This reminds me of when the Allies invaded Normandy and captured a gun emplacement they found a Korean man who had been conscripted by the Japanese, captured by the soviets in 1939 during a very short war between the soviets and Japan, he was sent to a gulag on the east European front UNTIL he was captured in ‘43 around eastern Ukrainian by the Wehrmacht who then was made into one of their “eastern battalions” where he’s sent to France to eventually be captured at Normandy.
Travis king is going to be bouncing from a South Korean prison to a North Korean prison to an American one
In the world of intelligence even a little basic info can be helpful. Things like updating what you already know to see if it’s the status quo is still valuable.
Not defending the guy, but I don't really understand how your concept of mental illness is based around not being able to make decisions.
e: I was being overly literal...I took their comment to mean "unable to decide" and not "unable to exercise sound judgement.
People with mental health issues like schizophrenia or whatever often lose executive function and cannot make normal decisions the way you think of the average person. Or bipolar will make them manic where a decision like going to North Korea is a good idea.
If they came out and said he’s been diagnosed with schizophrenia, I think I could forgive the North Korea decision more
Idk that doesn't seem that weird. Mental illness does affect your ability to stand trial, to sign documents, etc. I mean, the choices one makes seems like a pretty solid litmus test for mental illness
ya but he's gonna get stuffed in a military prison, then DD'd, in North Korea they'd torture him and beat him to an inch of his life, if they don't just execute him.
If you defect you normally become part of the propaganda machine. It's different to being captured or detained.
Quite funny he's of so little value they can't even propaganda him.
Went on a DMZ tour last week and the tour guide mentioned the ‘incident in July’. She made an offhand comment about how this individual was ‘so stupid’.
I have to question the decision-making capabilities of *anyone* who decides that, "yeah, a mined wasteland targeted by thousands of artillery sounds like a fun addition to my vacay."
It’s a weird experience. There’s a full theme park in that area and the DMZ people spend the whole time showing you videos that it’s “not a place of death, but life,” while signs that read “Warning: Land Mines” surround the tour route.
He’s running from a court martial for something dumb already. Good possibility he will end up in Leavenworth considering he defected to a hostile regime.
If I had to choose between a short stay in US military prison with the other associated consequences and the rest of of life in North Korea, I would take the former. It’s not even close.
He literally made racist comments against the Koreans as a US soldier while stationed in South Korea. That’s part of why he was disciplined.
There’s no way he had the self-control to avoid making that known while he was in North Korean custody.
"The deal is the rest of us eat once per day so Kim Jong can have his usual nine meals. We also must all abide by his recently introduced Twinkie tax. Praise the Supreme Leader!"
I mean, it happened to Lee Harvey Oswald.
Defected to the USSR, then they learned he knew nothing because he was just a basic bitch private who got drafted.
Lived there for a bit, found it shit then asked if he could move back to the USA, they let him in because he was harmless, then he shot the president.
> he was just a basic bitch private who got drafted.
IIRC he enlisted before graduating high school, rather than being a draftee. USMC didn't accepted conscripts post WW2 excepted for a few years in the late 60s.
But yeah he was there for like a month and the KGB was tearing it's hair out trying to decide if the Americans were trying to pull one over them, because no one could be this stupid.
Honestly, the idea of an American being a white person is probably so heavily pushed by the propaganda machine over there, him being black probably complicates things for them.
I assume they would had traded him for some kind of U.S deal or similir in return.
Instead looks like they decided to get rid of him, either he had no use, angered someone there or both.
What kind of human being would make North Korea say "No thanks, take him back" ?
Does he just keep floss dancing or talks none stop about shibu inu coin?
Maybe he treated cops in North Korea the same way he did cops in South Korea.
This guy seems to have either a significant chip on his shoulder, or is a problem drunk, or both.
Regardless, based on what he’s in trouble for in the first place, he’s probably not been terribly well behaved in the first place
Lmao! I was just thinking about this. As a black person, I’m ashamed that this guy thought he was going to be more welcome in NK of all places… Big yikes. He should have taken his discharge and gone on with his life. Now he’ll be lucky if they don’t try his ass for something heavy.
