U.S. Military Personnel in Taiwan Rise to Near 1,000
Mission Creep and Sex Scandals
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6 August 2023 (Sunday)
U.S. Military Personnel in Taiwan Rise to Near 1,000
Mission Creep and Sex Scandals
By Wendell Minnick (Whiskey Mike) 顏文德
TAIPEI - Mission Creep begins in earnest in Taiwan.
With my trusty Luopan the number of U.S. military personnel on the island of Taiwan is now around 960, which includes temporary duty (TDY) personnel.
Six months ago, my sources indicated there were 750, mostly special operations training by U.S. Marine Corps Special Operations Command (MARSOC), U.S. Army Special Forces (Green Berets), and U.S. Navy SEALs.
Already Taiwanese are noticing these crew cut, broad shouldered men wandering around Taipei, Taichung and Kaohsiung on the weekends.
They are obviously lacking the beer bellies and flip flops of your typical English teacher.
The real problem for English teachers, often runners (running from a bad marriage, child support, debt, etc.), will begin when they realize there is serious competition for the same poontang; men who are most likely special operators with combat experience in Afghanistan and/or Iraq.
Taiwanese young women are traditional and educated. They are looking for husbands with solid salaries and a future. They also make better wives and mothers compared to liberated American women. The choice will be obvious for them both.
Even one of my old Blackwater buddies who trained the Taiwan Presidential Security unit married a local woman. So it is not without precedence.
However, Mission Creep is something I fear for Taiwan. If the number 960 is roughly close to the real number, this is the most U.S. military personnel on Taiwan since the shuttering of the U.S.-Taiwan Defense Command in 1979.
Mission Creep begins slowly, then expands rapidly. The best analogy would be Moore’s Law (1965) that safely predicted that the number of transistors in an integrated circuit would double every two years.
For those unfamiliar with Mission Creep, Vietnam is a perfect example, as was Afghanistan and Iraq.
There is an old saying that applies to these conflicts: “The road to hell is paved with good intentions.” I do not imagine, or refuse to imagine, Taiwan ending up like so many of the unfortunate benefactors of American military assistance gone awry.
I also fear that sex scandals could derail any of the positive U.S. military assistance programs for Taiwan. Mission Creep makes it more likely there will be trouble.
Gone are the days when Taiwan was poor and under brutal martial law. During the Cold War, brothels lined Zhongshan North Road catering to the U.S.-Taiwan Defense Command, not to mention thousands of Vietnam GIs coming here for R&R. Today, Taiwanese women are educated with a strong sense of self-respect. Gone are the sleazy days chronicled in the 1969 Taipei After Dark.
So a potential scandal would not help the U.S. effort to improve Taiwan’s defense and might be taken advantage of by political elements in the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) that seek unification with China.
A 2009 sex scandal at the de facto U.S. embassy in Taipei, the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT), spoiled efforts to build better military ties with Taiwan after the U.S. Navy sent helicopters to assist rescue efforts for Typhoon Morokot.
“It was a disaster for AIT and U.S. efforts to build goodwill with the Taiwanese,” said a former U.S. government source. “It’s a shame that all the goodwill the U.S. built up with the Taiwanese after the typhoon has been destroyed just a week later.”
“David”, assigned to AIT as a “political-military” officer, was accused of photographing a young Taiwanese woman nude and placing the photos on the Internet. The incident made the front pages of the local Chinese-language Apple Daily newspaper igniting enraged complaints about AIT.
The Apple photograph showed “David” wearing a cowboy hat. Apple protected the girl’s identity except to show her top half minus head (mostly cleavage).
She claimed he had identified himself as an English teacher and not an AIT officer. He left Taiwan prior to the incident being reported to the press.
AIT said “David” would not be punished for the indiscretion and returned to the U.S. for further assignment.
Prior to this scandal was a 2008 rape allegation involving a language exchange student from West Point in Kaohsiung. The charges were dropped after the local Chinese-language media discovered she was a prostitute.
An AIT officer said that the young man had no idea how these things worked. They had met at a pub and a Taiwan navy friend introduced her as a friend from his high school days.
After several drinks, they went to a “love hotel” where she insisted they shower first. In the morning she asked for “taxi money” and he naively assumed it would only be NT $200 (US $6). She became angry when he gave her the money and then demanded NT $6000 (US $200).
Enraged, she went to the police station to file a complaint.
He told AIT after his arrest that the amount seemed to be a joke and he had mistakenly laughed at her as he left the room.
After his release and return to West Point, even though the charges were dropped, the administration expelled him for misbehavior.
His military career was ruined over a “cultural” misunderstanding.
Not a cheap shot at all and I see the point! ;-)
Yes, I will be registering and am coming in beginning of week as it my first visit.
Wendell - I couldn't help laughing at your English teacher comment as I sit here in Vietnam teaching finance but also holding a TEFL cert! Hope I get to meet you when in Taipei for TADTE.