Until fairly recently, the ROKA (Republic of Korea Army) had the third largest presence in Iraq (after US and UK), mostly working in the relatively safe Kurdish region. But what stands out is that the ROKA have been focusing most of their attention on humanitarian efforts, the force composed mostly of doctors and engineers.
Even though the cynics will say this was done primarily as a political move to appease the US, I think they’re still doing some great work there, rebuilding the economy and infrastructure of the region as well as training Kurdish Iraqis with practical job skills (mechanics, baking etc) so that they won’t turn to extremism since they will have more to lose. I think the fact that Koreans had the Japanese colonization as well as the Korean War in their history allows them to feel greater empathy towards the Kurds, who were easily Saddam’s greatest victims. Some have even converted to Islam.
In fact, 84% of Kurds want the ROKA to stay longer.
As a Korean, I’m very proud of these men and women in Iraq and hope their efforts have a long lasting impact in Kurdistan and hopefully Iraq as a whole as well.
In Viet Nam my dustoff unit supported the Korean White Horse Division. I have nothing but the greatest respect for those bad ass military fellows. I know that Korea had two divisions in Viet Nam: The white horse (Bac Mal or Bai Mal ?) and the Tiger Division.
What would be the English translation of “Zaytun” division ?
I worked with a Korean lady at my last job, and I gather that they have mandatory military service for all men (her husband was still serving his term.)
Perhaps this helps keep them a bit less gung-ho minded. (Of course my Norwegian friend who just got done with his first six months of mandatory service is a gun nut…)
So, my friend John was in Viet Nam, one night he pulled guard duty. Very secure area, rear echelon, guard duty was easy stuff, boring, but easy. He was teamed up with a Korean Tiger who spoke a little English. A genial enough fellow, but everytime a car would pull up John just waved them through, while the Tiger leaped to attention and gave a snappy salute.
By way of a limited vocabulary and gestures, he asked why the Tiger was so uptight, sheesh, man, lighten up, already, nobody cares.
So, anyway, another car pulls up full of officers, three American, one Korean, and the Tiger guy just casually waves them through. The car comes to a screeching halt, the Korean officer leaps out before it even stops, strides up to the enlisted Tiger and breaks his nose! Smack! Not a word, just busts his nose and starts screaming at him. Now, John, can’t follow the language but its pretty clear whats happening. Finally, the officer stops screaming with what appears to be a question. The enlisted Tiger starts to explain, with a gesture towards John, and the gist that John gets is the guy is explaining that he wanted to show John what would happen if he was as slack as John was, what the reaction would be. The Korean officer had a hearty laugh, and he and the enlisted man chuckled over it for a few seconds, then the officer got back in the car and gone.
The enlisted Tiger stood the rest of his guard shift bleeding from his broken nose. And grinning.
Tough? Yeah, kinda, you could say that…
Heard some thirdhand stories that the VC were also very respectful of the White Horse and Tiger divisions, as in they didn’t fuck with them if they didn’t have to. That’ll happen after word gets around that VC prisoners tend to be flayed alive . . .
I thought the ROK Capital* DIvision went to VN.
Capitol?
Well, ‘zaytun’ is Arabic for ‘olive’. I dunno if it means anything in Korean.
Like Sophistry said, Zaytun means ‘olive’ in Arabic. Doesn’t mean anything Korean, I don’t think.
The ROK soldiers did have a pretty fearsome reputation in Vietnam. I remember reading that there were explicit instructions intercepted from the NVA to avoid ROK units unless victory was %100 certain. Unfortunately, they also had reputation for brutality, so I think the Vietnamese saw ROK soldiers as some sort of bloodlusting monsters more than anything. I also remember an American veteran telling me that there was a joke among the officers saying that they’re going to stay at the ROK base nearby since it was safer.
But anyway, the ROKA in Iraq is a completely different animal. Like I mentioned earlier, they’re mostly there for humanitarian efforts.