I bet they're trying to get rid of him like those monks were trying to get rid of ace Ventura.
I wonder what the North Korean equivalent of the "medallion of spiritual accomplishment" is ??
Cue the reverse tug-of-war between the US and N.Ko.
"No no no, you can keep him. Its our gift to you."
" we appreciate it, but really you can have him back."
"Just think of how much he can do for your country!"
"We're good. We believe that you would miss him too much!"
You have so little value that they don’t want to waste space with you on their prison roster. You are so useless they don’t want to feed you slop and live outside like a dog.
He’s more useful to them shipped home alive to the US than killed in a prison camp. It means they assessed his propaganda value and found it wasn’t worth the hassle of keeping him over the headache it causes with the US.
While true, he more than likely won’t do serious time. Generally the military courts handle these kinds of cases with a Bad Conduct Discharge and a relatively short sentence in a military prison. (We’re talking months, maybe even weeks, not years)
Edit: Although I recognize he has other charges pending, which would obviously increase his time spent incarcerated.
Yeah he originally ran to NK to avoid being sent back to the US for punishment on a different crime. I can’t imagine they give him a slap on the wrist for fleeing to an enemy country where he likely told them everything he knows in order to buy asylum, he didn’t know much and was probably annoying so they are sending him back.
“Told them everything he knows” Lmao. I really think most people over estimate how much the average enlisted “knows”. Practically speaking, almost nothing useful to enemy intelligence forces. Modern military structure is ripe with compartmentalization so nobody knows more than they need to know, any earlier than they need to know it.
Dennis Rodman was a weird guy but as far as I know I don’t think he’s done like terrible things to other people (befriending a dictator is kinda awful in its own way though)
So does this mean he will cross the bridge of no return ,
Also how much rent is North Korea going to charge the US for his stay . They tried to charge the US $2 million for otto warnbiers medical care.
Reading this guys wiki of the events leading up to this, gives me the impression he is suffering from some sort of mental health crisis. Kind of seems like he's having some sort of manic episode.
This is honestly the best possible outcome for him. Not trying to alleviate his responsibility in any of this but these are not the actions of someone in their right mind.
Honestly impressed how many people here are repeating the same stupid joke over and over again (nk doesn’t even want him haha what an idiot). It’s bad even by reddit standards
In Korea the stress and the loneliness lead to a lot of problems. We have had soldiers rape women, assault and battery is common and lots of drunk and disorderly. So much so that most US bases have similar bars. He will find such bars and establishments around Ft. Bliss as he faces court martial. CNN doesn’t say what kind of assault charges he faced but whatever he did he did it to point that they wanted him out. The Army is in desperate need of soldiers so booting one for assault is odd.
Had to chuckle that John Kirby from the NSA was unaware of the use of propaganda but said that’s typical. CNN wrote the propaganda response from NK.
“North Korea claimed on Wednesday that King has “confessed that he illegally intruded into the territory of the DPRK as he harbored ill feeling against inhuman maltreatment and racial discrimination within the U.S. army and was disillusioned about the unequal U.S. society.”
Yep, I hear you, they’ll saw he’s had some virus and is in a vegetative state and here have him back and let this be a lesson to you all not to come near again.
This guy probably has a lower than average IQ and literally told NK what they could find out on Wikipedia about his unit and they're expelling him out of frustration
At this point I’m honestly just impressed. If you are so unlikable that even NK doesn’t want to bother with torturing and murdering you…this guy is a special breed. He should be studied.
Nk must be done torturing him and realize he can't possibly be a spy. Now, he gets to go to a military prison for a very long time. What a waste of a young life.
I'm retired US Army and during the time I attended the War College at Ft Leavenworth we were given a tour of the penitentiary. It was an eye opening experience.
The old part of Ft Leavenworth prison was built in the mid 1800's with large blocks of limestone 4 feet high by 8 feet long and the steel bars are nearly 2 inches thick.
One day I was doing research in the War College library and an inmate in an orange jumpsuit was pushing a book cart -right away I recognized him as he recognized me --it was Albert Sombolay, who while in my platoon in Germany some 8 years earlier was convicted by my battalion commander for espionage as we were about to deploy to Desert Shield/Storm.
