KATUSA

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KATUSA Training Academy , Camp Jackson , South Korea

KATUSA ( Korean : 카투사) stands for K orean A ugmentation T roops to the U nited S tates A rmy. The program allows English-speaking South Korean conscripts, their military service in an American US unit of the US Army abzuleisten that in Korea deployed is. There is no comparable program for other US armed forces .

history

The KATUSA program was established in July 1950 during the Korean War to improve cooperation between the South Korean armed forces and the US Army and to increase the acceptance of the US troops stationed in South Korea, the United States Forces Korea (USFK), to a wider extent to provide a social basis. At the same time, cultural and language barriers should be broken down. The focus was also on increasing the civilian employee pool eligible for the US armed forces in South Korea, as former participants in this program would be predestined for it due to their excellent language skills, their familiarity with the American military and their intercultural understanding. The program is also intended to promote bilateral military and civil cooperation. At the same time, however, it should also sensitize the American soldiers, both culturally and linguistically, for the stationing country South Korea.

The program

" Class photo "

The approximately 4,800 posts, the number is subject to constant fluctuations, because, roughly estimated, the unofficial ratio of ten to one between Americans and South Koreans is sought, are very popular. On the one hand because the South Korean military is considered more rigorous and strict than the American, on the other hand because of the later career opportunities in the civil sector of the USFK. The selection of recruits was originally made by the Military Manpower Administration (MMA) and the Army Training School , but today only by the MMA. Due to the limited number of positions and the popularity of the program, access is tied to passing various aptitude tests and each aspirant may only apply once.

According to article 600 section two of the USFK regulations, the South Korean conscripts enjoy the same rights and privileges as the American soldiers . The KATUSA program is seen by both sides as a guarantor and link in the alliance between the two states, even if it is not in the legal sense. The program is unique of its kind in the world; nowhere else can conscripts from one nation perform their service in the armed forces of another.

Because the United States Armed Forces are a professional army , members of the KATUSA program are the only conscripts in the American military.

KATCOM and other nations

K orean A ttached Com monwealth Division was a similar program of the 1st Commonwealth Division The ran from May 1952 to 1954. 94 Korean soldiers were assigned to each battalion, for a total of around 1,000 soldiers.

Other nations, such as the Belgian and Dutch contingents, had similar but significantly smaller programs.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ List of abbreviations at state.gov (English).