Subscribe
BUSAN, South Korea—More than 30 Stryker Infantry Carrier Vehicles belonging to 1st Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment out of Hawaii arrived at Pier 8 March 20 for the Foal Eagle exercise.
The 25th Transportation Battalion, 19th Expeditionary Sustainment Command and 837th Transportation Battalion were responsible for the download, clearance, dispatch and delivery of these Strykers.
“A freighter brings the equipment here to the pier. We offload the vessel and hand over the equipment to the 25th Transportation Battalion,” said Maj. Gary Whittacre, 837th Transportation Battalion executive officer. “The 25th Transportation Battalion is responsible for the onward movement of all this equipment.”
Due to Strykers normally being transported through different areas in Korea, 837th Transportation Battalion had to send personnel over to Hawaii to learn about these vehicles.
“We actually had to send our Korean employees to Hawaii in order to train and license them as Stryker drivers,” Whittacre said. “You can say that currently, the 837th Transportation Battalion has the only licensed Stryker operators in all of United States Forces Korea.”
Since the Strykers were shipped to Pier 8 in Busan, new modes of transportation were used to move the vehicles up north.
“Last year when equipment came in through Osan by air, we used commercial trucks to onward move the Strykers,” said Lt. Col. Mark Mueller, 25th Transportation Battalion commander. “This is the first time we have been able to move them using our rail assets.”
The transportation of Strykers is not only military driven, but civilian counterparts also have a role to play.
“We are very pleased that Korea Railroad Corp. has validated our ability to move two Strykers per railcar with the exception of the Stryker with the main gun which we only have three of,” Mueller said. “Two per railcar mean that we can eliminate the third train altogether and save taxpayers money.”
These Strykers will link up with their unit as they participate in the Foal Eagle exercise.
“For the Foal Eagle exercise, these Strykers are going to go directly from here, Busan, to Rodriguez Range at Camp Casey,” Mueller said.
Foal Eagle is an annual training event that involves U.S. military units stationed on the Korean peninsula and units from the continental U.S working with their Korean counterparts.
| Date Taken: | 03.20.2012 |
| Date Posted: | 03.21.2012 20:48 |
| Story ID: | 85578 |
| Location: | BUSAN, BUSAN GWANG'YEOGSI [PUSAN-KWANGYOKSHI], KR |
| Web Views: | 307 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Strykers arrive in Korea for Foal Eagle, by PFC Sung Eun Kim, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
