By I have been saying this for sometime that USFK needs to move units piece meal from Yongsan as soon as barracks are available at Camp Humphreys and I’m glad to see they are doing it:
The first major unit to leave U.S. Army Garrison-Yongsan as part of a massive relocation of troops in South Korea will complete its move to U.S. Army Garrison-Humphreys this week.
Twenty-four soldiers with the 532nd Military Intelligence Battalion are to finish the move by Dec. 12 to Humphreys, a once-sleepy helicopter base that eventually will house most U.S. troops stationed in South Korea.
About 100 soldiers with the unit are already at Humphreys because they moved directly there when they arrived in South Korea, said 8th Army spokesman Lt. Col. Jeff Buczkowski. Six of the incoming soldiers, who are part of the battalion’s headquarters in Seoul, will move with their families. [Stars & Stripes]
The Korean government has never wanted the USFK relocation to happen for a variety of reasons and the only reason it has gotten as far as it has was because of former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld’s threat to withdraw USFK which was made quite clear with the redeployment of 2nd Brigade of the 2nd Infantry Division from the Korean peninsula along with a host of other troop cuts. A few days after Rumsfeld resigned from office the Korean government immediately reneged on the transformation deal and announced the first delay of the Camp Humphreys relocation to 2012. Since then the delays have only increased with the latest delay being 2019.
With these delay games being played moving units as soon as barracks space is available creates momentum for the move and shows the Korean government that USFK is serious about making this transformation happen by moving units from its most visible military garrison in Korea.
3:33 pm on December 11th, 2008 1
24 soldiers! Yongsan is going to be a ghost town…
5:37 pm on December 11th, 2008 2
It makes sense that MI would move since they have unlimited money to work with. They probably did it on their own with no assistance from USFK or ROK funding.
10:10 pm on December 11th, 2008 3
Yep and the Hump has the MI compound.
tumbleweeds…
11:12 pm on December 11th, 2008 4
I would not be suprised to see a an increase in the number of US troops in SK. I think SK would like that and it would give the US more swag in the East to counter balance China's military build up. With the plan to increase command sponsored tours to over 14000 and 3 year tours to for all why not build up the facilities at the Hump and keep the facilities in Yongsan. Schools for all and the Korean government pays for a part.