Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Stout]

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/22/us/8-charged-in-death-of-fellow-soldier-us-army-says.html

Eight American soldiers were charged with manslaughter and an array of other crimes in connection with the death of Pvt. Danny Chen, a fellow soldier from New York whose body was found in October lying in a guard tower in southern Afghanistan, the United States Army said in a statement Wednesday.

Pvt. Danny Chen was found shot to death in a guard tower in Afghanistan on Oct. 3.

Private Chen, 19, who was born and raised in Lower Manhattan, died of �an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound" at a combat outpost in Kandahar Province, the Army said. Further details about the circumstances of his death were not immediately available, though family members said they had been told by military officials that Private Chen had been subjected to hazing while deployed in Afghanistan.

[weso1]

You are an ignorant person.

[cj1976]

[wishfullthinkng]

[Drew10]

I think it's pretty ignorant to lump these idiots in with the rest of the military as if this was normal.

[radcon]

[weso1]

[Died By Bear]

[radcon]

[radcon]

[Died By Bear]

Absolutely. They lie all the time. It's a hard and tough life in the army, especially in a combat zone. Anyone perceived to be a loner or 'against' the group are going to be a target of hazing.

Hazing has been a part of university life as well - for many many years. You just don't know or hear about what happened 100 years ago, because no one ever wrote about it.

While I agree that hazing is not a good thing, it is sometimes necessary to bring some individuals into 'the fold' so to speak. And please, this is just an opinion, I've got no data to back it up.

Believe it or not, the world (and the military) was a lot worse when men used big swords and spears to kill each other in hand-to-hand combat. I doubt many of us today could ever survive in that environment.

[Died By Bear]

Oh, and hey the article I read about Danny Chen said that it was suicide. They way they wrote it seems like he killed himself because he was driven to suicide by the racist hazing he got from everyone in his squad/platoon.

Forgive me if I misread or misunderstood what I read.

[DIsbell]

It's not unpatriotic nor troop-bashing to talk about problems in the US military right now. Notice the title refers to military culture, not the upstanding individuals that make up a large portion of the forces.

As others have said, suicide in the military is very high right now. When we talk about problems with Korean culture/society, we often cite the high suicide rate, and that's reasonable- by any metric, people killing themselves is not a good sign for any group.

Furthermore, the situation for women in the military right now is pretty bad. Women in the forces have a higher likelihood of getting raped by a fellow soldier than killed by an enemy, and one in three experience some form of sexual trauma while on active duty. Is that not a problem with the current "military culture"? Incidentally, we also frequently talk about the problems Korean women face, the high rate of sexual crimes, and the lack of proper sex crime prosecution in Korea.

In addition to issues with race and hazing that this tragedy causes us to reflect upon, there are other accounts of fundamentalist religious streaks in parts of the forces that don't exactly make nonbelievers feel totally welcome.

I think we can talk about problems with the US military right now without accusing any criticism of pissing on the grave of every fallen soldier.

[weso1]

[ttompatz]