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May 14, 2003

Why Make them Lighter?

Note: this is a post recovered from my old blog, before it died of an insufficient backup. Any comments/trackbacks on it have not been brought over, but can be seen with the original. The date is that of the original posting.

This article, which I got via The Command Post, contains a bit that doesn't make a lot of sense to me.

it wants to upgrade the forward-deployed 2nd Infantry Division to SBCT (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) status, to make its forces lighter and more mobile. America is also studying plans to send an SBCT unit to South Korea this summer for a military exercise.

A USFK official said the transformation to SBCT was in line with America's long-term plans to reorganize and reduce its troop count here while strengthening its fighting power and deterrence effect at the same time. He denied that the plans were related to the nuclear issue with North Korea. But some experts said the moves seemed to be designed to prepare for a possible worsening of the crisis.

The whole point of a Stryker brigade is to be easily deployable and very mobile, while having a lot of hitting power. It seems that you want for divisions already deployed in Korea to be as heavy as possible, given the threat, terrain, and lack of need to deploy them (as they are already deployed). I can only think of a few scenarios:

1. I'm reading more into this article than is really there.
   
2. The article got wrong what is happening.
   
3. The actual reference should be to 2IDs 3d Brigade, which is stationed in the US and would have to be deployed.
   
4. The actual reference should be to additional forces being deployed to Korea in the event of war, and the prepositioning is for such forces (although, again, if you're going to preposition shouldn't you preposition heavy equipment)?
   
5. We actually intend within the next couple of years to pull USFK - at least the land component - out of Korea to Japan or elsewhere in the region, but want them to be versed in operating as a medium force in Korea before we leave.
   

None of these seem like really good reasons to me, so what am I missing here? What's the rationale for using SBCTs in Korea instead of heavy divisions?

Posted by jeff at May 14, 2003 12:00 AM

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