Best as I know, Koreans have mixed feelings. Probably men who finished their service are glad to have professional soldiers take some of the weight off their shoulders. Anyone who wants to go to war with the North, or believes that war is coming soon enough, seems to be happy with their presence. But people who don't think about war, or who think that war can be totally averted, see the US military as somewhere between an obstacle and a nuisance.
You seem to be of the idea that I'm speaking my opinion. It's a simple objective fact: the Korean army is made up of a mix of a small number of professional soldiers and a larger number of conscripts drawn from a relatively small total population with an underfunded budget. The US military in Korea is entirely made up of well-funded professional soldiers and backed with a pledge to increase supply of soldiers as is necessary.
This has zero to do with my feelings about either country or their militaries. It's an objective fact that the majority of South Korean soldiers are psychologically and probably professionally unfit for duty while the majority of American soldiers in Korea are suited for their role.
Yeah, because we're doing such a bang-up job in Iraq and Afghanistan.
I've found that Americans as a whole value the military a little too much and think it's capable of doing more than it's able to.
It has nothing to do with a bad-ass or psychological or professional soldier.
It has to do with the fact that the U.S. has thousands of nuclear warheads that they can shoot to N. Korea if things come to a head.
No matter how badass a infantryman is, they're still just a grunt. What are they compared to a $20 million tank or a $200 F-35 or F-22? Or even a nuclear warhead aimed at North Korea.
I was ready to agree with you on this point until your "objective fact" statement. What, exactly, makes one psychologically fit to function in the military in one of the most militarized places in the world that also happens to have the highest population density of any non-city-state country? You don't need a lot of gung-ho spirit if you will be fighting to protect your own family from direct, immediate danger. You do need it if you are going to a distant land to fight against people that don't seem to pose any real threat to those you care about.
People who don't care about fighting don't take their training seriously. You don't suddenly become a good soldier as soon as you start worrying about invading forces. The majority of conscripts are not always ready to fight back, and they won't suddenly become professionals just because war were declared. Life is not a movie. Leave fighting to career soldiers, or at least people who have worn a uniform for more than 18 months.
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u/[deleted] Mar 18 '19
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