My VTC life (1)

There were three sectors in the Special Vehicle Department.

1.Forklift
2.Bus & Dump
3.Trailer

10~14 students in each class.

My first Students.


Huy Kim (Left Bottom), Instructor(Center), Interpreter(Right Bottom)



 ZAYTUN is the name for The Peace and Reconstruction Division.  (It means Olive in Arabic)
    

[2005/Sep.~ ] Start of my VTC life.

Arbil people, my driving students, did not speak English.  They only speak Kurdish.

Initial communication method was...
Me -> Korean interpreter -> Iraqi interpreter -> Students.

I used to use some English words during communication but realized that I had to study hard to get closer to my students...


And After 3 days

Me(using English to converse) -> Iraqi interpreter -> Students.

As for the driving practice course, because of our usage of different languages, we underwent many dangerous situations that occurred due to misinterpretation.

So, I decided to learn Kurdish. BUT the Iraqi interpreter refused to teach me Kurdish.

But then, I realized that he was worried about losing his job, if he would be in no longer of use for translation.

Anyways, I started to study Kurdish by reading English-Kurdish Newspapers.

 

[2005/Sep.] Iraq Arbil

Iraq Arbil.... temperature 50℃


Zaytun Transportation Service 

Bulletproof Vehicles. (small & narrow driving angle)

I had been assigned to assist an instructor of a VTC (Vocational Training Center)
before departing from my country
VTC was a vital project for the Iraqi people. It was planned to help the Iraqi civilians in developing new skills for their daily survival, and it was us, the Korean Zaytun Division units, that will teach and help them master these skills.

Mission of the VTC : Provide service of future benefit to the Iraqi people for their better future life and reconstruction of their country, Iraq.

My Vehicles.(Left : Fieldsupport Vehicle - (I used it during the initial period of stay in Zaytun.)  Right : VTC Vehicle)


After our normal working hours, we occasionally night-patroled our base's perimeter

[2005/Sep.] Arrival to Kuwait

In the ship (1/4 jeeps and 3/4 dodges on Flatbeds )

We stayed at Camp Virginia of Kuwait for a week.
Moving military supplies, worth 11.5ton by cargo truck


With Mongolian Special Force soldiers.

[2005/Jul.~2005/Aug.] Training in SFTC

I volunteer to work in Iraq (Peace and Reconstruction Division) as a ZAYTUN soldier 2005.
I was training for 2 months at the Special Force Training Centre.
I went through a basic military and special qualification training.

Training for task substitute

    

[2005/Jun.] I volunteered to go to Iraq.

[2005/Jun.] Still,,, I was the lowest ranked unit in my squad and almost nobody came to visit my Squad for any help.
 So I used to check my seniors' vehicles and tuned up theirs' on their favor. I was the busiest man of my peers.
 And... one day, I heard the recruitment of the Korean Zaytun Army Division in Iraq.(Peace & Reconstruction Division).
 They announced for the recruitment of 16 Heavy Vehicle Drivers. (With the whole Korean Army troops as their candidate)

 Many people applied to Zaytun and it was simply beyond count.  <1200 army men applied  out of 200,000 Korean army units, to be selected as one of the 16 new Zaytun Heavy Vehicle Drivers>
 First, Zaytun had selected candidates by examining their career papers
Then, they called commanders of these selected candidates to ask of the soldiers 'Individuality' and investigate any existing 'crime or violence?" etc.
 My commander mentioned to me of 'the above conversations' when I left my unit.
 Eventually, after the competition, I went to a training center of the Korean Army Special Forces.

[2005/Jan.] Dump Driver! At last!

[2005~] I drove a dumper that look like the ones shown below in photos. It connected me to various works. Some are like, puddle filling, aggregate transportation, Moving 'river sands' and so on.


However since these dumpers were manufactured around 1986, it had severe problems that could have popped up like, Sudden Stop of the Engine Throttle, Defective Fuel Pump, Failure of Oil Pressure Gauge. etc

Especially, works like moving 'river sands', caused frequent malfunction of a retainer from  the drive shaft.

Luckily It was not a serious problem for me; thanks to my experience as a mechanic.^^

I was not nervous even when such problems occurred. On the contrary, I was natural in keeping myself in peace.