Pyeongtaek University students try out a combat vehicle simulator during a tour of Camp Humphreys, South Korea, Jan. 17, 2024. (Christopher Green/Stars and Stripes)
CAMP HUMPHREYS, South Korea — More than 100 students from Pyeongtaek University recently toured this base south of Seoul and sampled a buffet of American military activities.
The students and other guests on Wednesday learned something about battlefield first aid, drove tank simulators and heard firsthand about the work of combat dive teams. The group tour at America’s largest military installation in the Pacific was sponsored by Culture Complex, or Culcom, an organization for Koreans who want to learn English.
Jin Huhyun, a student on the tour, said he recently finished his mandatory service in the South Korean military, where he often saw U.S. Navy or Air Force personnel.
“I was curious about [South Korean] and American soldiers training together,” he said.
Pyeongtaek University students learn the proper method of applying a tourniquet and patching and wrapping a wound during a tour of Camp Humphreys, South Korea, Jan. 17, 2024. (Christopher Green/Stars and Stripes)
Two buses full of visitors started their tour with a group photograph at Eighth Army headquarters, then pastries and drinks at the Lt. Gen. Thomas S. Vandal Training Center.
Divided into six groups, the students moved from station to station. At the Medical Simulation Training Center, instructors demonstrated the proper method of applying a tourniquet and patching and wrapping a wound.
At the training center’s diver training pool, students sat in the helicopter simulator and examined other equipment used in combat dive training.
After lunch at a base food court, they got behind the simulated controls of Army tanks and other combat vehicles.
Pyeongtaek University students learn how to play cornhole during a tour of Camp Humphreys, South Korea, Jan. 17, 2024. (Christopher Green/Stars and Stripes)
The day ended with more American food and games like Pictionary and the backyard classic, cornhole.
“They didn’t know a lot about the different trainings, water survival, MSTC medical trainings, so they’re more impressed,” said Michelle Lacey, head tour and logistics planner for Eighth Army.
