Tag: USFK

Prelude

Between 1966-1970 soldiers stationed on the Korean Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) came in regular contact with North Korean infiltrators probing US military defenses in what became known as the “DMZ War”.  Two examples of such incidents occurred the morning of August 10th, 1967 when North Korean infiltrators conducted two separate ambushes of 2nd and 7th Infantry Division soldiers:

The events that morning began when a 2nd Infantry Division military working dog by the name of “Blackie”, handled by Specialist Jack L. Tyrrell, were leading a squad sized patrol in the early morning hours.  The patrol was sent out at dusk after a sentry during the night had heard a possible North Korean infiltrator near his post.  As the patrol looked for the infiltrator Blackie smelled something suspicious and headed for a nearby tree.  That is when a North Korean infiltrator sprung out from behind the tree and shot Blackie and SPC Tyrrell.

Ambush Prevented

After the initial firing more concealed North Koreans opened fire on the American patrol.  However, the warning provided by Blackie had given the other members of the US patrol time to take cover.  This allowed the Americans the opportunity to immediately return fire at the ambushers.  The North Koreans realizing that their ambush had been compromised withdrew back towards the DMZ.  The ambush cost Blackie his life, but no other Americans were killed with SPC Tyrrell being the only person wounded.

Work Detail Ambush

However, the ambush that Blackie had prematurely triggered was not the only ambush the North Koreans had planned that morning.  US 7th Infantry Division soldiers from B company 2-31 Infantry Regiment had conducted a woodcutting mission inside the South Korean side of the DMZ that morning before returning to their camp for lunch around 11:45 AM.  The soldiers moved south in a two truck convoy up a small hill in a drizzling rain.  Each truck carried a platoon of US soldiers in the back of it.  As the convoy approached the crest of the hill approximately 3-4 North Koreans appeared on the side of the lead truck and lobbed grenades at it.  One of the grenades landed on the hood of the truck and killed the Platoon Sergeant Philip Boudreaux.

After the initial grenade attack more North Koreans opened up on the lead truck with small arms fire.  In the ensuing ambush two more US soldiers, PFC Donald Craplicki and PFC Jerry Skaggs would be killed.  The fatalities could have been much worse if it wasn’t for the actions of Specialist David Richardson who stood up on the back of the truck and returned fire at the ambushers while the other soldiers jumped out over the side of the truck and into an adjacent ditch to take cover.  SPC Richardson was wounded by grenade fragments and shot twice, but incredibly continued to return fire.  The return of fire from Richardson allowed platoon leader 2nd Lieutenant David Colwell who rode in the second truck to organize a response to the ambush.

While soldiers in the second truck took cover Colwell crawled up the hill to the first truck to check on the status of the soldiers. After helping to get wounded soldiers in the ambush zone out of the truck and administering first aid he ran back down the hill to order a soldier to run to a nearby outpost to request reinforcements.  Other soldiers in the second truck then pushed forward to return fire at the ambushers.  The firefight lasted about 30 minutes before the North Koreans withdrew back across the DMZ.  No North Korean bodies were found, but US soldiers reported seeing some of the ambushers shot and blood was later found at the scene.

The aftermath from the ambush left the US with 3 soldiers killed in action, 16 more wounded and one ROK Army Korean Augmentee to the US Army (KATUSA) also wounded.   2LT Colwell would later go on to be recognized with a Bronze Star for his actions that morning.  I could find no record of Specialist Richardson being awarded any valor medals, but it seems like he would have been a great candidate as well.

Ambush Aftermath

A few days after the ambush the United Nations Command officially protested the aggression during the 253rd meeting of the military armistice commission.  During the meeting the UNC spokesman Major General Marvin Demler blasted the North Korean delegation for the deadly attacks.  North Korean spokesman Major General Chung Kuk-pak had the audacity to claim that if any UN soldiers had been killed it was because they shot each other by mistake.  Later in the meeting Maj. Gen. Demler responded to the North Korean subterfuge by saying, “My colleagues and I agree that the proper assessment of this situation is that every ass likes to hear himself bray.”  Demler continued to say that the UNC would “hunt down and kill or capture all North Korean communist intruders.”  Despite Demler’s tough talking the North Koreans would go on two weeks later to launch an even more deadly ambush on Camp Liberty Bell that left 4 soldiers dead and 26 wounded to further escalate the growing DMZ War.

