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I'm worried about my friend.
This weekend a good friend of mine from high school came home on a two week leave from serving in South Korea. Let's call him Eric. To celebrate, us group of gamers got together and played some old school DotA & such like we used to do years ago. All those fun memories of intense gaming until 2am when we'd all have school four hours later came flooding back. Burgers, ramen and dicking around in HoN (we've upgraded from Warcraft 3  ) made for a beautiful day.
Eric is a sniper grenadier. When he first told me that I figured he used a sniper rifle outfitted to shoot grenades. If only it were that amazing. He described it as gun that shoots projectiles that will explode after flying a certain distance. I could be hazy about the details, but military tech is pretty badass.
Eric told me what it's like to be on the border. He's stationed right on the river in a company of 120 men. And in the ~three month's that he's been there, three people have died to skirmishes. He tells me on average 10% of the people stationed in the DMZ get shot, so 10-12 people are likely going to die. That's just in Eric's company, he says this skirmishing is happening all across the Korean border. Eric says most of these deaths go unreported in the news and it really disappoints him that nobody talks about it. I never pressed the issue as to why it doesn't get talked about.
They have orders to not fire unless fired upon, and even so my friend's shot atleast two North Koreans, definitely killing one of them. I was pretty surprised when he told me that, but he says he doesn't care. They're just strangers to him. And to Eric it's essentially a warzone over there with people dying all the time. Damn, what a life. Sitting on some river, constantly looking to see who's moving on the other side, looking out for anyone trying to kill you. Shit like that must make you paranoid.
In all honesty I wrote this blog because he told me nobody ever reports on what happens over there. I figured at least somebody should the stories he's told me. It's sad to think that nobody mentions your death while serving for your country. He only has a few months left on his service and I just hope that things stay quiet enough so that he makes it out of there alright. My thoughts on war have changed a lot since even just a few years ago. I used to thought declaring war on North Korea, sweeping through and liberating them was the best option. But when someone close to you is sitting on that front line, perspectives change. Eric's got a week left at home, hopefully I'll see him one more time before he leaves.
I'm worried about my friend.
 
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Wow man, thats crazy. It is absolutely shocking that these things go unreported.But then i suppose its in the best interests of both governments not to talk about it.
I really hope your friend comes back ok 
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That sounds like hell. I never knew that there were so many skirmishes and deaths occuring in the DMZ.
I hope the best for your friend in his few remaining months.
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10% getting shot =/= 10% dying
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On July 26 2011 03:47 Lyter wrote:
10% getting shot =/= 10% dying
Yeah I know. I'm pretty confident he said that 10% die, but I'd have to ask him again to be sure and I don't want to go overestimating how many people die in the DMZ. All I could say was 90% survival rate is still an A and he didn't correct me, so you can read it as 10% dying.
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Wow Didn't know there was still that much action going on. It really should be reported on more often.
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Wow that's terrible 
Sounds like it's only a matter of time until the skirmishes develope into something bigger.
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What the HELL???
I have never heard about any of this. I tried googling but I found nothing. Ridiculous cover-up if people are actually dieing over there...
On second thought, the fact that I can't find anything about this means there should be almost zero deaths (or so I hope).
I seriously thought DMZ zone had pretty much no military action
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Really? I thought it was just a big mexican standoff with little to no action :O
Thats crazy... And im not surprised it wouldn't be reported censorship over there (i know its not china) is pretty harsh so I do believe it :X
best of luck to your friend i hope he makes it safely
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Wow thats some serious stuff going on i was also under the impression it was just a big stare down contest, this is pretty saddening to find out and i hope your friend remains safe :s
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There's only been 30 or so reported incidents ever since 1950, and in the past ten years there've only been four... I was always under the impression that it was mostly a standoff besides that. I'm having my doubts as to how valid the 10% casualty rate is, even soldiers in Afghanistan and Iraq don't suffer nearly that many losses.
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I have never heard anything about skirmishes on the DMZ. We do here about big news like naval battles and the shelling a few months ago that killed civilians, but I had no idea that it was still an active warzone.
Thank you for trying to raise awareness of the struggles of korean soldiers. I wish the best of luck to your friend.
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LOL
im served at DMZ like your friend
your friend uses a K-201 which about 6 people in each squad have.
He hasn't shot anyone or killed anyone.
Yes there are some accidents and suicides that never go untold but nothing serious.
the thing you should worry for him is he get literally like no sleep and no rest. work 365 days and sleep like 2-hours then 3 hours. never full 6 hours in a row.
ALso during the winter the weather is freezing because of cold weather and you must stay outside for at least 8 hours.. so frost bites are a pain in the ass
anyways yea your friend is telling you stories so he can sound more brave lol
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Trust me, your friend shot jack shit. If North Koreans ever found out that one of their soldiers was killed by US/SK soldier, they would've been making a shitstorm out of it and the media would've been all over it.
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1019 Posts
Are you sure your friend is right about 10% casualty rate? I don't think the north koreans shoot at the south that often or they are asking for war.
please thank your friend for his service, and especially tell him that despite all the anti-americanism he may hear during his time there, please tell him it is the ignorant few and that most of us appreciate US support.
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Hmmm wow if that is true that would be HUGE news. But I find it hard to believe. Does he have some kind of proof?
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On August 01 2011 06:25 kaisen wrote:
Trust me, your friend shot jack shit. If North Koreans ever found out that one of their soldiers was killed by US/SK soldier, they would've been making a shitstorm out of it and the media would've been all over it.
I agree. I think your friend is full of crap, OP
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I've heard a lot about the military from friends (I'm serving soon) and the figures you mention are probably exaggerated. From what I've been told, most deaths in the Korean military are suicides and there are very few per year. You're suggesting that ~20 people die each year, and that's only for those serving on the DMZ, which is absurd. I did hear that the SK military has its own network of accidents/deaths reportings but that information never (unless it's major) reaches the media.
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EPT
