A series of photos which were made during the Joint US-South Korean exercise "Bear Hunt 84" in February 1984 at two "famous" military training grounds in South Korea. Famous at least for generations of US soldiers deployed to the country. One of them is called "Nightmare Range", located just South of the notorious DMZ, the heavily fortified border between the two Koreas. A former battlefield of the Korean War, the range was established during the late 1950s as a military training ground for US and South Korean forces, which also included regular live firing exercises by tanks, artillery and helicopter units. The difficult mountainous terrain with valleys, hills and only a handful of useable streets, plus the fact that its landscape looked at some places like the moon surface, makes it pretty obvious why it was named "Nightmare Range".
The other training ground where these photos were made was the "Chipori" training ground, also located south of the DMZ and which is still in use by US and South Korean forces in 2026. Visible on the photographs were M60A1 MBTs of the 1st Tracked Vehicle Battalion of the 3rd US Marine Division, based at Camp Schwab, Okinawa. "Bear Hunt 84`" involved forces of the USMC, US Army and South Korean Forces which intensively trained Mechanized Warfare, supported by Artillery, Helicopters and Air Strikes. The small red and green flags on the tanks indicates the status of the tanks. A green flag indicates that the tube is clear, no firing intended. A red flag is used during actual firing.
Goal of such exercises was to prepare US and South Korean Forces for the worst case scenario. A second North Korean invasion into the South. Another disastrous surprise like in June 1950 should be prevented. During the Cold War era the US had a permament deployment of around 30.000 soldiers in South Korea, including Air Force and Navy assets plus a number of tactical nuclear weapons. This force should create a major deterrence to prevent another North Korean invasion.
Since the 1950s, South Korea became to one of the most important US allies in the region, a powerful bastion against Communism, located in a important region directly between the USSR and Red China.
So what kind of Bear was on the target list in 1984? Probably the "Big Red Bear" from the North, who knows.
