USFK Pilots Training Off Peninsula

I don’t know about you, but trips to Thailand to train doesn’t sound to bad to me:

Six A-10 fighters deployed at Osan Air Base in Gyeonggi Province recently moved to Thailand for training before returning to their base in Korea, a source with the USFK said. USFK pilots have gone to U.S. air bases in Alaska, Thailand and Japan for training before, but the duration and frequency of training outside Korea is growing due to controversy over the bomber range, he added. A total of 20 A-10 jets nicknamed ¿Tank Killer¿ are deployed in Korea.

Sources also said U.S. pilots have increasingly sought to avoid postings with the USFK since August, when the old Maehyang-ni bomber range was shut down after years of complaints from locals. Performance in aerial bombing drills has a direct impact on the promotion of pilots.

It costs plenty of time and money for USFK pilots to train elsewhere, a military official here said, and this could eventually lead to questions being asked in the U.S. press or the Congress. That in turn could mean the U.S. Air Force moves elsewhere, the official said. Rumsfeld, in the 37th Security Consultative Meeting last October in Seoul, already indicated that could happen if Korea is unwilling to provide adequate training facilities for its pilots.

I guess it does make sense that training scores do reflect on their officer evaluation reports.  However, the ball is clearly on the Korean’s side of the court to do something about this bombing range fiasco.  Of all things in the US-ROK alliance that the Koreans cannot afford to lose is the US Air Force and yet here they are jerking around the Air Force.  It is really unbelievable.