Photo By Brian Lamar | Servicemembers assigned to the U.S. Army Japan staff took part in a two-day staff ride...... read more read more
Subscribe
Approximately 40 senior leaders assigned to U.S. Army Japan attended a two-day in-depth study of the lead-up to Gen. Douglas MacArthur’s invasion of Incheon, Korea, also known as Operation Chromite, which was the lynchpin to turning the tide of the battle for the Korean Peninsula during the Korean War.
The purpose of the staff ride was to provide leaders of U.S. Army Japan the opportunity to study lessons learned from the past to be used for implementation into operations plans now and in the future.
"This is part of the program we have for leadership development. We chose the Incheon landings from the early part of the Korea war for the purpose of drawing lessons from the joint and combined nature of a forcible entry operation on the Korean Peninsula. That is the military craft reason we want to understand this nature of our business,” said Maj. Gen. J B Vowell, commanding general U.S. Army Japan. "The second part is that our mission in Japan has a lot to do with supporting a potential crisis or conflict here in Korea. By connecting the 8th Army with our staff it's also good to make sure we understand what we can do to help Army forces on the Peninsula if a crisis were to occur. Coming to Korea was an easy idea to do. It was a great staff ride,” Vowell added.
During the staff ride, officers from different disciplines such as military intelligence, transportation, logistics, legal and medical provided short vignettes that provided deep dive discussions into specific relevant topics of the battle for the peninsula.
Staff ride participants also received in-depth history lessons from Ben Harris, the U.S. Forces Korea command historian.
“This staff ride gives us an idea of things that did or didn’t work in the past, but it also gives us the knowledge of how to improve on the ideas back then and also allows us to look at the history through the lens of what our enemy did in a certain situation and how it would influence enemies operations in that environment now,” said Harris.
The group toured the Memorial Hall for Incheon Landing Operation Museum. Staff ride participants were able to experience up-close encounters with replicas of vehicles, weapons and equipment used during the invasion operation.
"Part of what we are talking about while we are here is the understanding of how South Korean forces and eventually United Nations forces in a combined manner came to the aid of the South Koreans along with the integrated defensive piece with the ROK Army in this war,” said Vowell.
During the staff ride, senior leaders not only looked into the history but reviewed current U.S. INDOPACOM operations plans. Studying previous conflicts the U.S. and its allies have been involved in, helps shape operations plans for the future. The area of operation for the U.S. Army in the Pacific is a widespread region with numerous allies and adversaries.
“I want our leaders on this staff ride to understand the region. We live on the knife’s edge of freedom here in the first island chain. We’ve got good friends here in the Korean Peninsula and in Japan and the world’s a very dangerous place. We have the aggregated threats of Russia, North Korea and China in the region. Understanding the environment and the problems that we may get called in to support is what I want my leaders to understand while focusing on the operational environment that we live in every day,” said Vowell.
According to Vowell, the leaders were charged with focusing on the missions required of them while contextualizing the history of the region as a guiding pace for operations today and in the future. "Knowing the history of the decision behind why Incheon and why it was decided to reinforce the peninsula when we did and why we did is just as important today. It helps my leaders contextualize and understand what we will do in the future,” Vowell explained.
The USARJ staff also expressed gratitude for 8th Army and USFK’s assistance in planning and executing the staff ride.
“As much reading as I have done over the years of the Korean War, to actually come to South Korea and to the Incheon area and really put eyes on what happened here and understand it a little more deeply, it is really good. I appreciate all the efforts with our friends from 8th Army and USFK that have made this possible,” said Vowell.
According to Vowell, the staff ride was a great educational experience and beneficial for the current set of leaders to stay ready for potential crises in the region, as well as, continued focusing on fostering relationships with allies.
"This was a fascinating look into our history and how we worked with our allies. Fast forward to today, my mission in Japan is to gain interoperability and make it more effective. That’s human, technical and procedural interoperability with the Japanese Ground Self-Defense Force. Every day we partner with them in exercises and other mission plans for the defense of Japan. It’s very important for us to understand how we fought together with other countries. We are going to do that in the future. The United States will never go at it alone, we can but it is always better to have friends and allies. We have great anchoring allies in the Indo-Pacific, the Republic of Korea and Japan,” Vowell said.
| Date Taken: | 05.02.2023 |
| Date Posted: | 05.11.2023 00:36 |
| Story ID: | 444493 |
| Location: | INCHEON, INCHEON GWANG'YEOGSI [INCH'ON-KWANGYOKSHI], KR |
| Web Views: | 167 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
This work, U.S. Army Japan takes a deep dive into Korean War history, by Brian Lamar, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
No keywords found.
