IAmA Air Defense soldier in South Korea. AMAA

air-force, military, south-korea

[removed]

Comments: 2508 • Responses: 82  • Date: 

bookwench889 karma

Please be cautious in your responses and keep OPSEC in mind when answering; not just identifying you, but identifying US capabilities and tactics, and potentially sensitive knowledge of enemy capabilities and tactics. :)

ten_fingers_obrien696 karma

Of course. :)

BigDaddy_Delta154 karma

How can you defend SK against the flying unicorn army of the great leader?

ten_fingers_obrien422 karma

Death Star

kenmcfa197 karma

Hi, thanks for doing this AMA.

  • What's the main weakness of the THAAD defense system?
  • Where are the lowest concentrations of defenders along the DMZ?
  • Can you post a photo of the perimeter of your base? I'm really interested to see how your sentries are laid out.

ten_fingers_obrien281 karma

take me to olive garden and we'll see ;)

ten_fingers_obrien97 karma

I know, I went back and deleted stuff just to avoid being hassled. Some people just see stuff military related and shout OPSEC! Although I do understand where they're coming from

Demian9to535 karma

You can still see all your deleted comments with uneditreddit add-on.

ten_fingers_obrien98 karma

man technology is awesome

perche25 karma

Have you heard anything about a possible invasion of North Korea? It's safe to assume it is being planned, because we have to plan for everything, but any actual steps in that direction that you know of?

ten_fingers_obrien90 karma

If I heard anything about that, I would ask everyone in my direct chain of command if they were fucking high.....with all due respect sir/ma'am/sgt XD

skwerlee17 karma

I don't even know what to ask. All possible responses to my questions should not be answered openly on the internet.

sooo.. Have any good dreams lately?

Also, Proof?

ten_fingers_obrien68 karma

I actually did have a weird dream where my ex-gf was yelling at me in Spanish for not ordering the right dessert from McDonalds :/

Proof was provided to the Mods through private messaging :)

FlashDave15 karma

he means proof that you had the dream.

ten_fingers_obrien47 karma

i'm buttfucked on dream proof :/

SigSauer9314 karma

Do they actually sell dog meat as food? My friends uncle was an Army Ranger and he was selling u can buy like pitbull meat or some shit from a street vendor lol

ten_fingers_obrien18 karma

It's actually more common the rural areas. You can totally 100% get it though

OldArmyMetal9 karma

Good God, soldier. I hope you don't have a security clearance.

ten_fingers_obrien39 karma

I do. Most of this information is available to civilians if they know where to look and know how to interpret what they'r reading. The PATRIOT wiki is INSANELY descriptive of how the system works.

Grrbam1 karma

I know this questions would be complete off topic, but.. Did you ever meet one of the korean celebrities? Are they much different than on tv? Where they rude or real nice to you?

ten_fingers_obrien1 karma

I actually haven't. I missed PSY's giant concert he held :/

Sangamon_Taylor1 karma

How confident are you in the missile defense capabilities of The RoK? What about the RoKs defense capabilities for all out war?

I dont know how much of this question you can really answer (OPSEC and all), but for those that don't know could you describe what each missile (PATRIOT, etc) system does in general? Obviously staying within what's legal to say.

Thank you for the AMA, and wishing the best for you guys out there!

Edited to not sound like a spy/get this guy in trouble.

ten_fingers_obrien3 karma

I think they've got a good handle on the situation.

Keeping it simple, each system takes care of a different range of the sky. Far, medium, and close.

HCUKRI1 karma

What's the food like?

ten_fingers_obrien1 karma

Hit or miss for me. Some of the stuff I love, even some kinds of kimchi. But sometimes I just can't shove a ton of pickled veggies down my gullet.

alexedramirez1 karma

In your opinion are all these memes mocking Kim John Un downplaying the seriousness of his threats?

ten_fingers_obrien2 karma

I think that if memes affect foreign policy, we're in a bad place

ovationman1 karma

I hope you sleep with your MOPP gear at hand.

ten_fingers_obrien1 karma

There is SO not enough room in my bed for that

cobra_21091 karma

What is the general attitude of the South Koreans you interact with?

ten_fingers_obrien4 karma

They're not worrying about it. Even if they did, would it change anything?

I think that's the point they've gotten to after all these years.

lvii221 karma

Are people in SK leaving the country in case something happens?

ten_fingers_obrien1 karma

Nope. If they were I'm sure /r/worldnews would be all over that XD

deomag41 karma

How do you see this whole situation playing out? Do you think open conflict will happen or do you think some sort of resolution will come out of this??

Also, kind of an unrelated question but out of curiousity how exactly do you test missile defense systems?? Do you think the current ones we use (like the ones you listed) are reliable in defending us from a missile strike in Guam for example?

[deleted]5 karma

[deleted]

drquantumphd1 karma

Im surprised that you said SK would flinch first. Why so?

thanks for your time, all that you do, and this AMA!

ten_fingers_obrien6 karma

The new gal in charge is pretty pro military like her father. I don't think she'll want to be punk'd out like the last guy