A handful of soldiers from the 2nd Infantry Division have become mini-celebrities in South Korea after appearing on a popular (and somewhat cheesy but hilarious) reality television show about the Korean military.
“Real Men” features Korean celebrities experiencing some aspect of military life while being embedded with South Korean troops, Stars and Stripes reported.
In a three-minute YouTube clip, the Americans are shown with their Korean counterparts. The men laugh and joke, as one soldier is first said to resemble “Home Alone” star Macaulay Culkin, then Voldemort as portrayed by Ralph Fiennes in the “Harry Potter” movie series.
“People will ask me about it and want to take pictures with me; everyone from little kids to grown men and women,” Staff Sgt. Jesse Kennedy, one of three soldiers who was featured prominently in the episode, told Stars and Stripes. “Before, nobody knew who I was, and now everybody knows who I am.”
Nearly three dozen 2nd Infantry Division soldiers appeared on the episode, which was taped in January and aired several times last month, according to Stars and Stripes. The soldiers, all with 2nd Battalion, 9th Infantry Regiment, 1st Armored Brigade Combat Team, lived and trained alongside their South Korean counterparts at a 17th Infantry Division base for two days, with the experience culminating in a raid on a mock village, the paper reported.
