Korean Job Discussion Forums

mindmetoo · Joined: 02 Feb 2004

This one isn't so horrific but kinda typical. My GF's brother is doing his military service. The NCOs are "professional" soliders. Career military. Anyway, one day my GF's brother and his Sgt. were out and about and the Sgt demanded my GF's brother take out 400,000 won from his ATM and "loan" it to him. By loan, he meant of course "just give me money".

Poor guy. He saves the pittance he gets and he's shaken down by his NCO! He'll get out of the military without a dime in the bank. His dad told him to let it slide, at least until he's out. Don't want to suddenly find you're transfered to land mind clearing duty...

Korea sparkling!

ajgeddes · Joined: 28 Apr 2004 Location: Yongsan

Shoulda just lied and say he didn't have it.

Oh yeah, and Korea Sparkling.

Komichi · Joined: 19 Jul 2006 Location: Piano Street, Seoul

Isn't the military supposed to give you guts?

kentucker4 · Joined: 03 Sep 2007 Location: Georgia

No way in hell would I give him that unless I thought I was going to be shot.

boyne11 · Joined: 08 Jul 2007

Korean military is so poor that they're asking for donations from school kids and teachers.

Laughing

lastat06513 · Posted: Thu Dec 20, 2007 5:30 pm Post subject:

Mindmetoo....

Extortion is just one of the many abuses conscripts have to deal with when doing their term of service.
He was lucky to comply with the NCO or else he would be going through "wall-to-wall training" or "bootheel discipline" as they called it along time ago.

I don't think they shook him down because they needed cash (They go through a HUGE pay jump from 15,000won a month as a conscript to about 2,500,000won a month with BEQ/ family housing and an automatic jump from E-5 to E-6, which is the grade of "professional soldiers" in Korea), I assume they did it because of the power they can exert on the draftees, which is usually unchecked.

Why do you hear so many stories about soldiers going apesh!t and shooting up their barracks.......

I think the best thing to do is for someone to write to military manpower agency and threaten to take disciplinary measures against those who did it or a story would be written in a newspaper like the New York Times detailing all the abuses occurring in the ROKA.....

Ya-ta Boy · Joined: 16 Jan 2003 Location: Established in 1994

There are rules and the OP's girlfriend's brother doesn't have to put up with that crap if he doesn't want to.

A story from a basic training drill sergeant: His platoon had a theft, which he said is fairly common. He discovered who had done it and called the recruit in. When the recruit lied, the drill sergeant lost his temper (he's only about 25) and hit the recruit. As a result, the drill sergeant spent 12 days in solitary, 'thinking about' his mistake.

On a lighter note: Drill sergeants take a public oath not to hit their recruits. (This is fairly new.) Very Happy

pkang0202 · Joined: 09 Mar 2007

Scotticus · Joined: 18 Mar 2007

lastat06513 · Posted: Thu Dec 20, 2007 7:23 pm Post subject:

Thiuda · Posted: Thu Dec 20, 2007 9:53 pm Post subject:

I've been working with the FROKA for three years, and the officers and NCOs that I've instructed are all very professional. The behavior that was described in the OP is not acceptable, and, as Ya-ta boy has stated, if the recruit were to report this abuse of power, the NCO would most certainly get punished.

Of course such abuses do occur, but not just in the Korea military, in all armies. Not long ago there were several NCOs and officers of the Bundeswehr under investigation for their involvement in hazing rituals that led to physical and psychological trauma. Germany sparkling.

A few years back there were several scandals in the Canadian Forces, of which the 1993 killing of a Somali youth stands out among the worst. Though the anal rape of a soldier by his CO relates more to the OP problem of abuse of power. Canada sparkling.

Oh yeah, and then, though this is slightly off topic I suppose, there is the concentration camp the Americans are running on Cuba. USA sparkling.

Yu_Bum_suk · Joined: 25 Dec 2004

My friend has a cigarette burn mark from his special forces training. He said that wasn't as bad as once being deprived of sleep for 72 hours straight as punishment.

Ya-ta Boy · Joined: 16 Jan 2003 Location: Established in 1994

Barking Mad Lord Snapcase · Joined: 04 Nov 2003

Control Z · Joined: 20 Jun 2007 Location: Anyang

From everything I've been told and that I've seen regarding the ROK military, the conscripts are treated worse than dogs.

Just a few examples:
1) My coworker was an officer in the Army until three years ago. He was a trainer and would teach classes to huge groups of soldiers (200+). He said if one person nodded off he would make the entire group handwrite every page in the study manual. He knew no one would finish, but he also knew that no one would sleep that night. I asked him how he could be so cruel and he said that it was "generous" and he was considered a softie by his fellow officers.
2) My husband's friend said it was almost a common occurrence for his whole platoon to be woken up in the middle of the night by their commanders who were returning from their drinkfests. They'd line all the soldiers up and beat them until they had their fill or got tired.
3) I was walking along a beach on the East Coast recently and saw on a hill in the distance what looked like two guys in an altercation. Upon closer inspection, it was an officer punching his charge in the face repeatedly. The soldier just had to stand there and take the beating and berating. I felt terrible. It really turned my stomach.

There was a story last year about soldiers in basic training having to eat feces. That became a big stink, pardon the pun, and reforms began to pick up steam. With the generation gap growing wider by the second and the major sense of entitlement of older commanders, I think it will be some time before those performing their mandatory military duty are treated decently.