The Wyoming Army National Guard’s 197th Public Affairs Detachment returned to Cheyenne March 18, after a two-week exercise in South Korea, where the soldiers plugged into a computer simulated war.
Wyoming’s soldiers joined dozens of other stateside units in Eighth Army’s annual Key Resolve 2016, an exercise which examined a possible conflict with North Korea. The event on U.S. Army Garrison Yongsan and Camp Walker, in Daegu, hosted a record-setting 17,000 U.S. service members this year. Wyoming’s seven public affairs soldiers joined Pennsylvania’s 109th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment in running a media operations center during the simulated crisis.
“The 197th PAD came in ready to work,” said Sgt. Maj. Christopher Seaton, Eighth Army public affairs sergeant major. “They showed a willingness to come in and do a job without having to be told what to do. They set their own high standard for product creation and for simple processes like shift change briefs that set them and their counterpart units up for success.”
The scenario gave soldiers a glimpse of what might actually happen if war did break out.
“When a unit like a public affairs detachment deploys, it’s not uncommon for the team to be split up and attached to other units,” said Maj. Rebecca Walsh, Wyoming Army National Guard public affairs officer. “Key Resolve was good training for the PAD because the unit was divided. It forced them to adapt and adjust to a new environment and work outside of their comfort zone in a realistic situation.”
While five of Wyoming’s soldiers stayed in Seoul to work at the main command post, two others took a four-hour bus ride to work at the exercise’s rear command post in Daegu. Walsh said limited communication presented challenges, but was an issue the unit took in stride.
Eighth Army Public Affairs Commander Col. David Patterson said the event was beneficial to the commanders as well as the public affairs team. “Public affairs is a perishable skill and it’s critical to keep your skills polished,” he said. “Realistic, tough training like we did, provides an opportunity to focus on specialized training for the unit that augments the Eighth Army PAO staff to validate wartime processes and procedures.”
In addition to their public affairs duties, the soldiers took in the sights and sounds of Seoul – a massive metropolis which surrounds the Army base in Yongsan. The opportunity left a lasting impression on Spc. Dustin Robertson, a public affairs specialist who joined the 197th this year.
“I’ll always remember this,” he said. “I got to be with people from an entirely different culture. Plus, the sights have been amazing. I’ve never really seen a city like Seoul.”
Seaton said he would be pleased to see Wyoming soldiers come back to South Korea for the annual exercise.
“This is my first experience with soldiers from the Wyoming National Guard,” Seaton said. “And from what I’ve seen, I’d be pleased to have the 197th back and to build on the training successes we saw during this exercise.”
Walsh hopes Wyoming soldiers can attend similar training like this in the future. “Working alongside active duty public affairs soldiers during a large-scale exercise like this is something that simply can’t be replicated in a normal drill weekend,” she said. “I was pleased with the training that occurred during the PAD’s time in Korea.”
| Date Taken: | 04.06.2016 |
| Date Posted: | 04.10.2016 15:53 |
| Story ID: | 194555 |
| Location: | SEOUL, KR |
| Web Views: | 18 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
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