A Can of Man
Je suis aware
This one's more like a personal rant about a certain err... movement that's been going on here. It hasn't picked up much momentum but you meet guys who say this sort of crap wherever you go.
They are angry at the fact that South Korea sends troops abroad on peacekeeping missions according to the demands of the United States and other foreign countries.
Okay, let me put it this way.
First of all, every guy who goes abroad is a volunteer. Not just a volunteer, but also has the signatures from his or her parents (both if alive) who sign an approval form before deployment training and after deployment training (just before actual deployment). There are so many guys who want to go that it's very competitive.
No South Korean soldier has fired a shot in anger in any of the present deployments to my knowledge. A few died in some strange ways, one lieutenant ate his own bullet (suicide), there was one friendly fire incident in Iraq and one translator was killed in Afghanistan and purely by accident because he happened to be with Americans that day who were the target. All volunteers, no one forced them to go.
Now, for your regular career military guy, South Korea gives some benefits but in terms of pay it's utter crap. Let me give you an example. A newly promoted Sergeant First Class or Gunnery Sergeant will be paid about $2,000 per month so about $24,000 per year. It's not good at all, especially if you happen to have a family. It's inevitable because of the size of the military Korea requires. In comes a deployment opportunity. You go to wherever it is is available and you get paid about $20,000 in bonus ABOVE what you're getting paid normally and it's for a 6 month deployment tour. Tell me that's not a winner. Sh*t, I want to go!
Let's not even go into the whole thing of how deployment helps the military become more focused and smarter and more experienced, especially with MOOTW.
The best part is, NO ONE TOLD YOU TO GO!
And there are these civilians who PROTEST this.
It's like they're doing it for fun.
You know what? I think protesting is too damned safe nowadays.
They are angry at the fact that South Korea sends troops abroad on peacekeeping missions according to the demands of the United States and other foreign countries.
Okay, let me put it this way.
First of all, every guy who goes abroad is a volunteer. Not just a volunteer, but also has the signatures from his or her parents (both if alive) who sign an approval form before deployment training and after deployment training (just before actual deployment). There are so many guys who want to go that it's very competitive.
No South Korean soldier has fired a shot in anger in any of the present deployments to my knowledge. A few died in some strange ways, one lieutenant ate his own bullet (suicide), there was one friendly fire incident in Iraq and one translator was killed in Afghanistan and purely by accident because he happened to be with Americans that day who were the target. All volunteers, no one forced them to go.
Now, for your regular career military guy, South Korea gives some benefits but in terms of pay it's utter crap. Let me give you an example. A newly promoted Sergeant First Class or Gunnery Sergeant will be paid about $2,000 per month so about $24,000 per year. It's not good at all, especially if you happen to have a family. It's inevitable because of the size of the military Korea requires. In comes a deployment opportunity. You go to wherever it is is available and you get paid about $20,000 in bonus ABOVE what you're getting paid normally and it's for a 6 month deployment tour. Tell me that's not a winner. Sh*t, I want to go!
Let's not even go into the whole thing of how deployment helps the military become more focused and smarter and more experienced, especially with MOOTW.
The best part is, NO ONE TOLD YOU TO GO!
And there are these civilians who PROTEST this.
It's like they're doing it for fun.
You know what? I think protesting is too damned safe nowadays.