USO Camp Walker Brings Morale Boosting BBQ to Service Members at Remote Installation

Camp Mujuk is the only United States Marine Corps installation in South Korea, located in a rural area just outside of Pohang. There are approximately 150 Marines and Sailors stationed on the base, all of whom are unaccompanied. While small, the installation is mighty in heart. “Mujuk” (무적) in English means “invincible”, and that can be surely said of the service members located in the area. USO Camp Walker provides outreach to several installations in the southern portion of the Korean peninsula, including THAAD, K-2 Airbase, Chinhae Naval Base, CNFK (Busan) and Camp Mujuk.

One such outreach event came on June 3 when USO Camp Walker visited the Marines and sailors at Camp Mujuk for a fun BBQ. Fortunate to have a bright and sunny day, USO staff and volunteers were proud to serve a delicious morale boosting meal, displaying that the determination and sacrifice of our service members does not go unappreciated.

USO Walker Senior Center Operations Manager Jessica McDonald was joined by two staff members and two outstanding volunteers, Bret and Diane Baron. The team made the hour and a half journey east from Daegu, where USO Camp Walker is located, to the outskirts of Pohang in two vans packed to the brim with equipment, coolers full of food and stacks of water bottles. With a menu of hot dogs, burgers, chips, pasta salad and Jell-O cake, Marines and sailors were able to connect over a good meal and beautiful weather.

Laying the groundwork, Jessica coordinated with Camp Mujuk Installation Deputy Commander Robert Salasko to plan the event for the service members as there are limited resources on Camp Mujuk. The USO’s mission is to strengthen the well-being of people serving in America’s military and their families. Seeing service members well-fed and enjoying the afternoon with their fellow Marines and sailors, the USO team left Camp Mujuk with the feeling that this mission had been accomplished that day - a show that the USO is always there to support.

Following the event, Robert shared very kind words of appreciation: “The picnic was above and beyond expectation and provided the perfect venue for shared comradery. [The USO’s] generosity and humble service personified the absolute best in the USO and will be remembered for years to come […] I say this with the utmost sincerity and am not inflating the team’s contributions. Thank you seems so inadequate.”