My dad served there and came home with a whole bunch of shrapnel in his hand and arm. I heard that Charlie was really pissed that the ROK soldiers were helping the US instead of them. Have any of the Vets on this board do any time with them?  Dad wouldn't say much other then that a whole bunch of them didn't come back. Thanks for any info.

In 1968 I happened to be in Nah Trang working with an intelligence outfit. Next door was a company of ROK soldiers. I have nothing but the highest respect and admiration for those guys. There was a location just outside our perimeter area that was a no mans land. There was this large hill that was used to send 122s, mortars and sappers our way. The airforce tried to blast them out, but no luck, the ARVN tried, and got their ass kicked. The ROK's were sent in, and literally stomped the NVA's butts into the ground. These guys were tough sob's. Their attitude to dealing with the enemy made the enemy wet their pants, since they (ROK's) didn't have to abide by certain rules of etiquette that the US forces did. (Don't get me wrong, there were more than one guy leaving the nam that had to deposit their necklaces of ears in a large box at the airport). When I knew that the ROK's were out, I definately felt safe.

Thanks t rex and Ed.  He did mention the Ear and also something about finger necklaces! I think it is a well deserved payback.  Over 50,000 American GIs died in Korea. I thank them fro the lives of my grnadparents and for giving me a chance to be an AMERICAN without the damn hyphen.

My father served with the ROK Army in 66-67 and two cousins served with ROK Marines between 67-70.  My father was a medial officer but my cousins were career officers who volunteered for cambat duty.  Thank god all three came back healthy (well 2 came back okay but one left something behind).      

I met some ROK Marines on a train from Taegue to Seoul back in 84 while on liberty. Their Staff NCO was a Viet Nam vet he struck me as very hard Corps and he was God like to his non rates. Those guys love U.S. Marines. We drank Ginseng wine(nasty) and J.D. all the way to Seoul. It was one hell of a good time.

    I was an advisor for 3 years to the ROK Air Force in Korea.  They are pretty tough SOBs even in the Air Force.  The NCOs used to slap the shit out of the Airmen if they ever got any backtalk from them.  We showed up to work one Monday and the Korean NCO told us that work would be delayed a few hours while they punished the guys who lived in the barracks for some infraction that occured over the weekend.  They made those poor bastards duckwalk about a half mile.
    I also have a friend who was a LRRP in Vietnam and he has nothing but the highest respect for the ROK army and marines.  He said that when an area was particulary unruly with enemy action they would send in a batallion of ROKs to kick ass and take names.  The VC/NVA activity in that area would magically disappear.
    My ex-wifes father was a Capt in the ROK marines during the Korean war.  He got put in charge of an execution detail after the Koji-Do prison riots.  They would take a hundred or so NK prisoners at a time out in boats far enough offshore that the bodies would not wash back to shore and cap them one by one.  This haunted him for the rest of his life and he died a pennyless alcoholic in 1983.

We had a bunch of ROK stay at our base camp for about 3 months. That's where I started eating kinchee. Those boys can party all day and fight all nite.

red man

Here is a funny story about ROK Army in Vietnam.

Back in the 60's there were very few medical doctors in Korea and in the military in particular so what they did is they trained and used vets (as in animal doctors) as medical officers.  This was the case with my father.  

When he graduated from vet school he came to University of Florida for some advanced training in his speciality (genetics).  When he returned to Korea he was called back into service and was told he was going to be trained as medical officer.  Well, he was sent to the medical school (there was only one at that time at Seoul University) and got 6-7 months of general medical training.  After that he was sent to a military medical training school where they were taught by US military doctors for 3-4 months.  In all there were about 40-50 people in this program.

When he got to Vietnam everybody assumed he was a doctor so everybody call him "doc".  After a while he realized that over 50% of the ROK medical officers were vets.  On several occasions he had to take care of Australian units and when he told the commanding officer that he was a vet and not a medical doctor he was told to keep his mouth shut about it.    