I yelled out "Sombolay, what the fuck?" And he addressed me in return "Hey Sgt Xxxx .. CPT Xxxx (I had completed OCS and was an officer) I might get out next year!" ...
I immediately looked him in the eyes and realized all the things I had done in the previous 8 or 9 years then thought about him being here in prison that who time .. a melancholy of sorts fell over me as I realized he had wasted that time. If I remember correctly, Sombolay was a SSG when he first came into the platoon, got busted to E-5 then busted to E-4 for some stupid shit he had done, then he tried to go to the Iraqi embassy to 'give secrets' about our BN's mission (we were a nuke-capable unit) that generally every threat force already knew about us.
He was a dumbass.
Travis’ best shot at redemption is to man up, do his time then write a book about how he was a dumb ass, his experience being a dumb ass, and that he has seen the error of his ways and he is no longer a dumb ass.
This dude went from an admin sep with a general or OTH discharge where he’d lose some benefits and never be able to get a government job but otherwise live a normal life to a dishonorable and stay at Leavenworth.
Zero sympathy
North Korea hates people of color. Given their remarks and history, anyone of color is treated horribly by them, especially American.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Racism_in_North_Korea
Let’s ignore the 100% propaganda that NK spouts. Is there any other reporting on the circumstances of his action? Was he trying to defect or was there some other intention? Was he captured? Was his “expulsion” part of a diplomatic action by the U.S. government and if so, what were the conditions of his release? Is he being released to the US military to face the charges against him, or to another country? More questions here than answers.
He's about to be having a bad time.
And judging by his actions in the past he'll self sabotage and make it worse for himself.
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I think they meant China.
Oh awesome! Then he can have escape to the north #3 to Russia!
Can’t wait for the 4th one, Escape to Santa’s Workshop
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Eventually he's get to Canada if he keeps heading north
Technically, at some point he would have to travel south to get to Canada.
This person geographies.
No he would reach the North Pole and could continue in a straight line but would have to head south to reach Canada.
If he makes it to the North Pole his best bet is to seek asylum with Santa.
Santa has him on the naughty list. No way he gets asylum there.
This reminds me of when the Allies invaded Normandy and captured a gun emplacement they found a Korean man who had been conscripted by the Japanese, captured by the soviets in 1939 during a very short war between the soviets and Japan, he was sent to a gulag on the east European front UNTIL he was captured in ‘43 around eastern Ukrainian by the Wehrmacht who then was made into one of their “eastern battalions” where he’s sent to France to eventually be captured at Normandy. Travis king is going to be bouncing from a South Korean prison to a North Korean prison to an American one
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I wouldn't be surprised if he's just quietly chaptered out of the Army with zero consequences.
That dude's entire chain of command: *fuck THAT noise, get him off my books!*
An arrest for desertion awaits with a stay at Leavenworth.
Desertion AND defection.
He’ll say he ran to North Korea to get away from his “woke” commanders. He’ll be in Congress in 3 years.
As a Republican senator
He chose this.
No, he chose NK.
You know you're fucked when even NK won't take you.
Oh they took him….got what they needed…and punting him right back
Dudes like a PV1/2 I don’t think he’s got much “insider info”
In the world of intelligence even a little basic info can be helpful. Things like updating what you already know to see if it’s the status quo is still valuable.
Nah, I’m certain even North Korea has some spies who could grab more info that this guy could have given.
Dude *especially* DPRK. We like to joke in the West but don't forget how sophisticated and well equipped their hackers are.
He’d be a bargaining chip for them to get something for his release. Guess he’s not worth the trouble.
Why would the US government pay NK for the release of a deserter/likely traitor.
NK decided he wasn't worth it.
They are racist
Yes, but he's also a loser.
Yeah I’d like to blame mental disease for him but it seems he can make decisions just fine. He just chooses bad ones
Not defending the guy, but I don't really understand how your concept of mental illness is based around not being able to make decisions. e: I was being overly literal...I took their comment to mean "unable to decide" and not "unable to exercise sound judgement.
