South Korea - oob 20

[Richard_H]

Looks as though the S.Korean oob has had a complete rewrite, and all the paras (and some of the home grown kit) have been deleted. I just Googled "South Korean paratroopers" and got a good few hits, including references from 1961, 1975 and last year. http://theworldofphotographers.wordp...s-in-training/

is an example. Of course, he's a photographer & may not be a military specialist.

This, however, shows the deleted KM420 (aka K131) as standard issue http://www.military-today.com/trucks/kia_km420.htm

On the same topic, Units 360 & 361 in the oob have no radio value.

Richard H

[Richard_H]

A thousand apologies, I was looking at somebody else's rewrite

The Spanish heat has finally got to me . . . .

Richard H

[DRG]

Well........ "Units 360 & 361 in the oob have no radio value" is a valid error that has been corrected and I have made a note to run checks for any others like that in any OOB and I will note down to investigate the para issue as the stock OOB doesn't have any and never had.


Don

[FASTBOAT TOUGH]

Don,
Para 6 of ref. 1
http://www.military.com/daily-news/2...3435700&rank=1

Also...
http://www.globalsecurity.org/milita.../rok/avcom.htm
There is also one Battalion of Airborne in the Special Ops group. Couldn't pull it out as I ended up using my "free" 7 articles in 30 days in less then 30 minutes!?! Those Rat "Bassturds", but because of them you'll always know where to find the Bass when fishing!?!

The next shows that these forces existed in 1990.
http://www.country-data.com/cgi-bin/query/r-12372.html
http://www.country-data.com/frd/cs/k...n.html#table16

It appears overall that these airborne designated troops have been around since 1957/58 as counterinsurgency Special Forces troops to counter the North Korean Special Forces infiltration units.

I'll race you to baldness, look at the "bright side" we've got ONLY 7.5 years to get there!?!

Regards,
Pat

[whdonnelly]

I'll see what I can find, but South Korea does indeed have paratroopers/SF and Marines, including a female battalion. The lowest rank for any of the female troops is E-6, in an attempt to keep the less disciplined of the male soldiers from messing with them.

[whdonnelly]

Poking around for specific information is making it clear that the ROK is still considered a country at war and many of the details are classified. This may take a long time.

[DRG]

Keep digging, I'll look at whatever you or anyone else can find.

From what I have found so far it appears the paras are mainly small unit Special Ops ( unless they are being used for "crowd control"..... )

Don

[FASTBOAT TOUGH]

Outside of the "Special Forces" which are all airborne/halo jump qualified, you also have the JSSF and Marine airborne units. South Korea has it's own lift capacity to support sustained airborne ops and can post that info from an avaition source if needed. The first ref covers all of the above though and equipment listings are current i.e. ROK operates 180 K2 tanks which is correct, etc. etc. The non Special Forces info you seek (Though they are large composite units in of themselves.) is near the bottom of the first ref, again, under the JSSF section where you will also find the ROK Marines with their airborne units.
The following two refs are from a Pathfinders website out of the UK, that shows the various unit patches, insignia, jump pins with some light unit background information and both HALO and regular jump pics.
Also the first ref. is more current but, in line with the Global Security site info though it is a little older. There still is no peace treaty between the U.S., ROK and D.P.R.K. It should pointed out that as of 2015 South Korea will be in charge of all combat operations in Korea.
http://z9.invisionfree.com/21c/ar/t10313.htm
http://www.pathfindergroupuk.com/Win...licOfKorea.pdf
http://wings.pathfindergroupuk.com/P...20Korea_v3.pdf

Regards,
Pat