Category: Uncategorized

Before the outbreak of the Korean War the soldiers involved in the tragedy at Nogun-ri, soldiers from H Company, 2 Battalion, 7th Cavalry Regiment which were part of the 1st Cavalry Divison, were stationed in Japan conducting peacekeeping operations in the aftermath of World War II. Due to budgetary reasons most of the resources for training soldiers at the combined arms level were diverted to Europe because of the looming Soviet threat there. No one ever envisioned a war in Korea. This lack of vision would become one of many factors that led to the tragedy at Nogun-ri.

The soldiers of the 7th Cavalry did not train at anything above the company level and spent much of their time conducting occupation related duties, not to mention hanging out at the local clubs at all hours of the night. Plus the units were all short of personnel especially noncommissioned officers (NCOs) to keep the Army divisions in Europe fully manned against the more immediate Soviet threat there. The 7th Cavalry was full of young, patriotic, soldiers who grew up on John Wayne movies and were eager to serve their country. However the majority of these young soldiers were not old enough to have served during World War II and lacked combat experience.

There were a few NCOs and officers in the unit that did have combat experience. However, when the war in Korea did break out the experienced NCOs from the 7th Cavalry were pulled to fill units from the 24th Infantry Division that were the first division in Japan to deploy to Korea to delay the North Korean advance that included units such as Task Force Smith which was featured in an earlier Focus On series.

Once it came time for the 1st Cavalry Division to deploy to Korea, it was deployed in piece meal and not as a complete division due to the nature of limited ports in Korea and the division being spread out all over Japan due to occupation duties. So when the 2-7 Cav’s transport from Japan arrived in Korea on July 22, 1950 they were acting semi-autonomous from the division command structure they were used to, plus they were about to undertake operations they had never trained for because they had never done any training above the company level and were about to undertake operations in a major theater war that featured many uncontemporary operating environment problems such as security in the rear areas and a massive refugee crisis no one had any prior experience or training in to deal with. They were literally making up doctrine as they went through trial and error. To make matters worse they were short NCO’s across the regiment that enforce standards. It was so bad that there was some Private First Classes serving as Platoon Sergeants. The officer ranks weren’t much better as the battalion only had one officer with combat experience at the time and that was the commander of G company, 2-7 Cav, CPT Henry West.

This lack of inexperience and training would all have a part to play in the tragedy that would occur four days later.

Tomorrow: From Pohang to Nogun-ri

Unification Minister Chung Dong-young is at it yet again. Chung who is South Korea’s official Kim Jong Il butt kisser and bribe giver to ensure unification doesn’t happen some how feels his position gives him the authority to open his big mouth and bash the US whenever he feels like it. Here is his latest rant:

“A hundred years ago, the Philippines became a U.S. colony and the Korean Peninsula a Japanese one owing to the Taft-Katsura Agreement” of 1905, Chung said. “The division of the nation and Korean War were not our will either,” nor was the failure of the Gwangju Uprising. A century later, Chung promised “a hot summer in which our fate will be decided not by North Korea, China, the United States, Japan or Russia, but by our own pride and self-determination.”

This guy blames the US for the Japanese colonization of Korea, the Korean War, and the Gwangju Uprising. He might as well blame America for Dokto while he is at it too.

First of all, how is the US to blame for the Japanese occupation? Is it not Korea’s responsibility to defend their own country from the Japanese? It is not America’s fault that Korean society was so fractured between the Yangban and peasant classes and that the royal leadership was so ineffective. This all contributed to Korea’s isolationist policies that prevented the country from modernizing and having effective control of the country. This allowed Korea to become easy prey for outside powers like the Japanese. Chung must of forgot it was America that freed this country in 1945 from the Japanese. Korea didn’t do that.

Secondly, how is the Korean War anyone elses fault when Kim Il Sung is the one who pleaded with Stalin to allow him to go to war. The war actually would of started sooner if Stalin didn’t keep delaying Kim to make sure that America would not respond. Last I checked Kim Il Sung was Korean and it was a Korean civil war thus making it a Korean caused problem. It took 32,000+ American lives to correct this problem. Chung forgets that too.

Finally, the Gwangju Uprising has nothing to do with the US. This was a Korean internal dispute but some people like to bash the US for the harsh crackdown because the US military did nothing to stop it. I would not feel comfortable as a soldier being put into a situation like Gwangju where you have no idea what is going on and may have to engage ROK soldiers. In a situation like that the US military would probably do more harm than good. But once again you had Koreans shooting Koreans, how is that America’s fault?

Chung is trying to play to Korean nationalism by continuously blaming foreign countries for all of Korea’s problem and taking credit for things that he feels Korea accomplished independently when in fact America is partly responsible for the success of this country. Here is the reason he is playing to Korean nationalism:

Chung also asked the Uri Party to double inter-Korean cooperation funds, which currently stand at W500 billion (US$487 million) a year.

That is a lot more money he can give to Kim Jong Il. I wonder how much of that Chung gets to keep?

Anyway I hope someone at the US Embassy calls out Chung publicly on his statements. I get tired of the US government sitting back and taking this crap, which is sadly what we will probably do yet again. I wish someone would get this guy to shut his mouth for once.

Check out The Marmot for some more great commentary on this as well.

Yesterday, at Haeundae Beach in Pusan.

How do people find this relaxing, hanging out with 800,000 other people?