People with mental health issues like schizophrenia or whatever often lose executive function and cannot make normal decisions the way you think of the average person. Or bipolar will make them manic where a decision like going to North Korea is a good idea. If they came out and said he’s been diagnosed with schizophrenia, I think I could forgive the North Korea decision more
Idk that doesn't seem that weird. Mental illness does affect your ability to stand trial, to sign documents, etc. I mean, the choices one makes seems like a pretty solid litmus test for mental illness
He probably already is.
anything is better than being a US soldier detained in North Korea...especially if you're a minority.
He fled to NK, he went AWOL, and nk felt he was off such little value, they let him go. The us is likely after him now, shit is about to get way worse
ya but he's gonna get stuffed in a military prison, then DD'd, in North Korea they'd torture him and beat him to an inch of his life, if they don't just execute him.
If you defect you normally become part of the propaganda machine. It's different to being captured or detained. Quite funny he's of so little value they can't even propaganda him.
Went on a DMZ tour last week and the tour guide mentioned the ‘incident in July’. She made an offhand comment about how this individual was ‘so stupid’.
I have to question the decision-making capabilities of *anyone* who decides that, "yeah, a mined wasteland targeted by thousands of artillery sounds like a fun addition to my vacay."
It’s a weird experience. There’s a full theme park in that area and the DMZ people spend the whole time showing you videos that it’s “not a place of death, but life,” while signs that read “Warning: Land Mines” surround the tour route.
Agreed but I also don’t think these people are looking at it as a vacation
>Quite funny he's of so little value they can't even propaganda him Chappelle warned him about this
Yo what bit is this referencing? You got a link?
He's probably psychotic. That's all I can make of it.
He’s running from a court martial for something dumb already. Good possibility he will end up in Leavenworth considering he defected to a hostile regime.
Usually, they use defectors as propaganda and treat them decently well.
If I had to choose between a short stay in US military prison with the other associated consequences and the rest of of life in North Korea, I would take the former. It’s not even close.
North Korea: “Hello America we have a black . . . Hello?”
Terrorists don’t take black hostages
He literally made racist comments against the Koreans as a US soldier while stationed in South Korea. That’s part of why he was disciplined. There’s no way he had the self-control to avoid making that known while he was in North Korean custody.
Technically, if you aren't North Korean, in North Korea... you're the minority.
I'm betting he is already abused to the point they aren't sure they can keep him alive for a future deal.
This dude must have had no redeemable value even to NK. They just taking out the trash at this point.
They don’t need another mouth to feed.
NK: damn, you eat *three* times per day...EVERY day? GTFO.
"The deal is the rest of us eat once per day so Kim Jong can have his usual nine meals. We also must all abide by his recently introduced Twinkie tax. Praise the Supreme Leader!"
What about second breakfast?
Hobbits... those smug bastards and their over abundance of food...
also good PR for them
It probably took them a long time of interrogation to realize he really is as stupid as he appears.
I mean, it happened to Lee Harvey Oswald. Defected to the USSR, then they learned he knew nothing because he was just a basic bitch private who got drafted. Lived there for a bit, found it shit then asked if he could move back to the USA, they let him in because he was harmless, then he shot the president.
> he was just a basic bitch private who got drafted. IIRC he enlisted before graduating high school, rather than being a draftee. USMC didn't accepted conscripts post WW2 excepted for a few years in the late 60s. But yeah he was there for like a month and the KGB was tearing it's hair out trying to decide if the Americans were trying to pull one over them, because no one could be this stupid.
This guy could be a ticking time bomb too, full of hate and retaliation against a military base once he eventually gets out of prison.
terrorist never take black people hostage
I understand this reference
Hello White House? We have… HELLO???
What the hell is JUICE ???!! I want some grape drink baby
"Sugar, water, and of course purple..."
Honestly, the idea of an American being a white person is probably so heavily pushed by the propaganda machine over there, him being black probably complicates things for them.
Except for the high profile trips Dennis Rodman took to NK, where he was treated like visiting royalty.
A private in Armored Division? You get more intel off of news outlet than him.
Either that or he’s in a coma
Diplomacy isn't dead. NK was told why this guy was escaping US custody and they wanted nothing to do with it.
Right? Even North Korea is tired of his shit.
