Background Information about KATUSA
The Korean Augmentation To the United States Army, more commonly known to the locals as KATUSA, in one of, if not the most, desired department of the South Korean military. Needless to say, competition to be part of KATUSA is nothing short of tough, especially in a country where National Service is mandatory for able bodied men. With the tough competition, one can expect the requirements to be a qualifying candidate for KATUSA to be of a significant standard. Because being part of KATUSA means being part of the U.S. Military, a certain degree of proficiency in the English language is required. Candidates are required to take and score appropriately in the following tests to be a viable candidate for KATUSA.
- TOEIC (at least 780)
- TEPS (at least 690)
- TOEFL PBT (at least 561)
- TOEFL IBT (at least 83)
- G-TELP Level 2 (at least 73)
- FLEX (at least 690)
Viable candidates are then selected randomly by the South Korean Government, where the selected applicants go through 6 weeks of Basic ROK army training before going through an orientation and an On-The-Job training by the Military army before their full-time enlistment in KATUSA. Every year, the number of available spaces for application dwindles despite the ever increasing number of applicants. in 2012, 3400 KATUSA soldiers were selected, as opposed to 4800 in 2005 and 11000 in 1968.
The KATUSA program was started back in 1950 by General Macarthur by sending a request to the South Korean President. ROK president's letter put all ROK forces under the command of General Macarthur on 17th July, which marked the beginning of the KATUSA Program
Why is KATUSA so highly desired?
In South Korea, there is a common belief that is much less abusive and straining towards their soldiers. Many South Korean men who have yet to serve their national service also believe that the KATUSA is more professional towards with regards to their training and treatment of the enlisted soldiers as compared to the ROK counterparts. However, because of this common belief that may or may not be true, many stereotypes arise.
Understanding the culture difference and common stereotypes about KATUSA
Understanding the culture difference and common stereotypes about KATUSA
In KATUSA, the Korean soldiers have to communicate with their american counterparts in English, not a native language for many. Their missions, assignments, and orders are given in English as well. Language contains a certain culture within it self, which gives rise to many metaphors, conjunctions, figure of speeches and more. This linguistic culture difference in bound to manifest itself in KATUSA, showing the difference in cultures between the American military and the ROK military. While it may be a unique experience for many, this language culture barrier may give rise to some issues which will be explained in more detail as the project progresses. But to say that culture differences is the only thing that the KATUSA are having trouble with, is to say the least. Many people in Korea view the KATUSA as such.
- Easy going army lifestyle(loose training system)
- Excellent English speakers
- Enlistment will make you even more proficient in English
- Will have numerous American contacts
- Free lifestyle as compared to the ROK counterparts
Project Planning
In general, there are two main goals we plan to achieve through creating this blog post. First is to identify what those who are going to become KATUSA soldiers and those who have already completed his role as a KATUSA soldier feel about the social stereotypes that is labeled on them. Second is to discover to what extent the stereotypes mentioned above is true by focusing on those who have completed their KATUSA military service.
To reach our goal we plan to interview four college students, two of whom will be going to KATUSA this fall and two whom already completed their KATUSA service. Three of our interviewees are students of SNU (Seoul National University) and the other one lives in Seoul, and therefore we have decided to carry out all of our interviews at the Java City coffee shop located in the Social Science department of SNU. We decided to think of interview questions by March 2nd and complete the interviews by April the 21st. We agreed to be in charge of one interviewee each and thus in the end have four complete interviews, two from those who are going to KATUSA and two from those who have already gone and come back. The interview questions will vary slightly depending on the interviewee (those who have completed KATUSA and those who will be starting). Detailed differences will be mentioned in our next blog post.
