Tag: 2nd Infantry Division

The deputy commanding general of the 2nd Infantry Division has his game face on as he receives an award from the 2ID commander Major General Martin:

A Korean two-star general has received a U.S. military award for his contribution to the ROK-U.S. Combined Division.

According to the Army, Thursday, Maj. Gen. Yin Sung-hwan, the commander of the 56th Infantry Division, got the Legion of Merit ― a decoration issued to members of the U.S. Armed Forces as well as to military personnel of foreign nations.

The Combined Division, comprised of the 2nd Infantry Division (2ID) of the Eighth U.S. Army and the 16th Brigade from the ROK Army, was established in 2015 to effectively contain North Korea’s weapons of mass destruction. Yin served as the deputy commander for one year. The division is headed by the 2ID commander.  [Korea Times]

You can read more at the link.

This is the first time I have heard of something like this happening:

A 57-year-old South Korean security guard was found dead in an apparent suicide at a U.S. military base in Ujeongbu, South Korea, on Thursday, police said.

The officer, identified only by his last name Cha, was found with a gunshot wound in his head by a colleague at a guard post in the U.S. 2nd Infantry Division in Uijeongbu, north of Seoul, at around 1:20 a.m.

He was rushed to a nearby hospital but was pronounced dead.

In the 3.3-square-meter sentry post, a 45-caliber revolver provided by U.S. Forces Korea (USFK) for security purposes was found, they said. Cha was working alone when the incident took place.

He left what was seen as a suicide note at the site, referring to debts he was suffering from, according to police. Police said they will investigate the details of the incident based on testimonies from Cha’s colleagues and the bereaved family.  [Korea Times]

Here are some new MRAPs that should soon be seen being used by the 2nd Infantry Division:

The Army is sending more than 100 Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicles to South Korea to boost troop protection capabilities as tensions rise on the divided peninsula.

The decision is a reversal after a 2012 feasibility study found that MRAPs — famous for saving countless lives from roadside bombs in Iraq and Afghanistan — weren’t suitable for maneuver battalions in South Korea.

The 8th Army says it began fielding MRAPs and smaller versions known as M-ATVs in late December and was on track to complete the deployment to multiple locations by the end of February.  [Stars & Stripes]

You can read more at the link.

South Korean and U.S. soldiers form an emblem of U.S. military base Camp Casey in Dongducheon, 40 kilometers north of Seoul, on Dec. 21, 2016, as they prepare for the camp’s centennial anniversary next year. The camp turns 100 years old in October 2017. (Photo provided by the Korea-U.S. Combined Division) (Yonhap)

South Korean Defense Minister Han Min-koo (6th from L, 2nd row) and U.S. Forces Korea’s top commander Vincent Brooks (5th from L, 2nd row) pose for a photo with a group of soldiers as they visit a South Korean-U.S. combined division in Dongducheon, north of Seoul, on Nov. 29, 2016, to check up South Korean and U.S. troops’ joint readiness to better cope with threats posed by North Korea, in this photo released by the defense ministry. The division consists of a brigade from the South Korean Army and the U.S. 2nd Infantry Division, with each entity to carry out normal duties in its assigned area during peacetime. (Yonhap)

The 2nd Infantry Division headquarters will move to Camp Humphreys in Pyeongtaek next year which means Camp Red Cloud will be closed and redeveloped:

A U.S. military base in Uijeongbu in Gyeonggi Province will be turned into tourist facilities after U.S. forces there move to Pyeongtaek, the city government said Wednesday.

The U.S. Army’s 2nd Infantry Division (2ID) stationed at Camp Red Cloud (CRC) is scheduled to be moved to Camp Humphreys in Pyeongtaek next year in accordance with Seoul and Washington’s plans to relocate the U.S. Forces Korea (USFK). Pyeongtaek is located 70 kilometers south of the capital.

“We will come up with detailed plans by February 2018 to turn CRC into a tourist complex,” the city said in a release. “Toward that end, we recently commissioned a study to a private, specialized company.”

Once the 628,000 square meters of land are vacated, the city is planning to create a complex in which visitors can learn about Korea’s modern and contemporary history as well as the importance of national security.

The city is also considering using records related to the Korean War, World War II and the Vietnam War, currently stored in a CRC war museum.

After detailed plans are prepared and a feasibility and profitability study is conducted, the city will ask the central government to lead in the construction.

