ROK-US intelligence venture enhances interoperability

Courtesy Photo | Soldiers from the 2nd Combat Aviation Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, intelligence section, pose for a photo with Capt. Gwangsik Kim, an intelligence officer with the 169th Republic of Korea Inf. Regiment, 51st Inf. Div., at Camp Humphreys, South Korea, Aug. 1. (U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Park Jae Hyung, 2nd CAB PAO)  

CAMP HUMPHREYS, SOUTH KOREA

08.01.2014

Story by Sgt. 1st Class Vincent Abril 

2nd Combat Aviation Brigade

CAMP HUMPHREYS, South Korea –It’s no secret there’s a viable threat north of the 38th parallel. A potential for imminent danger lurks at a short distance here. With the enemy at our door, U.S. forces constantly train alongside their Korean partners to remain an agile and lethal force. To do this, they rely on the intelligence community to keep them informed.

Intelligence personnel with the 2nd Combat Aviation Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, teamed up with their intelligence counterparts from the 169th Republic of Korea Inf. Regiment, 51st Inf. Div., to provide our combined forces a peace of mind.

Both security entities spent two months working together on an initiative to enhance interoperability for future combined operations.

"It was a great experience working with our ROK counterparts and see how they operate, while still being able to exchange knowledge with each other to better strengthen the Alliance," said Spc. David B. McCormack, an intelligence analyst with Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 2nd Combat Aviation Brigade, 2nd Inf. Div., and native of Milwaukie, Org.

The teams shared knowledge specific to their organizations and formulated a security analysis essential to overall capabilities and combined operations, an effort which had never been done before.

"It was the first time we actually communicated with the ground owners in the Pyeongtaek area,” said 2nd Lt. Myunghyun Kang, an intelligence officer with HHC, 2nd CAB, 2nd Inf. Div., and native of Lexington, Ky.

“It was astounding to see how much information they possessed that would prove to be beneficial to our mission’s success. Sharing the threat information and building a common operating picture was a valuable step in our future exercise and real-time scenarios," said Kang.

Knowledge is critical, and the possibilities this collaboration has created defines the areas of focus, which allows U.S. and Korean forces to better gauge the threat and battle space in advance.

"Our collaborative efforts allowed us to re-examine the threat course of actions and come to a common ground on operational procedures,” said Kang. "Combined intelligence preparation of battlefield products had not been created prior to the collaboration, even though 2nd CAB and 169th ROK Regiment [have shared] the same battle space for several years."

Security and intelligence play a key role in combat decision making at all levels in the military. Providing combatants with reliable intelligence and proper battlefield orientation is crucial to the combined effort to deter aggression from the north. The outcome from this synergy could mitigate battlefield casualties and allow our forces to keep the upper hand during war and armistice operations.

• Date Taken: 08.01.2014
• Date Posted: 08.08.2014 05:31
• Story ID: 138687
• Location: CAMP HUMPHREYS, KR
• Hometown: LEXINGTON, KY, US
• Hometown: MILWAUKIE, OR, US