Military Advisors in Korea: KMAG in Peace and War
From Military Advisors in Korea: KMAG in Peace and War by MAJ Robert K. Sawyer
Quote:
"The formation of the ROK 26th Regiment in August (1950) was typical of the haste and expediency surrounding KMAG's operations at the time. Early in August the KMAG G-3 Advisor called CPT Frank W. Lukas in from the field and ordered him to activate a new regiment for th ROK 3d Division. Lukas obtained two intrepreters from ROK Army headquarters and got in touch wiht the appropriate ROK Army staff officers in Taegu. These, with the aid of the police and other city officials, drafted youths on the streets of the town, and within a day or two they had nearly 1,000 recruits. As men were drafted, Lukas and his Korean officers formed squads, platoons, companies, and, finally, two battalions. The most intelligent-appearing recruits were designated NCO's and platoon leaders, while the officers who had helped to recruit them became company, battalion, and regimental commanders and staffs. When the two battalions were organized, the KMAG G-4 somehow obtained enough rifles for each man to fire nine rounds of ammunition. Shortly thereafter the regiment, clad in an assortment of civilian clothes, school uniforms, and odds and ends of US Army uniforms, boarded a train at Taegu and traveled east to a sector near P'ohang-dong, where, in less than a week after its activation had been ordered, it entered combat. The ROK 26th Regiment received no formal training until April 1951."
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Quote:
"The manner in which the ROK 2d Division was formed was reminiscent of the ROK 26th Regiment's activation many weeks earlier. Early in November BG Francis W. Farrell (KMAG Commander) called MAJ Thomas B. Ross, Assistant G-3 Advisor, to his office and asked him how long it would take him to form another division for the ROK Army. Ross replied that several weeks should be sufficient, whereupon the chief of KMAG laughed and informed the young officer that he expected the division to formed by the following day. There were at that time three Korean personnel centers in the vicinity of Seoul where recruits were gathered before being processed. MAJ Ross visited each of these centers in turn and requested the Koreans in charge to line up recruits in groups of about 200. He designated each group as a company, formed companies into battalions, and designated each center as a regiment. For company officers and noncommissioned officers he, like MAJ Lukas, selected the most intelligent looking men in each group, and then obtained officers from ROK Army headquarters for the division's battalion, regimental, and division commanders and staff. KMAG headquarters scraped together a detachment of advisors and assigned it to the division and, a few days after General Farrell's talk with Ross, the ROK 2d Division left on its first mission."
Military Advisors, MAGs and MAAGs
Thanks JonSlack for an interesting post !
Quote:
Do not try to do too much with your own hands. Better the Arabs do it tolerably than that you do it perfectly. It is their war, and you are to help them, not to win it for them. Actually, also, under the very odd conditions of Arabia, your practical work will not be as good as, perhaps, you think it is.1
—T.E. Lawrence, “Twenty-Seven Articles,” 1917
My tours in both Korea (UNC-JSA with the Swiss, Swedes and M110s everywhere) and later in Africa with the US Military Mission (now know as an ODC) tried to achieve just what Lawrence said. Sound advice if you can get it work. Turns out, it doesn't always. The Africans were complacent and, in their view, easier to let the American instructor do "it" and we watch...later we'll steal what we can. Afterall, it is free.
The KATUSAs that I had (32 males) were very hands on. Show me once, now get out of the way. This was 1980 and they were set to take over. I wasn't their advisor, but their instructor.
Lawrence does have a good point. Our system may not always be the correct one and as an advisor or instructor, we should remain acutely aware of our cultural limitations and/or the manner in which we present our views if we want any of this advice to sink in.
Regards, Stan
Looking for Information on KMAG
I'm having a difficult time finding information on the Korea Military Assistance Group and their work in the '40s. Does anyone know any good sources?
Here is what I could find
http://www.strategicstudiesinstitute...les/pub745.pdf
