KATUSA Program in the United States

by Rivka Saville, June 2014

2400 words

8 pages

essay

Abstract

The given research paper analyzes the origins, objectives, failures and achievements of the KATUSA program. Language barrier, poor military training, cultural differences are commonly regarded as the main factors which had a negative influence on Korean draftees’ military performance in the initial stages of the war. The KATUSA program was beneficial for both Koreans and Americans. It made it possible to lower US casualties and to increase American – Korean defense capability.

American troops have participated in numerous military operations throughout the world. They are known to have played a significant role in the Korean War, which broke out between the communist North Korea and the Republic of Korea in 1950. The United States of America and the Soviet Union were involved in this military conflict. The war marked the economic and political rivalry between the countries mentioned above. Since the US was an ally of South Korea, American divisions were dispatched to the Korean peninsula to defend its territories against the northern offensives. The program known as the Korean Augmentation to the US Army (KATUSA) was the result of an informal agreement between the South Korean and American leaders, and its ultimate goal was to reinforce the Eighth Army with Korean manpower. After the end of the Korean War, the KATUSA program was preserved, and a number of Koreans apply for a military service in US troops every year. However, it remains a debatable question whether the KATUSA experiment failed and whether it was beneficial for American troops. The aim of the given research paper is to find out whether the KATUSA program was effective and how the US Army benefited from it.

A few words should be said about the origin and objectives of the program under consideration. The first months of the Korean War were unsuccessful for the US divisions. Particularly, US units seem to have underestimated the military forces of North Korea, and as a result, Americans suffered large numbers of casualties and had to retreat (Blumenson, 1957). The Eighth Army is reported to have encountered a number of challenges while fighting against enemy troops. One of the major problems that they had to solve was manpower shortage. In July 1950, President Rhee and General MacArthur agreed to integrate Korean soldiers into US units in order to solve the pressing problem of combat manpower shortage (Gough, 1987). Thus, the chief objective of the experiment was to supply military combatants and assist US military operations during the Korean conflict. The ROK Army and the Eighth Army worked out the KATUSA plan and made decisions on the key issues. Particularly, they decided who was responsible for procurement, transportation, equipment, training, and integration of Korean soldiers.

The American and South Korean leaders expected the program to have a number of advantages. Since the Eighth Army desperately needed replacements, Korean soldiers would help to reconstitute depleted American units (Blumenson, 1957). US troops would benefit from having Korean speaking soldiers, since the latter would help Americans to adjust to the unusual territory, …

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