Click the below link for more DMZ Flashpoints articles:

South Korean and U.S. soldiers form an emblem of U.S. military base Camp Casey in Dongducheon, 40 kilometers north of Seoul, on Dec. 21, 2016, as they prepare for the camp’s centennial anniversary next year. The camp turns 100 years old in October 2017. (Photo provided by the Korea-U.S. Combined Division) (Yonhap)

What I found of most interest in this article is that US soldiers are training to look for North Korean “mad scientists”.  Wouldn’t this be something the ROK Army would be better equipped to do then having random patrols of US soldiers in North Korea trying to find these scientists?:

The U.S. soldiers donned gas masks as they cleared building after building after receiving intelligence that North Korean scientists were cooking up chemical weapons in the vicinity.

They found the makeshift lab with beakers and tubes filled with a yellow substance in a room off the icy rooftop of a two-story brick building. It was time to call the 501st CBRNE Company (Technical Escort), a specialized unit trained to deal with weapons of mass destruction.

The scenario was part of a training exercise, but the dangers facing the soldiers stationed near the front lines of the divided peninsula are all too real.

North Korea has demonstrated alarming progress in its nuclear weapons program this year, with two underground atomic explosions and two dozen ballistic missile tests.

But the Stalinist state is believed to have vast stockpiles of other nasty stuff, too.

“North Korea has the full spectrum of all types of chemical and biological weapons … and they’ve weaponized all of it,” Lt. Col. Roberto Salas, commander of the 23rd Chemical Battalion, told Stars and Stripes.  [Stars & Stripes]

You can read more at the link.

The USFK commander is saying there will not be a delay in the deployment of THAAD to Korea, but the ROK opposition parties are using the current Presidential political crisis as an opportunity to stop the deployment:

The commander of the U.S. Forces Korea said Tuesday there will be no delay in the deployment of an advanced U.S. missile shield in South Korea next year.

Opposition parties have stepped up their objection to the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system since the impeachment of President Park Geun-hye last Friday, demanding the decision to introduce THAAD be delayed to the next administration.

“I don’t expect any delays,” Gen. Vincent K. Brooks told Yonhap News Agency when asked if he expected the political crisis to affect the deployment.

He made the remark after a meeting with Defense Minister Han Min-koo at the ministry’s headquarters in Seoul.  [Yonhap]

You can read more at the link.

I don’t think we are going to see the North Koreans do anything serious until the whole President Park fiasco plays out.  They are getting a propaganda coup out of this scandal and have a real chance of having a South Korean left wing politician favorable to North Korea elected as the next President.  A serious provocation cycle could put all of this at risk:

A top U.S. general here warned that North Korea could stage a provocation within two months to test the incoming U.S. administration or take advantage of political instability in Seoul.

Thomas S. Vandal, commander of the Eighth Army, made the remark in a luncheon meeting with senior reporters, citing the communist country’s track record of staging provocations in times of transition of power in Seoul and Washington.

Though there are no specific signs yet, he said, North Korea could raise military tension in an attempt to test President-elect Donald Trump, as Pyongyang has no idea of his policy toward the North.

He also said the North may also be tempted to provoke the South at a time Seoul is transfixed by a sprawling corruption scandal involving President Park Geun-hye and her close confidante.  [Yonhap]

You can read more at the link, but I think the February/March timeframe when the next Key Resolve exercise happens the North Koreans will probably do there normal protests and rhetoric.  However, I don’t expect them to do a serious provocation such as sinking a South Korean ship or launching an artillery strike on a border island like we have seen in the past.

Fortunately it appears no one was seriously hurt from this emergency landing at Osan AB:

A U.S. pilot escaped from a fighter jet after making an emergency landing during an aerial combat exercise, the United States Forces Korea (USFK) said Saturday.

The USFK said a pilot of F-16 Fighting Falcon assigned to the 36th Fighter Squadron successfully escaped from his jet after landing at Osan Air Base in Pyeongtaek, 70 kilometers south of Seoul. The incident occurred at approximately 5 p.m.

The USFK said emergency teams have reached the pilot with authorities trying to determine the cause of the incident.  [Yonhap]

Here is the press release from Osan Airbase that shows that the pilot actually ejected from the aircraft while on the ground:

After landing from a training mission, a U.S. Air Force fighter pilot ejected from an F-16 Fighting Falcon

assigned to the 36th Fighter Squadron at approximately 5 p.m.

