My life at the first boot camp(the Navy)

On March 18, 2013.
After the farewell with my parents, I got into the boot camp. and We recruits had a statement ceremony. As it was done, a very loud sound buzzed across the training field. That's the beginning of my life at the training camp.
The whole courses of the training to convert us into soldier are comprised of these things:
CBR exercise
Military song
Ranger training
Running
Swimming
March for 8 hours
Close-order drill
Shooting exercise
Roll-call at night
Disciplinary punishment upon a group
Night watch
Etc.

We always had to sleep at 10PM and wake up at 5:30 AM in the morning. It was pretty hard for me to get used to it. Being forced, i turned and changed my life habit.
So many punishments crushed us. Even we did something wrong but very minor, D.I(Drill Instructor) and A.D.I(Assistant Drill Instructor) didn't let us go. push-ups, sit-ups, putting a gun 'M16' over one's head for a long time, etc. No time to take a rest. But i could bear it. Whenever harsh things came down to me, I said to myself ' Hey, You are a soldier! and this is exercise. you have to get over it. You can do it'. over and over. Almost all of recruits seemed mentally and physically depressed.
In my case, the most severe thing I had during this time was a CBR training.  In the mt, we went inside a small room surrounded by only wall. no window. We were wearing gas masks and Drill Instructors were wearing them too. All of a sudden, poison-smelled gas flew out toward us.(Later, I heard that it was actually harmless. of course!!). As soon as it came out, we were forced to take off our gas masks. we all screamed and yelled out to survive. So poisonous and suffocating, salty. Tear, snot, saliva automatically came out from all of us. Coughing so toughly, we had physical trainings and sang military songs. I thought I could die. I couldn't breathe. some trainees were crying looking for their mom. They said ' Sir!! please let us out. I don't wanna die..'. Instructors yelled at them to be quiet and to follow their order. After about 20 mins, we got out and tried to breathe deeply. I realized I got it over finally and it made me more stronger.
About swimming, I didn't have a hard time learning swimming cuz i could swim. But procedures of learning swimming in the training camp was overwhelmingly crazy. There were full of assistants who were from UDT(Underwater Demolition Team), SSU(Ship Salvage Unit). They didn't just let us go as well. We had a harsh group punishment without reason for exercise and many physical trainings.
As 5 weeks at a training camp had passed, my parents visited me at the training completion ceremony. My mom cried and I was sad but pretended not to cry.
Now, I'm taking a ship 'Frigate' and still have hundreds of days to finish my military service. I'm so proud of myself. It could be hard to bear things at that very moment. But after it gets done, that's it. Nothing to get scared anymore. 'What doesn't kill you makes you stronger'. this sentence got me encouraged and touched. I will really miss my life at the boot camp. That moment never comes back...  I should keep it in my heart. It's time to go forward.

Incidents that happened between two koreas

What is the NLL?
For a stable management of Armistice Agreement between two koreas, NLL(Northern Limit Line) was set up on August 30, 1953. Since then NLL is a substantial border line between North and South Korea that we protect from constant North Korea's provocations.

Why do we have to protect the NLL?
o To protect five islands in the Northern-west sea of Korea
o To protect the metropolitan areas of Korea
o To protect economic activities of Korea

Background of the NLL
SInce July 10, 1951, in two years of cease-fire agreement procedure, unlike 38o line, U.N Forces and the communist army failed to reach an agreement on a sea border line. On August 30, 1953, U.N commander Mark W. Clark set NLL to reduce and prevent possibilities of potential military collisions between the two koreas.

The 1st YeonPyeong Naval Battle
On June 15, 1999, against preemptive strikes of North Korea patrol boats in southwestern coast of
YP-do, ROK Navy engaged and repulsed them.

The 2nd YeonPyeong Naval Battle
On June 29, 2002 when Korea-Japan World Cup successfully came to a finish, North Korea patrol boats raided NLL in the vicinity of southwest of YP-do, and conducted a surprise attack on our PKM(Patrol Killer Medium)357. ROK Navy reacted swiftly and repulse them.

