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.
The ROK must be getting worried about the possibility of a Trump presidency because they are definitely out defending themselves lately in regards to how much they pay in defense costs:
Seoul’s Defense Ministry says that South Korea is making a considerable financial contribution to the U.S. military presence on the Korean Peninsula.
Ministry spokesman Moon Sang-gyun made the comment during a regular briefing Thursday after U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump hinted at a renegotiation of defense costs with U.S. allies.
Moon said that although it was inappropriate to assess Trump’s remarks at the briefing, Washington acknowledges Seoul’s considerable monetary contribution to shared defense expenses. The spokesman said that U.S. Ambassador to Seoul Mark Lippert also recently made a remark acknowledging this fact.
Regarding signs that North Korea is preparing for a large-scale artillery drill using a replica of the South Korean presidential office on a shooting range near Pyongyang, Moon said that signs pointing to such drills have been continuously detected.
During a major foreign policy speech Wednesday, Trump said that if elected president, he would call for a summit with Asian allies to discuss a rebalancing of financial commitments. [KBS World Radio]
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]
Here are the USFK court martial results and ROK criminal prosecutions for March 2016. For whatever reason the PAO did not post the February 2016 results. Anyway there was a lot of incidents adjudicated in March which included mostly sexual assault and petty larceny cases. I wonder what all the people convicted of larceny were caught doing?
Results of US Court-Martials for March 2016
On 1 March 2016, at a Special Court-Martial, SGT Eliejaiah I. Belton, Headquarters and Headquarters Battalion, Eighth Army, was found guilty of one specification of abusive sexual contact (Article 120, UCMJ), two specifications of assault consummated by a battery (Article 128), one specification of unlawful entry (Article 134), one specification of adultery (Article 134), one specification of wearing improper uniform (Article 134), four specifications of maltreatment of a subordinate (Article 93), and one specification of violating a lawful general regulation (Article 92). He was sentenced to be reduced to the grade of E-1, to forfeit $687 per month for three months, and to be confined for three months.
On 2 March 2016, at a General Court-Martial, SGT Patrick L. Clark, 6th Ordinance Battalion, Materiel Support Command-Korea, was found guilty of one specification of committing a sexual assault and one specification of committing an abusive sexual contact (Article 120, UCMJ). He was sentenced to be confined for 25 months and to be discharged from the service with a dishonorable discharge.
On 11 March 2016, at a Summary Court-Martial, PVT Richard E. Potter, 6th Battalion, 37th Field Artillery Regiment, 210th Field Artillery Brigade, was found guilty of one specification of assault consummated by battery (Article 128, UCMJ). He was sentenced to forfeiture of $696.00 pay per month for one month and to be restricted for 45 days.
On 12 March 2016, at a Special Court-Martial, SFC Jeffrey L. Cupitt, 1st Signal Brigade, was found guilty of one specification of larceny of government property of a value over $500 (Article 121, UCMJ) and four specifications of false official statement (Article 107). He was sentenced to be confined for four months and to be reprimanded.
On 14 March 2016, at a Special Court-Martial, SGT Maria E. Rosario, 121 Combat Support Hospital, 65th Medical Brigade, was found guilty of two specifications of larceny, each of a value under $500 (Article 121, UCMJ). She was sentenced to be reduced to the grade of E-3, and to be restricted for 60 days.
On 24 March 2016, at a General Court-Martial, SPC Danny J. Jackson, 498th Combat Sustainment Support Battalion, Materiel Support Command-Korea, was found guilty of one specification of sexual assault and one specification of abusive sexual contact (Article 120, UCMJ), one specification of false official statement (Article 107), and two specifications of assault consummated by a battery (Article 128). He was sentenced to be reduced to the grade of E-1, to forfeit all pay and allowances, to be confined for twelve months, and to be discharged from the service with a dishonorable discharge.
On 31 March 2016, at a Special Court-Martial, SGM Terrence S. Ellies, Headquarters and Headquarters Battalion, Eighth Army, was found guilty of one specification of larceny of military property of under $500 (Article 121, UCMJ), and three specifications of false official statement (Article 107). He was sentenced to be reprimanded, to pay a fine of $1,200, and to forfeit $4,644 per month for two months.
On 31 March 2016, at a General Court-Martial, SSG Thomas M. Weekly, 194th Combat Sustainment Support Battalion, 2d Infantry Division Sustainment Brigade, was found guilty of two specifications of assault consummated by a battery (Article 128, UCMJ) and unlawful entry (Article 134). He was sentenced to be reduced to the grade of E-4, and to be confined for 6 months.
Results of ROK Criminal Prosecutions for March 2016
In Busan District Court, on 2 March 2016, SFC Curtis W. Turner, B Co, 532d MI Bn, was convicted of DUI. His adjudged sentence was a 1,000,000 Won fine.
In Suwon District Court, on 23 March 2016, SPC Shanna C. S. McLaurin, HHC, 304th ESB, USAG Humphreys, was convicted of traffic law violations. Her adjudged sentence was a 3,000,000 Won fine.
That is what the popular Air Force blog JQ Public believes:
Last year, commanders at Osan Air Base in Korea decided to install high-definition, 24/7 surveillance cameras in the common areas of dormitories housing some 3,000 airmen. The rationale stated at the time was, generically, the safety of those airmen. Not litigated at the time was whether the cost of the new capability would be offset by the marginal gain in safety, but such debates are rarely entertained in such an authoritarian system. Ideas are presumed valid, good, and lawful the instant they gain command sponsorship.
Fast forward a year and the system has predictably loosed from its “safety” moorings and morphed into a tool for the control and criminalization of the base’s junior airmen. Over the past few weeks, we’ve received several reports that commanders are not using video footage merely to aid in criminal investigations after a report of wrongdoing, but are proactively reviewing all footage to scan for unreported wrongdoing.
For many, the new policy feels like pre-emptive criminalization — demonstrating that the chain of command is not genuinely concerned about safety or well-being so much as it cares about nailing airmen for innocuous or minor transgressions that would normally fall well below the threshold of official notice. [JQ Public Blog]
You can read much more at the link and it is an interesting debate. However, overall I like the cameras in regards to being a tool that can be used to collect evidence if a crime in the dorms was to occur. However, I don’t think the cameras should be used as a substitute for leadership presence in the dorms. Instead reviewing hours of video tape leaders should instead be walking in the dorms and communicating with their troops instead.
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.
