By GI Korea on January 13th, 2011 at 12:44 pm

Picture of the Day: ROK Army Basic Training

New recruits are undergoing training in the Army’s training camp in Nonsan on Monday. The Army has extended the training period for new soldiers from five weeks to eight weeks starting this year.

Via KBS Global.

• john
  6:28 am on January 13th, 2011 1

  And I understand the they are to train on Sat too. Before it was Mon – Fri only deal…

• setnaffa
  8:57 am on January 13th, 2011 2

  Basic training, as I recall, was less fun than the recruiting posters and video…

• Retired GI
  12:18 pm on January 13th, 2011 3

  Basic training—ahhh. Push-ups, sit-ups, flutter kicks, "spirit of the bayonet" drills and way to much double-time.

  But the chow was damn GOOD!

• setnaffa
  11:48 pm on January 13th, 2011 4

  Retired GI made a funny joke!

• Dragonfly
  12:17 am on January 14th, 2011 5

  I really can't remember how good or bad the chow was. But I do remember eating everything on my tray. Basic training in Jan/Feb: Always cold, always hungry.

• Teadrinker
  3:11 am on January 14th, 2011 6

  Running around like that nearly a month in basic training…Really, don't they have anything better to teach them?

• Teadrinker
  3:12 am on January 14th, 2011 7

  …"The Army has extended the training period for new soldiers from five weeks to eight weeks starting this year."

  Well, that answers me question.

• Retired GI
  3:38 am on January 14th, 2011 8

  Teadrinker 6 & 7, Guess not.

  Judging by some of the troops I encountered on Force Protection in Iraq (05), in my aviation support unit, they could use a little extra training.

  Maybe it was/is the (PC) environment. Seemed I ran into quite a few weaker types after around 2002. Whiners and criers that I could hardly believe thought of themselves as Soldiers.

  I was never close to rough & tough so for me to say that is really sad.

• john
  4:37 am on January 14th, 2011 9

  #8

  I assume you are talking of SK soldiers in Iraq? Many SK military buffs vent on internet that SK army's standard went south quite a bit beginning with the Kim DJ administration. When your president claims NK is not the enemy, no wonder the military feels it can relax. Thankfully (strange to say this word with the casualties), NK showed its true color recently and so SK military is trying to reverse that.

  Also, SK military's kinda stuck in the analog era (training, doctrine, experience etc) while it would like to believe that it's a digital army like US.

• Conway East
  9:48 am on January 14th, 2011 10

  M1 helmet + Daewoo rifles = ?

• Teadrinker
  10:05 am on January 14th, 2011 11

  #10,

  I had noticed that. There are also no magazines in the rifles. Someone really screwed that photo opportunity up.

• Retired GI
  11:14 am on January 14th, 2011 12

  #9 John, actuality I was speaking of my own American unit as I know more about it than the SK troops. But I suspect your points are valid on the SK army.

  My fault, I should have been clear.

  As for my President, well—he really isn't sure what or who anybody is. Just my personal opinion. I voted for the Veteran, not the Community Organizer. What can I say, America at war needs a Vet, not — what it has.

• Retired GI
  11:18 am on January 14th, 2011 13

  #11 Teadrinker—but they LOOK so FIERCE, running around in the snow and screaming

• John
  11:47 am on January 14th, 2011 14

  #10

  Yeah the helmet situation sucks. Old/outdated personal gear for soldiers is another thing SK military buffs are mad about while SK seems to be so eager to buy a ship costing hundreds of millions $.

  But about the Daewoo K-2 rifles they are carrying. I'm learning that K-2 rifle is excellent gun and almost never jams like AK47.

• Retired GI
  1:56 pm on January 14th, 2011 15

  AK47 jams alot? Humm…don't think so. Most dependable military rifle of all from what I've read. Very popular and cheap. I forget the country, but it is on a National flag. Tested and proven in battle. Fired it a few years back, never jamed.

• Teadrinker
  7:12 pm on January 14th, 2011 16

  #13,

  Fierce, as in, "That dress is fierce!"?

• ChickenHead
  7:23 pm on January 14th, 2011 17

  "The Korean military has announced that Numbers 1 and 4 tied for first place in the Private Cowboy of Full Metal Jacket Look-Alike contest with Number 3 coming in as best runner up.

  Number 2 won the Warface Most Likely to Make the Enemy Think I'm Actually Crying contest.

  And everybody took first place in Glad They Didn't Give Me a Magazine Full of Bullets Because My Barrel is Probably Full of Snow."

• Teadrinker
  7:27 pm on January 14th, 2011 18

  #14,

  Actually, you could say that the Daewoo K2 is a modified AR-15. Oh, and modern rifles almost never jam on their own. Poor maintenance, not design, is often the culprit.

• Retired GI
  12:26 am on January 15th, 2011 19

  #18,

  I think it was the Military channel that had a show about the top ten military rifles.

  The M16 American rifle came in as #2. The #1 was the AK47. From my experience the M16 must be cleaned often to prevent jamming, while the AK47 can be covered in mud, pull it out and fire away. I can't make a statement on the accuracy. I had only an hour with it and little training. But I hit the man sized target from 100m.

  Side note: I own an SKS. The "poor mans" AK47. Like it alot. Best $160.00 I ever spent back in 1994.

• kangaji
  1:04 am on January 15th, 2011 20

  No magazines and no helmet covers – maybe they haven't qualified with their weapons yet and are in an earlier stage of basic training. IF you put in immersion ammo (blanks) with magazines this early in training, there could be too many negative discharges (firing inadvertantly) and it could interfere with the training pipeline. I wonder if they even use immersion ammo in Korean Basic Training. If they don't then no magazines until training for the range might make sense.

• Teadrinker
  4:56 am on January 15th, 2011 21

  #20,

  You can still put a magazine in a rifle without having any bullets in them. As I was saying, someone messed up a good photo opportunity.

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