A Talk with a Former KATUSA
This evening, I had the opportunity to talk for more than an hour with one of my students, a former KATUSA. KATUSA stands for "Korean Augmentation to the United States Army" and the program of Republic of Korean Army soldiers serving with their American counterparts dates back to the Korean War. Only those with superior English ability qualify.
It is always a pleasure to have former KATUSAs in one's English class, because after having spent two years serving alongside American GIs, they have a cross-cultural knowledge and worldliness that their peers can not hope to have. They even have knowledge of one American institution that I admit to having very little first-hand knowledge about, the US Military.
My student described watching the Super Bowl and the Presidential Election with the US soldiers, and the overwhelming opposition to both the New England Patriots and John Kerry. He also spoke of the sad memorial services on the US bases here in Korea for those killed in Iraq. My student's experience with female US soldiers convinced them that the military was no place for women. He noted that the Army changes everyone, and the way it changed women was not for the better.
He told me that KATUSAs always strive to be on their best behavior, because they know that the impression they leave on the Americans will be their impression of the country as a whole. They act as ambassadors. It would be good if more Americans in Korea, both in and out of the service, adopted this attitude. Perhaps it speaks of a healthy sense of patriotism that we have lost or maybe never even had.
I learned a lot from tonight's conversation. My former KATUSA student finished his service with a great deal of regard for the Americans with whom he served, and a desire to meet them again in America.
This evening, I had the opportunity to talk for more than an hour with one of my students, a former KATUSA. KATUSA stands for "Korean Augmentation to the United States Army" and the program of Republic of Korean Army soldiers serving with their American counterparts dates back to the Korean War. Only those with superior English ability qualify.
It is always a pleasure to have former KATUSAs in one's English class, because after having spent two years serving alongside American GIs, they have a cross-cultural knowledge and worldliness that their peers can not hope to have. They even have knowledge of one American institution that I admit to having very little first-hand knowledge about, the US Military.
My student described watching the Super Bowl and the Presidential Election with the US soldiers, and the overwhelming opposition to both the New England Patriots and John Kerry. He also spoke of the sad memorial services on the US bases here in Korea for those killed in Iraq. My student's experience with female US soldiers convinced them that the military was no place for women. He noted that the Army changes everyone, and the way it changed women was not for the better.
He told me that KATUSAs always strive to be on their best behavior, because they know that the impression they leave on the Americans will be their impression of the country as a whole. They act as ambassadors. It would be good if more Americans in Korea, both in and out of the service, adopted this attitude. Perhaps it speaks of a healthy sense of patriotism that we have lost or maybe never even had.
I learned a lot from tonight's conversation. My former KATUSA student finished his service with a great deal of regard for the Americans with whom he served, and a desire to meet them again in America.
Redeemed by Our Savior, I work out my salvation with fear and trembling in Pohang, South Korea, where I live with my wife, daughter, and son and teach English at a science and technology university. Baptized a Methodist and raised a Missouri Synod Lutheran in Buffalo, NY, I spent six years as a guest of the Anglican Communion before being received by the Grace of God into the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church on the Feast of Saint Andrew, my patron, anno domini 2002.
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