Many people do not realize that Taekwondo is (or was at one time, at least) the official martial art of both the South and North Korean Militaries. Fewer know that it had an effect on other early modern military martial arts programs — one example being manual ST 31-204 which appears to have been for US Special Forces. At that time (60s-80s) Taekwondo was well respected and in some places even feared.
The greatest example of military Taekwondo is the (in)famous Tiger Division. According to Kidokwan.org:
SCENE: A group of solider gathered around. It is a bull-session. The subject under discussion: The Tiger Division of the Korean Army. The soldiers are engrossed. One, a lean, tanned GI pushes back his beret, squints into the darkness and looks out to see a mountain of burning embers.
“We were in recon operations in southern Binh Dinh Province,” he explains. “One night we caught the sounds of a skirmish. My squad leader held up his hand and when he smiled we knew we were in for some action. As we approached the area, we were a little surprised that there was no small arms fire but we could hear a lot of guys yelling. When we got there it was an unbelievable sight. Here were those Korean troops in close order combat with what must have been superior forces, as there were VC all over the place. I’ve never seen so many broken necks and caved in ribs in my life. We helped clean up what was left.”
So goes the legend, and just in case you’re casting a cynical eye as to the Tiger Division’s aptitude in the use of the martial arts, the record speaks for itself. If there was ever a primer on combat karate, these troops would write it. In grueling periods daily, every troop in the Tiger Division trains in the taekwondo method, the official karate organization of Korea. At one time there were many factions, but int he past year or so they have all been absorbed by the International Taekwondo Federation, with its headquarters in Seoul. In fact, with the Koreans, and even in many areas in Vietnam, taekwondo is synonymous with karate. Numerous Vietnamese do not even understand the word karate-but mention taekwondo and their faces light up with recognition.
[…]
Since 1965, the Tiger Division has stabilized security within their area to an impressive degree. The TAOR itself has expanded from 1,400 to 3,600 square kilometers. As of mid-June the Tigers had killed more than 9,000 enemy, captured nearly 3,000 and counted over 4,500 defectors, as well as seizing nearly 4,000 weapons, all this since their arrival in Vietnam. All this leaves little room for doubt about whom historians will count as the true elite of Vietnam combat. In the ranks of the VC and NVA, mention of these ferocious Korean gladiators brings shudders to the comrades. Even as he fights those from North Vietnam and the Viet Cong, the Tigerman knows that he has full command of his body and of his mind. When he is faced with hand-to-hand combat, he need not only rely on the ferocity of his rifle to equalize the score. He can hammer out punches in machine gun rapidity or swing a full flogging kick with sufficient powerful force to gain the advantage. When a man is trained in karate, or to be more specific, taekwondo, he is ahead of the game and the Viet Cong, that crap-shooting armada of insurgent forces and the crack North Vietnamese troops who come to do battle, know full well that the Tigers with their taekwondo as well as armaments are tough men to beat.
The legacy of military Taekwondo lives on in Viet Nam and is a well-known martial art. There is an abundance of video documentation of Taekwondo being practiced in Viet Nam and by the Vietnamese military even in the 60s:
It is true that military Taekwondo and modern Kukki Taekwondo developed separate from each other to some capacity. Gen. Choi’s Oh Do Kwan was exclusively a military school and was in charge of teaching hand to hand combatives to soldiers. Key members of this school eventually became the ITF and the remaining members of the Oh Do Kwan assimilated into the Kukkiwon. On the civilian end, the other kwans developed and practiced to their own standards. When the kwans united to form the Kukkiwon, the focus became on being a national sport more so than being an effective martial art for self-defense or combat. This had led some to believe that what we learn in Kukki Taekwondo cannot be considered at all related to military Taekwondo, that that renowned effectiveness is not present.
There are some problems with that belief. South Korea’s soldiers are not any less respected for their martial prowess or ability. Their martial training is still based off Taekwondo, but no longer Gen. Choi’s Taekwondo. It is based on the standardized Taekwondo of the KTA, whose international regulator is the Kukkiwon. So how then could Kukki Taekwondo be considered unrelated to military Taekwondo? And if the same techniques are being used by the SK army, how could they be discounted as ineffective?
Furthermore, the original Oh Do Kwan was based mostly on Chung Do Kwan (a civilian kwan) because most of its major pioneers were from the Chung Do Kwan, chiefly Col. Nam Tae Hi. The exception is the General himself, who received his training from the same source as Lee Won Kuk, founder of the Chung Do Kwan: the Shotokan Karate of Gichin Funakoshi. Moreover, many of the technical pioneers of Kukki Taekwondo served in the military and were trained in military Taekwondo in addition to their “home” kwans, if not the Oh Do Kwan.
It is demonstrable from the the formal teachings of Kukki Taekwondo that it does in fact retain principles and techniques from its military roots.
The above is a very simple synthesis of rudimentary grappling technique used to stuff an attack, snare it up, and immediately put the enemy into a compromising position before landing a devastating blow. This is the type of tactic that you would find in other military programs such as LINE and MCMAP. Yet this remains in the Kukkiwon syllabus, even as a skill attached to the poomsae!
A similar technique can be found in the Kukkiwon Text Book:
This take-down is simple and rudimentary. Though similar to Judo’s o-soto-gari, it is not performed with as much sophistication. It is simply an easy augment to Taekwondo’s striking skills, which is exactly what kind of primative grapples any system based on strikes will have. This sweep is used in just about every military system you can find because military systems have traditionally (prior to Modern Army Combatives) functioned this way in terms of principles. But how could this be an indicator of military roots if civilian arts such as Judo use the same techniques? Two reasons: 1. internal evidence, and 2. external documentation of its use in the Korean military.
Internal evidence: the difference is in the execution. Judoka pull the arm and press against the shoulder or lapel. This allows their partners to keep their chins tucked and fall safely. But in this variation, you press against the chin, neck, or face. This presses the head back, making the take-down easier, but will almost certainly cause the opponent’s head to smash into the ground. This immediately makes the move more violent, and, if performed effectively, could cause a fatal head injury. Such a variation of the technique is almost never justified in a civilian self-defense context. It only makes sense in terms of military combatives.
External documentation:
The Kukkiwon Text Book shows several variations, all using the neck thrust:
The military roots are not just in the techniques, but in the traditions and etiquette of Taekwondo practice. That much is fairly obvious to anyone. Students are required to be in uniform, properly and cleanly worn, patches in order, belt tied properly. They must fall in line according to rank, standing at attention or at ease, responding in military fashion to commands made by a higher ranking individual or an instructor. In traditional Korean dojangs the Sabum (master instructor) often acts more like a drill Sargent, whereas the Kyosa (licensed instructors) and senior students do most of the actual corrections and in-depth instruction. Punishment results in push-ups. Classes are heavily structured. Hierarchy is strictly adhered to, and lower ranks must bow to higher ranks upon first contact in a day in the same way a soldier must salute. Just about any Taekwondo historian will attribute this structure to military influence, whether Korean or Japanese. Karate in Okinawa, before it became Japanized, did not have this military structure. Nor did Chinese chuan fa (kung fu), a direct ancestor to both Karate and Taekwondo.
Conclusion
The history of Taekwondo reveals a strong influence from the Korean military. Even the Kukkiwon version has a demonstrable military influence in its modern curriculum. This is evidenced by both internal and external proofs that the modern Kukkiwon used techniques and strategies also used by military Taekwondoin during the early days of Taekwondo development. Finally, Taekwondo’s conventional dojang etiquette is obviously based upon military conduct.
Martial Methodology 