Andy over at Flying Yangban pointed out this article in the Chosun Ilbo that featured the below photograph:

The picture is supposed to be of a sandstorm hitting the Korean Zaytun unit’s base in Irbil, in Northern Iraq. However, Andy points out that this picture is not from the Korean base in Irbil but of Al Asad Airbase in Western Iraq. Here are some more pictures of the sandstorm:

This pictures bring back memories of my time in Iraq. This is how the sandstorms looked like though I remember them being darker then the reddish color in the pictures. Could be because of the sunset. These sandstorms looked like something straight out of The Mummy. When my men and I first saw a sandstorm or in Arabic, Shumali, heading straight for us we just kind of glanced at each other in disbelief wondering if this was natural or not? Everything was perfectly calm as the storm approached. However, once it hit you the calm instantly disappeared and all hell breaks loose as any exposed skin you may have begins to feel like it is being pricked by needles. You must have eye protection to see or you risk blinding your eyes. We actually had people get lost, wandering around in these sandstorms when they had to go to the bathroom. The shumali that hit during the combat phase of the war even had a name given to it by the GI’s, a MOASS (mother of all sandstorms).

This is one GI who will never complain about monsoon season or the heat here Korea this time of year, because trust me, I have been through worse.

Courtesy of the Budaechigae via the Infidel is this picture of ROK Army soldiers:

No that is not water they are washing their faces with, but feces from the cans at the bottom of outhouses. I further checked out the link where this picture came from and I found even more interesting pictures:

I don’t know where these pictures came from or how old they are, just that they were published on the above link from some Japanese guy named Suika Dorobo. They don’t appeared to be staged or Photoshopped either. If anyone can tell by looking at the pictures how old they are or if these are real photographs, please feel free to comment.

However, maybe the next time someone in Korea takes a cheap shot at the US military over Abu Graib, they will think twice about it instead.

I sure hope that this is not the next Japanese cultural transfer from Japan to Korea. On second thought maybe this isn’t such a bad idea? Wouldn’t this leave more girls here for the rest of the guys not in love with a doll?

Former US Army deserter Charles Jenkins, now back in Japan, after visiting his elderly mother in North Carolina, is now speaking up against the Dear Leader, Kim Jong Il.

“The Japanese government has never pushed me to say anything,” Jenkins told Kyodo News on the phone from his home in the city of Sado, Niigata Prefecture.

Jenkins said that unlike in North Korea there is freedom to speak in Japan. He added it was in fact Pyongyang that used him as a propaganda tool.

As much as dislike Jenkins for what he did 40 years ago he does have an opportunity now to redeem himself some what if he becomes a vocal advocate against Kim Jong Il. However, if he does decide to continue to speak out against Kim Jong Il; if I was him I would make sure I locked the doors at night.

Hat Tip: JP

South Korea, Japan, and the US are demanding a written commitment from North Korea to abandon their nuclear weapons program:

A diplomatic source who participated in talks between the three nations said the trio felt the process discussed up to the third round of talks — a preliminary freeze followed by dismantlement ? was no longer meaningful. He said North Korea must announce a strategic decision to unconditionally dismantle its nuclear program.

The three countries will not be content with vague reference to “denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula” or a preliminary freeze, and Washington and Tokyo have threatened to stop the talks and impose sanctions if no written undertaking is forthcoming. A Korean official said Sunday the goal of the six-party talks was “the dismantling of the North Korean nuclear program” and the sole aim of the fourth round to confirm this principle in writing.

North Korea in turn wants a security guarantee in writing that they will not be attacked. I think both written guarantees are fair but the written agreement with North Korea means nothing if it cannot be verified.

I have said this before, but the North Koreans just want a nice face saving deal that gives them the free food, money, and the oil they need to keep the regime going plus have enough flexibility in the agreement to be able to covertly hide their weapons program.

In turn they will keep quiet and give the appearance of good behavior to the international community, all the foreign diplomats can pat each other on the back about what a great job they did, heck maybe somebody can even get a Nobel Peace Prize out of this like Kim Dae Jung did back in 2000. All the while the North Koreans will be sitting back enjoying their spoils, their people still starving, make no progress on human rights, and continue to covertly make nuclear weapons.

A written agreement means nothing if it cannot be verified.

It appears that 2ID is even exporting our taxi cab related incidents to Japan:

A 20-year-old U.S. Army soldier from South Korea pleaded guilty Friday in Naha District Court to robbing a cab driver of about $55.

Pvt. James Joiner Jr. of Camp Red Cloud, Uijongbu, South Korea, said he regretted his actions.

“Had I not been drinking, I would never have done that,” he told the court.

Joiner was charged with robbing Sakae Kuba, 56, at 3:35 a.m. May 11 in Okinawa City. He hailed Kuba’s taxi on Gate Two Street near Kadena Air Base to go to the Uechi bar district. As Joiner left the taxi, police said, he grabbed the driver from behind and fled with 5,000 yen (about $45) and $10 in U.S. currency.

If cab drivers in your area are pissing you off, and you think it is time to do something about it, well you to can have 2ID’s finest in your area to teach those cab drivers a lesson. Feel free to contact the 2ID Public Affairs Office so they can get some TDY orders cut, so your area can enjoy 2ID’s finest as well. Our rates are competitive and the taxi dancing show is as always free of charge.

Four suspects were detained on Friday in connection with the mugging of two ROK Army soldiers with the help of descriptions given to police using hypnosis:

After a tip, police questioned four men Friday night in connection with an incident in which two soldiers were stripped of their rifles and ammunition on Wednesday.
The military released an artist’s rendition yesterday of one of the three assailants. One of the men who is being questioned is said to resemble the sketch.

Police said that man was discharged from the military last year, and soldiers who knew him suggested the man to police. The men were detained in Donghae, Gangwon province. Police are offering a maximum 10 million won ($9,000) reward for information on the assailants. The soldiers were hypnotized and were able to give a description of one of the men but not the other two, police said.

I would think a lawyer would have a field day with this if any arrests are made. Anyone know if descriptions from using hypnosis can be used to make arrests?