Lt. Gen. Willard “Bill” Burleson, left, is Eighth Army’s new commanding general following a change-of-command ceremony on Camp Humphreys, South Korea, on Oct. 2, 2020.
Lt. Gen. Willard “Bill” Burleson III assumed command of the Eighth Army on Friday, stressing the need for U.S. and South Korean troops “to train rigorously and realistically” to maintain readiness on the divided peninsula.
Wearing a camouflage mask to match his uniform and ward off the coronavirus, Burleson accepted the Eighth Army colors from Lt. Gen. Michael Bills during a ceremony in a gym on Camp Humphreys, the Army’s main headquarters in South Korea.
The change of command occurred amid fears of renewed tensions as U.S.-led nuclear talks with North Korea have stalled. Many experts have predicted that the North may conduct a missile test or another provocation in connection with the upcoming U.S. presidential election.
“Eighth Army’s presence here in Korea and in the Pacific certainly sends a strong signal, not just to the Republic of Korea but to our regional allies on the United States commitment to deterring our potential adversaries,” Burleson said during the ceremony, which was streamed live on Facebook.
Civilians will continue to be the weak link in USFK’s coronavirus prevention efforts because they don’t have to follow the same rules as US military servicemembers:
A U.S. military contractor working at Eighth Army headquarters on Camp Humphreys has tested positive for coronavirus, the 10th case linked to U.S. Forces Korea, prompting new on-base restrictions to prevent complacency after more than a month of near confinement.
The latest infection underscored the vulnerability of the military community despite strict limitations on access and movement aimed at forming what commanders call “protective bubbles” to try to stop the coronavirus pandemic from spreading on bases across the divided peninsula.
Officials further tightened restrictions in a bid to prevent people from letting their guard down too soon as the overall pace of infections in South Korea has started to slow. Only 76 new cases were logged Tuesday, down from a high of 909 on Feb. 29, for a total of 9,037.
Lt. Gen. Michael Bills (L), the new commander of the U.S. Eighth Army, receives the Eighth Army flag from his predecessor Lt. Gen. Thomas Vandal during a ceremony at Camp Humphreys in Pyeongtaek, south of Seoul, on Jan. 5, 2018, to mark his inauguration and his predecessor’s departure. (Pool photo) (Yonhap)
My guess would be this apology must be something the ROK government recommended to USFK to do in order to get the protesters to stop blockading the road considering it is happening four months after the fact. I guess we will see if this will help lead to the end of the blockade:
Lt. Gen. Thomas Vandal, commander of the 8th U.S. Army, apologized Sunday to the people of Seongju over one of his soldiers using a smartphone to film a protest involving physical clashes, smiling as he did so.
The Seongju residents rejected Vandal’s apology, saying it was four months too late.
First, Vandal and his superior officer, U.S. Forces Korea (USFK) commander Gen. Vincent Brooks, should find a better way of dealing with this incident. The protesters should stop using the apology issue for political purposes.
The incident happened in the early hours of April 26 when a convoy of U.S. military vehicles pushed their way through to deliver equipment for the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) battery, a U.S. missile interceptor, to the site in the vicinity. Twelve people were injured. A GI in one vehicle was caught filming the scene with a snigger on his face.
For that, Vandal went down to Seongju and bowed at a press conference after the residents refused to meet him. He said the soldier’s behavior was inappropriate and that he was fresh on his Korean tour and had not finished his orientation program.
The residents questioned Vandal’s sincerity because his apology came four months after the incident, despite repeated demands. The residents claimed they felt ignored by Vandal.
Vandal should have apologized earlier. The USFK is often belated in dealing with accidents in relation to Koreans. One example is the 2002 Yangju Highway Incident where a U.S. military vehicle crushed two Korean girls to death. Then, the USFK dragged its feet, letting the incident grow out of proportion in a major PR fiasco. [Korea Times]
You can read more at the link, but the Korea Times in regards to the 2002 Yangju Highway Incident do not know what they are talking about. Both the 8th Army commander and the 2nd Infantry Division commander apologized after the accident happened. 2ID even paid an initial $1,000 payment to the families to assist with funeral expenses. Then 2ID soldiers held a candlelight vigil and fundraising drive in honor of the two girls that were tragically killed. The fundraiser raised $22,000 for the families.
Finally the USFK commander put the soldiers on court martial strictly for PR purposes despite this being a clear accident. Anyway much more about the 2002 accident can be read at the below link:
I don’t think we are going to see the North Koreans do anything serious until the whole President Park fiasco plays out. They are getting a propaganda coup out of this scandal and have a real chance of having a South Korean left wing politician favorable to North Korea elected as the next President. A serious provocation cycle could put all of this at risk:
In this photo, taken on Nov. 8, 2016, Thomas S. Vandal, commanding general of the Eighth Army, delivers a speech on security issues at a Seoul university. (Yonhap)
A top U.S. general here warned that North Korea could stage a provocation within two months to test the incoming U.S. administration or take advantage of political instability in Seoul.
Thomas S. Vandal, commander of the Eighth Army, made the remark in a luncheon meeting with senior reporters, citing the communist country’s track record of staging provocations in times of transition of power in Seoul and Washington.
Though there are no specific signs yet, he said, North Korea could raise military tension in an attempt to test President-elect Donald Trump, as Pyongyang has no idea of his policy toward the North.
He also said the North may also be tempted to provoke the South at a time Seoul is transfixed by a sprawling corruption scandal involving President Park Geun-hye and her close confidante. [Yonhap]
You can read more at the link, but I think the February/March timeframe when the next Key Resolve exercise happens the North Koreans will probably do there normal protests and rhetoric. However, I don’t expect them to do a serious provocation such as sinking a South Korean ship or launching an artillery strike on a border island like we have seen in the past.
Via a reader tip comes this sad news that the former Eighth Army Commander General Charles Campbell has passed away from an undisclosed illness:
Former Eighth Army and Army Forces Command chief Gen. (retired) Charles C. “Hondo” Campbell died Monday after a lengthy illness, according to The Times, his hometown newspaper in Shreveport, La.
Campbell, 68, was the Army’s last continuously serving officer who had seen action in the Vietnam War, according to an Army statement released at the time of his retirement in 2010.
“When I went to Vietnam, we had more than 500,000 soldiers in Vietnam (alone),” Campbell said in the statement.
There are fewer active-duty soldiers than that in the entire Army today with plans to cut troop strength to 450,000 by the end of 2017.
During his service, Campbell saw the Army’s transition to an all-volunteer force, the collapse of the Soviet Union and the counterinsurgency campaigns that followed the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
He spent his final four years in uniform as chief of Forces Command, overseeing all continental U.S.-based conventional operating forces. [Stars & Stripes]
You can read more about General Campbell at the link, but my condolences go out to his family and friends.
Maj. Gen. Thomas Vandal (R), the new commander of the U.S. Eighth Army, and his predecessor Lt. Gen. Bernard Champoux (C) walk alongside Gen. Curtis Scaparrotti, U.S. Forces Korea commander, during a ceremony at Seoul’s Yongsan Garrison on Feb. 2, 2016, to mark his inauguration and the predecessor’s departure. (Yonhap)
