I first and foremost want to thank the constituents in the US Army for serving for my country. I don't get too many chances to say this in person. In Korea, there are a few army bases in the country. I happened to stumble upon some men and women serving in the Army when I visited Daegu, a city 2.5 hours north of me in the province of Gyeongbuk.
My first encounter from a distance made me want to physically beat up the idiots in the army and then denounce my country for supporting this type of behavior. Violence tends to bring about violence. I read a lot about how Koreans don't like the US military men and women stationed in their country. My initial thought for this disliking was due to the fact that perhaps many Korean people don't see it necessary to have foreigners in their country anymore. The Korean war was from 1950-53. Having a US military presence 50 years after the fact even though North Korea is a threat could seem like a huge nuisance to some Koreans. After I got a glimpse of the ridiculousness that goes on from our troops I had an idea why. Seeing what I saw really caused me to well up with anger and disgust.
A group of military men and women, or I should refer to them as ignorant boys and girls, were yelling at this old Korean man on a bike. On the back of his bike was a small plastic crate that held some of his personal belongings. I am not sure what set this groups of idiots off, but like I said, they were yelling at this old Korean man riding his bike. Then it escalated. Some of the boys started kicking the guy's bike and then aiming for his plastic basket. After having enough, the Korean man got off his bike and put down his kick stand. Then I saw him take out his cane. He had a walking stick since he was that old. The screaming match continued with the group of 5 boys and 3 girls and this old man. One boy took a swing at the old man (I am not 100% sure if he was just trying to scare him or actually hit him). He missed. Then the old man started poking that boy with his cane. At that moment, another boy kicked over his bike causing his personal belongings to spill out into a pile of garbage near a light pole. The boy who got poked in the stomach pushed the old man down on top of his bike. Some of the girls were screaming for them to stop and a few other guys were trying to hold their violent friend back. The old man got up limping. He had a slight limp before (hence the cane) and after he was knocked down it looked a bit worse. He went into a rage and some of the guys were walking away still screaming obscenities. If there isn't a picture in your mind already, let me just describe the scene in one sentence. A US solider was fighting an old Korean man riding his bike! Are you serious? Is it really any wonder why there are multiple posts in multiple blogs about why are troops are retarded?
At this point some younger Korean men were trying to break up the fight between the one out-of-control soldier and the old man. Someone else called the police and there were many people standing around just watching this unfold. My initial reaction was to get up and take a swing at this guy. I didn't and I feel so cowardly in a sense. I also know that I stood a chance of getting hurt since most, if not all, of the soldiers were super drunk. I hated feeling helpless while witnessing one of the biggest injustices I have ever seen. I wanted to spit as some of the people in the group walked past me.
Another group of soldiers walked past myself and my friend, Antoine, and stopped to chat. They were obnoxious also, but at least they weren't hurting anyone. I am not advocating that everyone should be straight-edge all the time. I will never understand what goes on in the army. I give people credit for going because the truly care for their country. Even as a volunteer since the US does not have a draft, you cannot grasp what you will go through until you do it. One soldier from Philly said, "What people forget is that we are human too." Yes, understood. Humans act silly sometimes, but it doesn't help the cause when most people in the army act the same way; with complete disregard for their surrounding area.
Korea is a country where drinking is more than acceptable, it is almost required in order to be social. I have seen all people act foolish. That said, it does not excuse the behavior of violence toward another culture. I spoke with another person about the matter and he said this, "It's not just the US army. It's army people in general, regardless of the country." This put things in perspective. At the same time, because I was born in the US and live(d) in the US, this really hit home. I know understand why, as a country, we are hated. The army is supposed to represent our ideals and our people. What I witnessed was disgusting.
Feel free to post your opinions. I am obviously biased in this instance. If you feel strongly one way or the other, I would love some input.
