Feedback contains information on updates and some background information that might be of interest to some readers. It also has comments from web site readers that might have wider interest than just to me. To that end, and to possibly prevent having to respond to the same questions and comments again and again, this page provides responses that answer some of your questions, even some you've not yet asked. Be forewarned that I write for enjoyment as well as for enlightenment, and hope that you'll appreciate my humor. If not, then send me a comment and maybe I'll post it here. Or maybe not.

As with other areas where I post items of interest, I'll include dates and have the newest first so you don't have to go scrolling through a lot of "old news" (is that an oxymoron?). To speed up page loading, entries have been divided by year, with larger years' entries split.

Jack Terwiel     

2002	2003	2004	2005: Jan-Jun  Jul-Dec
2006: Jan-Jun  Jul-Dec	2007: Jan-Jun  Jul-Dec	2008: Jan-Jun  Jul-Dec	2009: Jan-Jun  Jul-Dec

November 28, 2003: Construction Updates On-Base and Off-Base, and Songtan Makes It As Camp Town
There are new construction updates for the shopping mall, which has seen considerable vertical construction in a month, and for the officers dorm. The road from the Comm building to the bank is closed for drainage construction, making for an unusual pathway that I call "Mail Check Alley." The Chun- il Hotel, incorporated into the Asia Hotel and given a facelift, is having the remaining old section at the left cut away (photo is view from rear) (update 11/30/03, it's gone) to make room for a parking garage. Only hotels that provide off-street parking can call themselves Tourist (Gwan Gwang) hotels. And the Pacific Hotel (location of VFW Post 10216) is undergoing a facelift, as is the New Seoul Hotel (distortion is by camera pan image, not by Korean construction).

And you'll be pleased to know that Songtan's status has now been upgraded to "Camp Town" with this addition.

Finally, "Osan News" has been deleted, since I've found that I'm reporting the news here.

November 10, 2003:Construction Updates, Crackdown at Osan, Two-Broomer, New Hotel in Songtan, Volvo and Pizza Club
Sorry for the delay in updates, but working on the "Somebody Had to Do It" slide shows took a lot of time. At Osan AB, there are construction updates for Oct 25 and Nov 10 posted for the Shopping Mall; update of TMO construction, including parking lot paving; new officers dorm update; and what I call "crackdown at Osan." The 109x series of dormitories on Hill 180, lately used for visitor housing, have been referred to by some Osan members as "The Crackhouses," because they're old and kind of rundown. Two of the buildings have come down over the past three weeks to make room for some much needed parking for occupants of the Wing Hq, HTACC and KCOIC. Photos are at the bottom of "Current Construction."

On the way up Hill 180 to take today's photos, I came upon a strange sight. If you've been to Korea you may have seen the "three-man shovel." A shovel with ropes off each side is operated by one man aiming the shovel with the handle and two others pulling on the ropes. A heavy-duty variation is the seven-man shovel seen here.  What I came upon today was a ROKAF member sweeping leaves between the HTACC and KCOIC, and I call him two-broomer.

Under the AAFES section of Phones, Facilities and Photos are updates showing the new temporary locations of the Furniture Store and the Four Seasons/Toyland. Also included are photos showing how to get to them.

And here's an update for Songtan City showing construction of the newest hotel, past the Han-Mi bank on the way up the hill to the Capital Hotel. Here's the dream and here's the reality. And the BMW dealership has closed, but Songtan now has a Volvo dealership just before you get to Pizza Club. If you're one of those who has contributed to the overwhelming success of Pizza Club, you'll be happy to know that it will be expanding considerably.

September 21, 2003: Rain has Ended, Photos Updates Return
The spring and summer have been particularly wet, and weekends have been hard hit, which has put a "damper" on my picture taking. With the passage of Typhoon Maemi, which Osan AB escaped, good weather has returned so Osan AB a lot of construction updates for the shopping mall and dormitories. Also, there's a drawing of the main gate once that reconstruction has been completed and the new Traffic Management Facility.  Songtan City has photos of the upgraded Chun-il Hotel (now signed Asia Hotel), the expanding Pacific Hotel, and the cosmetic changes to the Rose Hotel. There was also a photo in the Osan Post Office that I couldn't resist.  Apparently the 51st Services Squadron is offering "Moral Calls," which I guess means you can call your wife/husband or girlfriend/boyfriend but you can't talk dirty.