The pilot was taken to the 51st Medical Group clinic and was listed in good condition.

“We are relieved that our Mustang pilot ejected safely, and is now in the good hands of our medical team,”

said Col. Andrew Hansen, 51st Fighter Wing commander. “We are currently focused on thoroughly

investigating the cause of this incident in order to minimize the chances of it happening again in the future.”

A board of officers will investigate the accident as part of a safety investigation board.  [Osan AB]

South Korean Defense Minister Han Min-koo (6th from L, 2nd row) and U.S. Forces Korea’s top commander Vincent Brooks (5th from L, 2nd row) pose for a photo with a group of soldiers as they visit a South Korean-U.S. combined division in Dongducheon, north of Seoul, on Nov. 29, 2016, to check up South Korean and U.S. troops’ joint readiness to better cope with threats posed by North Korea, in this photo released by the defense ministry. The division consists of a brigade from the South Korean Army and the U.S. 2nd Infantry Division, with each entity to carry out normal duties in its assigned area during peacetime. (Yonhap)

Via a reader tip comes news that ROK government held a meeting with USFK to address changes they want made to the US-ROK Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA):

South Korea and the United States on Tuesday had a joint committee meeting to discuss various issues on their agreement governing the legal status of American forces stationed in South Korea, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Tuesday.

The 197th joint committee meeting of the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA), which defines areas of legal responsibility of the 28,000-strong U.S. soldiers here, was held at the foreign ministry in Seoul. The SOFA meeting is held once or twice a year, and this was the first time since last December that South Korea and the U.S. officials convened.

The foreign ministry said Yeo Seung-bae, the foreign ministry’s director-general for North America and his counterpart Thomas Bergeson, deputy commander of the U.S. Forces Korea (USFK), touched on issues such as education of American forces on local law and customs, the USFK’s stable employment of South Korean workers and environmental problems near the U.S. bases here.

The ministry added that the two sides also talked about implementation measures taken after a live anthrax sample from a U.S. military laboratory was shipped to a local military base by mistake and caused alarm bells to go off in the country last year.

The meeting took place before U.S. President-elect Donald Trump — one of whose campaign pledges was to have allies, including South Korea, pay more for American troops stationed in those countries — took over the White House.  [Yonhap]

You can read more at the link, but the ROKs are still complaining about the oil leak issue in the Seoul subway system they have been blaming on Yongsan Garrison for years now.  You would think if the oil leak was coming from Yongsan they would have found it by now.  The other thing in the article that caught my attention was that they are still complaining about GI crimes.  The article even states that the US military crime rate has steadily dropped since 2010 from an already extremely low crime rate compared to the surrounding Korean population.

You can read more about the US-ROK SOFA at the below link:

https://www.rokdrop.net/2008/02/gi-myths-the-unfair-us-rok-sofa-agreement/

I bet these soldiers learned that making kimchi is actually a lot of work:

A group of soldiers got a taste of Korea when they joined local volunteers Thursday to make kimchi for needy people while building community relations.

The 40 soldiers from the Fort Sills, Okla.-based 2-18 Field Artillery Battalion rotated into South Korea last month to join the 210th Field Artillery Brigade, which is stationed near the border with North Korea.

For many, this was their first excursion into the city and their first taste of the traditional fermented side dish made of vegetables and seasonings, not to mention making it.

“It was fun making something new and unique,” Pfc. Billy Stephenson, 20, of Port Arthur, Texas, said before lining up for a hard-earned lunch.  [Stars & Stripes]

You can read more at the link.

If you were one of the people affected by Amazon’s glitch preventing some servicemembers in South Korea from placing orders, it has since been fixed:

Most servicemembers can again place orders with Amazon after the online retailer’s website blocked some shoppers from completing their purchases for several days.

With the holidays fast approaching, U.S. soldiers and others who use the military postal system in South Korea were shocked to find themselves unable to order from Amazon.com.

The problem was limited to certain zip codes and appeared to mainly affect South Korea, although problems also were reported in Italy.

Servicemembers quickly formed a Facebook group to share information and coordinate their response. Many reached out to Amazon’s customer service department only to be told repeatedly about the company’s shipping policy and restricted items.

But the online retailer was listening, and the problem was fixed for most on Sunday afternoon. [Stars & Stripes]

You can read more at the link.