Are Deployed Korean Units Stressed?
From the Chosun:
In a faraway country, surrounded by desert in all directions, the South Korean soldiers hung the poster to express their longing for their families back home. "We’re often stressed here,†a senior officer said. “It’s an ascetic life in the desert" — just as monks meditate deep in the mountains to seek after religious truth. Daiman officers are racking their brains to prevent combat stress-related accidents.
Combat stress is a mental condition soldiers start to suffer around three months after they are dispatched to combat zones. They feel depressed and lose their temper easily over mere trifles, resulting in firearms-related accidents. This kind of stress is the biggest concern for senior officers with troops stationed overseas. The condition is common among the 2,500 South Korean soldiers stationed in eight areas, including Daiman, Irbil in northern Iraq, and the Dongui Medical Unit and the Dasan Engineering Unit in Afghanistan, where Sgt. Yoon Jang-ho was last week killed in a bomb attack.
Combat stress from making toilets? First of all, if the soldiers feel like their monks in the mountains meditating, that just shows they have to much time on their hands. When I was in Iraq I was constantly busy on missions, patrols, guard duty, meetings, etc. I had no time to be a monk and meditate and treasured what little sleep I was able to get.Â
Let me also remind everyone that in Irbil where the ROK Army contingent is stationed is not a combat zone. It is located in Iraqi Kurdistan. Kurdistan is where the US soldiers go for R&R. There is a hotel on a lake up in Kurdistan where US soldiers can go to chill out for a few days before going back to their units. So basically the Korean combat zone is the US military R&R zone. The Daiman unit mentioned in the article is in Kuwait which also is not a combat zone. Really the only ROK Army unit in a combat zone is the engineers and medics at Bagram Airbase in Afghanistan, which was proven with the casualty of SSG Yoon Chang-ho this past week.Â
If the Korean government would let the soldiers deployed abroad, who all volunteered to be there, act like soldiers, they probably wouldn’t be "depressed and losing their temper easily" or thinking they are monks up in the mountains with "combat stress". I have said this since the day the Zaytun unit was first deployed, if Korea isn’t going to allow the soldiers to be soldiers because the government does not have the political will to accept casualties, than don’t send them. The proud ROK Army deserves better than appear to be a window dressing Army.
Didn't you read what the Turk poster said? Turkey would have cleared that area of Kurds, long time ago, if there were no Korean non-combat units in that area.
Since ROK and Turkey have a good relationship, Turkey has not sent combat troops to kill the Kurds. In effect, those non combat ROK troops are keeping peace, as long as they are there.
And besides, I don't think the ROK government sent those troops willingly. I am doubtful that Bush promised a non-aggression treaty with NK, as alleged by South Korea last year; however, I strongly believe that the US strong-armed the ROK government, whose electorate was and remains vehemently opposed to the war.
I would like to know where the strong arming was visible.
I remember that time period pretty well, and the Korean government was under a lot of pressure to send troops, but the pressure was largely internal in nature, designed to smooth our the US-SK alliance, but not because the US was going to get angry if SK didn't send troops — the Korean government felt it had to send troops due to the amount of damage they had helped the society inflict on the alliance in 2002 (going back to late-2001).
"Combat Stress"?! What a crock of shit. Send them down to El Anbar for a month or so, get their blood moving, a bit. Let 'em work out their stress on some ragheads, if they need something to do.
Reminds me of a couple of knuckleheads in the 82nd, who went AWOL and laid up and soaked in the suds down in Myrtle Beach, that spring after the Grenada Invasion. They were from one of the last battalions to hit the Island, and in spite of having never fired a shot in anger, managed to get awards of the CIB. (We nicknamed it the 'Carribean Infantryman Badge").
Anyway, when these fools were hauled up for their AR 15, they plead that they went over the hill because of combat stress, or some nonsense like that. Of course their CO cheerfully busted them. "We thought it was worth a shot, you know…"
But it sounds like they're finally getting a dose of what GI's stationed on the DMZ for months at a time had to put up with.
like always, i agree with most of your comments. but at the same time, when you keep mentioning rok's toliet contribution, i think you lose some credibility. what i'm saying is, with consistent comments like that, don't be surprised when people think you are anti-korea, even though i don't think you are. like i said before, even if korea's contribution is minimal, on paper, it's beneficial to the bush administration. if you were all for korea's pullout simply because korea is not contributing combat-wise, that's fine. but a pullout would add to the momemtum of other allies pulling out (or at least the talk of pulling out) right now, which wouldn't help politically in terms of domestic politics (in the states).
On this topic, I both agree with seoulmilk's idea that a ROK pullout will add a good bit of fuel to the media war against the war – and – that I don't care if the ROK pulls out and don't give South Korea kudos for sending them in the first place. My initial feeling on the matter at the time was that SK had a big enough job helping defer NK. I would not have been upset if Korea had decided not to send troops – period.
On the recent hate-mail post I didn't bother to find to add this note —
Here is an example of the kind of email I get from time to time for the http://www.usinkorea.org site:
Serious emailer?
Someone trying to smoke me out?
Don't know. But depressing nonetheless…..to see so much effort wasted on a non-reading internet audience…..
Tom,
Turkey has conducted cross border raids for PKK members before. The Zaytun unit is not the reason why Turkey hasn't invaded Kurdistan. Turkey will not invade Kurdistan unless the US pulls out of Iraq and Kurdistan declares independence. That is one of the many reasons why the US will not pull out of Iraq now.
Orginally the US was lobbying hard for the Korean government to take control of Kirkuk. Like you said before Korea enjoys good relations with Turkey which would of allowed Korea to be a more honest broker to the large Turkomen population in Kirkuk. The ROK Army was more than capable of leading this operation. However, President Roh chose to be irrelevant instead. That is when the ROK Army became a windrow dressing army.
Seoulmilk,
I bring up the toilet comment to emphasise the point that soldiers shouldn't be sent to build toilets. Plumbers build toilets not the ROK Army. The ROK Army is made of highly professional soldiers, let them be soldiers. If not then deploy plumbers.
I did not want Korea to deploy from the get go because I knew they would be limited on what they could do and if one of them got killed sectors of Korean society would blame the US plus the media would call any eventual withdrawal of the soldiers a knock on the Bush Administration.
Korea has already announced they are going to withdraw within a year and when they do it will not change anything in Iraq. The news media will jump on it for a few days and that is it. Let the soldiers go home and be with their families instead of cooped up on base getting combat stress.