By 
Capt. Heo Geol kisses his daughter goodbye during a ceremony in Incheon, west of Seoul, on Nov. 17, 2011, to send a 350-strong contingent to Afghanistan. The contingent will replace its predecessor stationed in the Afghan province of Charikar to protect South Korea's Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) there. The PRT began to help rebuild the war-torn nation in July 2010.
Via Yonhap.
10:44 pm on November 17th, 2011 1
They finally got the digital camo.
10:47 pm on November 17th, 2011 2
Those toilets on the compound aren’t going to build themselves you know!
4:17 am on November 18th, 2011 3
It’s dangerous work over in Afghanistan for the ROKA. There’s the danger of having your brains blown out by yourself.
http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2009/10/113_4153.html
6:39 am on November 18th, 2011 4
So what you are saying, Leon, is that ISAF stands for…
…Imported Shytting Area Fabricators?
And, Conway, are you saying it stands for…
…International Suicide Action Force?
Anybody for…
…I Suck At Fighting?
You guys are so harsh.
Korean soldiers tore the Vietnamese new bungholes. It would be interesting to see what they would do if the restraints of politics were removed and they were told to “just win the war”.
7:23 am on November 18th, 2011 5
4. I realize the ROKs were hardcore in the Nam, but look at them now. Why bother (other than to show their “support” for the mission).
8:42 am on November 18th, 2011 6
Except for those Marines who were bombarded by Norko shells last year. If you count that as a combat action… oh and maybe the sailors who were fighting N.K.s on NLL skirmishes… They are all discharged anyway…
Funny thing is ROK people are dependent upon those officers / NCOs for defense of SK but nobody in the ROK Armed Forces has ever shot a rifle in anger…
Pretty scary… They are all bunch of amateurs…
Hope there come a day when the ROKs are completely independent from a foreign power for its own defense.
ROKs were probably more experienced in combat then the NKs until early 1990′s
Not anymore…
9:22 am on November 18th, 2011 7
#6,
You don’t get it at all. They are getting experience for when North Korea collapses and they’ll have to send the military in to rebuild that hell hole.
9:39 am on November 18th, 2011 8
Homeboy, most of the hundred thousands of rookies sent to fight in Vietnam didn’t initially have combat experience either. Most of the infantrymen on the field quickly learned to fight the correct way with massive kill ratio after the first few engagements.
11:27 am on November 18th, 2011 9
That was what happened at Yeonpyong Island… ensuing bombardment nobody really knew how to respond because nothing like it ever happened since the Armistice of 1953… no rules of engagement…
The Norkos aren’t stupid, next time would be something really different… hope to God that Combined Forces Command is still entact when that happens… don’t know what would happen after 2016 when the War-time Ops goes over to SKs
Pretty scary…
11:50 am on November 18th, 2011 10
I believe that such a confusion will be relatively short-lived, and it won’t be a decisive factor in whether Korea wins or not wins a war with NK, though I admit it will affect how many lives will be saved or lost in the initial phase of the war.
The small ROKMC K9 battery in Yeongpyeong manned by conscripts with no combat experience still correctly fired upon NK artillery positions even with outmatched firepower in what is a valid textbook example of a counter-battery fire. The ROKN also had many engagements in stopping multiple intrusion and infiltration efforts by NK fast ships, semi-submersibles, and midget submarines since the 1990s.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korean_maritime_border_incidents
The NK military, at best, is no more combat experienced than the ROK military is. For NK the sole substantial experiences fighting with an external armed power are the Korean War and the recent maritime border incidents. ROK still has more experience in dealing with irregular and guerrilla warfare, at least compared to NK.
12:51 pm on November 18th, 2011 11
Even Americans don’t want to be in Iraq or Afghanistan. Why should Koreans be there also? Only Rumsfeld wanted it and faked weapons of mass destruction for it.
2:30 pm on November 18th, 2011 12
@4 – When I was over in Afghanistan earlier this year I had a Canadian tell me that ISAF stood for, “I Saw Americans Fighting”.
10:21 pm on November 18th, 2011 13
“all hell breaks loose with nobody at the top echelon of our forces having had any combat experience at all..
That was what happened at Yeonpyong Island… ensuing bombardment nobody really knew how to respond because nothing like it ever happened since the Armistice of 1953… no rules of engagement…”
I beg to differ. The response was a calculated one. Although the policy is to respond in kind, they chose artillery shells instead of rockets as the Norks launched. Like it or not, this restrained response probably prevented an escalation of the the incident.
Besides, what battle experience do North Koreans have? Fighting over the last morsel of food or for a chance to be the first in line to kiss Kim Jong-il’s ass don’t count.