U.S. Army Pacific Contingency Command Post Participates in Ulchi Freedom Guardian
By Sgt. 1st Class Kevin P. Bell
From US Army
DAEGU, Republic of Korea - U.S. Army Pacific Contingency Command Post showed its Theater Army capability in the Republic of Korea Aug 14-30.
The U.S. Army Pacific Contingency Command Post, or USARPAC CCP, deployed to Camp Walker to participate in exercise Ulchi Freedom Guardian, an annual command post exercise designed to increase readiness of Republic of Korea, or ROK, and U.S. forces on the peninsula.
The Ulchi Freedom Guardian, known as UFG, exercise is designed to train commanders and staffs from the ROK and U.S. in combined planning, command and control operations, military intelligence, logistics, and personnel procedures.
The Fort Shafter, Hawaii based CCP provides USARPAC's theater-army expeditionary capability. It consists of a 96-person cell representing, not duplicating, the major staff functions of the theater-army headquarters.
Due to the frequency of natural disasters in the Pacific region, the CCP most often focuses on small-scale contingencies such as supporting humanitarian assistance, disaster relief and peace operations. It is however a flexible organization and can tailor personnel and equipment to fit a multitude of missions with teams ranging from seven personnel to more than 120 service members if augmented.
"UFG demonstrates the capability of a Theater Army," said Col. Alan Neyland, USARPAC deputy chief of staff and CCP chief.
The CCP assumed command and control over the U.S. Army's supporting forces, the logistics and transportation units needed to support combat forces and also the reception, staging, onward movement and integration of forces coming in to the ROK.
"USARPAC has immense capability with over 60,000 Soldiers assigned," Neyland added. "Theater-enabling commands and multiple mission command nodes allow the commander to reach out across the theater to support multiple engagements within a moment's notice, bringing tremendous capability to support operations not just in Korea, but across the Pacific."
Before taking charge of Army Forces Korea, CCP personnel spent about a week training with their Eighth Army counterparts.
"We look forward to cultivating the relationships we've developed during this exercise which will allow both our headquarters to gain a better understanding of our roles, enhancing any future operations we may participate in together," Neyland said.
— USPACOM (posted September 06, 2012) —