# American soldier crosses into North Korea **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [July 18, 2023, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-soldier-crosses-into-north-korea/987221 "2023-07-18T16:43:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2023, 5:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-soldier-crosses-into-north-korea/987221/81 "2023-07-21T05:22:08Z")
Fair enough. I think at the very least he was under a lot of stress and his decision was rash although there was certainly some forethought. The post I was responding to was just fucking disgusting though. ---
**Author:** ![ASL\_v2.0](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asl_v2.0/32/3525_2.png) [@ASL\_v2.0](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ASL_v2.0)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2023, 5:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-soldier-crosses-into-north-korea/987221/82 "2023-07-21T05:31:13Z")
> [@hajario](#): > > he was under a lot of stress I’ll be honest with you. Having sent many sailors home from overseas facing other than honorable discharges, they tended to be uniformly happy to get the hell out of whatever county we were in. Or so they would say. Though I understand much of that may have been for show. Bravado and whatnot. Plus a little psychological warfare (which was effective enough on me that I would sometimes envy them). Anyway, I’d put my money more on spite than stress. Spite plus an inflated ego, such as might cause one to drastically overestimate one’s value as a propaganda asset. Anyway, I’d wish him all the best, whichever side of the DMZ he ends up wasting his life on. ---
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2023, 6:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-soldier-crosses-into-north-korea/987221/83 "2023-07-21T06:01:06Z")
> [@hajario](#): > > Do you have any empathy for someone who made a bad decision during a psychotic breakdown? He wasn’t in his right mind. I’ve been thinking that the little we know is consistent with alcoholism. Although it is perhaps socially a less sympathetic diagnosis, it is nonetheless more treatable, and more likely to end in a useful career. ---
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2023, 6:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-soldier-crosses-into-north-korea/987221/84 "2023-07-21T06:07:13Z")
> [@hajario](#): > > The post I was responding to was just fucking disgusting though. I agree with you there. And it’s entirely possible you are right about his diagnosis, we can obviously only float our guesses here. To suppose anyone is doing otherwise is preposterous. I do stand by my earlier statement though, you can’t choose 2023 NK with any rational judgement. It has to be either stunning ignorance, given his placement, or mental illness of some flavor. ---
**Author:** ![Common\_Tater](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/common_tater/32/13846_2.png) [@Common\_Tater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Common_Tater)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2023, 6:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-soldier-crosses-into-north-korea/987221/85 "2023-07-21T06:25:18Z")
> [@ASL\_v2.0](#): > > Anyway, I’d put my money more on spite than stress. Yep. He thought he was being cute by causing as much trouble as possible. If he’s crazy or psychotic on top of that, it just reinforces the point, he never belonged in the .mil to begin with. His actions display that much regardless. They were working on getting rid of him, but there is a process involved, it takes time. Creating an international incident is not helpful. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2023, 1:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-soldier-crosses-into-north-korea/987221/86 "2023-07-21T13:02:49Z")
Alcohol issues make a lot of sense given that he was in trouble earlier for fighting. I agree that he made about the worst possible choice to deal with it. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2023, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-soldier-crosses-into-north-korea/987221/87 "2023-07-21T13:39:04Z")
> [@TruCelt](#): > > So, i’ll just register my prediction that the GOP will ramp this up as a huge deal to recover our man. Unless that’s what Biden does, in which case they’ll brand him as a traitor. That’s part of why I want to see us open the negotiations with a request for extradition: It makes it harder for the Republicans to knee-jerk oppose it in either direction. ---
**Author:** ![Dorjan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dorjan/32/12440_2.png) [@Dorjan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dorjan)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2023, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-soldier-crosses-into-north-korea/987221/88 "2023-07-21T15:01:22Z")
I don’t know how much Rah Rah the GOP will muster up for him, given that he’s Black. They might phone it in… ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2023, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-soldier-crosses-into-north-korea/987221/89 "2023-07-21T20:38:43Z")
> [@hajario](#): > > > [@aceplace57](#): > > > > Why would we waste any resources getting him back? > > > > Leave him there with his new buddies. He made a choice and now he has to live with it. > > Do you have any empathy for someone who made a bad decision during a psychotic breakdown? He wasn’t in his right mind. Cite? What information do you have that he wasn’t mentally competent to make that sort of blunder? ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2023, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-soldier-crosses-into-north-korea/987221/90 "2023-07-21T20:49:37Z")
He has a very troubled history. I’m surprised the military let him in in the first place. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2023, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-soldier-crosses-into-north-korea/987221/91 "2023-07-21T21:04:26Z")
