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| Iraq | |
| S. Korean Troops Volunteer for Iraq Duty | |
| 2004-02-05 | |
Driven in part by large financial bonuses, about 18,000 South Korean soldiers have volunteered for a mission to help the U.S.-led coalition rebuild Iraq, a military official said Thursday. South Korea has plans to send as many as 3,000 troops to Iraq as early as April in a mission making South Korea the biggest coalition partner after the United States and Britain. Parliament must still approve the dispatch, but all major parties have said they would support it and the military is already preparing by soliciting volunteers and training soldiers as Arabic translators. On Thursday, the military said 18,000 soldiers have already applied for service and that more applicants were expected before Tuesday’s deadline. Volunteers will be winnowed after parliament approves the dispatch. "I think soldiers want to build experience abroad, and especially among young soldiers, there is a willingness to experience something new," army spokesman Col. Ha Doo-chul said.
That would motivate me. The new dispatch of 3,000 troops to the northern Iraqi oil town of Kirkuk is to include special forces and combat-ready marines. It would come in addition to 460 South Korean military medics and engineers already operating in the southern Iraqi city of Nasiriyah. | |
| Posted by:Steve White |
| #11 Never - and I mean NEVER - gonna forget operating with a ROK Navy tincan off the SKor coast in the winter of 1976. We were part of a US task group there for a wargame, and were doing underway refueling. Good weather, just a little windy and VERY @#%&ING COLD - had to be at least -20 degrees wind chill. The US ships pulled alongside the oiler, pulled the hoses over, took on fuel and got their crews back below decks ASAP. Not the ROKs. Those crazy bastards pulled the inhaul lines over (trotting along the decks in step!), connected, did an emergency breakaway, then shot another approach. Just for the training. They did this at least four times before they took on their fuel. And these were ROK squids, so you can just imagine how tough their Marines are! Here's a Modest Proposal I've made before...use the ROK Marines in areas the US has had trouble pacifying, such as Karbala. Just announce that the resident US unit is going to move out and be replaced by the ROKs. Clear all media out of the area, move in the ROKs, then wait 6-8 weeks. Move the US unit back to the area, and tell the local hard boyz (or those hard boyz who remain ambulatory) that if they're ready to mellow out and be cooperative, the US unit will return. When they say "By Allah's beard, yes, PLEASE!!, do a turnover and move the ROKs to the next problem area... |
| Posted by: Ricky bin Ricardo (Abu Babaloo) 2004-2-6 1:21:16 AM |
| #10 Worked with ROK marines on covert landing-practice when I was forward deployed. Middle of winter, rubber boat and nothing but weapons, tennies and fatigues. |
| Posted by: Pappy 2004-2-5 11:58:33 PM |
| #9 I nearly died one evening in Vietnam - walked up on a Korean Marine Master Sergeant, and surprised him. My dad taught me to walk through the Louisiana woods in the fall, with all the dry leaves on the ground, without making a sound. I've scared countless people by just moving in a way that's natural for me. MSgt Han was NOT pleased, and I came very close to being broken in half. We became good friends after that - at least for the last four months I was in Nam. This guy was NOT to be messed with - 5'4" tall, about 180, and could out-do any five people I know. NEVER, NEVER kill one of them - the rest will hunt you down and kill you, if it takes a hundred years. Iraq is going to have to learn on their own, and it won't be pleasant - for them! |
| Posted by: Old Patriot 2004-2-5 11:15:04 PM |
| #8 Never dealt with the KMC,but I watched some of the ROKArmy train.Hard discipline. |
| Posted by: Raptor 2004-2-5 5:53:24 PM |
| #7 Death to all that invade our sacred Islamic land! Wait, did you say Korean Marines? Never mind. |
| Posted by: Mohamed Bin Buckwheat 2004-2-5 12:58:33 PM |
| #6 ROK MC is good shit. We have a close kinship w/those guys. We don't really care for their Army brethren and most Korean college students are pinkos imho, but the ROK MC are like close cousins to us. |
| Posted by: Jarhead 2004-2-5 12:41:45 PM |
| #5 The ROKs were about the only thing the VC truly feared. No joke, some seriously hard boyz. |
| Posted by: mojo 2004-2-5 11:04:49 AM |
| #4 ROK Marines! You definitely want these guys on your flanks. Happy hunting boys! |
| Posted by: Doc8404 2004-2-5 10:55:37 AM |
| #3 US Marines and Korean Marines arriving in Iraq! Lordy, lordy, lordy -- this is going to be interesting. No more nice guys. |
| Posted by: Highlander 2004-2-5 10:13:26 AM |
| #2 Korean Marines..... very hard men. Ship, you got that right. There was a fairly large ROKMC unit right down the road from us at Kunsan, and we were forbidden to even think about going near the place. The ROKMCs had a habit of just beating the hell out of people on general principles. Mike |
| Posted by: Mike Kozlowski 2004-2-5 9:07:02 AM |
| #1 Korean Marines..... very hard men. |
| Posted by: Shipman 2004-2-5 7:26:28 AM |