Troops from Afghanistan to the Naval Academy have caught the PSY ''Gangnam Style" craze, shown in this YouTube screen grab. (YouTube screen grag)
(The "Gangnam Style" videos at the bottom of this report that are tailored to South Korea and Afghanistan often do not work in Germany.)
OSAN AIR BASE, South Korea — From the U.S. Naval Academy to West Point to bases in Afghanistan, “Gangnam Style” has quickly become military style.
The infectious, satirical Korean pop song by rapper PSY (Park Jae-sang) has become the all-time most-watched video on Youtube, drawing 423 million views in less than three months.
PSY’s trademark horse-riding dance has inspired servicemembers from all branches of the U.S. military to parody his parody of people trying to be trendy in Seoul’s upscale Gangnam district.
U.S. Army soldiers of the 210th Fires Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division based out of Camp Casey in South Korea can be seen dancing in uniform on the local subway and performing the infamous elevator dance. A skeptical Army staff sergeant gradually digs it as he watches a couple of soldiers dance in front of him.
Even in remote locations, servicemembers can’t help seem to resist “Gangnam Style.”
In another Youtube posting, servicemembers and civilians from an undisclosed unit and location in Afghanistan are shown enjoying PSY’s horse-riding dance inside a dog kennel, while driving large forklifts and on an AH-64 Apache helicopter.
The version uploaded by midshipmen of the 22nd Company at the U.S. Naval Academy was created as a Spirit Day spot and has drawn an impressive 5.4 million views. And even, though the West Point version contains the well-known rally cry, “Go Army, beat Navy,” the Army cadets’ parody has garnered only 1 million views.
