PYONGTAEK, South Korea — The U.S. Army in central South Korea has launched a new Web site designed to give troops and their families a trove of practical information about serving in the Camp Humphreys area and about living and traveling in Korea.
The Web site for the U.S. Army’s Area III Support Activity, at http://area3.korea.army.mil, contains more than 300 Web pages of information. The unit launched the site just before Christmas.
“We want the visitor … saying that ‘Hey, this is information that I as a new person to Korea would like to see,” said Javier Lopez, information assurance manager at Camp Humphreys, a helicopter base in Pyongtaek, in central South Korea.
Featured prominently on the home page is a set of links meant to help troops and family members slated for assignment to Camp Humphreys or three other Area III locations: Camp Long, Camp Eagle, and the U.S. Army compound at Suwon Air Base, a South Korean air force installation.
Clicking on a button marked “Newcomers” opens a drop-down menu with an array of links including “Arriving in Korea,” “Getting Around,” “In-processing,” “Housing,” “Maps” and “Utilities & Services.” Offered, too, is a link to the Web site for Osan Air Base, also in Pyongtaek.
The top of the home page displays an “information marquee” offering continual, rotating updates on area road conditions and which U.S. military installations in Korea may be expecting protest rallies or other demonstrations.
The site also displays the current time in multiple time zones, including local time for South Korea-based troops and the corresponding times in the United States.
“It’s a wealth of information at their fingertips,” said Lopez. “They don’t have to walk to any office; they can do it from their own home … no matter what time it is … without having to look for a telephone number … no matter where they are. … It doesn’t matter. They can do it from their comfort zone.”
Sgt. Cynthia Cargile called the Web site “great because it allows you to go on when you’re available to do so.”
Cargile, who works in the Area III Support Activity plans, training, mobilization and security department, said that with the site being available 24 hours a day, “you can gain information that you would otherwise not be able to receive just in, say, a ‘Newcomer’s Pack.’
“Not to mention some of the simple things. ... If you’re traveling to Camps Long or Eagle or to Suwon, it gives you those road conditions as well,” she said, “because everything can change.
“If someone didn’t even know what time they were calling back to the States, it gives you straight-across-the-board different times,” she said. “It tells you about other Web sites you can go to gain other information regarding being in Korea.”
“It will give the opportunity for soldiers to have normal information,” said Sgt. Shan- telle Kamei a training sergeant with Headquarters and Headquarters Company, Area III Support Activity, at Camp Humphreys.
“I think it will help soldiers know about South Korea because it’s hard to get information sometimes … if they have a way to get information online, it will help them.”
