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RangerMcGreggor
Joined: 12 Jan 2011
Location: Somewhere in Korea
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 Posted: Sun May 01, 2011 7:35 pm Post subject: |
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| Slowmotion wrote: |
| RangerMcGreggor wrote: |
| southernman wrote: |
The Korean's who served in the Vietnamese war were ruthless and possibly the most feared of all the allied soldiers. |
I remember reading in books that Korean soldiers often got the most protest in Vietnam due to numerous stories of atrocities. The ROK military and USA military looked upon them as gods, as they blew us away when it came to anti-insurgency tactics. |
I wonder why in that era the Korean soldiers became such bad asses, cuz in the Korea war they weren't and they aren't exactly the most renowned now.
My dad was a Vietnam vet and he cosigned the Koreans as being highly feared. |
Korean soldiers always had a rep for being brutal and excellent at anti-insurgency tactics. As someone mentioned, the Korean military is a legacy of Japanese occupation. The military got it's doctrine and training from the Japanese, learning the anti-insurgency tactics Japan perfected and unforunately picked up its streak of nastiness.
I remember reading in a book (I forgot which; I had to read like a bunch of articles and books while in college on the Korean War) that the USA actually had to create a policy that would prevent South Koreans from entering NK cities when they were marching up through Korea. Why? Because they learned when South Koreans were going to get rid of the "Communist sympathizers" they were willing to wipe out everybody to make sure the job is done. |
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rollo
Joined: 10 May 2006
Location: China
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| Posted: Sun May 01, 2011 7:50 pm Post subject: |
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| There is a movie/documentary about the R.O.K. in Vietnam. I am trying to remember the title. I think" White season". . |
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southernman
Joined: 15 Jan 2010
Location: On the mainland again
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| Posted: Sun May 01, 2011 9:00 pm Post subject: |
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| Summer Wine wrote: |
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| Possibly, the Vietnamese War being so close after the Korean war was an outlet for the soldiers concerned to act as brutally as they did. Being such a Nationalistic and historically 'Hermit' country it must have caused some embarassement to be bailed out by foreigners again. |
I would argue that it was just Korean style. Embarrasment would not have been the issue.
We have all listened to people, read books and realised that life is never as clean as we would like to pretend.
Go to Gwangju in Jeollanamdo and read the memorial to those who died in the 1980's uprising or remember the newspaper posts in the 1980s of those prisoners who supposedly jumped from KCIA headquarters windows. Most were opposition members.
Korea does not have as nice as history as we would wish it. Its not embarrasment, its the human spirit that resides in us all.
Humanity is not nice.  |
Yes, ok, as you and others have posted it is just the Korean style. I was maybe just being a tad philosphical on a sunny relaxing Sunday. You are also correct when you say that humanity doesn't have a good record when we have been colonisers or aggressors.
I'm just very glad and and feel fortunate that I wasn't born into a time of conscription or any major world wars. |
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Slowmotion
Joined: 15 Aug 2009
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| Posted: Mon May 02, 2011 6:50 pm Post subject: |
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| rollo wrote: |
| There is a movie/documentary about the R.O.K. in Vietnam. I am trying to remember the title. I think" White season". . |
Where'd you see it? Sounds interesting |
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rollo
Joined: 10 May 2006
Location: China
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| Posted: Wed May 04, 2011 7:27 am Post subject: |
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| I was living in Daegu in 96 I think. I saw it there. A long time ago and I remember that it was quite brutal. I believe it was banned in Korea for some time or something. The Rok tactics were pretty simple if fired on they sought the nearest village and killed some people. The message was if you harbor the enemy you die. Sickening but very effective. A friend of mine who was serving in Vietnam was with a R.O.K. company for a few days. he said that that was the only time he slept soundly while he was in Vietnam. the V.c. knew not to mortar the R.O.K.s at night because of what they would do to the people the next day. |
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cragesmure
Joined: 23 Oct 2010
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| Posted: Fri May 06, 2011 11:56 am Post subject: |
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| southernman wrote: |
It's only called the Vietnam war in the west. Everyone in Vietnam calls it the American war.
That sums up what all Vietnamese think about it.
The Korean's who served in the Vietnamese war were ruthless and possibly the most feared of all the allied soldiers. Korea was/is strategically important. Vietnam was just warmongering to keep the arms maunfacturers and rednecks happy |
The Korean War is referred to as "The war to fight American aggression and to free Korea", or something of the like in China. The Turks were regarded as the fiercest fighters by the Chinese in the Korean War. I would assume that Vietnam is of far more strategical importance to the Chinese than Korea is/was, especially with Japan a defeated power after WW2. It's all a matter of perspective. |
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rollo
Joined: 10 May 2006
Location: China
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| Posted: Sat May 07, 2011 5:19 pm Post subject: |
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The Turkish brigade certainly gave a good account of it's self. They are famous for a bayonet charge i believe North of Daegu.
The chinese pumped about 12,000 tons of material a month into North vietnam and had about 300,000 troops there. But that was a Russian show. Korea is much more vital to the Chinese. From Korea you control the sea lanes and just a quick jump to tokyo, Beijing, Vladivostock by air. The door to Manchuria! |
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