Thoughts about KATUSA for the reserved KATUSA soldier

Interview 1 by Su Min Cho with Anonymous Tom

    Our first interviewee was Tom, a Korean who have studied abroad in Thailand his whole life time and is now enrolling in Seoul National University. He is currently in his 3rd year of college.

    This interview was conducted in the attempt to identify the stereotypes of the subculture group KATUSA and see if those who are part of the ‘in group’ know how they are being stereotyped and how they feel about the labels that are put on them as a post or pre KATUSA soldier. Tom is a reserved KATUSA soldier who is going to get his bootcamp training this September and get into a KATUSA base by next January.

    According to Tom, unlike most of the Korean men who have applied for KATUSA, he had a neutral attitude about getting accepted. He mentioned that the reason why he applied for KATUSA in the first place despite the ‘meh’ attitude he had was because he had heard from others that KATUSA was much easier to endure than other normal military bases such as in the infantry or the marines. He mentioned that is was “every Korean men’s dream” to serve in KATUSA due to the stereotype that the training is much easier which, according to Tom, doesn’t come without support.

    The day he officially became part of the KATUSA subculture group was when he found out that he got accepted. According to Tom when his friend called him saying that the KATUSA results were out during his game of LOL, he had to finish the game before checking unlike typical Korean men who would have closed their game to check the results. He mentioned that KATUSA was not much of an importance to him and that his parents would have cared more than he did. In addition he mentioned that the reason why he was so uninterested was because he did not want to go do his military service anyways wherever he went.

    When his friends found out he was accepted to KATUSA, they told him that he should “go and die”. They were angry because they cared about it and because they knew from the common stereotypes that KATUSA was ‘easy’. When asked to elaborate, Tom mentioned that unlike regular Korean militaries where they are notorious for keeping troops secluded, bases in KATUSA allowed soldiers to come out every single weekend and have less intense training. But he mentioned that his friends’ reactions were all jokes and he, in return, teased them by rubbing it in their face without much emotional tension.

    One stereotype that Tom mentioned other than the fact that KATUSA is known to be easier is that people think that those who have studied abroad have a better chance of getting into KATUSA, which may have been true in the past but not today as according to him “everyone is getting TEPS over 600 and above 80 in TOEFL.”

    Tom expects that his life in the military will be much better than normal infantry lifestyles as he will have more space in his assigned room, will have more privacy with less social pressure from the superiors, and best of all will have less intense training than those of other Korean military infantries.

    Moreover, Tom said that some of the cons that KATUSA may have is the fact that in the future when he goes out in society and meet other males he will not able to fit in when Korean men talk about their harsh military life. However he also acknowledged that this would not be a problem for him as he is not planning to work in Korea.


    The final message that Tom wanted the society to know was that KATUSA soldiers, like all other soldiers in Korea, have to serve for the country for 21 months. He said that he as well as other KATUSA soldiers still have to sacrifice part of their youth for the country, so although people say KATUSA is easier and even if this is true, he wanted people to know that the very fact that they are still in the military is not nice for them anyways. 

Interview 2 by Minsu Park with Anonymous K 

    K(anonymous), 4th grade student in Seoul National University(SNU) is our second interviewee. When He was 2nd grade, he applied to KATUSA and got allowed to work for KATUSA in yong-san as military service. He started his duty from September 2012 and completed it in June 2014.

    This interview was for identifying the stereotypes of KATUSA as subculture group in Korea and finding out how those who are part of the ‘in group’ recognize stereotypes many people have about KATUSA. Through this interview, we also wanted to see how they feel about the labels.

    The reason why K applied to KATUSA, he said, was to expand his experience and improve his skill for understanding other cultures. He had plan to study abroad to America after graduating university. But he had few experiences going or traveling out to other countries. It made him worried about whether he would be able to adapt easily to unfamiliar culture and finish his study without cultural conflicts. So, he decided to use military service as a chance and applied to KATUSA with belief that he could get opportunity to know about American culture. Actually he told me that he could learn many thing about US army culture and even their general life style.

    So, when he received news of acceptance, he felt really happy. His friends and family members also congratulated him. However, reasons they celebrated the news for were little different from his. They envied KATUSA mainly due to their freedom and easiness. In fact, Korean KATUSA members are able to complete their military service relatively easier than those who conduct in ROK army. Because Korean KATUSA members are work with American members who mostly consist of professional soldiers so make comparatively easy atmosphere. They can get more free time and freedom in action. People around K were envious in this point.

    After K had completed his duty, however, he found out that not all KATUSA members could spend time as people thought. He said whether Korean KATUSA could enjoy freedom or not depended on their duty and workplace. K remembered his time in KATUSA passed without difficulties because of his job. K’s main duty in KATUSA was supplier. He dealt with paper work and distributed military supplies in Yongsan. So, he got order to go field exercise not that many time and did work without interference. But he mentioned that KATUSA who work in Tongduchon or Uijongbu company which are concentrated on combat mission went more field exercises and completed their mission more strictly and uncomfortably.


    K ended interview saying KATUSA members also have challenge as many as ROK soldiers. It’s true that KATUSA guarantees more freedom than ROK army. But it also require Korean members to communicate and make paper work with US soldiers in english. Indeed, even K had problem in using and understanding military languages in english and spent so much time to overcome it. He hoped people appreciate challenges as well as benefits.