> **[U.S. Soldier’s ‘Father Figure’ Fears He Caused North Korea Defection](https://www.yahoo.com/news/u-soldier-father-figure-fears-231354762.html)** > > A family member of Travis King told The Daily Beast he deeply regrets an emotional conversation they had just days before the U.S. soldier bolted into North Korea. “Gates—who said he always made it a priority to support King, “babysitting and changing diapers” in the absence of his biological father—lost his young son, King’s first cousin, in February this year from a rare genetic disorder. The tragedy sparked tensions within the larger family—and deeply affected King, who “snapped” and began acting out in the aftermath of his cousin’s death, his uncle said.” ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2023, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-soldier-crosses-into-north-korea/987221/92 "2023-07-21T21:31:45Z")
I’m sorry for the family tragedy but that is not an excuse for what this person has done. I’m with **aceplace57** on this one. ---
**Author:** ![Ponderoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponderoid/32/19221_2.png) [@Ponderoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponderoid)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2023, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-soldier-crosses-into-north-korea/987221/93 "2023-07-21T21:42:17Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > King may be a bozo, but he’s a bozo in uniform. We will recover the uniform, or the ideals it represents, even if we don’t greatly care about recovering the bozo inside the uniform. 👍 Well said. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2023, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-soldier-crosses-into-north-korea/987221/94 "2023-07-21T21:45:31Z")
> [@hajario](#): > > [U.S. Soldier’s ‘Father Figure’ Fears He Caused North Korea Defection](https://www.yahoo.com/news/u-soldier-father-figure-fears-231354762.html) > > “Gates—who said he always made it a priority to support King, “babysitting and changing diapers” in the absence of his biological father—lost his young son, King’s first cousin, in February this year from a rare genetic disorder. The tragedy sparked tensions within the larger family—and deeply affected King, who “snapped” and began acting out in the aftermath of his cousin’s death, his uncle said.” I don’t buy that as proof of mental illness. Lots of people lose family members. Hell, I’ve lost _most_ of my family at this point, about half of them to a bad “genetic disorder”. Most people going through that managed to avoid doing dumbshit things like King did. His uncle might be feeling guilty about their most recent phone call, but I don’t think that’s the primary cause of idjit trying to escape USMC justice by fleeing to the Orwellian hell that is North Korea. ---
**Author:** ![ASL\_v2.0](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asl_v2.0/32/3525_2.png) [@ASL\_v2.0](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ASL_v2.0)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2023, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-soldier-crosses-into-north-korea/987221/95 "2023-07-21T21:51:49Z")
I wouldn’t be shocked to learn he is suffering from something like adjustment disorder between the untimely death of his cousin, his family struggles, and of course him being on a fast track to an other than honorable discharge. But of course (1) I am not a psychiatrist and (2) I haven’t examined the, uh “patient.” ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2023, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-soldier-crosses-into-north-korea/987221/96 "2023-07-21T21:54:25Z")
> [@Common\_Tater](#): > > As I recall while a recruit may have been enlisted as a PV1 but they didn’t stay that way very long. E-nothing, or nothing on the uniform just looks wrong. A stripe may have been automatic after even just a few weeks in basic training or something like that. Getting busted back down, well that takes special dedicated effort. It’s 6 months to get the automatic promotion from E-1 to E-2 and another 6 months to go to E-3. There are various incentives to allow you to go into the Army at E-2 or E-3. I went to Basic as a PFC. There is an old joke in the Army. What is the easiest way to make Sergeant? Go to Korea as a Staff Sergeant. Between being away from home in a strange place and soju there is a constant issue with discipline and soldiers getting in trouble. When it gets too bad they lock them down and have strict curfews. ---
**Author:** ![ASL\_v2.0](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asl_v2.0/32/3525_2.png) [@ASL\_v2.0](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ASL_v2.0)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2023, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-soldier-crosses-into-north-korea/987221/97 "2023-07-21T21:56:21Z")
Japan was similar. It was always a coin toss, when we pulled into a Korean port, whether USFK or CNFJ would have the stricter liberty policy. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2023, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-soldier-crosses-into-north-korea/987221/98 "2023-07-21T22:32:54Z")
Certain mental disorders, like schizophrenia and bipolar, often lurk as silent un-triggered genes. You can have the family gene for it but go your whole life without those disorders actually manifesting, until/unless you experience something drastic like a shooting, psychedelics or trauma that surpasses the threshold and triggers it. King might have had something like that, and the death did it. ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2023, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-soldier-crosses-into-north-korea/987221/99 "2023-07-21T22:35:50Z")
He’s in the right modal age range for a first psychotic break. ---
**Author:** ![Common\_Tater](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/common_tater/32/13846_2.png) [@Common\_Tater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Common_Tater)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2023, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-soldier-crosses-into-north-korea/987221/100 "2023-07-22T00:24:02Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > It’s 6 months to get the automatic promotion from E-1 to E-2 and another 6 months to go to E-3. Right, but as I recall they were promoting people to E2 faster than that, not sure why, but they did. Retention and recruitment for the armed services has recently again become a problem, when that happens they start to accept individuals who may not be a good fit. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-soldier-crosses-into-north-korea/987221.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-soldier-crosses-into-north-korea/987221.md?page=6)