Two new dormitory towers at Kunsan are open; two others will open in spring 2011.New amenities at Kunsan show attitude changeBy Bruce Rolfsen - Staff writer
Posted : Sunday Aug 15, 2010 12:21:38 EDT
KUNSAN AIR BASE, South Korea —
What a difference a decade and $180 million make. This base, home to about 2,600 airmen with the 8th Fighter Wing and another 200 soldiers operating a Patriot missile defense battery, has built new dorms, a gym and a commissary to make tours more attractive to airmen working 150 miles from the North Korean border.Col. John Dolan noted of the base’s two new dormitory towers when he took command of the 8th in May. He hadn’t been to Kunsan since 2000 — as the wing’s inspector general — when few high-rise buildings existed.
“That’s really the huge success story here — those new dorms,” Dolan told Air Force Times.
By next spring, every dormitory room for permanently assigned airmen will either be new or remodeled. The dormitory towers have four-room suites and private bedrooms and bathrooms for the 1,360 troops they will eventually house. Two towers are complete and two more are set to open next year.
A decade ago, the Air Force wasn’t spending much money on new construction or renovations at Kunsan. The lack of investment was as obvious as the green and black mold in dorm rooms declared unfit to live in.
unhappycamper comment: The city of Boston has had a hole in the ground at Downtown Crossing where Filine's used to be for at least the last three years. Why are we still occupying Korea?