SOF Pic of the Day: 1st Special Forces Group Conducting Counter Weapons of Mass Destruction Training in Korea

In today’s SOF Pic of the Day, we feature two special operations forces units for the price of one.  The scene is near Gwangyang, South Korea. The date was the first of April 2009.

In the image, we see members of the US 1st Special Forces Group (SFG) working with their counterparts from the South Korean Special Forces Brigade. They are conducting a Counter Weapons of Mass Destruction (CWMD) drill.  It seems that they are protecting themselves against a potential biological or chemical hazard while they hold a bad guy at gunpoint.

After the training session, the Koreans and Americans took a few moments to comment on each other’s performance.

A captain from 1st SFG said he thought the Koreans were doing a good job despite their recent shift in mission focus.

“They’ve come a long way,” he said. “Traditionally, they have not been utilized in an unconventional warfare type manner. The big challenge coming in here was to adjust their mindset to think in unconventional terms in an unconventional battlefield.”

A major from the ROK (Republic of Korea) army had this to say about their American counterparts:

“We have learned a lot from the American Special Forces by using some of their equipment and from their ability to plan an operation based off experiences they gained in real-war situations.”

In the video below, put out by the Korean Defense Blog, we see American and Korean operators working together doing direct action (DA) training.