The topic of m̷i̷l̷i̷t̷a̷r̷y̷ enlistment of BTS members has always been a hot topic during the past time. Not only about the issue of enlistment, but the life of BTS members when enlisted in the army is also noticed by fans and netizens.
Since Jin and j-hope enlisted in the army, ARMYs have been willing to set up Twitter accounts to update their life situation from the m̷i̷l̷i̷t̷a̷r̷y̷ - photos and information are officially published on The Camp. Recently, however, some ex-soldiers seem to have noticed one of the accounts that updated photos of j-hope's meals in the m̷i̷l̷i̷t̷a̷r̷y̷ and expressed a backlash against it.
They think that the pictures of the m̷i̷l̷i̷t̷a̷r̷y̷ meal posted on SNS do not reflect the truth and are angry about it. These people even ask the account holder to reflect honestly while netizens have mixed reactions on the matter:
On the 18th of last month, j-hope entered the 36th Division Recruit Training Center in private in Gangwon-do and began basic training for 5 weeks there before being deployed to the official unit by the end of this month. During that time, the daily life photos of j-hope and other rookies were regularly updated by their captain on The Camp - an application for relatives and families of rookies to keep track of their lives during the first 5 weeks of enlistment when there was no phone and no family visitation was allowed.
Meanwhile, similar to when Jin enlisted, ARMYs all over the world were paying attention to his m̷i̷l̷i̷t̷a̷r̷y̷ life. Some even go so far as to create accounts dedicated to posting daily information about j-hope in the m̷i̷l̷i̷t̷a̷r̷y̷ so that ARMYs who can't access The Camp can get a hold of it.
One of them, "HobisFoodtray" is the most famous recently after receiving much attention from kσrєαn and international fans for posting pictures of his meals in the army. This account is where they share meals served by the m̷i̷l̷i̷t̷a̷r̷y̷ during j-hope's basic training.
Menu information is provided daily and published by the division on The Camp of the Ministry of Defense. Meanwhile, the account owner also noted that the pictures posted of j-hope's meal are just illustrations for the name of the dish mentioned on the menu. This is to help foreign fans easily visualize and understand what j-hope ate that day.
For example, on the 7th of this month, fans shared j-hope's dinner onsisting of wheat rice, Sausage Jjigae, stir-fried pork small intestine & sundae, stir-fried fish cake with red pepper, wh̾i̾t ̾e kimchi, and Instant Black Bean Ramen. They have also actively translated the menu into English for the convenience of international fans. The tweet then received more than 42,000 views within 5 hours of being uploaded.
This account also received many compliments from the fan community and netizens for making others understand better about j-hope's life in the barracks. Most fans left encouraging messages like:
- It's a relief that J-Hope seems to be eating well
- Eat a lot and be healthy
- Thank you for letting me know
- I hope you eat well and get through your training well
- They are my favorite ḳöŕệän side dishes
- Happy to see Hobi adapt well in m̷i̷l̷i̷t̷a̷r̷y̷. Stay healthy and back safely
- It looks so yummy, j-hope ever said that Jin's m̷i̷l̷i̷t̷a̷r̷y̷ food is so delicious and I think this is too
- The ḳöŕệän m̷i̷l̷i̷t̷a̷r̷y̷ menu is very plentiful
- The ingreďïệnts are delicious
- I also want to try cooking dishes like this, please give me the recipe if possible
- Thank you for the daily updates for hobi pls do until he ends his service appreciate it so much
- a variety of food, he is easy to eat
- Everything else looks delicious.
Although a lot of fans showed their support and sent their best wishes, controversy started when some kσrєαn ex-soldíєrs reacted negatively to the post. These people claim that the images do not accurately depict the actual meals served in the m̷i̷l̷i̷t̷a̷r̷y̷.
They criticized the photo posted by the "HobisFoodtray" account as overly edited images. They said like: "It's frustrating to see photoshopped images of high-quality food on Twitter when, in reality, the m̷i̷l̷i̷t̷a̷r̷y̷ serves low-quality meals," or "I'd like to serve the person promoting these photos the m̷i̷l̷i̷t̷a̷r̷y̷ food I used to eat," and "They clearly haven't experienced real m̷i̷l̷i̷t̷a̷r̷y̷ food; if they had, they wouldn't be able to create such misleading images."
In addition, some ex-soldiers also suggested this fan must post real pictures of the food tray while many defend the account owner. They mentioned she noted that the image is for illustration purposes only and not the actual one as she herself did not live in the m̷i̷l̷i̷t̷a̷r̷y̷ to know what it was like. It is argued that the quality of the food will improve as more and more people are interested in the díєt of kσrєαn soldíєrs through such accounts.
Some kσrєαn netizens also criticized the veterans and pointed out that they are worsening the image of the m̷i̷l̷i̷t̷a̷r̷y̷ which is being made more beautiful by BTS members and ARMYs in the eyes of the international community. A few comments also stated that not all barracks have the same low quality of food served and there must be a reason for that.
When the controversy broke out, in response to the criticism, the fan who posted the pictures hoped there would be no misunderstandings. as a way to end this unfortunate situation!