The city expects the envisioned complex will be especially attractive to tourists, together with another cultural complex there whose construction is scheduled to be completed in 2018. The cultural complex will host a Pororo theme park, featuring the popular animated character, and family hotels as well as YG Entertainment’s YG Global K-Pop Cluster. [Korea Times via a reader tip]

You can read more at the link, but a history complex and a Pororo Theme Park to me seems like it does not go together very well.  Plus Korea already has so many museums that another one in Uijongbu will not drive tourism to the city.  The government should turn the whole thing into a giant Pororo Theme Park which would drive tourism to Uijongbu and further develop that part of the city.  As it is right now Koreans really don’t have a reason to go to Uijongbu and a Pororo Theme Park would give Korean families a good reason to visit.

The Secretary of the Army recently got a hands on experience with the great soldiers of the 2nd Infantry Division in South Korea:

The Army’s new civilian leader has taken a real hands-on approach during his first tour of the Pacific, even firing a rocket from a Kiowa helicopter during a demonstration flight near the border with North Korea.

But it’s the real military drills held regularly by the U.S. and its allies that impressed him the most.

Army Secretary Eric Fanning kicked off his visit to the region in Hawaii where multinational naval exercises were being held and wrapped it up in South Korea where the U.S. and its ally are preparing for annual war games later this month.

“Those integrated exercises are one of the ways we’re enhancing our capabilities as we draw down the Army,” Fanning told Stars and Stripes in an interview Wednesday.

Fanning said his trip, which also included stops in Guam, Malaysia, Japan and Alaska, highlighted the challenges facing the Army as it deals with budget constraints, aging equipment and a massive troop drawdown.

“We’re asking a lot of our soldiers, and the requirements are going up, and you see more of that here certainly on this peninsula,” he said after meeting with soldiers from the 2nd Infantry Division that mans the front lines near the heavily militarized border with North Korea.

“Part of that is the rotational concept that we’re using, which allows us to have a bigger footprint even as we draw down the Army,” he said.  [Stars & Stripes]

You can read more at the link.

Condolences to the family of this deceased 2ID soldier:

 A 2nd Infantry Division soldier was found dead over the weekend in her apartment north of Seoul.

Sgt. Jacqueline M. Anderson, 26, of Leesville, La., died Sunday afternoon in her Dongducheon residence, a 2ID press release said. Cause of death is still under investigation.

Anderson’s husband asked a neighbor to call police after finding her unconscious, said a police official in Dongducheon, home to Camp Casey and other U.S. bases near the border with North Korea. She was already dead when officers arrived, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the ongoing investigation.

Anderson, assigned to Headquarters and Headquarters Battery, 1st Battalion, 38th Field Artillery Regiment, 210th Field Artillery Brigade, was stationed in Dongducheon with her husband, Sgt. Carl William Anderson, who is also with the 210th Field Artillery Brigade.  [Stars & Stripes]

Soldiers of the 2-8 Cavalry Regiment affiliated with the U.S. Army’s 2nd Infantry Division unfurl the unit’s colors at Camp Humphreys in the city of Pyeongtaek, south of Seoul, on July 18, 2016, as they take part in a ceremony to hoist them following the unit’s relocation from Dongducheon, north of Seoul, in this photo released by the division. The relocation is part of a plan to move U.S. bases north of Seoul to Pyeongtaek, 70 kilometers southeast of the capital, by the end of 2017. (Yonhap)

It is finally happening which is amazing considering how many years we have been hearing that this was going to happen.

 U.S. forces in South Korea are finally starting to move to their new headquarters south of Seoul, although the much-delayed expansion of Camp Humphreys won’t be finished for several years.

First up is the Fort Hood, Texas-based 2nd Battalion, 8th Cavalry Regiment, which is packing up and redeploying south this week from the mountainous area near the border with North Korea.

Soldiers loaded Abrams tanks and other armored vehicles on flat rail cars Thursday, taking advantage of a new railhead at Humphreys and using late-night convoys to avoid worsening Seoul’s tangled traffic. One whistled the theme song from “M*A*S*H,” a long-running TV series about the Korean War that was set in the area. A separate train was carrying soldiers to Humphreys along with the vehicles so they could jump out to fight if needed.

Several units, including the 304th Signal Battalion and military police, have already redeployed to Camp Humphreys — which will be spread over more than 3,500 acres near the port city of Pyeongtaek.

But the 2nd Battalion, 8th Cavalry, will be the vanguard of the historic move by the 2nd Infantry Division, which has been stationed near the world’s most heavily militarized border for decades.  [Stars & Stripes]

You can read the rest at the link.  Just think this was supposed to be completed back in 2008.  According to the article USFK officials have declined to give an end date of when the move will be complete and instead call it conditions based.