- I served as a Technical Research Personnel and went through my first year of reserve forces duty in 2024. I'm writing this in the hope that it helps other reservists doing dongmicham training.
- I did mine at the Bakdal Scientific Reserve Forces Training Center. So if your training center is different, your experience may differ from mine.
- I didn't go to the PX, so there's no explanation of it here. The line is incredibly long, so if you're the type to give up on a restaurant when the line is long, you're probably better off skipping the PX.
What to Bring
- Uniform top and bottom.
- Required.
- Rubber bands (for blousing)
- They don't seem to check for them, but most people show up with them. They're convenient. They don't check whether you have the rubber bands themselves, but they do check whether your trouser hems look tidy as you enter.
- Belt
- They don't check, but if you've lost weight and your pants are loose, you're better off wearing at least a personal belt.
- Beret
- Not needed. On day one, one or two people showed up with one, and from day two nobody did. You'll be putting on and taking off a ballistic helmet at the training ground anyway.
- Reserve forces insignia patch
- It's like a patch badge. It's listed among the items to bring on your notice, but you don't need it.
- Combat boots
- Required.
- ID
- Required.
- Sunscreen
- Put on waterproof sunscreen before you come.
- Motion sickness medicine
- If you're taking a shuttle bus operated by your local government to the training center and you get carsick easily, it's a good idea to take some motion sickness medicine. I mention this because someone did throw up.
Other Tips
- There's no particular need to look up what the training involves beforehand. It's very easy. Since it's dongmicham training, there are a lot of public service workers, and maybe because of that they seem to cut you some slack even if your marksmanship is a bit off.
- The biggest villain in dongmicham training is not the person who spaces out, but the person who disappears and doesn't keep to the schedule. Give your squad mates a heads-up before you go anywhere. Of course, if you're prepared enough to be reading this post, you're probably not that villain...
- If you can, leave things like your phone and AirPods in the storage lockers. Maybe because the combat uniform pockets are so big, quite a few people drop them. A four-day digital detox isn't a bad thing either.