Special Forces, Vietnam 1963 and Original Issue M1 Carbines

We had a large force of ROK soldiers in our camp for about 5 months. Each morning there would be a few hundred soldiers in Judo suits doing warm ups. They were from the Tiger, white horse and capital divisions. They were the best troops Korea had. We paid them the same as GIs and had special rations to accommodate ROK troops. They used all US WW2 vintage weapons. They were ruthless and killed a lot of Viets out of hand. Their method was to move into a problem area and simply shoot everyone until the trouble stopped. They finally sent them home during 66. I spent a great deal of time with the Koreans. They loved Americans and loved to arm wrestle and do manly things. They were all around 5'7" large for Asian troops. The best thing was that their generals were all enlisted men at one time. They would drink us under the table and these officers had no problem drinking with PFCs and Spec 4s. They were monumentally great drinkers.

Sent home in 1966? Do you mean they rotated some home? They still had Korean troops in Vietnam when I left in 1970.

Just a picture I found with no text...

https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo...b8e3a898-1.jpg

They started them young over there, smoking that is. :eek:

Highwood with late features on the left, selector switch on the right. Go get em boys.

https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo...sjcmcgif-1.jpg

https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo...sjwun1yj-1.jpg

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Originally Posted by painter777

Just a picture I found

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Where the advisor is wearing the short lived "Duck hunter" camo...

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Originally Posted by JimF4M1s

Sent home in 1966? Do you mean they rotated some home? They still had Korean troops in Vietnam when I left in 1970.

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They left II Corps and never came back when I left in 1967. They had some serious scrapes with the Viet Marines in our area. Beach bars being shot up and unarmed Koreans being shot. The Korean General took a large armed force to the Viet base and told them that if he saw any more of them in the city he'd wipe them out. Sounds like bull, but it wasn't. Many of the Viet soldiers were recruited out of Saigon Jails and they were sloppy, poorly trained and poor troops. The Koreans were all really good soldiers, the best they had, and by the 60's there weren't too many bad Korean troops left in Korea. Charlie: I'd bet the farm that those guys are Cambodians or Mountain people. The Koreans I saw were all large people for Asians and most operated with their own personnel. In other words, they weren't looking for some sneaky pete to tell them what to do next.

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Originally Posted by DaveHH

Many of the Viet soldiers were recruited out of Saigon Jails

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What a mess that would be, from the frying pan... Wouldn't want to be anywhere around those guys as a training NCO(advisor)...

The worst would be the Viet Rangers. Undisciplined trash. There were a few good Viet troops like MIKE force guys, but regular Viet troops had no stomach for the war. Who can blame them? The Japanese, the French, the Viet Mihn, name your poison. The people were wonderful, beautiful people who treated their children like gold. You would be roaring down Hwy 1 and out in the paddy would be the most lovely women, they'd maybe take off their conical hat and redo four feet of jet black hair into a little ball. Surrounded by mud they were almost always clean. Smiling at us if we acted like gentlemen. You could stick your nose into their hut and if they were eating, you would be asked to share. The VC were killers and died.