South Korean President Park Geun-hye (L) poses with outgoing U.S. Forces Korea (USFK) commander Gen. Curtis Scaparrotti after awarding him an order of national security merit at the presidential office Cheong Wa Dae in Seoul on April 29, 2016. (Yonhap)
I guess we will see whether the conclusion of Foal Eagle will lead to a reduction in provocations from North Korea in the coming weeks:
South Korea and the United States are set to end their two monthlong joint military exercises this week, but tensions are expected to go up further as North Korea is seen as preparing for another nuclear test, officials said Friday.
“The Foal Eagle exercise will officially wrap up its schedule tomorrow although its outdoor training programs are all to end today,” a military official said.
The last day of the exercise on Saturday will be assigned to breaking up camps and withdrawing assembled military assets and troops, the official noted.
The allies had kicked off the annual field exercise on March 7, along with the Key Resolve command post exercise, which ran for two weeks.
This year’s exercises were the biggest of their kinds, having come on the heels of North Korea’s provocative nuclear test in January and a long-range rocket launch in February.
The two exercises brought together some 300,000 South Korean armed forces and 17,000 U.S. forces, along with the U.S. Navy’s nuclear-propelled aircraft carrier USS John C. Stennis (CVN-74) and two Wasp-class amphibious assault vessels: the USS Bonhomme Richard (LHD 6) and the USS Boxer (LHD-4). [Yonhap]
You can read more at the link.
This is something i have discussed before that the cost sharing of troops in South Korea actually saves money for the Pentagon compared to keeping the same troops in the US. What else that can’t be calculated is how many US jobs are generated due to the large amount of defense equipment bought by the ROK because of its close military relationship with the US. Like I have maintained, if politicians want to criticize about freeloading US allies I am all for it, but South Korea is a poor choice to try and make this claim with:
The four-star Army general picked to lead American forces in Korea says it’s less expensive to keep U.S. troops stationed in South Korea than in the United States.
In testimony Tuesday, Gen. Vincent Brooks tallied up the financial load South Korea carries in what amounted to a rebuke of Donald Trump, the GOP’s front-running presidential contender.
Trump has called for U.S. allies to pay more for their own defense.
John McCain of Arizona, the Republican chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, prompted Brooks’ answers.
Brooks says South Korea pays half of the annual cost, or $808 million, for U.S. troops to be stationed on the peninsula.
The general says South Korea is paying for 92 percent of a $10.8 billion construction project to build a base for U.S. troops. [Associated Press]
This is actually pretty applicable training these helicopter crews are doing that could be used not only in wartime, but during disaster response missions as well:
If war breaks out on the Korean Peninsula, it could be waged in and around thousands of high-rise apartment blocks that fill valleys south of the Demilitarized Zone.
Aware of the challenging environment, the Army has acquired its own high-rise facility at Rodriguez Live Fire Range — a training area near the DMZ — where troops can hone their urban combat skills.
Medics participating in Foal Eagle exercises, underway this month in South Korea, gathered on the roof of the seven-story building Wednesday to learn how to hoist casualties onto a hovering Black Hawk helicopter.
Buffeted by wind from the aircraft’s rotors, the medics took turns strapping into a yellow “jungle penetrator” — a heavy device designed to be dropped through jungle canopy to troops on the ground — and riding the hoist up to the Black Hawk and back down to the roof. [Stars & Stripes]
You can read the rest at the link.
This has been an ongoing complaint for troops deployed in Korea, but I don’t see this decision changing considering the fiscally constrained environment the Army finds itself in:
Efforts to encourage U.S. soldiers to eat at on-base dining facilities haven’t gone down well with some hungry troops, who say they’d rather spend subsistence allowances at fast-food joints or off-base restaurants.
A new Army policy called Essential Unit Messing — which went into effect Feb. 1 — requires soldiers deployed with rotational units on the peninsula to eat at the dining facilities or pay out of pocket for food.
Under the policy, the Army deducts meal costs from a subsistence allowance that troops used to be free to spend wherever they liked, Army spokesman Paul Prince told the Army Times.
Despite the change, several dozen soldiers, including some from the 1st “Ironhorse” Armored Brigade Combat Team, were eating lunch Wednesday at Camp Casey’s food court. The Fort Hood, Texas-based unit is there on a nine-month rotational deployment.
Spc. Dartanian Pina, 21, of Rio Rancho, N.M., said he quickly tired of dining facility food and prefers to go off base, paying out of pocket for local fare such as bulgogi (beef stew).
“It’s better than the DFAC (dining facility),” said Pina, adding that he liked the freedom of the old system.
Adding insult to injury, some have complained the dining facilities weren’t giving them enough to eat.
Amanda Ramirez, of Killeen, Texas, whose husband, Steve, is a sergeant serving with the Ironhorse brigade, posted photos online showing the small food portions that soldiers from the unit were getting at dining facilities last month.
“I cannot form a well-written response as to how mad I am right now,” Ramirez said on her Facebook page above the pictures of fairly small portions of chicken, eggs and potatoes. [Stars & Stripes]
You can read the rest at the link.
For old 2ID personnel like myself, it still seems weird to hear about an elementary school on Camp Casey. After only six years of operation the school is closing this summer:
Camp Casey’s elementary school and child development center will close this summer as U.S. forces on the Korean Peninsula relocate to Camp Humphreys.
