Some 3,700 troops from the United States and the Republic of Korea (South Korea) kicked off a 10-day logistics exercise called Operation Pacific Reach on April 11.
Troops, trucks, and about 50 ships are coordinating to test their ability to deliver materiel and personnel in case of a natural disaster or warfare.
Lt. Col. Rizaldo Salvador of the 498th Combat Sustainment Support Battalion described it this way:
“Operation Pacific Reach 2017 is a combined and joint exercise that includes our unit, U.S. Joint Services, and our ROK allies, which demonstrates logistics expeditionary capabilities that can be employed worldwide to assist in humanitarian assistance and contingency and for crisis response.”
Rear Adm.Kim Jong-Sam, commander of Republic Of Korea Navy Flotilla 5, described the operation in slightly more belligerent terms:
“Combined Joint Logistics Over the Shore exercise enables us to overcome the limits set by ground line of communication and contribute in the theater of operations by sending mass supplies and equipment to the ground via shore lines at necessary times, thereby ensuring our victory at war.”
This exercise comes shortly after the announcement that a carrier strike group including the aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson, was steaming from Singapore toward the Korean Peninsula.
North Korea launched several medium-range missiles into the Sea of Japan in response to the last joint U.S.-South Korea military exercises.
