I know a retired USAF Chief Master Sgt who said at his air base in RVN, there was a mountain nearby where charlie hid and threw artillery at their base. One day the harassment rounds landed on the ROK side of the base. Big mistake. He said it seemed that every ROK soldier was volunteering for the punitive mission going up the mountain that night. Chief never said what the ROKs did that night but his whole time after that, the ROK side of the base never received any artillery from charlie. The US side still did, though. :(!
Chief also said the ROK soldiers were very clean and smart in appearance, as if every one of their uniforms were tailored.
I would normally think this story is half BS except that 100% of every vet I know who had seen the ROKs in Viet Nam said they were very hardcore, as if there was some fanatical anti-communism bred into them. Well, I suppose that the Korean War might have something to do with that! But like I said, 100% of Nam vets I have asked about ROKs said the same story. Not most, not 90%, not 99%, I mean EVERY Nam vet.
I was in the Republic of Korea (South Korea to most Americans) on business a few years back and I rode past a ROKAF air base. They had more guards, barbed wire, watch towers, and general level of high alert than I ever saw in any but the most high security US installations. Of course, they are on a hair trigger alert for war over there. And it's not just the military. The ROK civilians are generally suspicious of anyone who might appear to be a "North Korean spy" since the NKs attempt raids and infiltration about monthly there.
Yeah, if we were more like that here in the US, nobody would eff with us.
Edmund