South Korean soldiers returned home early morning on May 16 after completing a nearly one-month joint training at the National Training Center (NTC) located in the Mojave Desert in California, USA.
According to the Republic of Korea Army, the military selected 131 soldiers centered around the 8th Mechanized Infantry Division to form a task force (TF) and conducted joint training at the NTC from April 17th until May 14. NTC is located at Fort Irwin in the Mojave Desert and covers an area of about 926 square miles, which is four times the size of Seoul. It has extreme desert conditions, including scorching heat and a dry climate.
The U.S. NTC joint training with the South Korean subunit, which started in 2014, is now in its eighth year. It is conducted to improve the interoperability and joint combat capability between the U.S. and South Korea. This is the second time that our mechanized infantry unit has participated, following 2023.
The training was conducted with high-intensity tactical training and live-fire shooting training for more than a week, using the Miles equipment and other scientific training systems to simulate the most realistic battlefield situations.
South Korea’s military shared training and operational plans with the U.S. 2nd Division 1st Stryker Combat Brigade. They conducted heat adaptation training to adjust to the desert climate, set up camp formations, and reconnoitered the training area. Additionally, they supplemented the training unit’s operational plan and carried out cooperative rehearsals with the U.S. military.
From the tenth day of training, they conducted high-intensity tactical training and post-training evaluations for eight days, continuously facing the opposing forces with the Warrior platform. This was followed by five days of live-fire combat shooting exercises, simulating an attack scenario.
The commander of the NTC training unit, Captain Joo Eun Chong, said, “From preparation to completion, we approached each moment with the mindset that training is operations and operations are training. As a result, we gained strong confidence in conducting joint operations with U.S. forces and experienced a deep sense of camaraderie and the solidity of the U.S.-South Korea alliance as we overcame various battlefield situations together.”
Team Leader (Lieutenant Colonel) of the U.S. 5th Information Support Brigade, Matthew Pearson said, “This training was a great opportunity for the U.S. and South Korean militaries to practice joint combat capabilities. I am confident that the experiences gained by overcoming hardships together will strengthen the U.S.-South Korea alliance.”