Well I will say this much...don't say the Army in general cause there are good, respectable people who serve. But keep in mind...the ratio of good people to ignorant people serving is similar to that on a whole in this country. My point being during my last 3 summers I spent abroad I saw many Americans overseas both from my school and not. In general though I have to say their behavoir was deplorable. Basically of the mentalitly of let's go out and get wasted everynight. Why you need to go to a place you will see once and do something which you can do anyday is beyond me. But not just getting drunk- getting rowdy, picking fights with locals, stealing, etc. It's the cases like that that made me wanna say I was a Canadian. Seeing someone in our military act that why is no doubt worse because they are held to a higher standard as a leader. The solution to all this: don't let the ignorant ones visit other places and give us all a bad name : (
ReplyDeleteSadly, I'm not surprised.. and to think, the company I work for's main mission is to support these "war-fighter." This is not to say that their behavior is perceived as the norm, but I'm not all that surprised either, absolutely terrible. I read this last night and was thinking about it at work.. it's totally understandable to feel helpless, I can't imagine witnessing that and acting on it right away. I am thinking.. if I was there, would I have the guts to go up and say something to these dudes? I think it would speak wonders to hear from another American at that time and place how ridiculous their behavior is. The more that I think about it though.. I think my heart would've just been poudning out of my ears and I wouldn't dare move.. terrible, but the truth. Anyways.. glad to see you're hanging out with Antoine! He msg'ed me the other day and said "thanks" for hooking you guys up.. hahaa, has he SEEN YOUR LEGS? ;]
ReplyDeleteAs a soon to be Marine, I have mixed feelings on this -- the first is the idea of who they let into the service and how lax standards can be. If you look at recent events, the Army has gotten a pretty bad rap, from the Fort Hood shootings to illegal killings in Afghanistan and Iraq. Part of the problem is the fact that since it is an all volunteer force and very few people are volunteering, they can't be choosey as to who they let in -- beggers can't be choosers, especially when our troops are spread so thin across the globe anyway, fighting two wars, etc. Most specifically with the Army -- they're as standard as the military gets -- they're not Navy Seals, Marines, nuclear sub commanders -- they're not all elite in many cases, but they're the largest branch and the heart of the miliitary. So naturally, they'll take almost anybody. From my experience with the Marine Corps, it is a very stringent process of getting in, and once in they don't tolerate any shit in comparison to what you can get away with in the Army, both officers and enlisted. Enlisted positions aren't nearly as difficult to get into, but to that point, it is a lot easier to slip through the cracks in the Army as opposed to any of the other branches. Naturally, accountability becomes another issue entirely. The larger the organization, the harder it is to manage.
ReplyDeleteBig issue is a lack of enforcement within the ranks due to understaffing and personnel frustrations. Army tries to keep its troop deployments and men stationed overseas to a year or less, but due to personnel issues, you have troops serving overseas for extended periods of time, and there's nothing anyone can do about it. People naturally get restless and stop caring. If I was making an enlisted salary under the impression I would be stationed in a shitty base for a year only, and I end up having to stay there an extra six months away from family and friends, I would be incredibly pissed. Think about it like that and you can see the frustration. Not to defend any of these actions, but you can see how that coupled with the lack of accountability for x number of reasons can lead to problems.
Then you look at the actual people, those annoying Americans nobody likes, who get drunk and start fights and are aggressive. The military is not a Disneyland adventure -- a military is a force whose sole purpose is warfare. Violence is inherent in the culture. Even though this does not trump right vs. wrong and matters of the professionalism of America's elite, I think it is an interesting philosophical question to weigh how much negative behavior such as what is described in the scene above is to be expected while living in a culture dedicate to professional violence, a culture that is both necessary and critical to our survival as a free society. Call it a sunk cost, these types of things happening. Takes it all the way back to a version of original sin -- because we take advantage of the pleasures of the free world, are we guilty to the horrors that were committed to make it possible, even if we willingly object or dissent? I think we're no more innocent. And so to that sunk cost, the collateral damage of even having a military force, we are defined by our ability to regulate it and our drive to minimize it. It will continue to and always has happened by virtue of its own identity -- it is how we respond that will define our conscience, no matter how inherently guilty we may all be.
"That's some heavy shit, Marine." - Jamie Foxx as Staff Sergeant Sykes, Jarhead
Sam, stya in touch, I'll update you with my life in a personal email and not on a blog =)
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