KUNSAN AIR BASE, Republic of Korea –
For the first time in more than seven years, Republic of Korea Special
Operations Forces from the 35th Battalion, 7th Airborne Brigade, sharpened their
combat skills alongside 8th Security Forces Squadron Airmen here during Exercise
Beverly Midnight 15-3, April 29.
The simulated wartime integration
incorporated the Wolf Pack accepting follow-on forces by configuring the
installation to support more than 150 ROKSOF members, and defending the base
through the use of the combined defense plan posture.
"As the 8th SFS
continues to build its relationship with ROKSOF, we invited their unit to attend
the exercise to practice our combined defense plan," said 1st Lt. David
Krigbaum, 8th SFS air base defense officer in charge. "Integrating with the 35th
Battalion definitely enhances our combined defense procedures in the event of
increased hostilities on the peninsula."
Although the entire integration
- from start to finish - was complete in 24 hours, it took various agencies to
prepare for ROKSOF's arrival and provide them support while
here.
"Internally, we had to process their personnel and equipment onto
the installation in a secure manner," Krigbaum said. "We needed support from the
8th Civil Engineer Squadron and 8th Force Support Squadron to ensure we had
sufficient bed-down, latrine and water capability for their troops. We needed
the 8th Logistics Readiness Squadron's support to transport their troops on base
as necessary. We also worked with the Kunsan Inspector General and Wing
Inspection Team to ensure the scenarios and injects would maximize our training
opportunity with the ROKSOF. To top it off, we coordinated with the Gunsan
National Police Agency and our 8th Fighter Wing judge advocate to guarantee all
legal aspects were covered."
After receiving a mission brief and bed down
information, ROKSOF immediately hit the ground running with the Wolf Pack's
defenders. For many defenders, exiting the installation to integrate
coordination, improvised explosive device detection and removal, and convoys
with mission partners was uncharted territory.
"For many Airmen, this was
their first time integrating with any Republic of Korea military member, which
can be quite a challenge considering there's a language barrier," said Master
Sgt. Nicole Wrisley, 8th SFS standardization and evaluation NCO in charge. "This
training was especially unique not only because we had the chance to train and
interact with our ROKSOF counterparts, but typically everything that occurs
during Kunsan's quarterly exercises stays inside the base. The key to integrated
defense and the combined defense plan is to have different layers of deterrence.
Enemy threats need to be detected and defeated outside the wire."
As
ROKSOF members and Wolf Pack Airmen integrated operations over the course of the
24-hour exercise, many lessons were shared as tactics were exchanged.
"It
was incredibly valuable for us to practice things that were largely theoretical
to both units; when you get into the habit of simulating things, you begin to
forget the details and lose sight of what needs to be improved," Krigbaum said.
"As we ran missions together, we constantly refined our processes so that we
operated comfortably together in a battle rhythm that promoted safety and
demonstrated lethality against an enemy. All of the things we missed in planning
became obvious by training together, and we were able to develop solutions both
during and after the exercise."
The integration not only provided an
opportunity to strengthen the U.S.-ROK alliance at Kunsan, but also established
the groundwork for future partnered exercises.
"The integration provided
significant validations and lessons learned for both the 8th SFS and ROKSOF in
terms of reception, staging, integration, tactics, communication and command and
control," said Lt. Col. Ian "Sheriff" Dinesen, 8th SFS commander. "This
iteration is the baseline for multiple combined exercises both units plan to
participate in annually here at Kunsan. Additionally, both organizations will
continue to hold regular planning sessions and training events outside the scope
of wing-level exercises in order to foster continued growth and development as
well as to provide even higher fidelity of our combined combat capability sets."