Category: USFK

The CFC has finally completed its move from Yongsan Garrison:

The combined command that defends South Korea officially opened the doors on a new headquarters Tuesday, nearly three years after beginning its relocation from Seoul.

The Republic of Korea-United States Combined Forces Command now resides at Camp Humphreys, Pyeongtaek, after 44 years at Yongsan Garrison in Seoul. Republic of Korea is the official name for South Korea.

Humphreys, the largest U.S. military base overseas, now serves as the headquarters for U.S. Forces Korea, U.N. Command and the Combined Forces Command. Roughly 28,500 U.S. troops are stationed in South Korea, the majority of them at Humphreys.

USFK commander Gen. Paul LaCamera and Defense Minister Lee Jong-sup during a ceremony at the new headquarters welcomed soldiers from both countries and thanked them for their help in maintaining the South Korea-U.S. alliance.

Since its creation in 1978, the Combined Forces Command coordinates the defense of South Korea with troops from Seoul and Washington. The command has operational control of over 700,000 active-duty U.S. and South Korean troops.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link.

I don’t think I have heard of a squadron commander getting fired this quickly:

The commander of the 8th Maintenance Group at Kunsan Air Base in South Korea has been fired after just four months on the job, a unit spokeswoman confirmed Saturday.

Air Force Col. Jay Bertsch was let go Oct. 11 and reassigned outside the unit due to a “loss of confidence” in his abilities, 8th Fighter Wing spokeswoman Capt. Paige Hankerson said in a statement emailed to Stars and Stripes. 

The Air Force Times was first to report on Bertsch’s removal on Friday.

“As a reflection of the importance of our mission and responsibility leaders bear to guide airmen, the Wolf Pack holds its leaders to a high standard,” Hankerson said, referring to the wing’s mascot. “Out of respect for the member and due to the legal process, no further information is to be provided at this time.”

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link.

This is a big change going from armored to a Stryker Brigade in South Korea. It will be interesting to see if the Army keeps rotating Stryker units to South Korea:

A Stryker Brigade Combat Team from the 2nd Infantry Division arrived in South Korea on Saturday as part of the Army’s annual rotational force in the country.

Stryker vehicles and other equipment from the 2nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team were offloaded at the Port of Pyeongtaek near Camp Humphreys, according to a news release from 8th Army on Friday. The base is the home of U.S. Forces Korea, U.N. Command, 8th Army and the 2nd Infantry Division.

The division announced in July that the team out of Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Wash., would replace the 1st Armored Brigade Combat Team, 1st Armored Division from Fort Bliss, Texas, which will be returning home after a nine-month tour in South Korea.

Roughly 4,000 soldiers are attached to Stryker brigade combat teams. Centered on Stryker vehicles that can be configured for narrowly defined missions, they are able to perform with fewer resources than armored brigade combat teams.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link.

This is an important upgrade that allows the Patriot firing batteries spread across South Korea to use tracking data provided by the much more powerful THAAD radar to better intercept North Korean missiles:

U.S. Forces Korea has delivered equipment that will add functionality to a missile-defense system stationed on the peninsula and better “protect the South Korean people from North Korea’s missile threats,” according to a statement from the Ministry of National Defense on Friday. 

The new equipment will provide “better performance” for the Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense, or THAAD, system by “improving interoperability” between it and the United States’ Patriot missile system, the statement said.

Interoperability is a term often used by the military to describe the ability of a country’s armed forces to use another country’s training methods and equipment. 

Another THAAD system was not delivered as part of the package, the ministry added. The new equipment will replace parts in the existing system, and the older equipment will be returned to the United States. 

South Korea’s alliance with the U.S. is more prepared to respond to the North’s “advanced nuclear and missile threats” because of the THAAD upgrade, the Eighth Army’s deputy commander, Gen. Mark Holler, said in the statement. THAAD is defensive system that will not “interfere with strategic and security interests of neighbor countries,” he added. 

U.S. missile defense agencies have worked toward integrating the Patriot and THAAD systems for at least two years. Multiple tests in 2020 attempted to provide THAAD-generated tracking data on a simulated target to a Patriot system, which would then intercept the target.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link.

This is pretty much the last thing that needed to move off of Yongsan Garrison:

The headquarters of the South Korea-U.S. Combined Forces Command (CFC) will relocate to Camp Humphreys in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi, this month, ending a four-decade presence in Seoul’s Yongsan District.    
   
The South Korean Defense Ministry said Tuesday that the relocation of the CFC’s headquarters is expected to wrap up by the end of the month.    
   
“Through the relocation, the CFC plans to establish an even stronger combined defense system based on a strengthened alliance spirit and operational efficiency in Pyeongtaek, the new cradle of the alliance,” the ministry said in a statement. (……)

Approximately 700 South Korean and U.S. personnel currently serving at the CFC’s Yongsan headquarters will begin moving to Camp Humphreys starting early this month, while the CFC plans to hold a ceremony in November marking the end of the command’s era in Yongsan.   

Joong Ang Ilbo

You can read more at the link.

Condolences to the friends and family of the Soldier killed in this accident:

One American soldier was killed and another injured after their vehicle struck a guardrail on a road in Pyeongtaek early Sunday.

Spc. Dajour Cleveland, 23, was killed in the collision near Osan Air Base, according to an emailed statement from Eighth Army spokesman Lt. Col. Neil Penttila. 

Cleveland was a signal support systems specialist attached to the 94th Military Police Battalion, 19th Expeditionary Sustainment Command, at Camp Humphreys.

“We are fully cooperating with the Korean National Police to determine the cause of the traffic accident and thank first responders for their efforts at the scene,” the statement said.

The driver, an unidentified American soldier, was being treated for injuries at Camp Humphreys on Monday, a Pyeongtaek Police investigator told Stars and Stripes by phone the same day. South Korean officials customarily speak to media under the condition of anonymity.

The collision occurred on a curved, two-lane road at around 12:50 a.m., the investigator said. The privately owned vehicle is believed by investigators to have collided with the guardrail on the right-side of the road.

The driver “appears to have not been turning well to the direction he wanted to go,” the investigator said. He said an investigation into the cause of the crash is underway.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link.