Preliminary Research
News Article
This article was written to mark the 60th anniversary of the South Korea- U.S. alliance. This article consists of valuable information about KATUSA and the life of being a KATUSA soldier for both the Korean and American sergeants. It mentions the obstacles that the Korean and American sergeants face due to the varying military culture such as the importance of hierarchical relations among enlisted Korean soldiers. However, the article also mentions how the KATUSA program enables sergeants from both countries to understand and respect each others' culture and integrate it to make it into a greater whole leading to the enforcement of the Korea U.S. alliance through military service.
-Korea Herald-
News Article
There are some worries about the common stereotype where Americans tend to look down on asians. During the enlistment in KATUSA, Korean soldiers have to interact with with their american counterparts for up to 18 months. It is not uncommon to see some discrimination against asians in america however, this mentality does not seem to be true within KATUSA. On 21-08-2014, KATUSA war veterans were commemorated for their service and sacrifice. “I thought it was necessary to give them something to show how much we appreciate them in their service for the country.” Morgan, Command Sgt. Maj, said. Ironically, the korean government have yet to honor the KATUSA war veterans. The KVA association said they will try their best to bring these unsung heros back to light
-Korea Times-
Video
The video starts off by acknowledging the scarce sight of foreign nationals wearing the American military uniform. It is mentioned that the KATUSA applicant is selected at random if they were above the cut line. The video starred sergeant Kim, Byoung Kuen working in 121 Combat Hospital and he expressed how it was an honor to represent the alliance between Korea and the US. He also mentioned that his role of as a Senior KATUSA is to manage the KATUSA program and strive to enhance the welfare of KATUSA soldiers.
SNS
KATUSA does have a facebook page to relay recent events and happenings, interesting photos and stories to tell. Relative to the amount of young able bodied men on facebook nowadays, the page gets little interest but is still active. It gives advice, and stories about life as a KATUSA soldier. Applicants can refer to this page for more relevant and up-to-date information about KATUSA
Page Link : https://www.facebook.com/ROK.KATUSA
References
1. http://www.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20130911000854
2. http://8tharmy.korea.army.mil/NCOA/kta.html
3. http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2014/08/116_163336.html
4. https://www.facebook.com/ROK.KATUSA
5. http://iconosquare.com/p/951773308301511446_417495161
6.http://www.mma.go.kr/kor/n_mobyung/mojib/mojib03/mojib0301/mojib030105/mojib03010501/index.html
I think it is quite sad that KATUSA is highly desired because it is considered more easygoing. In my opinion it disproves the fact that enlisting is army for few years is considered as stressful (on which I kind of agree) and that there's a need to improve the circumstances in army. I was also surprised to see the requirements concerning language skills, because it's lower than I thought. I haven't read the other posts yet, but I think it will be all very new for me, and I am so excited about it! Thanks for the researches!
ReplyDeleteI am a Korean male and I haven't been to the Army. This makes me really interested in this topic. I don't understand why the required English test score for KATUSA is not that high in spite of the fact that the competition for this troop is tough. I learned from the article that KATUSA functions as a linking bond between the Korean Army and Eighth United States Army. Impressed!
ReplyDeleteI hoped to enter the KATUSA but I counldn't sadly.But I didn't know what KATUSA is exactly doing. Your article about commemorating Korean War KATUSA veterans was very intersting and shocking to me. I just know that there was Koreans in U.S. army and they fought in Korean War. Also I could learn from your article that the Korea government has not honored these veterens. I totally agree that we should honor them and remeber what they did for all of us. Posted video was also nice and I could see various activities by KATUSAs. Great works! Thanks for your effort!!
