By It seems like every year someone says USFK is going to Hawaii and the 2nd Infantry Division is moving to Ft. Lewis and yet every year there is USFK sitting in Yongsan and the 2nd Infantry Division still sitting on the DMZ. With that said I think everyone should take this latest report with a very big grain of salt:
The president-elect of South Korea, Lee Myung-bak, has started a campaign to repair the serious damage done to his nation’s alliance with the United States by Seoul‘s incumbent, President Roh Moo-hyun.
Even so, American military officers are pushing ahead with plans to reduce the number of US forces in Korea, to shift command responsibilities to the Koreans, and to bring home the headquarters of the Eighth Army and that of the Second Infantry Division, the remaining US combat unit on the peninsula. (…)
Moreover, US officers said the headquarters of the Eighth Army, the overall US Army command unit in Seoul, would move to Hawaii by 2012. In addition, the headquarters of the Second Infantry Division, which has only one ground combat brigade instead of the usual three or four, will leave Korea even though its destination has not yet been decided.
About 27,000 US troops are currently posted in Korea. That number will soon decline to 25,000 and keep on dropping gradually, probably to fewer than 20,000. Those troops are needed elsewhere in an Army that is stretched thin by deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan. [Richard Halloran - RealClearPolitics]
To drop down to the 20,000 troop level in Korea that would mean the 2nd Infantry Division would have to be removed from the Korean peninsula, which has been a possibility for years, but it is misleading to say such a thing is "probably" going to happen. Relocating the Eighth Army headquarters would probably reduce the US force footprint in Korea to below 20,000 troops, but what good is the Eighth Army headquarters sitting in Hawaii?Â
The Eighth Army has to work closely with the ROK military, which is going to be extremely difficult sitting thousands of miles away in Hawaii especially when Eighth Army would have no KATUSAs, Korean support personnel, or ROK Army liaisons to assist with coordination. Plus if war should break out on the Korean peninsula the Eighth Army headquarters is responsible for commanding US ground forces on the peninsula which is going to be hard to do sitting in Hawaii. Plus this rumor came up last year as well and it was announced that Eighth Army is staying on the Korean peninsula. It was also announced last year that the USFK force cuts to 25,000 troops would be completed by 2008 with no more additional cuts.
Here is something in Richard Halloran’s report I can agree with:
Moreover, US officers contend that South Korean forces should take charge of defending their own country from their potential enemy in North Korea. Some assert that the Koreans have long shirked that duty and thus have not prepared themselves to take over the communications, intelligence, and logistics essential to large-scale operations.
Yes the Korean government has been shirking responsibility for their own defense for a long time and they are continuing to do so now because they are receiving the US military’s deterrent capabilities at a great discount not to mention the side benefits of the USFK gravy train on the Korean peninsula and the inflated political influence Korea has in Washington due to the large US troop presence in the country. So any reductions below the 25,000 troop level much less the 20,000 troop level will be greatly resisted by the Korean government. Â
Keep in mind that if USFK is disbanded with the hand over of operational control in 2012 that would mean the four star billet would be removed from Korea. I do not see the Korean government agreeing to lose both their four star billet and their three star billet that the Eighth Army commander holds. Also a new Korean president is about to take power and this year a new American president is going to be elected that will greatly effect the future of US forces on the peninsula. Also other issues such as cost sharing between the US and Korea along with training land availability will greatly effect any decision to keep or reduce forces on the peninsula. The fact of the matter is that no one is really sure what is going to happen with the force footprint in Korea and all the reporting on this is simply speculation at best and should not be taken as hard news.
Tomorrow I will discuss the direction I think USFK is heading.Â
9:58 pm on February 10th, 2008 1
The Eighth Army Headquarters would replace in name, US Army Pacific (USARPAC) Headquarter in Hawaii. Command and control of the remaining Army forces in Korea would transfer to I Corps Headquarters, which recently stood up a forward C2 element in Camp Zama, Japan. The three star Army Commander billet would move to Hawaii. The four star UN/USFK Commander billet?
10:19 pm on February 10th, 2008 2
Wasn't the HQ that handled the Afghan/Iraq command stationed in Florida until before Iraq War II started?
Just I thought I had reading this…
I always take interest in Halloran's stuff because I've gotten the feeling over the years that his career put him on the good side of a good number of our military leaders and thus he gains information from them the media usually don't get….
But, I doubt very much USFK will leave – whatever plans are made. Perhaps if it was just up to the military leadership, it would happen, but the State Department and political appointees in the Defense Department and the White House will not gain the balls to do it. There will be too much opposition from South Korea, within our own government, and elsewhere for it to take place.
The staus quo is powerful on politicians….
10:37 pm on February 10th, 2008 3
2nd ID Strykers will be moving to Fort Lewis soon, Fort Lewis is currently preparing for what it calls "perfect Storm", doubling in personnel, and the 2nd ID strykers are a part of that expansion.
10:56 pm on February 10th, 2008 4
usinkorea, CENTCOM is based out of Florida but CENTCOM has an advance base in Qatar and the land component commander during the war was in Kuwait. Currently 8th Army is in charge of all land forces if hostilities were to break out.
If I Corps moves to Japan then they would be the land component command if hostilities broke out which would make more sense than from Hawaii. The I corps moving from Ft. Lewis to Japan has been theorized for years from when I first reported here on the ROK Drop:
I'll believe it when I see it. There are so many hurdles in the way of this happening that I think it is far from a done deal.
1:58 am on February 11th, 2008 5
The people at CFC/USFK/EUSA/IMA who make the grand movement schemes are so firmly entrenched with the businesses and realtors in Area II that they will never leave, but there at least needs to be a plan to move, otherwise there wouldn't be enough work in the down time between Key Resolve and Ulchi Freedom Guardian.
7:42 am on February 11th, 2008 6
Koreans have been sucking off the tit of American taxpayers for so long, they feel its their right and are entitled to it.
11:20 pm on February 11th, 2008 7
Keeping in the tradition of doing the same thing again and again in the Army why not just move I Corps to Camp Red Cloud where it was in the 70s and 80s?
(I say this tongue firmly in cheek)
11:27 pm on February 11th, 2008 8
KoreanChinese fire drill? Move 2ID to Okinawa, Marines from Okinawa to Guam, EUSA from Korea to Hawaii, and I Corps with 25ID to Korea from Lewis/Hawaii.Unlike musical chairs, everyone gets a seat when the music stops!