By If Jodi from the Asia Pages thought the picture below was bad:
Well, I just can’t wait until she sees this:
Here some background on this image from the Star and Stripes.
If you are wondering if MAJ Laporte is related to USFK Commander General Laporte; he is General Laporte’s son. Anyway I think it good that students get to hang out with soldiers and see the equipment. Heck even Uri Party law makers came to Camp Casey and the Korea Training Center to check out American weapon systems. As long as these displays are handled professionally and don’t turn into a playground of kids running around with guns or jumping around equipment unsupervised, students should leave with a better understanding of the US military’s role here in Korea and the soldiers can feel proud that people are taking interest in what they do.
This was their first time interacting with Americans so who knows how many negative stereotypes they may have had before were changed and vice versa between the soldiers and the Koreans. However, the comment about the strength of the ROK Army is a common one I have heard from Koreans here before, but Koreans should feel confident that the ROK Army is a highly trained and capable force that can competently defend South Korea.
Overall, I think the visit is a good idea and I’m sure they will continue because many Korean schools contact the Army to have us setup displays like this. Like I said before as long as they are handled professionally it should be an interesting learning experience for everyone involved.
7:59 am on January 6th, 2007 1
hi! thanks for the heads-up to your post.
this does seem like an unual outing for an english camp but i noticed that these are high schoolers who are perhaps a little more mature than small children.
having a teen be around and handle weapons under the supervision of a highly trained professional is fine. but having small children–who have these glorified ideas of war and violence–be given a gun by a role model (a soldier) doesn't seem appropriate to me.
age and maturity matter when it comes to having "hands on" weapons experience.
for the youngesters (pre-teens to toddler ages) on my post, i still see no reason why they had to physically hold those weapons when they could have just as easily looked at them or watched a controlled demonstration.
some children just don't know the difference between what is play and what is real, how powerful such weapons are, and what they are designed to do (kill and destroy, even if it is done in the name of protection which an older child can understand). based on the video games young children play and TV shows they watch, showing them how to hold and fire a weapon certainly gives them a different message than it would a high school student.
teenagers, however, can really understand the power of weapons and are at a maturity level where they can actually learn something vs. these small kids who are just having their fantasies being reinforced in a potentially misleading manner.
7:59 am on January 6th, 2007 2
Valid criticism, we have never done displays like this for small children and let them handle weapons that I know of. Everyone of these displays I have seen has been teenagers, college students, and VIP adults.
8:00 am on January 6th, 2007 3
I don't know how that stereotype about the Korean Army began, either, but I've heard it a lot, too. I've found the Korean Army very capable and well led. In fact, I am aware of a few times when South Korean units beat their US counterparts in force-on-force exercises. The South's biggest drawback is some of the older equipment that it is forced to use, but that is rapidly changing as more money is devoted to modernizing the force. South Koreans can rest easy that they are well protected.
8:00 am on January 6th, 2007 4
Lucky kids! I would have given my eye teeth to touch a .50 Cal when I was their age.