Posted on 04/03/2017 10:54:07 PM PDT by TigerLikesRooster
‘Win Tonight’: Men and Women at South Korean Base Poised for War 24/7
OSAN AIR BASE, South Korea — With the stakes on the Korean peninsula as high as they have ever been, life for the men and women here with the U.S. Air Force's 51st Fighter Wing is lived in a state of constant alert.
South Korea has no nuclear weapons, so it relies on the United States' nuclear umbrella to deter North Korea and its erratic leader, Kim Jong Un.
That makes Osan — less than 50 miles from the Demilitarized Zone separating the mortal enemies and home to a large proportion of the 28,500 U.S. military personnel in South Korea — the leading edge of the shield that protects the South from the North.
Hence the base's slogan: "Ready to Fight Tonight."
(Excerpt) Read more at nbcnews.com ...
I was very familiar with Suwon, and Osan Air Base, back in 1969-70. Was stationed north of there at a small compound near Anyang, at the 83rd Ord Battalion HQ (no longer there - don’t know when they left there).
I made many trips in my Jeep down to Osan and back. On one trip, I had to to take a report I finished down to Daegue. I drove down to Osan, and from there a pilot with a small single engine two person plane flew us down to Daegue and back. Viewing the country from that height - so UNLIKE with a jetliner - was amazing. It was a trip I had made a number of times by Jeep, on one of the then recently finished “super highways” that went from the south eastern border with Seoul all the way down to Daegue. I actually saw many parts of that road being built. Road building equipment along the roadway, and villagers nearby delivering gravel to the sight, carried in wicker baskets hung on their backs.
In the evenings, a couple nights a week, I had a conversational English class for some supervisors and managers at a pharmaceutical factory a short walk from the compound. My houseboy had roped me into it. He had promised me to the head guy at the factory, before telling me anything. They were a great bunch, young men and women in their 20s & 30s, with college degrees and some English speaking ability. When they demanded to pay me, I made tbem agree my pay would be them helping me learn to speak their language. I spent one week of my leave with most of the members of my class, hiking over nearby mountains, camping out every night, bathing in local steams and little lakes, no electricity, main roads or any vehicles, though we did pass some villages and bought food from some villagers.
I too loved my time in Korea. I tried to stay but my request, after being approved all the way up the chain in Korea, was rejected at the DOD; and it came back so late, so near my departure date, there was no time for appeal.
Here’s a hint,
As the most forward deployed permanently based wing in the Air Force, and equipped with A-10 Thunderbolt IIs and F-16 Fighting Falcons, the 51st Fighter Wing is charged with executing combat operations, receiving follow-on forces and defending the base from attack. As the air component to United States Forces Korea and Combined Forces Command, 7th Air Force provides the command and control structures and personnel necessary to deliver precise, persistent, combined air and space power in defense of the Republic of Korea.
Osan Air Base is one of two major U.S. Air Force installations operated by U.S. Forces Korea, the other being Kunsan Air Base.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osan_Air_Base
I know 40 years ago the NORKs would run their jets as fast as possible towards the border in attack fassion then veer off at the last moment prior to crossing th 38th.
We’d send up fighters to challenge.
Happen sometimes several times a day.
Seoul is about 3 minutes flying time from the border. Folks were not casual about this.
Actually they are at war 24-7. The Armistice of 1953 was a temporary cessation of hostilities.............................. The war was put on hold because Atomic Canons were shipped to Japan. IKE sent them there to show he meant business. It was secret, but a secret that he wanted to be discovered. I guess they called a time out, so they could have time to develop their own Atomic weapons? World Peace, the great myth.
I heard that, too. Now we do not have to worry about it. Their planes are turning into rust buckets. However, they have the new toys more dangerous than those planes.
And i am sure they still play mind games
I don’t think it as a U.S.-ROK advance they intend, but a pincher movement to split/weaken any such advance possibility with an immediate, from the start, need for U.S.-ROK to go defend Inchon.
I was stationed there under jimm’a. we couldn’t fly half our F4s at any given time. IF THE nkS CAME SOUTH WE WERE TO LAUNCH WHAT WE COULD AND BUG OUT ON FOOT. lucky it never came to that.
We used to live near Lincoln, CA and would see U-2 planes flying out of Beale AFB all the time. They looked like gliders.
Check out info on our boomers. They are a formidable boat. My son finished his sea time on the West Virginia as a sonar tech. Mighty proud of the lad.
I’m guessing we know where the NORK missiles are and our antimissile defenses are locked in.
Unless they have a tactical nuke, launchable by way of artillery, I wouldn’t be too concerned.
*How much can a group this size accomplish?*
By themselves? Not much.
South Korea has an army that numbers over 400,000 active and reserve soldiers.
Their training is rather, shall we say, rigorous. They can be bad asses and have better toys than the NORKs.
I worked weather at Beale in 81-84 and 96-97
Do I know you? :-)
Huh. So I guess Anheuser-Busch is safe from fallout... :-)
Now that would be the best outcome of a bad situation, except no one in the world would believe we didn't do it and what the hell!? our government just might say, "no comment," and DJT might smirk just a tad.
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