Photo By Cpl. Matt Myers | U.S. Marine Corps Capt. Matthew D. Overly watches as M1A1 Abrams Main Battle Tanks are...... read more read more
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GWANGYANG PORT, Republic of Korea – U.S. service members working in conjunction with Republic of Korea contractors loaded several hundred tons worth of combat equipment onto the USS Ashland April 1 at Gwangyang Port, Republic of Korea during exercise Freedom Banner 2014.
Republic of Korea Marine Corps Brig. Gen. Kong Rae Cho with U.S. Marine Corps Brig. Gen. Paul J. Kennedy, visited Life Support Area to witness the massive movements.
“It’s great to work it all out on paper or a computer simulation, but until you strap cables onto a 72-ton piece of metal it’s all academic,” said Kennedy, the III Marine Expeditionary Brigade commanding general, and deputy commanding general of III Marine Expeditionary Force. “So what you’re seeing here are sailors who are total professionals working with Korean contractors to load the ship while working with Marines we’ve flown in to create this capability, and really, this is what amphibious and expeditionary operations are all about.”
Throughout the event two 427-ton cranes operated by private ROK contractors were used to hoist six M1A1 Abrams Main Battle Tanks and five Humvees into the cargo hold of the USS Ashland destined for Pohang for exercise Sang Yong.
The movement is known as Freedom Banner, which is part of Marine Expeditionary Force Exercise 2014. MEFEX is an umbrella exercise and Freedom Banner promotes maritime prepositioning force ship offloading and loading capabilities similar to what would occur during a wartime or disaster relief situation. Its design intends to strengthen ties between the ROK and the U.S. Marine Corps.
Freedom Banner is also an enabler exercise for Ssang Yong, and both fall under MEFEX, which is ultimately a tool being used to test the combined force combat readiness of the ROK-U.S. Navy and Marine Corps team.
“The Republic of Korea has been our partner for 60 years, and we’ve always trained for these types of exercises but for the past 12 years we’ve been distracted by central Asia and the mid-east,” said Kennedy. “The ROK Marines are professionals, their ROK Navy counterparts are pros and they’ve integrated well, are interoperable, and form a formidable weapon.”
Cho visited the Marines with Kennedy to experience firsthand maritime prepositioning force capabilities and the significant asset it provides to an expeditionary force.
“The ROK Marine Corps and the U.S. Marine Corps have been training together for a very long time, we became blood brothers in the Korean and Vietnam wars, so this training is very good for our partnership and shows us we can win whatever fight we have,” said Cho, the planning general for forces in Pohang, with ROK Marine Corps headquarters. “It is a good thing the ROK Marine Corps is partners with the U.S. because we are constantly learning from our experiences together and this demonstration the tank loading and the other exercises going on strengthen our friendship.”
As the exercise ends, the logistic gurus behind moving all that heavy equipment throughout the Asia-Pacific do believe their efforts have paid off.
“This shows with zero doubt we have the capabilities to conduct an MPF off-load and on-load like we claim we can,” said U.S. Marine Corps Lt. Col. Robert C. Sellers, the Arrival, Assembly, and Operations Group S-4 exercise officer for Freedom Banner 14, with the III Marine Expeditionary Force Command Element. “This has been a successful exercise, everything went as planned, and there were no incidents.”
| Date Taken: | 04.01.2014 |
| Date Posted: | 04.02.2014 10:17 |
| Story ID: | 123688 |
| Location: | GWANGYANG, BUSAN GWANG'YEOGSI [PUSAN-KWANGYOKSHI], KR |
| Web Views: | 276 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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