Pace: U.S. troop strength in Korea can be cut

  • Published
  • By Gerry J. Gilmore
  • American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON (AFPN) --  United States troop strength in South Korea can be reduced because of technological advances in military art and lessons learned from combat in Afghanistan and Iraq, the nation's No. 2 military officer said here Oct. 10.

"I personally believe that the numbers of U.S. troops in Korea can, in fact, be reduced, at the same time that the U.S. capabilities to defend Korea are increased," Marine Gen. Peter Pace, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told attendees at the Council on U.S.-Korean Security Studies here.

Department of Defense officials are assessing its global force posture, or "footprint," as part of Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld's mandate to transform the military into a leaner, meaner and more agile fighting force for the 21st century, Pace said.

Consequently, "we may want to rearrange the (U.S. military) footprint on the Korean peninsula, to be able to move more quickly and … to be able to thwart" potential threats, such as an invasion from North Korea, Pace said at the event.

Today, about 37,000 American troops are stationed in South Korea, a force posture that "has served us very well" for some years now, Pace said.

However, Pace said that harnessing technology and using lessons learned in Afghanistan and Iraq provide "the opportunity to do a better, more efficient, more effective defense of (South) Korea with our Korean counterparts in a way that will benefit both of our countries."

The general emphasized that any reduction of American troop strength on the Korean peninsula would not be the result of unilateral action of the United States, and it could occur only after the issue is worked between the United States and South Korea.

Military technology has made tremendous strides since World War II when inaccurate, so-called "dumb" bombs were used against the Axis powers, Pace said. In contrast, he cited the proven lethality and accuracy of today's precision munitions used against enemy troops in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Airplanes could drop "3,000 bombs to hit one target in World War II," Pace explained, and "now one airplane can drop 10 bombs and hit 10 targets."

Accordingly, Rumsfeld maintains that most of today's U.S. force structure is based on a World War II model, when large land, air and naval forces were expected to engage in huge battles of attrition with a similarly armed enemy.

With the demise of the Soviet Union in 1991, such a "peer" competitor no longer exists, he said. However, the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks underlined the fact that new, deadly threats to U.S. national security remain.

Then-U.S. Central Command Gen. Tommy Franks took today's new military capabilities into account when he formulated the battle plan for ousting Saddam Hussein's regime from Iraq, Pace said.

Consequently, Franks' war plan for Iraq was "based on a much smaller force that got the job done very quickly," compared to the much larger, World War II-sized force deployed to oust Saddam from Kuwait more than a decade ago, Pace said.

And smaller, technologically enhanced ground forces will likely provide the template for tomorrow's military, he added.

About 700 South Korean servicemembers are serving alongside U.S. and other allied forces in Iraq, according to Pace.