Renegade Rip

Issue date: 3/21/07 Section: News

Media Credit: Nick Stockton

He was slapped for snoring.

That is what happened to 25-year-old Bakersfield College business major Seung-Hwan "Sam" Kim when he served in South Korea's Marine Corps. Kim is currently a calculus and lower-division math tutor for BC's Tutoring Center.

For a meager $300 a year, plus room and board that included what Kim said was terrible food, Kim took a lot of abuse at the hands of his higher-ranking officers for a little over two years. Kim got into the South Korean Marines April 2002 and got out in May 2004. He came to the U.S. in March 2005.

Kim said he was cuffed for sleeping on his bunk bed twisted over and also for speaking more than a handful of words or for saying the "wrong words" to a higher-ranking officer.

According to Kim, a lower-ranking military enlistee can only say "Yes," "No," "Thank you," "I will find it," and "I cannot hear." For saying, "I'm sleepy" to an officer during his "coastal protection" watch, Kim was punched in the torso by a "bad-tempered" officer and sustained a broken rib.

In fact, during this particular incident, Kim was kicked and "hit everywhere" around his face and body. One of his other punishments for other offenses included being forced to place his head on the ground with his hands clasped behind his back. Kim said lower-ranking men were also beaten for not laying down towels straight after wiping off the floor. According to Kim, the punishments and the degree of punishments depended upon the officers.

Kim says that these types of punishments are now banned in South Korea's military branches.

After running the gamut of military rigors that included parachuting, shoveling and sometimes carrying boats on his head, Kim rose from being a private to a sergeant. Kim said his ranger training took two weeks and included running with a rifle. His airborne training was three weeks, and his IBS or "Inflatable Boats Small training" lasted two weeks. Rifle training took place for one day each month. Personal training, which including weight training, was arranged three to four days a week. Every day recruits played soccer or basketball. According to Kim, the training that featured climbing with ropes was the most excruciatingly painful.

"I became physically and mentally strong," Kim said. "We were always hungry, but we were real soldiers."

Continued...

Page 1 of 2 next >

Article Tools