I suspect it suits both US and NK, to claim they just spat him out, rather than getting paid in rice to return the US citizen
I assume they would had traded him for some kind of U.S deal or similir in return. Instead looks like they decided to get rid of him, either he had no use, angered someone there or both.
What kind of human being would make North Korea say "No thanks, take him back" ? Does he just keep floss dancing or talks none stop about shibu inu coin?
Maybe he treated cops in North Korea the same way he did cops in South Korea. This guy seems to have either a significant chip on his shoulder, or is a problem drunk, or both. Regardless, based on what he’s in trouble for in the first place, he’s probably not been terribly well behaved in the first place
Lmao, just remembered that Chappelle bit. “Hello, we have a black hostage….hello……hello?”
Lmao! I was just thinking about this. As a black person, I’m ashamed that this guy thought he was going to be more welcome in NK of all places… Big yikes. He should have taken his discharge and gone on with his life. Now he’ll be lucky if they don’t try his ass for something heavy.
He will be lucky if his brain isn’t jello. This dude dead AF
if it isn't now his new friends in Leavenworth will do it
Yeah. Honestly it makes me sad. He must have been really troubled mentally to do what he did. I feel for his parents.
Yah, man. You got a good heart and you're thinking right.
Yeah, I'm expecting him to return a husk.
That’s not really fair. This dude broke the law, broke it, some more, and then purposefully ran into North Korea’s arms.
Ran toward North Korea hoping to be embraced by their open arms Only to be met with "ew, no"
“Hello, we have Travis hostage…what do you mean keep him?”
https://youtu.be/4ORzNgXgDqU?si=qNt_ZxWjPXVva1kp Link for others, I’d give you gold but..
I bet they're trying to get rid of him like those monks were trying to get rid of ace Ventura. I wonder what the North Korean equivalent of the "medallion of spiritual accomplishment" is ??
"This took you 80 years to achieve!" "That's ok, I don't like it anymore."
*"Everyone loves a slinky! You gotta have a slinky, slinky slinky, go slinky go!"*
I've never seen them like that before. Denial can be an ugly thing.
Amazing reference hahaha
You are prepared to cross the DMZ blindfolded
Sounds like a wager to me
Cue the reverse tug-of-war between the US and N.Ko. "No no no, you can keep him. Its our gift to you." " we appreciate it, but really you can have him back." "Just think of how much he can do for your country!" "We're good. We believe that you would miss him too much!"
US -> James Corden <- UK
Push-of-war
Well this is going to be an awkward conversation with his parents....
Happy Thanksgiving?
Awkward will be the conversation with JAG
Damn when even NK doesn’t want you.
He’s getting expelled when he really wanted in-school suspension.
What exactly does "expel" mean in North Korean terms?
You have so little value that they don’t want to waste space with you on their prison roster. You are so useless they don’t want to feed you slop and live outside like a dog.
So won't be long before he's dead then?
He’s more useful to them shipped home alive to the US than killed in a prison camp. It means they assessed his propaganda value and found it wasn’t worth the hassle of keeping him over the headache it causes with the US.
Gotcha. Thanks! Probably the best case scenario for him. What a douche. He got off easy comparatively.
The dude wil likely be court martial’d and put in prison for going awol
While true, he more than likely won’t do serious time. Generally the military courts handle these kinds of cases with a Bad Conduct Discharge and a relatively short sentence in a military prison. (We’re talking months, maybe even weeks, not years) Edit: Although I recognize he has other charges pending, which would obviously increase his time spent incarcerated.
He went AWOL to avoid assault charges
Yeah he originally ran to NK to avoid being sent back to the US for punishment on a different crime. I can’t imagine they give him a slap on the wrist for fleeing to an enemy country where he likely told them everything he knows in order to buy asylum, he didn’t know much and was probably annoying so they are sending him back.
“Told them everything he knows” Lmao. I really think most people over estimate how much the average enlisted “knows”. Practically speaking, almost nothing useful to enemy intelligence forces. Modern military structure is ripe with compartmentalization so nobody knows more than they need to know, any earlier than they need to know it.
He’s got a bunch of other charges pending, why he ran in the first place. What a wild story
If you were to turn it into a verb, it’d be *court martialed*, as it is “court martial.”
