Photo Gallery Summer 2001.html

Indeed, we are an integrated, joint team of teams comprising world-class active and reserve forces, who live, work, and train to fight and win. Our 37,000 service members are professional, disciplined, confident, and proud.

U.S. and ROK Marine snipers train together in Korea.

Official U.S. Marine Corps Photo

A U.S. Air Force AC-130 Spectre Gunship can provide close air support, air interdiction and armed reconnaissance for defending troops in the ROK.

Official U.S. Air Force Photo

Truly, the power of USFK is the power of people. Each of our soldiers, sailors, airmen, Marines, and Department of Defense civilians are members of multiple high-performing teams working toward a shared vision of the future. Each of these teams is fully interdependent with the others for readiness and warfighting operations.

Everyday, USFK supports the UN Command and the ROK-U.S. Combined Forces Command by coordinating and planning among U.S. component commands in Korea; exercising operational control of U.S. forces assigned as directed by USCINCPAC; and coordinating U.S. military assistance to the ROK. We achieve this mission through presence. Our presence on the Peninsula counts! It has for 50 years and it will continue to be vital to regional security.

In this regard, warfighting is our top priority. No single service component can satisfy the breadth of our obligations. The entire command functions as a team; therefore, we are integrated at the strategic, operational, and tactical levels. Additionally, we strive to fully engage off-peninsula U.S. forces, active and reserve, that will come together to fight as part of this magnificent alliance.

Needless to say, USFK is moving ahead. Everyday, we engage in the business of alliance building. We truly believe our powerful alliance is a springboard to the future. There is no doubt we will continue to grow stronger everyday. For it is through friendship that progress continues.

Finally, as we commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Korean War, we will never forget our glorious past and will pledge to work together in preserving the future.

Since the war, powerful changes have occurred. No country in modern history has developed as quickly. The Korean economy, once ravaged by war, is now the third largest trading partner of the United States.

More importantly, the Republic of Korea is a democracy enjoying countless personal and political freedoms. Seoul’s magnificent skyline is a visible testament of what is possible when a country has political and economic freedoms.

But freedom is not free. The fragile peace that exists today still requires the commitment and sacrifice of our service members. Together the ROK-U.S. alliance will prevail. Strength through friendship! Kachi Kapsida! (Let’s go together!)