June 12, 2003: Custom Icon for RAO-Osan Desktop Shortcut
Do you keep an Explorer shortcut (assuming you use Internet Explorer) on you desktop for easy access to RAO-Osan.com? If so, you might enjoy downloading and using rao-osan.ico, a customized icon that makes RAO-Osan.com easily distinguishable from your other IE shortcuts. You can download it from here. (Left click to view it; right click and use Save Target As to save it directly to your desktop or to your hard disk.) Just remember where you save it, such as in My Documents. If you saved it to the desktop, then it should be in the topmost empty space. Just rename it then right click on it and select Properties to enter the location and name as described in the sentence after the next one. If you saved it to disk and if you're adding it to the desktop for the first time, right click your mouse, select New > Shortcut. When you're prompted to type the location, enter http://www.rao-osan.com and click on Next. Then enter a name for the shortcut, such as RAO Osan, Osan RAO, or something else and click Finish. When the new shortcut appears, it will use the standard desktop icon. (If you already have a shortcut, start here to change the icon.)  Right click on the icon and select Properties. Then select Change Icon, and click on Browse to go to the location where you stored rao-osan.ico. Click on the file name and the icon is displayed. If you like it, click Apply and OK to change the desktop shortcut icon.

June 7, 2003: Web Hosting Change
New Web Host: In early May, I received an e-mail that the web hosting service (featureprice.com) had gone bankrupt due to poor management practices and I had two weeks to move rao-osan.com.  After that, they could not promise availability. I searched the Internet and compared web hosting services for features and price (oops, made that mistake with featureprice). I finally settled on IPowerWeb.net, which received very high ratings from a number of raters. After contracting with them for a two-year period (best price), I found that they could not transfer the domain name rao-osan.com because it had been registered in the name of featureprice.com rather than in my name.

On June 3, I received an e-mail from Atlantic.net that they had taken over the featureprice facilities and were working on allowing domain name owners to take over ownership. That happened on June 4, and I registered the domain with the IPowerWeb name servers. These are the computers that translate " rao-osan.com" to the numerical IP address of the computer where the files are actually located. I've been waiting for the change to take effect, and it happened today.

If you find problems, big or small, please let me know. There are a lot of " nooks and crannies" on rao-osan.com, and I can't get to them all right away. So if, for example, you find a page where a graphic doesn't display (you see a box with a red "X" in it instead of the picture you expected to see), please let me know.

RAO-Osan.com Changes: Well, performance may be one. Featureprice.com was located in Florida and IPowerWeb is located in California, so you may see a change in response time, depending on where you are are. The new hosting service has more services than the old one, so as I explore and experiment, you may see some new capabilities coming on line at rao-osan.com. One I'd like to explore is a Retiree Forum dealing primarily with retiree issues in Korea. This would allow retirees to exchange ideas and opinions, but I would need a moderator to control the content. Another addition would be an e-mail version of Still Serving in Korea, the Korea retiree newsletter. But this would have to have an automatic subscribe and unsubscribe (list server) to work, because I couldn't possibly keep up with keeping an address list manually. (There are free forum and list server services available, but go to my May 2 comment at the bottom of this page to see why I don't use them.)

Part of the process of implementing changes is confidence in whether or not I can do it. Because I'm a technical neophyte (Green Bean for you Korea vets), I've set up a home network allowing me to duplicate my web hosting service on my home computer network. That way I can experiment without the worry of causing problems on the commercial system. The home host is running under Red Hat Linux 8 and Apache 2, and I have successfully connected to the test web site from the two other desktops and a laptop on the home network. I've found free software for both forum and list server capabilities, and now just need to find the time to test them. So as time and talents allow, you'll see more things coming.

Finally, speaking of time, you should know that I will be taking summer vacation from Jul 21 to Aug 1. That will be followed by a one week TDY to Arlington, Virginia, to attend an Army Retirement Services Officer (RSO) Conference. I intend to take the opportunity of the TDY to visit family in New York the week of Jul 28, so don't expect much action on the web site (or responses to e-mails) for a couple of weeks. The vacation was planned long before the TDY opportunity came up. The timing was just serendipitous.

May 4, 2003: Changes
Retiree Activities Office Moved: The RAO has relocated within Building 936 from Room 114C to Room 102, sharing space with other occupants. This is a temporary (about six months) relocation while the second floor of the building is renovated. When that is complete, most occupants on the first floor will then move to the second floor. The RAO, along with Customer Service and Pass & ID, will move out to the temporary building constructed in the parking lot for the next six months. This location was selected for its easier access by RAO customers, some of whom have disabilities.  When complete in about a year, the RAO will then move back into a permanent, private office in Room 103 on the newly renovated first floor of Building 936.

Ration Cards for Working Retirees: The USFK/J1 Data Management office in charge of the Ration Control program, has determined that retirees who work in SOFA jobs (as civil servants or contractors) will henceforth have their ration cards issued on the basis of their employment rather than on their retiree status. Data Management believes that this will enhance program enforcement. Other retirees, including visitors, will continue to have ration cards issued based on retiree status.

AAFES Shopping Mall: The groundbreaking took place on April 23, 2003, as reported in What's New. The expected completion date is now projected for the Fall of 2004.

March 30, 2003: Lots to Report
Turumi Lodge: Opened March 5. A photo tour has been added here. Rooms are $22.50 and there are eight suites available for $29.00. For reservations call DSN 783-5480, commercial in Korea 031-660-5480, commercial outside Korea 82-31-660-5480, or e-mail 51svs.lodging@osan.af.mil for reservations.

