Tag: USFK

Great to see USFK helping to combat the massive forest fire in Gangwon-do:

The U.S. military sent four helicopters, including three UH-60 Black Hawks and a CH-47 Chinook, and 21 servicemembers, including pilots and crew chiefs from the 2nd Combat Aviation Brigade, to help, according to the 2nd Infantry Division.
The helicopters were equipped with specially designed aircraft buckets, known as Bambi buckets, to scoop water and drop it on designated areas, U.S. Forces Korea said, adding that additional assets are on standby if needed.
They worked with South Korea’s military, which provided 35 aircraft, 46 fire engines and some 7,000 troops to fight the blaze, the Yonhap News Agency reported.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link.

Here is what the ROK Defense Minister had to say about any possible reductions in the size of USFK:

South Korean Defense Minister Jeong Kyeong-doo has ensured there will be no reduction of U.S. troops in South Korea. 

Meeting with reporters during his visit to Joint Base Meyer in Arlington, Virginia on Tuesday, the minister addressed speculations of a possible downsizing of U.S. Forces Korea triggered by ongoing upgrades of South Korea’s military weapons system. 

He said the augmentation of the forces is to further enhance the South Korean military’s capacity.  

KBS World Radio

You can read more at the link, but as I have always said, any reduction of USFK would likely happen after a peace treaty is signed. The left wing activist groups in South Korea will use a peace treaty as an excuse to protest the continued presence of USFK. These protests would be intended to make life difficult for US troops just like it currently is for the troops stationed at the THAAD site in South Korea.

It is great to see that USFK has finally allowed soldiers to wear air masks:

U.S. Forces Korea has changed its policy to allow soldiers to wear black filtering masks while in uniform as protection against poor air quality in South Korea.
Army regulations had barred soldiers from wearing the masks, which cover noses and mouths, in uniform unless they had a certified medical condition that merited an exception. By contrast, the Air Force permitted masks when pollution hit a certain level.
The new policy, posted Monday, says all servicemembers may wear approved masks while outdoors in uniform when the air-quality index is reported as orange or higher, referring to a color scheme showing pollution levels.
The change comes as people in South Korea have endured record levels of fine dust that have smothered the country and prompted rising worries in the military community as soldiers spend a lot of time training and working outdoors.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link.

Security has been tightened at bases in South Korea:

The U.S. military in South Korea increased security at bases across the divided peninsula Friday after receiving a potential threat.
Security measures were stepped up after American law enforcement officials notified U.S. Forces Korea of the potential threat by an individual against the installations, according to a USFK announcement posted on social media.
“Organizations from USFK, [South Korea] and law enforcement are cooperating to appropriately assess the credibility of the threat,” it said. “During this time, you may see increased force protection measures.”

he statement didn’t elaborate. USFK officials declined to publicly specify the measures or elaborate on the potential threat due to the security concerns involved, but they urged people to be vigilant.

Stars & Stripes

It looks like the upkeep of CP Tango will now become a joint responsibility:

South Korea and the United States have tentatively agreed to push for the joint use of a key U.S.-controlled wartime command bunker complex on the peninsula in a move likely to incur a new financial burden on Seoul, informed sources here said Wednesday.

The allies have been discussing how to manage CP Tango, or Command Post Theater Air Naval Ground Operations, in Seongnam, just south of Seoul, during their talks on the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) governing the legal status of some 28,500 American troops here. 
Washington initially hoped to hand over to Seoul control of the decades-old bunker ahead of the envisioned transfer of wartime operational control (OPCON) after which South Korea will lead wartime operations with the U.S. playing a supporting role.

Seoul had balked at the idea of solely managing the bunker due largely to hefty costs for repairing and upgrading its facilities and equipment. Currently, it does not pay for the command post management, but a deal to share the bunker would mean Seoul footing part of the bill.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but according to the article, CP Tango was established in 1974 and was recently put on a list of budget cuts to fund President Trump’s US-Mexico wall. This joint funding of CP Tango appears to be some kind of attempt to save the bunker. I guess we will see what happens.

It appears that a Korean employee was killed in some kind of accident on Camp Carroll:

A South Korean man who worked as a sheet metal mechanic for the U.S. Army has died at Camp Carroll, officials said Thursday.
Kim Song-Cho, 66, a full-time employee with the Directorate of Public Works, died Wednesday while on the job, according to a press release from Army Garrison Daegu, which includes Camp Carroll.
The garrison, which is near the southeastern city of Waegwan, didn’t provide more details pending the ongoing investigation.
However, local police involved in the probe said it appeared to be an accident.

