Originally published at: Every member of Korean boy band BTS joins military to complete national service | Boing Boing
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bye bye birdles?
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They’ll be just fine, I’m sure.
Does NK have an equivalent of the USO?
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Yvan eht nioj!
Our daughter has traveled from Detroit to LA to see them on a couple occasions, she’s one of those BTS Army people. She belongs to a group of fans, they meet up around the country to obsess over the boys. I’ve been teasing her since the news broke. Her husband is also a fan of anything K Pop.
I’ll never tell her this but they are a talented bunch of guys and they sure do know how to entertain, their music is just not my cup of tea.
The argument has been made that they have already done a lot for their country as good will ambassadors and the amount of money they’ve brought in to their economy that they should be given a pass.
That may still happen.
They seem like very nice guys who aim to please.
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Also the US, indirectly.
https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/22/asia/k-pop-fandom-activism-intl-hnk/index.html
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By all volunteering at the same time instead of waiting to be drafted, they will all come back at the same time (barring misfortune), putting them back in the limelight as quickly as possible instead of having a couple of years at both ends without a full roster. Nice strategy. It also encourages the military to keep them together for PR purposes during their tour of duty.
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Cleverness, or potential insubordination?
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It really depends on whether the military sees this band as a source of a couple of overprivileged types hoping in vain for a cushy enlistment period, or as a couple of celebrities who will enjoy a cushy enlistment period.
That word…
It does not mean what some seem to think it means…
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Still:
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Maybe they can learn mechanics or computers, in case this K-Pop thing doesn’t work out. 
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I’m not getting the sense that you actually have any idea at all about the particular context and facts here.
Is there something about the mores or procedures of SK’s military that would make whatever it is you’re saying true, or likely?
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Those are pretty recent, too, but I may have had the Russian experience more firmly in mind.
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Thanks, but I imagine I’m not the only one who remains mystified by your usual refusal to spend more than two sentences or so simply explaining what you meant.
So they’re volunteering all at the same time could be cleverness or insubordination, depending on how the military sees them, which has something to do with hazing and a new Netflix series… 
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A good friend of mine from college (he studied abroad in the US and then served in the South Korean military after returning home) told me that, during his service, he was completely isolated from all of his fellow soldiers because he was one rank above them (because he was a college graduate), which meant that they had to be extremely formal with him, which made socializing impossible. (He was still a nobody in terms of rank, but still a step higher than his peers.)
I imagine that BTS will have a similar experience by design.
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If a group of friends serve their time in the army, the only thing they’re guaranteed is that they’ll get out at the same time (barring wartime risks, etc). Not that they’ll serve together. Now, that makes a certain amount of sense for a band to arrange things so that they’ll all come back at the same time.
But proposing that they be kept together for PR purposes-- that the army give them special treatment-- that would involve the cooperation of people who might not be fans, who might resent being told what to do with conscript labor. They might be kept together for PR purposes, they might be split up to avoid favoritism.
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Okay, thanks.
Here’s hoping they don’t get hazed, or forced to watch that hit Netflix series.
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