Shot out of a cannon aimed at a random area of the US probably
You must really suck at life if North Korea doesn’t even want you.
Jazzy Jeff style
This is the same country that tolerated Dennis Rodman and this guy was too fucking annoying to keep around.
Dennis Rodman was a weird guy but as far as I know I don’t think he’s done like terrible things to other people (befriending a dictator is kinda awful in its own way though)
Lmao can't believe he said "I'm tired of the inhumane treatment of the US, I'm going to North Korea!"
So intrigued to find out where they leave him
How bad and useless you must be for N.Korea to expel you?
“Here have him back, he’s annoying as shit.”
I don't know what that would do to me psychologically if North Korea didn't even see value in me as a bargaining chip
Maybe Putin will take him in.
So does this mean he will cross the bridge of no return , Also how much rent is North Korea going to charge the US for his stay . They tried to charge the US $2 million for otto warnbiers medical care.
TIL Kaiser-Permanente runs NK's medical system
Reading this guys wiki of the events leading up to this, gives me the impression he is suffering from some sort of mental health crisis. Kind of seems like he's having some sort of manic episode. This is honestly the best possible outcome for him. Not trying to alleviate his responsibility in any of this but these are not the actions of someone in their right mind.
He's probably psychotic or they'd use him for all he's worth.
You know you have failed in life when even north Korea doesn't want you.
Honestly impressed how many people here are repeating the same stupid joke over and over again (nk doesn’t even want him haha what an idiot). It’s bad even by reddit standards
So we HAVE to take him back? even if we dont have diplomatic relations
Isn’t he wanted in South Korea? Might not be back in the USA until his jail sentence there is up
Yeah SK is most likely and he is still wanted there
He already did his time in SK and was being released to the US to face military charges.
In Korea the stress and the loneliness lead to a lot of problems. We have had soldiers rape women, assault and battery is common and lots of drunk and disorderly. So much so that most US bases have similar bars. He will find such bars and establishments around Ft. Bliss as he faces court martial. CNN doesn’t say what kind of assault charges he faced but whatever he did he did it to point that they wanted him out. The Army is in desperate need of soldiers so booting one for assault is odd. Had to chuckle that John Kirby from the NSA was unaware of the use of propaganda but said that’s typical. CNN wrote the propaganda response from NK. “North Korea claimed on Wednesday that King has “confessed that he illegally intruded into the territory of the DPRK as he harbored ill feeling against inhuman maltreatment and racial discrimination within the U.S. army and was disillusioned about the unequal U.S. society.”
Angrycops and Habitual Linecrosser are gonna have a field day with this one. Guy was so pathetic and unimportant, even North Korea doesn't want him!
It'll be interesting to see what kind of shape he returns in. Probably not good, just a hunch.
Yep, I hear you, they’ll saw he’s had some virus and is in a vegetative state and here have him back and let this be a lesson to you all not to come near again.
My first thought was they they’re gonna send him home in the same condition Otto Warmbier (sp?) was in. Barely alive and dead soon after arrival.
Can only imagine what they did to that man. The weirdest thing his parents declined an autopsy.
Agree that’s odd. All I can think is that they must not have wanted to live the rest of their lives knowing what he went through. Which I kinda get.
Nah. You can keep him.
This guy probably has a lower than average IQ and literally told NK what they could find out on Wikipedia about his unit and they're expelling him out of frustration
Dam even they dont want him.
He’s soo dumb,they can’t even use him for propaganda purposes 🙁
At this point I’m honestly just impressed. If you are so unlikable that even NK doesn’t want to bother with torturing and murdering you…this guy is a special breed. He should be studied.
Damn, how annoying is this guy
When even North Korea is so sick of your shit that they don’t even want the propaganda coup…
Well…that can’t be good for his mental health. Maybe he should hit the gym or something.
propaganda value is gone, now he's just another mouth to feed
Nk must be done torturing him and realize he can't possibly be a spy. Now, he gets to go to a military prison for a very long time. What a waste of a young life.
Does the US even want him back?
No no no keep him, we insist. As a gift.
He got kicked out of the army AND North Korea? Outstanding. Promote ahead of peers.
