Tag: USFK

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]

A U.S. Army Stryker armored personnel carrier (L) and a South Korean Army K-200 armored vehicle mobilize as soldiers of the two allies take part in a street combat drill at the Rodriguez complex in the city of Pocheon, northeast of Seoul, on March 15, 2016. (Yonhap) (END)

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.

Via a reader tip comes this article stating that US and ROK forces are possibly exercising beheading strikes against the Kim regime during the current Foal Eagle/Key Resolve exercise:

Massive joint U.S.-South Korea military exercises are a spring ritual on the Korean Peninsula guaranteed to draw a lot of threat-laced venom from Pyongyang. This time, not only are the war games the biggest ever, but the troops now massed south of the Demilitarized Zone have reportedly incorporated a new hypothetical into their training: a “beheading mission” against Kim Jong Un himself.

It’s the kind of option military planners tend to consider but almost never use. Neither the U.S. military nor South Korea’s defense ministry has actually said it is part of the Key Resolve-Foal Eagle exercises that began this week and will go on for about two months.

But Pyongyang, already feeling the squeeze of new sanctions over its recent nuclear test and rocket launch, is taking a plethora of “beheading mission” reports from the South Korean media very seriously. That goes a long way toward explaining why its own rhetoric has ratcheted up a decibel — even by its own standards of bellicosity. It could also explain some subtle rejiggering afoot in the North’s military strategy.  [Business Insider]

You can read the rest at the link.

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.

“A Profile” is a continuing series of articles here on the ROK Drop that describes each of the different US military installations in Korea and the corresponding “villes” outside of the gate.  You can learn more about these locations at the below links:

• Bosandong Ville In Donguducheon (2011)
• Camp Bosan AKA TDC Ville (2025)
• Camps Casey, Hovey, Nimble, Mobile, Castle, & Kwangsa-ri
• Camps Kyle, Sears, Essayons, LaGuardia, & Falling Water
• Camp Kyle & Camp Sears (2020)
• Camp Casey (2025)
• Camp Mobile
• Camp Mujuk
• Camp Page
• Camp Red Cloud (2005)
• Camp Stanley
• Korea Training Center (KTC)
• The “TDC Ville” (2007)
• Teokgeo-ri Ville
• Uijeongbu
• Western Corridor Camps
• Western Korean Demilitarized Zone
• Yongsan Garrison, Camp Kim, Camp Coiner, Camp Jackson & Camp Market

Note: If anyone wants to contribute an article to this series feel free to send it to me using the “Contact” link above.  If it is of high enough quality I will publish it here on the ROK Drop.  I would particularly like to publish articles about camps that are now closed.  If you have served on a now closed camp and would like to share your thoughts and pictures of your time on the camp please write an article and send it to me or post it in the Forums.

Here is an article that talks how much former 8th Army Commander LTG Campbell appreciated his time in Korea:

Late former 8th U.S. Army commander Charles Campbell considered it one of his greatest honors that he was given a Korean name meaning defender of Korea while serving with the Asian ally, his family said Friday.

Campbell, who commanded the 8th Army from 2002 to 2006, died Feb. 8 of an illness at age 68.

“General Campbell often commented that one of his greatest honors was when the South Korea-U.S. Alliance Friendship Group gifted him with the name ‘Kim, Han-su,’” his family said in an obituary carried by the Shreveport Times and other local media.

“His Korean name means ‘the great defender and protector of Korean freedom and peace.’ General Campbell reserved a special place in his heart for the people of South Korea and especially General Paik Sun-yup, South Korea’s greatest hero of the Korean War,” the family said.

Paik, the South Korean Army’s first four-star general, provided Campbell “with guidance and counsel that was invaluable to him during his many commands in Korea,” the obituary said.

Campbell’s memorial service is scheduled for Feb. 22 at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Shreveport. [Korea Times]

This photo taken on Feb. 19, 2016 shows the U.S. Naval Forces Korea building inside South Korea’s naval base in the southeastern coastal city of Busan, which was relocated from Seoul’s Yongsan Garrison. (Yonhap)

It looks like the ROK and the US are looking to make a strong statement to North Korea on the status of the US-ROK alliance:

The annual Korea-U.S. joint exercises will be the largest ever in terms of both “quality and quantity,” Defense Minister Han Min-goo told Saenuri Party officials at the National Assembly on Thursday.

Twice as many U.S. troops and double the equipment as before, or about 15,000 U.S. troops and hardware like a combat aviation brigade, a Marine mobile brigade, an aircraft carrier fleet, a nuclear-powered submarine fleet, and aerial refueling tankers, will be participating in the drills dubbed “Key Resolve/Foal Eagle.”

On the Korean side, the troop numbers will be greater by half than usual at 290,000 personnel, including special operations forces, Army corps in the front-line areas, and Army divisions in the rear areas.

The exercises are aimed at ensuring that troop reinforcements from the mainland U.S. are integrated smoothly on the Korean Peninsula in an emergency.  [Chosun Ilbo]

You can read the rest at the link.