I can remember doing plenty of bridging operations over the Imjim River back in my 2ID days:
U.S. and South Korean troops practiced bridge-building recently a short distance from the Demilitarized Zone, the border separating North and South Korea.
Soldiers of the 11th Engineer Battalion, 2nd Infantry Division and South Korean troops of the 5th Engineer Brigade assembled a ribbon bridge over the Imjin River near Paju-si, a city in Gyeonggi province, on March 20. Paju-si is within 5 miles of the heavily guarded border, although the exercise took place further away.
Here is some different training for pilots in 2ID:
A U.S. Navy vehicle cargo ship recently took a rare opportunity to train with Army helicopter crews off the southern coast of South Korea. Crews aboard UH-60M Black Hawks from the 2nd Combat Aviation Brigade qualified for deck landings aboard the USNS Dahl on March 7, 5 miles from Jinhae, Military Sealift Command, Far East said in a news release Monday.
“All flight deck operations are inherently dangerous but [deck landing qualifications] add the wild card of potentially novice crews who are not familiar with either the vessel or ship flight operations in general,” contracted mariner Capt. Deatra Thompson said in the release.
The commander of 3rd Cavalry Regiment, Col. Jeffrey Barta, leads a formation during an authority transfer ceremony at Hanson Field House on Camp Casey, South Korea, Feb. 29, 2024. (Luis Garcia/Stars and Stripes)
A Texas-based cavalry regiment took over as the 2nd Infantry Division’s rotational force in South Korea during a ceremony roughly 15 miles from the Demilitarized Zone that divides the Korean Peninsula. The 3rd Cavalry Regiment, of Fort Cavazos, Texas, assumed its new role from 2nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team in front of about 350 troops gathered Thursday at Hanson Field House on Camp Casey. The Stryker team returns to Fort Carson, Colo., having completed its nine-month deployment.
Spent last Friday running through the mud with my camera to capture the ROK army’s TIGER brigade and the U.S. Army’s 2nd Infantry Division Stryker unit exercise on North Korea's doorstep 🪖 1/3https://t.co/uD0DirnrVI
U.S. solders’ explosive disposal contest Soldiers from the U.S. Army’s 2nd Infantry Division detect explosives during an explosive disposal contest at a training ground near U.S. Camp Humphreys in Pyeongtaek, 65 kilometers south of Seoul, on Jan. 11, 2023. (Yonhap)
This is a big change going from armored to a Stryker Brigade in South Korea. It will be interesting to see if the Army keeps rotating Stryker units to South Korea:
A U.S. Army Stryker vehicle is offloaded from a ship at the Port of Pyeongtaek, South Korea, Oct. 8, 2022. (Andrew Kosterman/U.S. Army)
A Stryker Brigade Combat Team from the 2nd Infantry Division arrived in South Korea on Saturday as part of the Army’s annual rotational force in the country.
Stryker vehicles and other equipment from the 2nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team were offloaded at the Port of Pyeongtaek near Camp Humphreys, according to a news release from 8th Army on Friday. The base is the home of U.S. Forces Korea, U.N. Command, 8th Army and the 2nd Infantry Division.
The division announced in July that the team out of Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Wash., would replace the 1st Armored Brigade Combat Team, 1st Armored Division from Fort Bliss, Texas, which will be returning home after a nine-month tour in South Korea.
Roughly 4,000 soldiers are attached to Stryker brigade combat teams. Centered on Stryker vehicles that can be configured for narrowly defined missions, they are able to perform with fewer resources than armored brigade combat teams.
It is hard to believe that this week marks 20 years since the horrible military vehicle accident that claimed the lives of two young Korean school girls Shim Mi-son and Shin Hyo-sun. I was stationed in Korea at the time this accident happened and honestly was not surprised it occurred. With so many US and ROK military equipment on civilian roads surrounded by pedestrians and cars, an accident was bound to happen. You can read more about this tragic accident that shook the US-ROK alliance unlike anything else at the below link:
The aftermath of the accident led to many changes in South Korea and USFK. The accident empowered the anti-US movement in the ROK which ultimately led to a political nobody Roh Moo-hyun being elected to the Presidency partially on an anti-American platform. The anti-American movement would be energized for many years after the accident. It got so bad that a group of Soldiers were kidnapped off of a subway car, beaten, and forced to make false statements. I can remember my unit pulling security at Camp Red Cloud and seeing protesters holding signs with pictures of the crushed bodies of the two school girls. The politicization of these girls had to be truly horrible for their families.
Anti-US protests outside of Camp Red Cloud
The accident had an enormous impact on USFK and not all of it was bad. A positive thing that happened was that it did lead to much needed safety reforms on how the US military moves heavy equipment in Korea. For example heavy military equipment was no longer allowed to drive on civilian roads and were instead trucked to training areas.
Example of what it was like to move heavy military equipment through narrow Korean civilian roads.
Another big change was the loss of 2nd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division from Korea. The brigade was pulled from South Korea by then Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld in reaction to the anti-US protests. The brigade was sent to Iraq from South Korea and faced heavy casualties in the city of Ramadi. The accident also reenergized the closing of 2nd Infantry Division camps and Yongsan Garrison and consolidating them at Camp Humphreys. Despite the best efforts of the anti-American activists to stop it, the relocation is complete today.
Today few people remember this accident and the impacts it had, but it did ultimately lead to positive changes in the US-ROK alliance. It is sadly unfortunate that it took the lives of two Korean schools girls to do this. Rest in peace Shim Mi-son and Shin Hyo-sun.
Highway 56 memorial to the 2 girls killed in the 2002 Armored Vehicle Accident
Military leaders celebrate the Republic of Korea-U.S. Combined Division’s seventh anniversary at Camp Humphreys, South Korea, Friday, June 3, 2022. (U.S. Army )
The Republic of Korea-U.S. Combined Division, the only division in the Army composed of soldiers from both countries, celebrated its seventh anniversary on Friday with a ceremony at 2nd Infantry Division headquarters.
The two allies formed the combined army division in 2015 as a deterrent to further conflict in South Korea.
Roughly 12,000 troops are part of the five brigades within the division and they conduct an average of 80 missions each year, including large scale joint military exercises. It also trains with a South Korean mechanized brigade.
Originally based at Camp Red Cloud, the division moved in 2018 to Camp Humphreys in Pyeongtaek, where 2nd ID, Eighth Army, U.S. Forces Korea and U.N. Command are also headquartered.