Armchair Tours of Osan: Added 29 March, and includes the above Turumi Lodge tour as well as the Main Gate to Community Bank tour and the Challenger Club to Golf Course tour. Access from the Osan AB page, or shortcut here.

Osan Then and Now: Added March 23 to show Osan in 1958 and Osan Now.  Check it out here. I want to take the opportunity here to thank Dan Klopsten for the outstanding photos of Osan, Songtan and other areas that he took during his tour here, and for putting out the effort to scan and send them to me so we can share them with you.

Construction Updates: Added March 29, to show construction progress on airmen's and officers' dormitories. Moved Turumi Lodge to New Additions.

AAFES Shopping Mall Update: Looks like the decision has been made to have the groundbreaking in April. This photo shows the area cleared of excavation work and being prepared for the start of construction. (see report below on Jan 24).

Speaking of AAFES, two new concessionaires open on Thursday, April 3. These are GNC (General Nutrition Center) health foods, and FedEx (Federal Express). FedEx provides outgoing service only.  Both these facilities are located in front of the Fitness Center in temporary facilities I call Concessions-in-a-Box.

MPF Construction Update: If you're wondering about what's going on at Building 936, home of the Military Personnel Flight (MPF) and the Retiree Activities Office, were going to be going through a building rehab. Half the people move out to the container building (MPF- in-a-Box) while the second floor is worked on. Then the first floor folks move out when their turn comes.  Supposed to start in June, but may be earlier.

January 24, 2003: Construction Delays and Other Information
Turumi Lodge, aka Visiting Quarters: The projected opening in January has been delayed until March.

AAFES Shopping Mall: The projected revised groundbreaking in January has been postponed indefinitely by the discovery of ground contamination. Excavation here and here is currently being performed by Osan Civil Engineers to remove the contaminated soil.

Other Information: A few changes have been made such as the new counter on the Osan Info page. And a few photos have been removed based on an unofficial request by OSI personnel who felt they revealed too much information that could be useful to folks with bad intentions. A link was provided on the "Privileges" page to an auto club where you can purchase an International Driver License, also known as International Driving Permit (IDP). Many sites are available that charge varying amounts for licenses for periods of 1 to 5 (maybe even more) years. A valid IDP is good for one year and the cost of $10, which includes mailing, is a fair price to pay. That's why the National Auto Club was selected. If you don't like it, you can use Google or other search engine to find many others who offer the IDP. And thanks to Gene for the recommendation to add this link to make your life a little easier.

I am heartened by the very positive feedback on the recent changes and added information that many are finding useful. And I appreciate those who have taken the time to put a comment into the guestbook.

January 2, 2003: Major Change to RAO Home Page
The Navigation buttons at the left of the screen have undergone major changes.  Starting from the top:

Hot Issues: Much of the older or less "Hot" information has been moved into new areas.

Money Matters: Taking a cue from the retiree newsletter, this is a new area adding specific information on DFAS, VA and SSA, as well as some minor information on OPM and IRS. It also includes DFAS, VA and SSA news that was previously contained in Hot Issues, and there are links to the DFAS (myPay), VA and SSA web sites.

Health Matters: Also taking a cue from the retiree newsletter, this incorporates the two previous buttons for Air Evacuation and Your Health, and adds information on TRICARE as it is implemented for retirees in Korea. The first page in this area discusses general retiree health care in Korea.

Korea Casualty: Replaces Survivor Assist and adds source documents for retirees to use in preparing information and documents needed to apply for survivor benefits. Considerable experience with casualty assistance representatives showed the need for an on-line single source for tasks, forms and instructions on how to apply for survivor benefits in the case of retiree deaths. This is now available under the button marked Casualty Checklist on this page.

Visitor Info, Privileges and Osan Info are unchanged.

Embassy Seoul and Space Available links are unchanged.

Korea Links: Replaces Jobs in Asia, and now consists of links USFK sites, several sources of job information specific to Korea, VFW web sites in Korea, links to the other RAO web sites and to general interest sites in Korea.

Contact Us is unchanged.

Applying for ...: A new link to obtain forms and instructions needed to apply for Social Security benefits, VA benefits and to update beneficiary information for VGLI, military retired pay, and civil service retirement benefits.

The U.S. Military Retirees Association Korea site information has been expanded to include more information on the association, as well as general topics of interest specific to retirees living in Korea. Added to this area are briefings that were presented at the association general membership meeting in December.

I want to publicly express my gratitude to Bob Hattendorf for his assistance in reviewing the pages as they were being developed and helping me get the information that you need into the right places so you can find what you need quickly. Spending the Christmas-New Year holiday period working on this indicates that we probably both need to "get a life." Thanks, Bob.

Speaking of gratitude, we all owe a debt of gratitude to Mrs. Ae C. Attanasio, a widow, whose generous donation makes it possible for rao-osan.com to continue for a second year.

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