Photo By Staff Sgt. Christopher Dennis | Col. Scott Sonsalla, deputy commanding officer for the 2nd Armored Brigade Combat...... read more read more
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CAMP HOVEY, South Korea - Jiwon Park holds the rank of “Sang-byeong,” or corporal, and works as an automated logistical specialist for the U.S. Army in a country overseas, but for him that country is actually home.
Park is one of many Soldiers in Korea in this position. He is a Korean Augmentee To the United States Army.
As Soldiers from 1st Armored Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division, begin their nine-month rotation, they are working with Soldiers like Jiwon Park and other KATUSAs here, a longstanding program that serves several purposes.
“The KATUSA program is a symbol of our Republic of Korea and United States alliance,” said Capt. Seong-eon Park, commander, ROK Army Support Group to the 91st Engineer Battalion, 1st ABCT.
The partnership adds flexibility and capability for American Soldiers.
“As Soldiers from 91st Engineering Battalion, 1st Armored Brigade Combat Team, arrive and get accustomed to their work, KATUSAs help them with what the American Soldiers find difficult or different,” said Cpl. Jiwon Park a Korea augmentee with Company E, 91st Eng. Bn.
These working relationships can eventually become lasting friendships.
“Just through work, physical training - regular Army stuff - we started hanging out with our KATUSAs,” said Michael Poponak, a nodal network system operator with Company C, Headquarters and Headquarters Battalion, 2nd Infantry Division.
From June 2015 to February 2016 more than 400 KATUSAs participated with the 2nd ABCT, 1st Cavalry Division, in many missions on the Korean Peninsula, including Expert Infantry Badge testing, Expert Field Medical Badge testing, two air assault training courses, the annual Ulchi-Freedom Guardian exercise and four gunneries.
The KATUSA program has left a profound impression on some Soldiers.
“These Soldiers completed our team and made us better, they went
above and beyond in their mission - they made us better warriors and they made us better neighbors to the Korean people,” said Col. Scott Sonsalla, deputy commanding officer for the 2nd ABCT.
Eight hundred of the 1,300 KATUSAs serving on U.S. Army installations north of Seoul work on Camp Casey and Camp Hovey. U.S. and KATUSA Soldiers on the Korean Peninsula serve under the 2nd Infantry Division, ROK/US Combined Division.
Of the 10 divisions in the active U.S. Army, 2nd Infantry Division is the Army’s only permanently forward deployed combined division.
The KATUSA program was started in 1950 with a request from Gen. Douglas MacArthur to the Republic of Korea President Syngman Rhee due to critical shortages in the U.S. Army during the Korean War.
Before Korean males enter service they take an English test and those with the best scores compete for a limited number of slots.
To determine who gets those slots, the South Korean government holds a lottery to select the individuals who will eventually become KATUSAs.
The selected personnel are then sent through five weeks of basic training with the ROK army and three weeks of U.S. Army specific training before they are sent to their final duty stations.
U.S. and Korean Soldiers have been working together for the past 66 years, since the Korean War Armistice was signed July 27, 1953.
Jiwon Park and other KATUSAs will join the ranks of Ironhorse Soldiers to protect South Korea from North Korean aggression.
| Date Taken: | 02.20.2016 |
| Date Posted: | 02.25.2016 00:55 |
| Story ID: | 190020 |
| Location: | CAMP HOVEY, 41, KR |
| Web Views: | 450 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, South Korean and Fort Hood Soldiers continue longstanding partnership, by SSG Christopher Dennis, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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