Meet the real 'Descendants' soldiers
Members of "Akh Unit" from ROK Special Warfare Command / Courtesy of Facebook
By Ko Dong-hwan
Just before the final episode of the KBS TV drama blockbuster “Descendants of the Sun” went to air last Thursday, Facebook users learned about the Korean military unit on which the drama’s special warfare command is based.
On April 7,
the Republic of Korea Army’s Facebook site
showed six photos and a 50-second video of Korea’s “Akh Unit” training for the United Arab Emirates.
Showing the soldiers training to fight terrorists, the post said, “The real ‘Descendants of the Sun’ are here!” with a hashtag referring to the exercise’s title, “Desert Snake 2.”
One photo shows 10 soldiers naked from the waist up. The post introduces each person by name.
The video has been viewed more than 150,000 times.
Active since January 2011, the Akh Unit is an arm of South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff. Members are selected from the ROK Special Warfare Command. With about 150 members, the unit is based at Al Ain, Abu Dhabi.
The unit specializes in strategic desert training, high altitude infiltration, anti-terrorist actions in cooperation with UAE soldiers.
The unit participated in Operation Dawn against Somali pirates in the Arabian Sea in January 2011.
The pirates had seized the South Korean chemical tanker Samho Jewelry, but South Korean commandos retook the ship and rescued all 21 hostages.