Daecheong Naval Battle
On November 10, 2009, in the eastern sea of DC-do, North Korea raided NLL and opened fire on ROK Navy. Thereupon, ROK Navy engaged and repulsed them.

On the attack against ROK Ship Cheonan
On March 26, 2010 at around 9:22PM, while ROK Ship Cheonan was conducting her routine patrol operation 2.5km southwest of Baengnyeong-do, it was sunk due to an torpedo attack of an North Korean submarine. Out of 104 sailors 46 were lost from this attack.

The result of Civilian-Military Joint Investigation Group on the attack against ROK Ship Cheonan
On May 20, 2010, Civilian-Military Joint Investigation Group announced the investigation results.
From the analysis on the propulsion motor system of torpedo that we collected, shape and trace analysis, testimony analysis, results of postmortem and surviving patient examinations, analysis on shock response to underwater explosion, analysis on sea area of the incident, it was concluded that ROK Ship Cheonan was split and sunk due to shockwave and bubble jet effect generated by an underwater explosion of a torpedo.
The detonation location was 3m to port from the center of the gas turbine room and at a depth of 6~9m. The weapon system used was a CHT-02D torpedo manufactured and used by North Korea.

Bombardment provocation of YeonPyeongdo
Starting at 2:34 PM on November 23, 2010, North Korea inflicted indiscriminate bombing on YP-do. It was clearly a NK's Bombardment provocation. On this, ROK Marine YeonPyeong force counter-attacked North Korea's missile fortresses with K-9 mobile guns.


NLL이란?
NLL(Northern Limit Line: 북방한계선)은 1953년 8월 30일 정전협정의 안정적 관리를 위해 설정된 이후 북한의 수 차례 도발에도 불구하고 우리가 피로써 지켜온 실질적인 해상경계선이다.

우리는 왜 NLL을 지켜야 하는가?
o서해 5개 도서를 보호하기 위한 것이다.
o대한민국의 수도궈늘 보호하기 위한 것이다.
o대한민국의 경제활동을 보호하기 위한 것이다.

NLL설정배경
1951년 7월10일 이후 2년간의 정전협상 과정에서 유엔군과 공산군은 지상이 군사분계선과는 달리 해상경계선 합의에는 실패하였다. 이에 따라 1953년 8월 30일 클라크(Mark W. Clark) 유엔군 사령관은 한반도 해역에서 남북간 우발적 무력충돌 발생 가능성을 줄이고 무력 충돌을 예방한다는 목적으로 NLL을 설정하였다.

제1연평해전
1999년 6월 15일, 연평도 서남쪽 해상에서 북한 경비정의 기습적인 선제사격에 대해 우리 해군 함정이 이를 격퇴한 해전이다.

제2연평해전
한국과 일본에서 개최된 2002년 월드컵 대회가 성공적으로 마무리 되어 가던 2002년 6월 29일 연평도 서남방 해상에서 북한 경비정이 NLL을 침범, 기습공격하여 우리 해군 함정이 즉각 대응하여 격퇴한 해전이다.

천안함 피격사건 민.군 합동조사단 조사결과
2010년 5월20일, 민.군 합동조사단은 협동조사 결과를 발표하였다. 침몰 해역에서 수거된 어뢰 추진동력 장치 분석, 선체 변형형태, 관련자 진술내용, 부상자 상태 및 시체 검안, 지진파와 공중음파 분석, 수중폭발 시뮬레이션, 백령도 근해 조류 및 폭약성분 분석 등을 종합한 결과 천안함은 어뢰에 의한 수중 폭발로 인해 발생한 충격파 및 버블효과에 의해 절단되어 침몰되었다.
 폭발 위치는 가스터빈실 중앙으로부터 좌현 3m, 수심 6~9m 정도이며, 무기체계는 북한에서 제조하여 사용 중인 고성능 폭약 250kg 규모의 CHT-02D 어뢰로 확인되었다.

연평도 포격도발
2010년 11월 23일 오후 2시 34분부터 서해 연평도에 해안포와 방사포로 무차별 포격을 가하자 이에 우리 해병대 연평부대가 K-9 자주포로 대응사격을 실시한 북한의 포격도발 사건이다.