U.S.-South Korean RSOI
exercise tests deployment skills
By Franklin Fisher, Taegu bureau chief
Franklin Fisher/ Stars and Stripes
Soldiers from C Company check equipment loaded onto a flatbed truck for
transport during the RSOI exercise in South Korea. |
WAEGWAN,
South Korea — Amid the roar of diesel motors and clanking steel, Army combat
engineers practiced for war this week.
About
10,000 U.S. and South Korean troops took part in Reception, Staging, Onward Movement and
Integration, including engineers from C Company, 1st Engineer Battalion, of the 1st
Infantry Division’s 1st Brigade Combat Team.
The
exercise helps the military gauge how well its troops can handle getting supplies and
reinforcements into the country in wartime.
"One
of our primary tasks is to deploy," said Lt. Col. Miroslav Kurka, commanding officer
of the 1st Engineer Battalion. "We need to get there before we can fight. This is
deployment training at its finest."
Kurka said
the practice prepares soldiers for deployment, using commercial air and military air
before marrying soldiers with pre-positioned equipment. They prepare that equipment for
convoy and rail.
At Camp
Carroll on Wednesday, engineers tested their equipment before moving them to flatbed
railcars, as they would during war.
Franklin Fisher / Stars and
Stripes
Soldiers from C Company load up equipment for transport during the RSOI exercise
in South Korea. |
Their
equipment included M-48 tank chassis, capable of setting down a folding-bridge over a
break in the terrain. There were also M-113 armored personnel carriers to carry combat
engineer squads. And they have a weapon used to clear a path through a minefield by firing
a line carrying an explosive charge.
They tested
the brakes on their vehicles and other equipment for safety; made sure they had the proper
tools; practiced drawing ammunition; and tested the hydraulics for the folding bridges.
Later, they rolled their vehicles onto the railcars, and under an afternoon sun, passed
around the hammers and nails and placed wood chock blocks under the wheels.
Sgt. Lisa
Stacey, C Company’s supply sergeant, welcomes the exercise, which she said helps get
newer soldiers up to speed about their jobs quickly. "It’s of great value
because you get new soldiers in the unit every day, and you have to train them. So the
NCOs aren’t running around step-by-step telling them what they need to know.
They’ll already know it."
RSOI is one
of three major exercises annually in Korea. The others are Ulchi Focus Lens in the summer
and Foal Eagle in the fall.
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