Last year, in December, BTS’s oldest member, Jin, enlisted in the military for his mandatory service of 18 months.
Since then, fans have gotten a few glimpses of the singer’s whereabouts either through updates shared by the idol himself or through stories from soldiers who met him during their service.
In a recent post on the popular Korean community forum, Nate Pann, a user shared some admirable details about Jin in the military. The original poster (OP) mentioned that these stories were actually from their boyfriend, whose senior trained in the same division where Jin is serving.
Currently, the BTS member is working as a teaching assistant in the Fifth Infantry Division in Yeoncheon, Gyeonggi-do. According to OP, he is very kind to trainees and has bought them snacks multiple times. After the completion ceremony, he even gifted snail creams to the parents of all the trainees. OP’s boyfriend mentioned that he is always nice to the people around him and never gets angry.
OP’s boyfriend also described Jin as “a hundred times more handsome than on screen.” He was especially enamored by the idol’s “amazing back muscles.”
But the story that left netizens the most impressed was about Jin’s unbelievable physical strength. His unit was able to successfully conclude a 20 km march in full combat gear weighing around 20-30 kgs each, owing to his extraordinary muscle power.
….등근육, 군장 3개에서 완전히 무너짐 pic.twitter.com/e4phUvzqFf
— 꿀베 (@BONITO_XIN) October 31, 2023
During the full march of troops, the rules say that in case a soldier falls down, their gears are held by the assistant drill instructor. Jin picked up the gears of three such soldiers and finished the 20 km march carrying such heavy weight!
Gun-jang(Soldier gear, 군장) refers to equipment carried by soldier to maintain combat power. In USA, it is called setup, LBE, etc. Gunjang weighs between 20~30 kilograms. And marching distance is 20km. If anyone falls down at this time, his bag will be held by assistant. Jin… pic.twitter.com/e9D9ZXZWIo
— star_jin (@nightstar1201) October 31, 2023
The story has left ARMYs in awe, who can’t help but wonder if post-military Jin would be even more buff than BTS’s very own muscle-bunny Jungkook!
“he carried 3 soldier gears by himself” is so shang from mulan coded and i cant tell u what that does to me specifically
https://t.co/Cy5On2chmp
— 🤍 (yoonjin misser) (@kp0pwrites) October 31, 2023
the new run bts episode gonna be wild https://t.co/pWI7DqGFb2
— georgie⁷❀ (@kkyulmin) November 1, 2023
i want to see seokjin pull an uno reverse in 2025 and pick jungkook up newly born infant style https://t.co/YbQy5BfaDM
— flower⁷ is GOLDENNN (@HOPEWRLD999) November 1, 2023
he and the boys have been carrying the industry for a while now… this was probably lighter https://t.co/MJ5aBywn3p
— FIREⓢ⁷ 불타오르네 (@i_am_hyyh_fire) November 1, 2023
Read more about Jin’s military life here.
