Details of USFK Deployment Now Made Clear

Details of the USFK deployment to assist Tsunami disaster areas has now been made public.

The deployment will consist of three groups. One company of 125 men and eight CH-47 Chinook helicopters would be temporarily transferred from 8th U.S. Army’s 2nd Battalion, 52nd Aviation Regiment, 17th Aviation Brigade, while 200 men and officers from the 18th Medical Command will await the order to move out. Moreover, 48 men from the 554th RED HORSE (Rapid Engineer Deployable Heavy Operational Repair Squadron, Engineer) squadron, based at Osan Air Base, are scheduled to inspect runways in Thailand, Sri Lanka and Indonesia.

None of these units are from 2ID. They are all located on camps south of 2ID. So I won’t being going any where but I would love an opportunity to be part of something like this. Apparently USFK is handling this deployment much better then the 2nd Brigade deployment this past summer where no consulation was done with Korean authorities.

USFK spokeswoman Col. MaryAnn Cumming said Thursday that the decision to send the troops was made following close consultations with the Korean government, and that the date of their departure has yet to be decided.

I look at this as a great opportunity for Korea to deploy troops in conjunction with the USFK deployment. This would be a great thing for the alliance and a chance for Korea to demonstrate international leadership. It is also a chance for Korea to upstage their arch-rivals, Japan. Japan would be hard pressed to send soldiers due to their past brutal occupation of many areas in Southeast Asia. Korea is looked upon favorably in the area and their assistance would be greatly welcomed. Plus the ROK Army is more than capable of executing this mission. I doubt they will do it, but it would be a big step to repairing the battered alliance. Then again some people don’t want to repair the alliance.