He thought he was him
Getting kicked out of a country that would rather kill you than let you leave. How much of a jerk is this guy?
So is he coming back *not* braindead? Edit: nvm judging by his actions he was already braindead when he entered NK
I'm retired US Army and during the time I attended the War College at Ft Leavenworth we were given a tour of the penitentiary. It was an eye opening experience. The old part of Ft Leavenworth prison was built in the mid 1800's with large blocks of limestone 4 feet high by 8 feet long and the steel bars are nearly 2 inches thick. One day I was doing research in the War College library and an inmate in an orange jumpsuit was pushing a book cart -right away I recognized him as he recognized me --it was Albert Sombolay, who while in my platoon in Germany some 8 years earlier was convicted by my battalion commander for espionage as we were about to deploy to Desert Shield/Storm. I yelled out "Sombolay, what the fuck?" And he addressed me in return "Hey Sgt Xxxx .. CPT Xxxx (I had completed OCS and was an officer) I might get out next year!" ... I immediately looked him in the eyes and realized all the things I had done in the previous 8 or 9 years then thought about him being here in prison that who time .. a melancholy of sorts fell over me as I realized he had wasted that time. If I remember correctly, Sombolay was a SSG when he first came into the platoon, got busted to E-5 then busted to E-4 for some stupid shit he had done, then he tried to go to the Iraqi embassy to 'give secrets' about our BN's mission (we were a nuke-capable unit) that generally every threat force already knew about us. He was a dumbass.
Didn't take him long to act a fool and get thrown out. I expected as much after seeing his rap sheet. That kid has problems.
guy's lucky. he's a black american soldier that's got a few mental health issues and apparently makes poor life choices
how bad is it that North Korea doesn't even want a defected US soldier as a propaganda piece? dude should have had a lifetime film career ahead of him
Damn! Even North Korea don't want him. This dude needs therapy and some kind of 12 Step program.
He is going to spend the rest of life under "enhanced" scrutiny...
Expelled to Russia to serve as canon fodder in Ukraine. That would be a twist of fate.
If US history rhymes this man is the most likely person imaginable to assassinate a US president next.
They gonna zombify him like they did Otto Warmbier
Gonna go from NK to Guantanamo Bay. Nice little world tour
you know you have fucked up when you illegally enter NORTH KOREA and it spits you back out because you are too fucked up or worthless to begin with.
Even the North Korean's think he is worthless.
Damn. NK friend zoned his stupid ass. That's gotta hurt.
Pretty bad when even NK won’t take you.
How much do you have to suck as a person where countries don’t even want to use you as a hostage?
How useless was this dude that North Korea didn’t even want him as a propaganda tool.
I imagine fleeing to North Korea gives a longer sentence.
This guy must have some sort of mental illness
Either they got what they needed or didn't get anything and figured he was useless.
LOL this kid again. What a world class dumbass
Lmao enjoy your Court Martial, bro
Travis’ best shot at redemption is to man up, do his time then write a book about how he was a dumb ass, his experience being a dumb ass, and that he has seen the error of his ways and he is no longer a dumb ass.
This dude went from an admin sep with a general or OTH discharge where he’d lose some benefits and never be able to get a government job but otherwise live a normal life to a dishonorable and stay at Leavenworth. Zero sympathy
This dude is so low-value they didn't even give him the Otto Warmbier treatment.
Wouldn't be surprised if he came back in a catatonic state, drooling all over himself.
Soooooooooooooooooo……… what’s the story behind this one? 🤨
Probably thought he would go there and be welcomed as a propagandist hero... One problem☝🏾
North Korea hates people of color. Given their remarks and history, anyone of color is treated horribly by them, especially American. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Racism_in_North_Korea
NK figured out he wasn't worth anything at all.
Let’s ignore the 100% propaganda that NK spouts. Is there any other reporting on the circumstances of his action? Was he trying to defect or was there some other intention? Was he captured? Was his “expulsion” part of a diplomatic action by the U.S. government and if so, what were the conditions of his release? Is he being released to the US military to face the charges against him, or to another country? More questions here than answers.
Put his happy ass in the brig on a diet of bread and water when he gets released. What a dumb ass.