KATUSA Soldiers Now Selected Through A Lottery System
It is interesting how transparent the KATUSA selection process has become to include now even a publicly viewable lottery system. In the past their was a lot of suspicion of rich and connected families receiving the KATUSA slots for their mandatory service:
Applicants and their parents vying for a military service placement in the Korean Augmentation to the United States Army (KATUSA) attend a lottery at the Military Manpower Administration (MMA) office in Daejeon, Thursday. Yonhap
Silence filled the room as young men and parents waited anxiously to hear their fate at the Military Manpower Administration (MMA) headquarters in Daejeon, Nov. 2, during a lottery to select who would join the Korean Augmentation to the United States Army (KATUSA).
The descion was made within a few minutes in a lucky draw. The 30 or so young men and their parents, who showed up on behalf of their sons, were among the 15,360 applicants nationwide who signed up for this year’s competition to serve at U.S. Army bases across the nation.
Among them, only 1,762 would make the cut — a competition ratio of 8.7 to 1.
Some bit their lips, while others closed their eyes for a moment of prayer as MMA officials prepared red, yellow and blue colored and numbered balls for the computerized lottery program.
Korea Times
You can read more at the link.
This is surrendering to dysfunction. Leaving it up to chance means they are not necessarily getting the right men for the right job. KATUSA should also be limited to RoK’s professional military as a rotating billet, especially for the SNCOs, not given to 2 year conscripts. That way they’d get better, more permanent knowledge transfer that doesn’t just disappear when Kim finishes mandatory service and abruptly leaves. And if knowledge on how to work alongside the American military becomes widespread in the SNCO ranks, better coordination between ROK and US units could be achieved in joint operations.
Also why is the privilege of serving in KATUSA being given to the people who haven’t earned it? RHIP exists for a reason. Rewarding long term and faithful service with perks, and more importantly recognition, is how loyalty is built. This is the perfect opportunity to give SNCOs some much needed away time, and from what I hear much R&R, while still serving a productive purpose. Those are the last guys a military want to lose from burnout, and sticking them into a new fresh environment can really help prevent that.
For once I have to agree with GrayBlack there.
The current ROK military manpower system is at a crossroads.
The ROK military has grown technically to a point where relying on short-term conscripts isn’t the answer.
In the past, a conscript getting into the military was a simple matter of applying or taking a simple test. However, there are point systems and hoops where it looks more like you are applying for a career military job instead of short-term military service.
That and the low birth rate and such make conscription unsustainable and it is time for the ROK military to go professional.
But to make that work would mean a lot of work, by the ROK brass and civil servants and unfortunately, they don’t want that extra work and would prefer to leave things as it is.
In the meantime, the ROK military is going the way of the USSR military, where you have all these high-tech weapons, which can only be operated by SNCOs and officers, while the only useful thing that the lowly conscripts are doing is filling in the bottom of the pyramid.
The lottery system for selecting KATUSAs has been in place for quite a while.
I remember being discharged from the ROK Navy twenty years or so ago and hearing that the KATUSA selection process would change from written tests and interviews to a lottery.
Of course, to be part of the lottery, the applicant needs to have a TOEIC score or equivalent that exceeds a certain level. The thing is the level isn’t that high, though.