The LAT’s blog posts the text of President Obama’s speech to US troops at Osan Air Base.
Good speech, IMHO, although I thought the preceding comment by blogger Andrew Malcom was cute:
[Obama] also promised to increase military pay, which received more applause. Obama reassured South Koreans that his country’s commitment to their security would never waver. At one point he cited as evidence of that enduring commitment a soldier there, Skip Sharp, whose father fought in the Korean War during the Truman administration.
So, let’s see, that puts us about 57 or 58 years into the 100 years that, during the 2008 presidential campaign, a campaigning Sen. John McCain was attacked so much for suggesting the U.S. troop commitment would last. Now, a President Obama says there is no end in sight.
{ 16 comments… read them below or add one }
Is stationing troops in Korea any cheaper than stationing troops in the U.S.? That’s the only reason I can see this as making any sense.
Perhaps the U.S. sees the advantage of having troops (and infrastructure) in Germany and in Korea to rotate to the Middle East because of the logistical and cost considerations? I mean hell, why else would you have troops in those far away (and relatively wealthy) countries?
Also, Japan harps more and more about the Marine station in Okinawa. If the Okinawa base hypothetically goes away, wouldn’t Korea be the only significant base of U.S. troops in Asia?
Although I read somewhere that it may be delayed, there are plans on shifting some 8,000 Marines to Guam, which is being built up.
Calling Skip Sharp a soldier is like calling Obama a government official.
Another thing I wonder is how many U.S. service men, who have been seriously wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan, would have died if they didn’t receive critical treatment in Germany (after first being stabilized in the Middle East). Given that a war with the Warsaw Pact was a serious consideration during the Cold War, Germany has some of the most advanced medical infrastructure for the military outside the continental U.S.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Landstuhl_Regional_Medical_Center
Nomad, is Guam in Asia? It’s almost 5,000 miles away from Afghanistan.
Re #5
What’s your point? Conflating #1 and #5, is it that having Korean bases for medical purposes justifies having a large US presence in Korea?
If that’s the argument, I would counter that the better alternative is in Japan, and that to “help” the current Japanese administration get over its massive brain fart about the presence of US troops there, the US should drastically reduce its boots (and planes, etc.) footprint in Korea) , so that the Ostrich party can get its collective head out of the sand when it realizes that Japan can no longer rely on the availability of US troops from Korea to assist in their defense. A properly armed and empowered Japan, with the right attitude, would IMO be a much more reliable US ally than Korea is likely to be in the foreseeable future.
Sperwer,
I’m merely offering food for thought. The Japanese like being a part of the U.S. defense umbrella and they like access to U.S. military technology, but they don’t like housing U.S. troops. That’s why most of them are in a conquered province that are barely considered semi-Japanese by the Japanese themselves.
even if Japan does have a sort of fey Navy:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_nwamE-wF8Y&feature=related
But, hey, don’t all navies have a reputation for being fey, or as Bob Dylan ambiguously said, that sailor’s mouth? Brendon?
WanKon,
I put that link up in reply to your question about Korea being the only significant base of U.S. troops in Asia. So, if Guam is going to be built up as I’ve read, then in theory (and I say in theory because it’ll never happen) the troops presence in South Korea could be reduced – by quite a bit.
Hey, I’m for whatever is most cost effective and will keep U.S. interests in the Middle East, Indian Ocean and Asia intact.
The Middle East, obviously because of oil. Our country can’t function without it. The Indian Ocean? Where do you think the oil has to travel through? That’s why we have Diego Garcia.
Somehow I think you didn’t forget to leave out the “g” there. Real mature Nomad.
Nomad’s not that kind of commenter. It was an accident, I’m sure.
WK, had you been around longer than a couple years, you’d know that the only thing you can reasonably accuse the Nomad of is being a K-blog legend.
WangKon936,
That was accidental; my apologies. Maybe I should go for that lasik surgery…I swear I looked at your name to make sure I had it right and I still managed to hose it up.
Alrite… thanks for clearing up the misunderstanding!
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