BTS's V Posts First Reservist Uniform Photos Between 34 World Tour Cities

BTS's V posted a set of everyday photos on the 12th, and the detail fans zoomed in on first was the "Special Warrior" patch on his reservist uniform. The caption was characteristically offhand: a line that translates to roughly "This is more or less how I live."

The photos show V in the uniform doing very ordinary things: eating toast, studying a public transit route map, and boarding a bus. In another shot he keeps his face hidden under a hoodie on the bus, and in a third he photographs a plate of gimbap at a snack shop. Seeing a global star in the most ordinary of settings is exactly what made the set so charming, and it is a long way from the stage lighting fans usually associate with him.

The "Special Warrior" patch is a mark of the top performance grade in the Korean military's soldier evaluations, which is why it stood out against an otherwise casual set of pictures.

A quiet moment in a busy year

V enlisted in December 2023 and served in the Army's 2nd Corps Military Police unit, in the Special Duty Team (SDT). He was discharged on June 10 last year. The reservist uniform in these photos is part of the follow-up obligation that Korean men carry after active service.

The timing is notable because BTS is back as a full group after its military hiatus. The band released its fifth full-length album, ARIRANG, in March, and began the ARIRANG world tour in April. The tour covers 34 cities in total, moving through North America, Europe and South America before continuing to Asia and Oceania.

Against that backdrop of stadium-scale scheduling, a photo of V eating gimbap in a hoodie reads as a small, welcome breather for fans.