“This is devastating for all of us, but our number one priority is taking care of Kim’s family and assisting his co-workers at this time,” garrison commander Col. Robert Mann said.
“Our sincerest condolences go out to the family, friends and co-workers of Mr. Kim,” he said. “He wasn’t just an employee here. He was part of our USAG Daegu family.”
The investigation was being led by South Korean police with help from garrison emergency services and the Eighth Army safety offices, the press release said.
The incident occurred just before 2 p.m. while Kim was doing repair work on a roof panel near a sewage disposal plant, according to Park Jong Bo, a chief investigator at the local Chilgok police station.
Kim apparently died after he was caught in the pump’s rotor blade while trying to retrieve something he had dropped, Park told Stars and Stripes.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link.

For those that haven’t seen this yet, below is the latest curfew order published by the 7th Air Force Commander, Lieutenant General Wilsbach on March 14, 2019 that applies to all Air Force personnel stationed in South Korea:

MEMORANDUM FOR ALL AIR FORCE PERSONNEL IN THE REPUBLIC OF KOREA

FROM: 7 AF/CC (Commander, Air Forces Korea) Unit 2047
APO AP 96278-2047

SUBJECT: 7 AF (AFKOR) General Order Regarding Off-Installation Curfew

1. Background. This order supersedes the 7 AF (AFKOR) Curfew Order dated 11 January 2016. It contains substantial changes, and must be reviewed in its entirety. This order is effective immediately and remains in effect until further notice. This order implements USFK General Order Regarding Off-Installation Curfew (19 December 2014).

2. Purpose. This curfew is imposed in order to bolster operational and mission readiness in this armistice operating environment, to safeguard the vital relationship the United States enjoys with the Republic of Korea, and to more efficiently meet our obligations under the Mutual Defense Treaty and implementing arrangements.

3. Applicability. This order applies to all United States Air Force (USAF) military personnel in the Republic of Korea, including those in a Permanent Change of Station (PCS) or temporary duty/temporary additional duty (TDY/TAD) status, except for those Airmen attached or assigned to the U.S. Embassy, U.S. Special Operations Command Korea (SOCKOR), the Joint U.S. Military Affairs Group -. Korea (JUSMAG-K), or the Air Force Element of U.S. Forces Korea (USFK). USAF military personnel assigned to SOCKOR and the Air Force Element of USFKremain subject to the USFK General Order Regarding Off-Installation Curfew (19 December 2014). Dependents, Department of Defense (DoD) Civilians, and DoD-invited contractors! technical representatives requested and encouraged to abide by this order.

4. Curfew Order. An off-installation curfew is in effect from 0100 until 0500 every day of the year. By 0100, all personnel subject to this order will be (1) on a U.S. military installation, (2) in a private residence; or (3) inside a hotel room (but NOT in any public area of the hotel such as the lounge, bar, lobby, restaurant, casino, pool, spa, or hallway).

5. Exceptions. Paragraph 5 of USFK General Order Regarding Off-Installation Curfew (19December 2014) provides the following exceptions, modified for purposes of this 7 AF order:
a. Official duty. Travel during curfew hours directly to and from a location described in paragraph 4(1)-(3) above is authorized for official duty. “Official duty” includes travel for the purposes of attending or participating in Physical Training (PT).
1

b. Leave. Service members on official leave are exempt from curfew. During times of curfew while off a U.S. military installation, service members exempt from curfew must have valid documentation of their official leave authorization on their person.

c. Exceptions granted by 7 AF commanders/directors. Commanders subordinate to me who hold a squadron command or above may, on a case-by-case basis, grant persoimel assigned to their unit written, narrowly-tailored, exceptions to this order. During times of curfew while off a U.S. military installation, service members who have received a written exemption from curfew from their commander must have that written exception on their person.

6. Enforcement. This is a punitive general order. Personnel who violate this order may be punished under Article 92, Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ), and may also face adverse administrative actions as authorized by applicable law and regulations.
a. Commanders may dispose of violations of this order in any manner authorized by law or regulation. Dispositions shall be individualized, warranted, appropriate, and fair.
b. If a violation of this order occurs under circumstances relating to an allegation of rape, sexual assault, forcible sodomy, or an attempt to commit such an offense, then the disposition decision for the alleged curfew violation by either the accused or the victim of the sexual offense must be made by a special court-martial convening authority in the grade of Colonel, or higher.
c. Commanders shall ensure that I am made personally aware of any violation of this order by a service member in the grade of Senior Master Sergeant or above. Commanders shall comply with any disposition withholding policy in effect for offenses committed by such personnel.
d. Unit commanders will ensure all USAF personnel who travel to the Republic of Korea for any other purpose, including to perform TDY/TAD, are made aware of, and fully understand, the punitive nature of this order.
7. Subject to applicable law and regulations, all commanders have authority to impose further restrictions, or to curtail the exceptions in paragraph 5, above, as they deem necessary due tooperational requirements or local conditions. Commanders should consult their servicing legal office regarding the terms of this order and the means and methods of its enforcement.

