By Via a reader tip comes this latest embarrassment for the ROK Navy:
The Navy, which suffered from the tragic loss of one of its warships and 46 of the sailors onboard in a North Korean infiltration attack, has been under a great deal of criticism, following a spate of episodes revealing the service’s slack discipline.
On Monday, a naval boat with 15 military officers and their family members on board
overturned in the waters off Taean coast in South Chungcheong Province, during a joy ride. Two people remain unconscious.The Ministry of National Defense is investigating how the three-ton rigid-inflatable boat (RIB) came to be used for personal purposes.
“We’re thoroughly investigating details of the accident and will punish those found responsible for it,” a ministry official told reporters Tuesday.
Investigators found that a Navy captain allegedly ordered another Navy officer responsible for the use of RIBs to arrange a ride for his family members and colleagues, the official said on condition of anonymity. [Korea Times]
Read the rest at the link, but I dealt quite a bit with the ROK Army while in Korea and using their tactical vehicles for personal trips did happen, but I never seen anything like this.
1:12 am on July 9th, 2010 1
Looks like we've got a few more nails that are sticking up and need pounding! Dumb asses!
1:18 am on July 9th, 2010 2
…not so embarrassing.
I got an "incentive ride" in a F-16 after threatening to expose the dirty dealing of an Air Force colonel… which was linked to a general.
I never would have thought of it… dreamed of it… but after he leaned on me for a payoff, another colonel suggested how I could push him into arranging it to accomplish everyone's goals.
If I had known, I would have done everything possible to be an Air Force pilot from the age of 10… but who knew?
What a complete funkin' rush.
I would, again, trade everything I have now for another ride.
(though, I suspect the pilot was ordered to "funk me up"… but I was already briefed on how to guard against the Hurt.)
Anyway…
I'm not against some personal use of cool military equipment. Military families live half civilian/half military lives as it is.. they deserve a bit of the good experience that the military has to offer.
They should have some priority when equipment is idle… mark it up as training.
3:34 am on July 9th, 2010 3
I was at an Air Force base in the 80s where, for Family Appreciation Day, someone thought it would be a good idea to give all the pilots and senior officers wives high-speed F-4 taxi rides down the runway. It was learned that it cost the government several 10s of thousands of dollars. At least no one got hurt.
6:10 am on July 9th, 2010 4
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by GIKorea. GIKorea said: New blog post: ROK Navy Hit With Another Embarrassing Incident http://bit.ly/aBjoaS [...]
11:33 pm on July 9th, 2010 5
[...] however one wants to be of Seoul’s political existence, the Cheonan sinking and embarrassingly too frequent other mishaps highlight the debilitated state of an ally which on paper should be able to handle the North Korean [...]