USTDC

Photo of USTDC courtesy of Les Duffin

Friday, October 17, 2008

SOFA, Customs and Identification

These pages are from Chapter 5 of "Taiwan Report," the 1973 publication that was mailed to incoming personnel. Click on any of the images for a larger version.

This chapter discusses the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA), which is an agreement between a country and a foreign nation stationing military forces in that country. Most nations that have military personnel stationed in other countries have these agreements.

Also discussed in this chapter are customs rules and identification requirements for military personnel who were stationed in Taiwan.




I just remembered that my wallet seemed pretty thick in those days. With all of those identification cards and maybe a couple of hundred $NT, it's no wonder!

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Seeing that photo of that little girl receiving the required immunizations reminded me of my last week at Treasure Island before departing for Taiwan. Three shots in each arm for a total of six. I did feel a bit feverish for a day or two after those.

Sarj Bloom said...

Talk about shots. The night before boarding the plane out of Edwards AFB they discovered that some of us needed more shots and gave them to us at the terminal. One guy suggested that I take all four shots in one arm , then only that arm would be sore. Well I did and it was a big mistake.
By the time I got to the PI's I had a big fever and a golf ball size infection under my arm. I went to sick bay and then slept for 24 hours and almost missed my plane to Taipei the next day.
DUMB!

Don said...

Ouch! Both of your stories were painful reading!

I didn't have any problems with shots in Taiwan, but your comments reminded me of my USAF basic training back in 1962. In those days they used an air gun thing to shoot serum into your arm. We all lined up, walked past the medics and they hit us from both sides.

But if they didn't get the gadget exactly flush with your arm, it could rip the skin and you'd bleed as you walked along. That happened a lot and I saw at least a couple of guys pass out in the process.

Don