How Does Troop Dispatch Preparation Work?

On February 23, a source from the Defense Ministry said, “Our additional troop dispatch to Iraq is entirely different from that of the Vietnam War. We sent only combat troops to Vietnam, receiving all support from the U.S. side. This is the first time for us to solely take charge of every type of military necessities including the logistics, transportation, combat, and intelligence.”

The biggest source of trouble regarding the relevant equipments and supplies is how to differentiate our troops from the U.S. military force. Although the Korean troops need to make use of combat uniform, individual outfits, and vehicles which look different from the U.S. armed forces in order to prevent terror attacks, it is hard to secure their safety with only our military equipments and resources.

Our military force is scheduled to bring 20 armored vehicles, bullet-proof vehicles, and trucks, but the troops are still lacking well-equipped equipments with both the locomotive power and the self-protection ability at the same time such as the “Humvee” of the U.S. and the light armored vehicle of the Japanese self-defense force. For this reason, the Defense Ministry is facing a dilemma of whether or not to borrow 61 Humvees from the U.S. forces which will not guarantee distinction from the U.S. forces.

In the same manner, the 18 U.S. military helicopters which are expected to be used are another nuisance. In order to grasp the movement of the enemy and secure a safe path of movement, it is very important to reconnoiter in the air. On the other hand, it is hard to avert one’s eyes from the fact that the terror organizations and insurgent forces may treat the Korean forces using the U.S. military helicopters as the U.S. forces.

In order to differentiate from the U.S. forces, Korean troops will mainly use our own equipments which make it impossible to supply the parts from the U.S. forces. For the transportation of diverse military equipment, it is indispensable for Korean troops to rely on the U.S. supply network.

As the night-time fluoroscopes to confront night-time terror attacks have been supplied by the domestic field divisions, it is still too small to cover the entire 3,000 troops. Military dogs used for explosives search have not been included with the troops, for the supply cannot even meet the demand of the domestic airports.

An expert from the defense industry points out, “All these equipment shortages are directly connected to the defense budget. It is not too late to reconsider the relevant budget for the sake of the soldiers’ safety.”

Adjusting the current troop dispatch related budget bill worth 229 billion won, the Defense Ministry will discuss with the Ministry of Planning and Budget through this week. Japan has secured approximately 400 billion won for 1,000 soldiers dispatched to Samawa, Iraq.

Ho-Won Choi bestiger@donga.com