You know when the ADA battalions began rotating to Korea a few years ago instead of being permanently stationed there as they had been before I thought it was dumb and now here they are going back to the way it was before:

The newest Patriot missile battalion to move to Suwon Air Base is to be stationed there permanently instead of just staying a year, a change that will allow more soldiers to bring their families to South Korea with official approval, the Army said Wednesday.

At a transfer of authority ceremony set for 10 a.m. Friday, the 6th Battalion, 52nd Air Defense Artillery from Fort Sill, Okla., is to formally take over for the departing 3rd Battalion, 2nd Air Defense Artillery, which has served a one-year tour in South Korea. The 3-2 ADA will move to Fort Sill.

The incoming battalion will be part of the 35th Air Defense Artillery Brigade, headquartered at Osan Air Base in Pyeongtaek.

The personnel will change but the missiles and other equipment will remain in place under what’s known as a “relief in place.” The battalion is headquartered at Suwon Air Base, a South Korean air force installation.

“It’s basically an even exchange of soldiers coming in and out,” about 500 in each battalion, said Maj. Albert LaBella, the brigade’s deputy commanding officer.  [Stars & Stripes]

Take it for what it is worth, but a buddy of mine who was in 35th Brigade told me the reason for the deployment of entire PATRIOT units to Korea instead of keeping a permanently stationed unit there was because the air defense branch was not deploying to Iraq or Afghanistan so they had to make it look like they were doing something as well.  So they came up with the Korea “deployment”.

The only thing I thought that made less sense then the deployment of PATRIOT units to Korea was putting one of these units in Gwangju, which really didn’t make any sense either.