U.S. Marines Are Training South Korean Military On Skis And I’ve Never Been More Confused

Dillon Cheverere9 years ago

I need to first be upfront about the fact that I’m not super knowledgable about U.S. military tactics and what all each branch does specifically, and I obviously know even less about foreign militaries. I have a high level understanding of it and I’m fine with that.

There could be a very sound explanation for why it would be advantageous to train soldiers to engage their enemy while on skis, but I can’t yet wrap my brain around it.

Okay so you’re going to have to go to the article on Daily Mail to see all the pictures because I don’t have the rights to them. They’re awesome, though. Trust me. I’m talking guys holding rifles on skis awesome.

US Marines and South Korean troops have been conducting joint exercises in temperatures of minus 20 degrees Celsius as the Pentagon sends out a warning to both North Korea and China.

The 3rd Marine Expeditionary Force, usually based in Okinawa, Japan, flew over to Pyeongchang to join their local allies for a series of gruelling exercises in the freezing cold.

Next year Pyeongchang will host the Winter Olympics but this year the area was the location of even more arduous activities.

The endurance exercises included a scenario in which South Korea comes under attack from its communist foe beyond the 38th parallel.

Shit that’s cold af.

Alright, so I haven’t read the linked article in its entirety because I’m afraid it explains why this is happening, why these guys are holding rifles instead of ski poles, and I’m afraid it’ll make sense to me. But I don’t want to live in a world where this makes sense. I want to believe that these guys are hopping off ski lifts atop black diamond runs and tearing down the mountain while shooting North Korean invaders sneaking out of tree lines on snowboards or telemark skiing through some fresh powder with rocket launchers hanging over their shoulders. I need this visual.

Look, I don’t get it, but holy fuck do I love it. These guys are on skis! With rifles! What if the battle moves on foot? Then what? You know how hard it is to walk in ski boots? Walking down some stairs in those things is a death sentence. You shed those skis and take off on foot and you’re a sitting duck! You’re getting away at 3 MPH tops. That’s a sniper’s dream.

You never want to see two countries go into battle, but if something has to go down, you have to hope North Korea crosses the southern border on some Rossignols..

[via Daily Mail]