KENNETH S. WILSBACH

Lieutenant General, USAF Commander

Here is what the USFK commander General Abrams recently had to say to Yonhap News after the end of the Dong Maeng exercise:

(…….) On Tuesday, Seoul and Washington wrapped up their new weeklong Dong Maeng command post exercise, which replaced the usually two-week Key Resolve drills. Dong Maeng is the Korean word for alliance.
The allies introduced the exercise, seen as a truncated version of Key Resolve, to back diplomacy for lasting peace on the peninsula. But conservatives here voiced concerns that the smaller-scale exercise could harm military readiness when Pyongyang has yet to take any substantive steps toward denuclearization.

The hard-bitten commander, who has led the USFK, U.N. Command (UNC) and South Korea-U.S. Combined Forces Command (CFC) since November, stressed that his troops “train at every level to develop mastery-level skills.”

“I have been doing this for 37 years … I consider myself an expert (at a) mastery level of operational art in training and readiness,” he said. “If I tell you that what we are doing is meeting the requirements for us to have a trained and ready force, you need to take that to the bank.” (………)

‘USFK presence has nothing to do with peace treaty’

The commander reiterated that the American troop presence in South Korea has nothing to do with any potential future peace treaty with North Korea.

Commenting on his recent controversial congressional remarks seen as signaling the possibility of the U.S. troop withdrawal — or drawdown — in the event that a peace treaty is signed with Pyongyang, Abrams said that it was “completely taken out of context.”

“That one sentence did not take into context the entire interchange I had with that particular senator,” he said. “Our troop presence is an alliance decision that has nothing to do with any potential future peace treaty.”
In response to a senator’s question on Feb. 12, he said the 28,500-strong USFK will stay on the peninsula “until there is a peace treaty, because we still remain in a state of armistice, a cessation of hostilities.”

Yonhap

The US military really needs to look at this because the fine dust in Korea is horrible for servicemembers to breathing in considering the amount of time many of them spend outside:

With much of South Korea smothered in record levels of fine dust, the streets are full of people wearing masks as protection from the punishing air pollution.
Most American soldiers don’t have that option — at least when they’re in uniform. The Air Force permits masks when pollution hits a certain level.
Army regulations bar soldiers from wearing the masks, which cover noses and mouths, unless they have a certified medical condition that merits an exception.
That has caused concern among many soldiers and their loved ones as much of South Korea has endured several days of dense pollution that irritates eyes and makes breathing difficult.
“I feel like my husband should be able to wear a mask. I really don’t like that,” Army wife Alexandra Jackson said as she waited for dinner at the Yongsan Garrison food court.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link.

It appears there are more problems with the quality of work done constructing the new buildings on Camp Humphreys:

A 10-year-old girl was stuck in an elevator for 45 minutes before somebody heard her screaming and called for help, her mother said.
Soldiers complained about mold and temperature control problems in the barracks.
Residents of Camp Humphreys gave commanders an earful Friday during a town-hall meeting about housing woes on the U.S. military’s new headquarters base in the rural area of Pyeongtaek, about 55 miles south of Seoul.
Military and housing officials, who seemed surprised by the severity of some of the complaints, responded swiftly by sending people to check on the situation the next day.
But many in the audience asked how the problems were allowed to occur considering many of the facilities are new and touted as state of the art.
The meeting, held in the Four Chaplains memorial chapel, was part of a military-wide outreach effort seeking feedback from soldiers and their loved ones following congressional testimony and media reports revealing dangerous conditions on bases in the United States.

Stars & Stripes

Here is what the USFK Commander had to say about this, which was essentially don’t blame us, but we are trying to fix it:

U.S. Forces Korea commander Gen. Robert Abrams explained that the Army Corps of Engineers, which oversaw the expansion project, could not do quality checks until 80 percent of the project was complete according to the bilateral agreement.
The hospital and some other facilities have failed that test in the past, forcing the builders to go back and fix things even if that meant starting from scratch.
“We’re actually at the mercy, if you will, of those contractors,” he told the audience.
The four-star later clarified that he understands why South Korea wanted the oversight since it is making such a huge investment in the base.
“We can provide feedback, which we do. We have direct access and we’re pretty aggressive about it,” he told Stars and Stripes. “I was really driving home the point that this is not the garrison’s fault and it’s not our Corps of Engineers’ fault.”

You can read more at the link, but the Camp Humphreys expansion project has been plagued by corruption scandals over the years so the fact Soldiers are dealing with apparently poor construction should not be too surprising to everyone.