Tag: US Marine Corps

Lets hope the five missing Marines are found:

Two U.S. Marine aircraft crashed early Thursday during a refueling drill, leaving five crew members missing after two were rescued off the coast of Kochi Prefecture later in the day.

A KC-130 air-refueling tanker and an F/A-18 fighter jet were involved in what the military termed a “mishap” in the early morning hours. One crew member was rescued later in the morning by the Maritime Self Defense Force and sent to a hospital, while another was rescued later in the day, according to the Japanese Defense Ministry. The Marine Corps said the second marine had been transported to a local hospital. One of the two was a crew member of the F/A-18.  [Japan Times]

You can read more at the link.

I was wondering how long North Korea would wait before complaining about this announced joint exercise:

North Korea has stepped up criticism of South Korea and the United States for their resumption of joint marine exercises, calling the move a military act against the ongoing peace momentum on the Korean Peninsula.

The verbal provocation came a week after the allies resumed the marine drills, the Korea Marine exercise Program (KMEP), for two weeks in Pohang, North Gyeongsang Province. Seoul and Washington suspended a series of joint military drills this year in consideration of the reconciliatory relations between the two Koreas, but the allies decided to resume the drill to enhance defense readiness here.

“Seoul and Washington should stop such a military act and remain consistent in the ongoing tension-easing on the peninsula by stopping any military exercises,” Rodong Sinmun, the North’s official mouthpiece, said Monday.  [Korea Times]

You can read more at the link.

I guess this exercise was small enough to not draw the ire of Kim Jong-un:

South Korea and the United States have resumed a joint Marine exercise after a six-month hiatus.

According to the Defense Ministry, South Korean Marine Corps and American troops from the III Marine Expeditionary Force stationed in Okinawa, Japan, launched a two-week “Korea Marine Exercise Program,” or KMEP, in Pohang, North Gyeongsang Province on Monday.

Around 500 military personnel are taking part in the annual drill intended to maintain joint defense readiness.

The two sides will begin actual maneuvers with troops, amphibious assault vehicles and other equipment on Tuesday.   [KBS World Radio]

You can read more at the link.

What a mess that was only made worse by how the investigation was conducted:

The officers were accused of sharing the grid points via text messages ­before the test and later relying on them to find hidden boxes stashed across the wooded night land ­navigation course in Quantico, Virginia, ­according to interviews with Marine Corps officials and a copy of the command investigation obtained by Marine Corps Times.

The Marine Corps considers that cheating because the students were able to complete the course without demonstrating the key skills the course aims to evaluate: conducting proper land navigation.

Maybe this is an example of a scale down of the exercise from an aircraft carrier to an amphibious assault ship?:

The U.S. military plans to send a key amphibious assault ship, used for a detachment of F-35B vertical landing stealth fighter jets, to a combined exercise with South Korea in April, a defense source here said Monday.

The allies’ Marines are scheduled to start the Ssangyong (double dragon) exercise here early next month in connection with the Foal Eagle training. They have yet to announce an exact schedule.

Among U.S. assets to take part in the Ssangyong drill are the USS Wasp, the Navy’s 40,500-ton multipurpose amphibious assault ship.  [Yonhap]

You can read more at the link.

The Marines are lucky this window did not hit a kid at the school.  Could you imagine the protests that would have happened if some kid at the school was killed by this window?  Fortunately no one was injured by this negligence:

The Marine Corps says human error caused a helicopter window to fall onto the grounds of a crowded elementary school last week on Okinawa.

The incident occurred Wednesday morning when a CH-53E Super Stallion’s window inexplicably became separated from the aircraft and landed on Futenma Daini Elementary School’s sports field, which is adjacent to Marine Corps Air Station Futenma’s fence line. More than 50 schoolchildren were playing at the time, and one boy was slightly injured from a pebble that flew up during impact.

The 1st Marine Aircraft Wing has completed a “thorough” investigation into the incident and determined it was caused by human error, officials said a statement released Monday evening.

The window, which was not properly secured before takeoff, was designed to be removed so that the crew can evacuate during an emergency, the statement said.

Marine officials said they have conducted additional training for both air and maintenance crews to reinforce proper procedures. Also, all CH-53E aircraft have been thoroughly inspected and checked for mechanical or structural issues with the windows.  [Stars & Stripes]

You can read more at the link, but really this incident should serve as an example of why the Marines are trying to move Futenma to the northern part of Okinawa away from the major population center of the island.

Via the USFK Flickr page.

If anyone has ever wondered why there aren’t more US Marines stationed in South Korea here is the reason:

The commander of the small contingent of Marines based in South Korea says the corps does not have enough forces to permanently expand its presence on the divided peninsula.

Unlike the Army, Navy and Air Force, the Marines do not have operational units stationed in South Korea despite the growing threat from the North. Instead, Marines travel from Japan to the peninsula on a rotational basis to conduct training exercises with their South Korean counterparts.

Maj. Gen. Robert Hedelund, the outgoing commander of U.S. Marine Forces Korea, said he has about 75 Marines on his staff and their main mission is fostering the relationship with South Korean forces and facilitating training exercises.  [Stars & Stripes]

You can read more at the link.

Some of America’s newest military hardware was exercised last month during the Foal Eagle/Key Resolve exercise between the ROK and the US:

The Pentagon revealed this week that U.S. Marine Corps F-35 fighters are operating in South Korea for the first time, as they participate in joint training exercises with the Republic of Korea’s military. The eight planes are from a squadron of F-35Bs deployed to Iwakuni, Japan in January, where they will be permanently stationed and on call to respond quickly if a crisis occurs on the Korean Peninsula.

And therein lies a bigger story than the ongoing training exercise in which allied forces are practicing how to operate together in wartime. F-35B, the Marine variant of the tri-service fighter, isn’t just the world’s first supersonic tactical aircraft capable of taking off and landing vertically, it is also invisible to radar. That’s what being stealthy means — the enemy can’t see you, but you can see them.

When you combine the vertical agility and invisibility of the Marine Corps’ latest fighter with the fused data from diverse sensors and the ability to share information securely among all fighters on a mission, what you have is a plane that can operate pretty much anywhere. Including over North Korea. So although U.S. Pacific Command is at pains to describe the training exercise as a routine annual event intended to provoke no one, the F-35’s presence is sending a powerful message to the mercurial leader of North Korea.  [Forbes]

You can read more at the link.

This photo, provided by the Marine Corps on July 6, 2016, shows South Korea’s K-1 tanks conducting a live-fire drill in Pohang on the southeast coast the previous day as part of a South Korea-U.S. joint marine infiltration and attack exercise, which kicked off on June 27 for an 18-day run with 800 South Korean and 500 U.S. marine forces participating. (Yonhap)