An Installation Management Command memo, dated Jan. 28 and addressed to the parents of children stationed at U.S. facilities north of Seoul, says Camp Casey Elementary School will close in June and Child and Youth Services will end at the base July 1.
“In accordance with the 2002 Land Partnership Plan (amended in 2004), Area I is reducing in U.S. population and bases,” Col. Jack Haefner, U.S. Army Garrison Camp Red Cloud and Area I commander, said in the memo.
Camp Casey’s Department of Defense Education Activity school opened in 2010 with an enrollment of about 250 as part of U.S. Forces Korea’s plan to increase the number of command-sponsored slots on the peninsula. A new wing opened in 2011, nearly doubling the K-8 school’s capacity. However, enrollment has declined over the past year. [Stars & Stripes]
You can read more at the link.
The man behind the “Pacific Pathways” program which has seen the US Army expand operations throughout the Pacific region has been selected to be the next USFK commander:
Carter also has named Army Gen. Vincent K. Brooks, if confirmed by the Senate, to be commander of U.S. Forces Korea. Brooks now is commanding general of U.S. Army Pacific, Pacom’s Army component.
The command has administrative control over all U.S. Army forces in the Pacom area of responsibility and provides forces and performs theater security programs with 36 countries from the Asia-Pacific regions of Alaska, Japan and Korea.
Carter said U.S. Forces Korea “is part of U.S. Pacific Command, but is a major political military command, a place where we need our very best, and Vince is that, and also an officer with tremendous operational and managerial experience.” [Defense.gov]
You can read the rest at the link.
It looks like South Korea is going to see some troops wearing the 82nd Airborne patch starting this summer:
About 400 U.S. troops will deploy to South Korea later this summer to help deter North Korean aggression, the Department of the Army announced Sunday.
The troops with the 1st Squadron, 17th Cavalry Regiment, 82nd Combat Aviation Brigade, 82nd Airborne Division will make a rotational deployment to the Asian ally, the department said in a statement.
“Our Soldiers and units are skilled, tough and stand ready around the clock to defend America. They are ready … to deter North Korean aggression,” Lt. Gen. Stephen Townsend, commander of the XVIII Airborne Corps, said in the statement.
Col. Erik Gilbert, commander of the 82nd Combat Aviation Brigade, said that the squadron is an “exceptionally well-led and highly trained unit with very talented and adaptable troopers, which represent both the last and also the very best of the U.S. Army Kiowa Warrior Squadrons.”
“I know they are ready for any contingency and am confident they will be a superb addition to U.S. Forces assigned to the defense of South Korea, particularly at this time of heightened tensions,” he said. [Yonhap]
Current USFK Commander General Scaparrotti is very close to doing something that few USFK commanders have done before, be forced into retirement:
When U.S. Army Gen. Curtis Scaparrotti takes up the job of NATO Supreme Allied Commander in the months ahead, he won’t be facing the tranquil European security scene that greeted his most recent predecessors, who walked into the job trying to make a friend of Russia.
If confirmed, Scaparrotti will take his seat at the old desk of Dwight D. Eisenhower with a European mission transformed: Cold War-style tensions with Russia, a refugee crisis threatening Europe’s political order and a NATO alliance still trying to adapt.
On Friday, the White House nominated Scaparrotti as the next chief of European Command and SACEUR.
“His experience as a commander at every echelon while facing incredibly demanding security challenges in our country’s hottest spots give him the experience and skills needed for Europe and our nation at this time,” current EUCOM chief Gen. Philip Breedlove said in a statement. “’Scap’ is a superb match for the security situation in Europe as it is rapidly evolving and becoming more complex.” [Stars & Stripes]
You can read the rest at the link, but General Scaparrotti next just needs the Senate to approve the nomination which I would be very surprised if anyone tries to block it.
Of note is that ROKHead extraordinaire, @JoeC, did the research and determined that the last USFK commander to receive a follow-on assignment was John Wickham, who went on to become Army Chief of Staff from 83-87. His predecessor, John Vessey was given Army Vice Chief of Staff from 79-82, then became Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff from 82-85. The only USFK commander given a follow-on job as regional commander was Dwight Beach as commander US Army Pacific from 66-88. Scaparrotti will be the second to get a follow-on regional command. To complete the list, the first USFK commander. George Decker left USFK to become Army Vice Chief of Staff from 59-60 and Army Chief of Staff from 60-62.
Over the next few weeks there will be more military traffic and personnel in South Korea as part of the Key Resolve and Foal Eagle exercises that begin this week:
South Korea and the United States will launch their largest-ever joint exercise this week to warn North Korea against further provocations, a South Korean military official said Sunday.
The Key Resolve and Foal Eagle exercises running from Monday through April 30 will be the largest in scale since Pyongyang’s torpedo attack on the South Korean corvette Cheonan in 2010, which is what triggered these annual drills, the official said on the condition of anonymity.
This year’s exercise will involve more than 300,000 South Korean and 15,000 U.S. troops and simulate previously unattempted strategies.
The Key Resolve portion of the exercise will include OPLAN 5015, which aims to remove the North’s weapons of mass destruction and prepare the allied troops for a pre-emptive strike in the event of a North Korean attack.
“The OPLAN 5015 was included in the Ulchi-Freedom Guardian (UFG) exercise last year, but this is the first time for it to be carried out in a Key Resolve exercise,” another South Korean military official said. [Yonhap]
You can read more at the link.
