This WaPo piece got a lot of attention from the local press — the piece itself deals mostly with force realignments in Europe, but this seemed to grap people’s attention:
In Asia, about 15,000 troops out of a total presence of about 100,000 would be withdrawn, mostly by streamlining administrative staffs of the U.S. military commands in South Korea and Japan, the officials said. But much of that reduction could be offset by a buildup of personnel and aircraft in Guam and the possible stationing of another aircraft carrier battle group in either Guam or Hawaii, the officials said. The Pentagon plan also calls for new training and staging areas in Australia and expansion of military ties with Singapore and Thailand.
Hmmn…
13 Comments
The more Korean troops out of ‘tip wire’s’ harm whay, who cares?
Korean people hate America…so why are we protecting them?
The sooner the better. I was at Yongsan a couple of weeks ago - it’ll be sad to see that oasis of green and orderly streets disappear from Seoul but it’ll be good overall. There used to be a base in downtown Taipei and that country has survived our departure.
If you read the WaPo piece you’ll notice a bit of panic amongst the Germans. “What, we won’t be able to leech off the U.S. taxpayer for our defense anymore? Gott und himmel”
Marmot-
Did you read that Typepad is blocked in China these days?
Right now I’m accessing you via a web-based proxy.
hurrah!
the fucking americans are scampering home!!!
And will be happier and the nation will be better off being there…….fucking or not….
Xiwu,
I would hardly call pulling out 15,000 of 100,000 troops “scampering.”
In any case, we need to free up some resoures for when we open up a new naval base in Vietnam in a few years. It will be a nice addition to the troops we have in Uzbekistan and Afghaniastan along with the advisors we have in Mongolia. Did I mention that our relations will India have picked up over the last 5 years?
And yes, Americans are fucking… alot. That is why so many folks will be sad to see those 15,000 soldiers go.
I’ll take a scampering……..call it tail tucking and fleeing…….I don’t care what label we put on it…..let’s just make it many more than 15,000……….
I note with mixed sadness that Koreans still haven’t learned that communism is worse than any other threat to their freedom.
Frankly, I hope they give me enough time to pull my in-laws out before KJI and his pesky crew get to control emmigration…
The changes in military in S Korea and most of Asia is the exact changes the US government has drawn up for a first strike attack against NK.
Oh yes, South Korea will be so much better defended with the sons and daughters of Yonsei and Ewha’s Womens Universities. Hell, these lil’ lefties that come out of there prefer Juche to Samsung handphones with built in camera.
It will be interesting to see what really happens when America finally gets out of there and Korea has to defend itself. Finally they’ll have to pay their own way and stop blaming the GI for their problems.
The ROK military can barely pay and feed its military. I think the average consrcipt makes about $30 month and gets a scoop of rice and instant kimchee ramen to eat 2 or 3 times a day. That military needs a major overhaul to go it alone.
“The ROK military can barely pay and feed its military. I think the average consrcipt makes about $30 month and gets a scoop of rice and instant kimchee ramen to eat 2 or 3 times a day. That military needs a major overhaul to go it alone.” - mountaindew
Huh, what pot are you smoking regularly? I need that stuff too.
Are we talking about the ROK Army or about the DPRK People’s Army?
“The ROK Military can barely pay and feed its military.” - oh my goodness, for the sheer fun of it. Are you stoned, mountaindew???
ROK military cant feed its own military? How can they preform without food or money. Not haveing food causes soldiers to preform physicaly bad, never the less not acctually paying them. Not paying soldiers usually causes them not to want to fight hard, thou they need money to live. In a few years most people will not enter the military because the money for the military is less than other jobs that pay more. SO dont be worring about ROK military.
PING:
TITLE: Major U.S. military realignment planned–INTEL DUMP Required Reading
BLOG NAME: Budaechigae ?쨋??흸??째흸?째흹
The Marmot linked to the WAPO Troop Realignment article on the 26th. Check out Phil Carter’s analysis, a fellow Milblogger, over at Intel Dump. He gives a pretty darn good layout on the motivations, implications, and risks of this sweeping