transition, which in most countries takes two or three genera-

tions, had happened in the ROK in less than twenty years. Unfortunately

my job assignment only lasted one year, which went by very quickly, and I

was reassigned stateside in the summer of .

Back to School

My new assignment was as a faculty member at the U.S. Army Command

and General Staff College (CGSC) at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. This school

was and still is highly selective; only the army’s most promising officers are

selected for attendance. In addition to the U.S. Army officers, who formed

the majority of students, we had students from the U.S. Air Force, Navy, and

Marine Corps and over one hundred foreign officers from about forty differ-

ent countries. Included in the international student body each year were

several South Koreans, and I found myself in especially close contact with

these officers because of my previous experience and background.