The Noncombatant Evacuation Operation exercise Focused Passage 2014 starts April 14 and will run through May 2.

Focused Passage 2014 is designed to ensure U.S. Forces Korea service members and families are prepared to evacuate designated noncombatants during a crisis situation. During these exercise, noncombatant evacuees are required to have their NEO packets checked by their unit NEO warden.

Focused Passage 2014 is critical to the readiness of USFK family members and DoD-affiliated personnel in the event of an evacuation. This exercise improves overall mission readiness by executing required unit and individual level administrative and training tasks, which enables more efficient operations should we have to execute this mission during a real-world situation.

Focused Passage is a regularly scheduled exercise and is unrelated to any current or specific world events.  Focused Passage is one of two annual NEO exercises-the other being Courageous Channel in the fall.