Interview 3 by Young Chan Cho with Anonymous H

 

    H(anonymous), 3rd grade in his Seoul National University life, was third interviewee for our subculture research project. He completed his service one year ago, 2014 August. That is, he would have some stereotypes about KATUSA, and after he completed his service, he would come to know whether the stereotypes that he had had were true or not. Moreover, he would come to know many new things that we, who had not directly experienced KATUSA, only heard from other's comments, hadn't known. So, for these reasons, we chose to interview a person who completed their duties.

 

    At first, we talked about how he reacted, other people reacted when he was accepted from KATUSA. He, as many people did, had the stereotype that when serving in KATUSA, they would spend their military service more easily, and they can learn English more. So, his parents felt quite good when they heard their son was accpeted from KATUSA. And, whether a person would be accepted from KATUSA is by luck-only when the person completed their fundamental standards for applying 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)-among these standards should one get the appropriate score). So, H's friends and other acquaintances envied his luck, felt jealous of him. H said that they hadn't been selected for KATUSA, and had to serve in normal ROKs, which made them feel such a feeling.

 

    Next, we talked about his real life in KATUSA. It could check whether our stereotypes about KATUSA are true or not. And as we expected, stereotypes about KATUSA were quite true. H said that KATUSA had his own room, and the facilities in garrison were very convenient. And also he said that he could get more pass/lives than other ROKs, which made their life in KATUSA more easy.

 

    And also the stereotype that unlike in ROK where the hierarchies are strictly adopted, in KATUSA they can live a life without that harsh hierarchy with chiefs. was quite true. But some commanders had some kind of racism, so H said it was quite uncomfortable getting along with them.

 

    But the stereotype that when serving in KATUSA, he can enhance his English skill very well wasn't quite true. According to H, he was skilled in English before he applied to KATUSA, and the reason he applied for KATUSA was for not enhancing his English skill but making foreign friends, serving military life easily, so he didn't agree with the stereotype. H said that in serving KATUSA, a high level of English skill is not necessarily needed, so if someone had a certain standard of English skill, by serving in KATUSA, it could not enhance his English skill much.

 

    And also, he said that not all KATUSA experienced so-called 'easy life style.' The 10% of KATUSA who serve in Dongducheon, Uijeongbu, serve their military life even harder than other ROKs, because they participate in the special training program, for example, key resolve, foal eagle, etc.

 

    The stereotypes that considered true before I interviewed H had a part of truth, and a part of false. So, I asked him to tell other people about KATUSA that many things are quite different from stereotype. He accepted it, and told other people that they should be careful not to judge applying for KATUSA only for some 'single stories.'

Interview 4 by Tae Hoon Lee with Anonymous L

    Our last interviewee, L, was a someone I knew on a personal level. He was my high school senior whom i had known for about 2 years. He studied for 4 years in singapore and a semester in the US, and is now a 4th year student in POSTECH

    As his enlistment was in this coming July, our main topic of the interview was about the stereotypes people have about KATUSA but more importantly, the interviewee’s attitude and feelings towards KATUSA too see the stereotype in its most basic form.

    As expected, most of the stereotypes were related to how KATUSA was viewed as an easier version of the mandatory national service in Korea. Unsurprisingly, this stereotype has seemed to manifest itself rather well in this interviewee, and as the interviewee was someone who was very open about his opinions, fine examples of the stereotype could be observed in this speech and tone. 

    L believes  the KATUSA to be a rather “slack” place - according to him. L thinks that the KATUSA exists mainly to serve as a political base camp for the US Army to keep North Korea and China in check and regarding his acceptance into KATUSA, his first reaction was being dumbfounded. He said he was not expecting to get into katusa so easily in the first place and when he did, he mentioned (after the interview) that nothing felt significantly different. His reactions from his friends were as expected, along the lines of “dude, you’re so lucky,”, which he believes will not be different between other subcultures of his friends. With his main reason for applying to KATUSA being “It seemed like a slack place so i applied”, L said everything was rather expected and nothing out of the ordinary, except for the fact that he was admitted into the KATUSA program. He did not think of getting in as a person achievement but rather as a stimulus to make fun of his other friends who failed to get in. However, L did mention that option of KATUSA being slack is very dependent on what division he is admitted into. he said he will leave that to Lady Luck.

    As one who has lived in the US for a significant amount of time, L believes he will have no problem relating to the American culture inside of KATUSA. When asked about other cons and problems that - in his opinion - come along with KATUSA, KL said that opportunities such as acceptance into KATUSA limits his chances of meeting new people. Despite the rather lenient English skill requirements, he said he would only get to meet the educated in KATUSA. L believes that there is something to learn by meeting all kinds of people and going to the army is the best (and for some cases the worst) chance to do so. However, L was more concerned about achieving some personal goals rather than dealing with the cons mentioned above.

    Interestingly, when asked about some stereotyped - in his opinion - attached to KaTUSA, L said that he really did not know. L feels that there may possibly be some prejudices related to high income since English skills in korea are usually correlated with the amount of money invested in education. Even with some clarification, L did not mention other stereotypes. If any, he mentioned that if there is any correlation between prestige and being accepted, that was not true because many of his rich friends did not get accepted.

  

    We ended the interview with L’s resolution in KATUSA.  With his time in KATUSA, L plans to further improve his mathematics skills. 

Sidenote

    Our group would have loved to include photos of the interviews but for some reason, all four interviewees have requested for anonymity.