2 ROK STEADY - Eighth Army - U.S. Army

Odierno met with Republic of Korea Army
Chief of Staff Cho Jung-hwan; Gen. James D.
Thurman, commander of United Nations Command,
Combined Forces Command and U.S.
Forces Korea; and Eighth Army Commanding
General Lt. Gen. John D. Johnson in South
Korea.
According to the chief of staff, the U.S.
Army has almost 70,000 Soldiers assigned in
the U.S. Pacific Command area of operations, a
region that spans 16 time zones and 9,000 miles
and stretches from the
U.S. west coast to the
Indian Ocean.
In its 237-year history,
the United States
Army has served with
distinction in the Asia
Pacific region. Out of
its 181 battle streamers,
63 of them were
earned in the Pacific.
During his second
trip to South Korea
since taking office
in September 2011,
Odierno said the U.S.
Army will leverage its
capabilities to build
partner capacity and
strengthen militaryto-military
relations
across the region.
“We expect to help the PACOM commander
to set the theater with logistical, signal and
support capabilities,” said Odierno, “as well as
providing more ability to conduct military-tomilitary
relations.”
Odierno said building stronger military-tomilitary
relations is the key “to develop relationships
which are so important in this region
that the United States considers essential to our
own security as well as to our commitment to
the security of other nations in this region.”
Odierno said American troops stationed in
South Korea will continue to play an important
role in defending liberty on peninsula and
providing security in the region, which is home
to four of the world’s six largest militaries and
more than 25 percent of total U.S. trade.
South Korea is also home to Eighth Army,
the U.S. Army’s premier armored formation on
the Asian mainland. Called the Pacific Victors,
Eighth Army Soldiers have served in the
Pacific since 1944.
Eighth Army liberated
more 60 islands
in the Pacific during
World War II, served
in the occupation
force in Japan and
commanded ground
forces as the only
U.S. Field Army in
the Korean War.
Eighth Army has
been stationed on the
Korean Peninsula
ever since, serving as
a bulwark against renewed
North Korean
aggression.
Odierno said the
U.S. Army remains
committed to its
enduring alliance with South Korea.
“The United States Army to committed to
sustaining the same level of commitment that
we have over the years to our great partners
here on the Korean Peninsula,” said Odierno,
who served as commander of Multinational
Forces-Iraq and U.S. Joint Forces Command
prior to becoming the Army chief of staff. “I
continue to talk to our Soldiers about how
thankful they are for all of the support they get
from the Korean people.”
Gen. Odierno shook hands with Spc. Issac Castleberry and other
members of the 35th Air Defense Artillery Brigade while at Osan
Air Base.
Eighth Army
ROK Steady
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