RODRIGUEZ RANGE, South Korea — Among the missions the 7th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division undertook during Foal Eagle was training the South Korean marines to conduct military operations in urban terrain.

While linguistic, cultural and military differences may seem like difficult obstacles to overcome, the visiting Marines said their experience training Iraqi police made training Korean marines seem easy.

“I think that, in my experience, the Koreans that we’re training now are more dedicated, more motivated and more willing to learn than the Iraqis,” said Sgt. Timothy W. Shaw, 1st Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion. “The Iraqis, at least last year, you only had ten or twelve that wanted to learn and they weren’t as disciplined as the [Republic of Korea] Marines.”

He credited a difficult South Korean basic training course and strict leadership within the South Korean Marine Corps for the high level of motivation and willingness to follow instructions on the part of Korean marines.

He also said there were better interpreters in South Korea, speeding the amount of time it took to relay instructions.

“In Iraq, I didn’t find that many people that spoke that much English, and the [interpreters] that we used, they might have been Kurdish, so there’s a little bit of difference in the dialect,” he said. “At least it took a little more time than with the ROK Marines.”

“It’s like teaching a pet rock,” shouted one Marine about Iraqis as Stripes interviews on the subject began to make their way across the squad bay.

“They won’t even show up in their uniforms,” shouted another Marine.

Sgt. Brad Landers, of the 1st LAR Battalion trained Iraqi police in western Anbar province in last summer. He said the statements about a lack of discipline didn’t apply to all Iraqis.

But, he added, the lack of discipline wasn’t the only thing that made training them more difficult than training South Koreans.

“The largest difference is you’re in a combat zone so once you train the Iraqis you then have to take them out on patrol — real patrols where real things can happen, as opposed here where it’s a strict training environment,” he said. “Physically and tactically it affects a lot because in Iraq you have limited training options, and limited training space.”

In South Korea, he continued, there are unlimited training areas.

He said the cultural divide between Iraqis and Americans was also more of a problem than the cultural divide between South Koreans and Americans.

“Obviously South Korea is more of a westernized nation than Iraq,” he said. “Everybody is aware of the cultural differences between Americans and Arab cultures. That difference is a lot harder to over come than the differences between us and the Koreans.”

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