Unaccompanied Soldiers in Seven Career Fields to See Their Tours Extended in South Korea
Some Army MOS’s will soon have longer tours in South Korea which makes sense considering how much quality of life has improved in recent years at Camp Humphreys. It is not like Soldiers in South Korea are living in quonset huts any more. Two year unaccompanied tours brings South Korea in line with other Army overseas locations:
The U.S. Army has doubled the tour length for single soldiers serving in certain roles on the Korean Peninsula. Unaccompanied soldiers, or those who serve without a spouse or dependents on location, are expected to serve in South Korea for two years starting Aug. 1, according to an Army Publishing Directorate memo that day.
The policy applies to soldiers within seven career fields: air traffic control operators, UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter repairers, working military dog handlers, counterintelligence agents, signal intelligence analysts, and enlisted and warrant officer special agents in the Criminal Investigation Division.
You can read more at the link.
1943:
1953:
1968:
2024:
UNACCOMPANIED SOLDIERS IN SEVEN CAREER FIELDS TO SEE THEIR TOURS EXTENDED IN SOUTH KOREA
Looks like military “leadership” fell for the clickbait.
MAKE THE DIVORCE RATE MORE THAN DOUBLE WHAT I WAS ON A ONE-YEAR UNACCOMPANIED TOUR WITH THIS ONE SIMPLE TRICK
Two year remotes. That is insane.
“Size of the U.S. Military: Approximately 1.3 million active-duty personnel (with additional numbers in the National Guard and Reserves, bringing the total to about 2 million)”
Around 2015 they changed the policy for deployments for Guard and Reserve. Once they hit you with a deployment (6 months advance notice) you can’t get out until after (IOW, can’t pull a Walz). They were desperate for manpower then, and more so now.
Who on earth is going to stay in?
They should just make all of those extended assignments accompanied. Because whatever they think they are going to gain in manpower is going to be more than lost on good will and morale.
@Liz, the vast majority of assignments to South Korea if you have a family is accompanied. Some Soldiers decide to not bring their families which is their choice. For continuity and cost that is why these personnel are now doing two years. Other overseas locations like Japan and Germany require unaccompanied Soldiers to do two years as well. An assignment to USFK is just being brought in line with other OCONUS locations.
“Some Soldiers decide to not bring their families which is their choice”
Interesting…in the USAF, for us, there was no choice (late 90s). An unaccompanied assignment was considered a “remote” and if they tagged you for it, you left your family and went.
We didn’t have kids yet, so I moved there and we lived off base.
And all this will be no more, once Trump comes to power. You will all be shipped back home to Texas, or laid off/discharged. I imagine fewer troops will be needed when the US withdraws all its overseas forces. So that should fix this.
A massive hammer with no overseas use? What could possibly go wrong!
For real, war with the cartels is long over due and has bipartisan support.
War against internal enemies also creeps up on the horizons.
Troop levels are unlikely to decline.
@Liz, the most common reason I have seen for someone not bringing their family overseas with them is to allow their kid to finish high school at the same location. Two years is a long time to be doing this, but some people do it.
I have even seen this in CONUS locations where someone is a geobachelor to give their kids stability at the prior location. I even knew a First Sergeant who was a geobachelor and lived in a travel trailer he pulled behind his pickup.
From my organization’s perspective, this is a step in the right direction. I work on Camp Humphreys and these MIL on one year tours are just killing us.
Between absences for schools, training, PME, NCO academies, injuries followed by months of physical therapy and we’re lucky to get 6 months of actual work out of most of them depending where they are in their career.
Another fairly new factor at play here is paternity leave. We have one active duty NCO who was non-volled out here and came here w/o his spouse because she’s pregnant and will be giving birth right after the exercise (now public information). So he’s going home for the birth of his child and will stay there on paternity leave for 3 months. Plus he came to us with 30 days of use or lose, so add another month he won’t be here while he’s burning that.
For perspective (and for those who don’t know), civilians are here for 5 years now*, a very recent increase from the previous 3 yr tour length. And contractors can stay here forever; some have been in our office since the ’90s.
* with the option to extend to 7
“I have even seen this in CONUS locations where someone is a geobachelor to give their kids stability at the prior location. I even knew a First Sergeant who was a geobachelor and lived in a travel trailer he pulled behind his pickup”
We’ve done this, but never for an overseas assignment. I just know so many people who have been slapped with one year remotes (everywhere). One year is a very long time. If kids can accompany it’s not a big deal to buy a plane ticket and live off base, but when we were there those kids would not be able to go to the DOD schools on a remote assignment due to resource constraints. They wouldn’t get housing allowance for a family either.
I’ll defer to your judgement(s) this is a good idea.
Have a son deployed right now for 6 months in the ME. 2 months to go if all goes right, knock on wood.
He has a wife, and even 6 months is a very long time (though for the most part the ME is not like the ROK, they can’t leave base or anything).
“The U.S. Army has doubled the tour length for single soldiers serving in certain roles on the Korean Peninsula. Unaccompanied soldiers, or those who serve without a spouse or dependents on location, are expected to serve in South Korea for two years “
Which one is it, single soldiers or unaccompanied soldiers? It is not the same thing. Many unaccompanied soldiers are leaving a spouse and children behind when when come to Korea.
Speaking for myself, I did two involuntary unaccompanied tours to Korea, and both times I was disapproved for command sponsorship of my dependents. If the Army had sent me for two years unaccompanied, I probably wouldn’t have re-enlisted.
“civilians are here for 5 years now, … And contractors can stay here forever… “
— By their own choice. I’m a contractor, I can leave anytime I want. Not so when I was active duty.