Colonel’s mark seen in camp’s expansion

PYEONGTAEK, South Korea — The outgoing Camp Humphreys garrison commander said one of his most memorable experiences in his three-year tour was opening a new housing tower on the installation.

During a brief ceremony in September, Col. Michael J. Taliento Jr. opened the eight-story, 48-unit housing tower that provided immediate housing to families — some of whom had been living off post.

“… We were able to bring in 48 families,” Taliento said during an interview last week. “I thought that was a great step forward” in the ongoing transformation at Humphreys.

It also is an example of the $350 million wave of infrastructure projects completed or under way at the base, much of it overseen by Taliento.

Humphreys eventually is to triple in size and become the U.S. military’s flagship installation on the peninsula under a South Korea-U.S. agreement.

Major projects — like family housing towers — have been completed or are under way. Outside the existing post, work began this year on a vast adjacent tract onto which Humphreys will eventually expand.

Projects include new barracks, dining halls, motor pools, headquarters facilities, a new child development center, new Army hotel, three new gymnasiums, two multi-purpose sports fields, a laser-tag facility, and a new aquatics park due to open May 24.

“We’ve had tremendous growth in facilities that support the soldiers as well,” Taliento said. “All those things, as I look back, are essential milestones in creating the family community that we’re all looking forward to living in and serving in …,” he said.

“When this transformation is completed, Humphreys will definitely be the best place to serve overseas, if not in the entire Army.”