On few occasion he took care of some US guard dogs and they were surprised how much he know about dogs for a doctor.

In all my father thinks they were just as effective as any real doctors in the field after a little while in the field since most of their work was so crude (stablize and patch up).

     

The ROK Marines were a well trained and disciplined bunch although in some ways different types.  They were reliable and fought like tigers!

By the way ROK's weren't the only ones that took up the "custom" of making jewelry out of body parts of dead gooks (that may no longer be politically correct...) some of our own CIA operatives did same and I didn't trust them AT ALL!

I'm telling you - not all the parts that the CIAOPS used came from Victor Charles...... count on it!

[sniper]
[b]The Sniper

I always use to think the Israelis were the soldiers you would want allied with you, and fighting with you in combat. Well, my whole attitude changed after I spent my share of time
in Korea.

I believe that anybody who has had the experience or could have the experience of working with and being around ROK soldiers, they would have the utmost respect for them.

ROK's are the best soldiers in the world that you could have fighting beside you.

Here's a funny story I heard, this happened around pleiku.  Out in the bush some GI's found a puppy, fed it and raised it for approx six months...there was an ROK camp about a mile away.  One day after a firefight, skip the dog vanished...some of the GI's wandered over to the ROK camp and asked the guys if they had seen skip...the ROK answers, "yes, captian see skip, captian like skip very much!"  "Captian eat skip!"  mmmm...the GI's got out of there fast...

Heh, don't get me wrong, I lived in Korea and have tried boshingtang, not to shabby actually [:D]

the things i remember reading about the rok were:  they were HARD - the vc feared them.  they also fought most of the war with m1 garands until in the late 60's they finally got m16's.  this is supposedly why they decieded to make their own (daewoo) in the 70's as they were disappointed the u.s. didn't give them the 'jungle m16' sooner.

the ausies were tough too.  always patrolled with sleeves down (no matter how hot it was) and did their jobs very well armed with fnfals and wood fore-gripped xm177's (armalites)

my hat is off to both

steve

Almost all ROK solders used WWII weapons and ammos supplied by Uncle Sam.  My father got a M-2 Carbine while the first cousin got a BAR and the second cousin got a M3 Grease gun.  Some of the solders got M1 Garands but they were not very popular due to lack of ammo capacity, excessive weight and recoil.  M-2 Carbines were most popular by far.  

From what I was told, the biggest complaint ROK solders had was the quality of ammo they received from Uncle Sam.  They were all left overs from WWII and some of the ammo they received was not usable.  I was told they had to check each ammo they received to make sure they looked okay to use and that more than few ROK solders were killed due to bad ammo.
   

The ROK's were/are old school hard core killing machines. You don't want to fuck with them. It's just too damn bad that our armed services can't (for the most part) be like them.

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

Thanks guys!  The info has been great.  My dad passed away a couple of years ago due to cancer but he would have been proud to have served with you.

My SEAL buddy trained with the antiterroist group in Korea during the Seoul Olympics.  One of the ROK snipers was having problems breaking target balloons during a demonstration.  His NCO beat the shit out of him until he started to do better.  Imagine the lawsuits the would fly in the US.

As for the puppy, eemm eemm good!  Just kidding. Most people outside the US dont have beef or chicken in any kind of supply or at a reasonable cost. Meat is Meat!

My Dad and his buddies said they also fought hard because if they got captured it was over. Early on a couple of ROKs surrendered to victor charlie and were skinned alive. VC didn't like other yellow people kicking their ass.  So, no surrender and fight until you died or got help. IDF guys are the same way.  Cant explain the Aussies.  They just like to have fun!

RE: ROK soldiers, I can only relate what a brother-in-law told me a little about.
He worked in intelligence doing interrogations on VC/NVA prisoners.
In his (American) unit/team, they had the Koreans work with them that would very eagerly "soften up" the prisoners before interrogation.
He noted how efficient and brutal they were when dealing with the enemy. Moreover, he was quite amazed at their unwavering high morale and total dedication to their cause---which was to destroy communists.