SEOUL — U.S. Army units in South Korea can expect to receive incoming soldiers a day sooner thanks to a recent change at the Yongsan Readiness Center.

Starting Aug. 1, the inprocessing cycle will take four, not five, days, officials said.

Center commander Capt. Desiree Dirige said the change was made in order to make "more efficient use of the soldiers’ time and get them off to their units faster."

Under the new schedule, the center no longer will give soldiers a day to complete a series of training sessions mandated under U.S. Forces Korea regulation 350-2. Instead, soldiers will be required to finish the 18 modules — including lessons on anti-terrorism, the status of forces agreement and suicide prevention — online.

Dirige said that the Army started directing soldiers bound for South Korea to take the online training about a year ago.

Soldiers who have not completed the training before arriving in South Korea will need to use their free time to complete it prior to leaving the YRC.

"We won’t ship them to their units until they complete it," she said.

In an average month, Dirige said, the YRC processes 350 to 400 soldiers. During the summer change-of-station season that number can double, she said.

In addition to getting soldiers to their units faster, Dirige said, the reduction will save YRC about $20,000 a month.