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ReplyDeleteThanks for your rich information about KATUSA. Among my male friends, KATUSA issue is always an intersting issue for them, because they think it would be the best way to serve in the military. Through their conversations, I could roughly catch the ideas of KATUSA. But I could expand my knowledge about KATUSA with the information you gave. Especially, I was impressed by the article which shows that KATUSA can play a role as ambassadors between US and Korea. Till now, I have never thought KATUSA as something more than soldiers. It was an interesting chance to get to know more of KATUSA. Thank you~
ReplyDeleteIt's my first time reading organized information about KATUSA. I didn't even know the origin and purpose of KATUSA before reading it. As the first article mentions, because US supervisors can't take disciplinary action on KATUSA soldiers, I wonder if there is any problem related with it. The post says that the second article refutes the thinking that KATUSA soldiers are discriminated, but I think the second article is not appropriated for refuting it, because it's not about current soldiers and their life, but about war veterans and senior soldiers. So I want to know about the discrimination KATUSA soldiers feel who are now serving. I was impressed by detailed explanation about the project. Thanks for your efforts!
ReplyDeleteI was surprised by three facts that I did not know. The first thing is that KATUSA has such a long history. Before reading your blog post, I believed that there is very little time gap between now and the point when KATUSA was established. The second thing is that this is unique system only existing on Korea. From this, I could confirm that Korea is in very special position for the United States. Lastly, although I knew that to apply for KATUSA, one's English level ought to be higher than a certain level, I did not know that once one have higher level than the 'cut', the selection process is random. I doubtlessly thought that higher one's English level is, greater the probability to be selected as KATUSA.
ReplyDeleteAfter reading this I could easily know what this group was planing to do and the flow within the project was so smooth that it will make the results very trustworthy.(I think) Also it was very polite to introduce about the facts about KATUSA and I was very happy to learn about the basics things about KATUSA. I am willing to know the answer to the sentence 'Enlistment will make you even more proficient in English'. I wonder how it will be answered. Thank you for sharing!
ReplyDeleteAs a man who would join the military soon, it was quite interesting to learn about the KATUSA. I didn't even know that it was an abbreviation of English words. Nowadays, I hope to join the KATUSA because I think it would be much easier to live. Maybe this is a kind of stereotypes that Group 2 researched. At first, I thought that KATUSA soldiers don't have to train, but I recognized that they have to participate in the first 6 weeks training program. Also, US army honoring KATUSA made me feel that there would be few discrimintion in KATUSA army. There are some strereotypes that were wrong, but still, I think KATUSA is quite more easy army to join. Thank you for your work!
ReplyDelete[Soo Young Chun]
ReplyDeleteLike many others, I also had a stereotype about KATUSA’s atmosphere and their training drills. Owing your research and interview data, I could verify my biases. As you have stated on the blogpost, KATUSAs are regarded to enjoy loose military life. I think this stereotype was formed because of cultural differences. While ROK troops are very strict and closed, US troops are relatively humane and open. While the stereotype about KATUSA’s loose atmosphere is somewhat true, I learned that training drills are not easy-going at all. Military combination of 2 different nations should have far more strictness and definiteness in rules.
After reading this blogpost, I noticed a few interesting things. First, KATUSA functioning as unofficial ambassador was very interesting. The thought have never crossed my mind before reading this research data. Second, I did not know there were income gaps between KATUSA and US soldiers.
I previously did not have much information about KATUSA. I just heard that it is one of the most desirable army that all men try to go to. Now, by reading this post, I fully understand why people try to join KATUSA and why it is also helpful for them who joined. I also learned that this army was not viewed positively by Koreans, but the reputation has changed through decades due to positive influences that KATUSA had on Korean society. Thank you for providing sufficient information about them. It was really impressive:)
ReplyDeleteI have some friends who have joined Katusa and i think i have seen those friends with a some kind of stereotype.For example, I previously thought that enlistment of Katusa will make their English skills much better than the past. It makes me curious if this stereotypes will come out to be true or false. Also I did not think that Korea is the only country which has Katusa kind of program! it's really interesting!
ReplyDeleteBecause I have some friends who are discharged from KATUSA, I heard their story and I thought that I know a lot of them. My KATUSA friends said to me that there is less interaction between KATUSA and US Army than people think. So I am surprised to read that US Army trying to honor the KATUSA veterans. Thank you for your research!
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