Marine first to pass training with U.S. Seals
[quote]Marine first to pass training with U.S. Seals
2004/8/4
TAIPEI, Taiwan, The China Post Staff and Agencies
A Marine officer has become the first soldier from Taiwan to finish a grueling 30-week training camp with the elite U.S. Navy Seals
Taipei Times reported the same story, so it wasn’t just the CP making shit up if it was false.
Looks like Marine Corps Times is making shit up as well.
The AP isn’t known for getting the facts wrong either. I guess things have changed since 9/11.
Good on Captian Captain Yu Kuei-lin. He did what I tried and failed twice to do. BUDS is one of the toughest military courses on the planet.
A foreign military officer getting a US top secret security clearance is an amazing feat in itself. At 28 years old he may be one of the oldest to get through the course. BUDS put me in the hospital at the age 20. This guy must be shit hot.
Hoo Yah 
I was quite surprised to read about that, too. I had heard that the Navy had recently opened up the full training to foreigners, but that there were hardly any foreign military personnel who could even get in, much less pass. Considering that a lot of countries that have a military that’s worth a damn already have something like the SBS, that would only leave candidates from second rate militaries like, well, Taiwan. A rare show of competence and commitment. I hope other Taiwanese will be inspired by him.
This doesn’t surprise me. I knew several Taiwanese guys at the Virginia Military Institute who excelled not only in academics, but in every kind of combat training.
And now with 1 qualified Navy Seal in the ROC military complex, we are one step closer to liberating our mainland compatroits from the evil clutches of the communist mastermind.
But doesn’t ROC and the USA have close training ties. A few years ago I think I read something about ROC pilot finishing “Top Gun” training with spades.
[quote=“ac_dropout”]And now with 1 qualified Navy Seal in the ROC military complex, we are one step closer to liberating our mainland compatroits from the evil clutches of the communist mastermind.
But doesn’t ROC and the USA have close training ties. A few years ago I think I read something about ROC pilot finishing “Top Gun” training with spades.[/quote]
Yes, quite a lot of ROC military personnel go to the US for training. Just like every other country that buys the F-16, Taiwan sends all of its instructor pilots to Arizona to train at the international F-16 school there. A few ROC pilots have probably also done the F-16 Fighter Weapons School course. There are at least a couple of ROC pilots who’ve reached 1000 hours in F-16s.
I remember reading an interview on an F-16 website with a pilot instructor who said that it was a little difficult to teach the ROC pilots who came to Arizona because their English was not at the same level as all the pilots who come over from Europe. Nevertheless, they still manage to meet the standards of the course.
The comments I made in a post above aren’t really that fair. I don’t think the ROC military lacks individual talent. I’ve met some pretty sharp military people (and admitedly some complete idiots) in Taiwan. I think one major problem is that they never really do any large scale exercises with other countries. They’ve also got to take the plunge and make the military a fully professional force with a balance of full-time and reserve personnel who train on a consistent schedule. I guess a lot more political will and money would be required to do that.
Can you not just congratulate this one Taiwanese person on a great personal achievement? You’re starting to sound like Fred Smith.
Many congratulations to the guy. I’m sure he’ll have a glorious future as he soars up the ranks of the military, and will have hordes of women fighting for a piece of him.
There is an interesting scholarly paper on Taiwan’s military here:
I just had a funny mental picture of the gangsters discussed in another thread attempting BUDS training. Would the swarm technique work?
Now you can Kick Ass With The Navy SEALs. No need to qualify for training, just buy the video.
VHS tapes? Who has a VCR these days.
Yeah, maybe the Taiwanese guy just watched the videos while sitting in his bathtub.
I’ve often wondered why Chen Shui-bien doesn’t fire some of his generals. It’s not like he owes them anything, and their incompetence and corruption are fairly common knowledge…