Army Transformation Continues In Korea

Army transformation continues in South Korea:

For South Korea, a key change will come this summer with the creation of the 501st Sustainment Brigade, Parker said. The brigade will be the first operational unit of its kind in the Army and will be responsible for one of the major missions here: reception, staging, onward movement and integration.

Other changes involve how the Army runs its personnel offices worldwide, Parker said. Eventually, there will be no personnel offices in South Korea other than each unit’s individual human-resources office, usually known as the S-1 office. Decisions like assignments and questions about pay will be directed to two human-resources offices worldwide, he said.

The way the Army conducts troop rotations will also affect soldiers assigned to South Korea.

Soldiers attached to stateside-based brigade combat teams will rotate to South Korea together on a one-year, unaccompanied tour. Other support staff will come to South Korea on accompanied tours for as long as three years, much like in Germany.

If brigade are going to be rotated into Korea that would mean then that the 1st Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division would at some point in the near future either redeploy to the United States or even Iraq, much like what 2nd Brigade, 2ID did. If the 1st Brigade, 2ID gets redeployed from Korea, that would mean there would be no need for the division headquarters to be located in Korea either with all of the division’s combat units in the United States. I would then expect the division headquarters to move to probably Ft. Lewis, WA where 3rd BCT, 2ID is currently located.

However, like any changes in Korea, I will have to see it happen before I believe it, because of the highly politicized nature of removing troops from Korea, especially a division headquarters.