Successful training with S. Korean marines leads to future maneuvers
By Franklin Fisher, Taegu
bureau chief
TAEGU, South Korea — U.S. and South Korean marines are so
satisfied with a recent joint training stint at Pohang that they’re planning more of
the same.
“We’re all quite surprised at the measure of success of the
training and even further surprised at the potential of further training well into the
future,” said Capt. Billy Short, commanding officer of Engineer Company A of the 9th
Engineer Support Battalion on Okinawa.
About 160 U.S. Marines from Company A recently wrapped up a visit to
Korea.
During the trip, they did combat engineering training with about 50
members of the South Korean First Marine Division’s Engineer Battalion.
The training ran from July 9-18 near Pohang, on the southeast coast.
The two forces set off explosives to create gaps in the terrain and practiced spanning
those gaps with their bridging equipment.
It was the first time marines from both countries had joint
engineering training since the early 1990s.
Soon, the two units will meet again.
Company A will send a drafting and surveying team to Pohang to help
the Korean marines construct a military road.
“We have become familiar with a military road-building project
that the ROK (Republic of Korea) marine corps engineers are beginning to embark on, and
… our heavy-equipment operators and engineers will be working hand-in-hand to create
a military road,” Short said.
“It would be an excellent opportunity to have our heavy
equipment operators actually construct a military road, which is one of their required
tasks for combat missions,” Short said. “And it’s difficult to get such
valuable training like that.”
Besides taking a role in the road construction project, Company A
Marines will return to Pohang next February, Short said, for cold weather training at the
rugged mountain leaders course at Ochon, about 20 minutes outside Pohang.
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