CAMP HUMPHREYS, South Korea — Soldiers from 4th Battalion, 70th Armored Regiment, 1st Armored Brigade Combat Team, 1st Armored Division, fired their tanks, howitzers and Bradleys during the live-fire portion of their rapid deployment readiness exercise at Rodriguez Live-Fire Complex, South Korea, Aug. 5-9, 2024.
The battalion, based out of Fort Bliss, Texas, arrived during the final week of July and drew their combat equipment from Army prepositioned stock maintained on the Korean Peninsula by the 19th Expeditionary Sustainment Command and 403rd Army Field Support Brigade. The 25th Transportation Battalion transported 1ABCT’s newly donned equipment from Daegu city to RLFC for the live-fire validation.
After zeroing their weapons, 1ABCT Soldiers fired their M1A2 Abrams tanks, M109-A6 Paladins and M2A3 Bradley Fighting Vehicles throughout the week.
“Task Force Thunderbolts received a no notice deployment exercise where we were able to demonstrate our ability to project combat power into the Indo-Pacific under a condensed timeline,” said Lt. Col. Christopher Lorete, 4th Battalion commander. “We rapidly drew our combat fleet from the Army Preposition Stock-4 to assist the Army in validating its combat readiness in a critical area of responsibility.”
On July 17, 4th Battalion, 70th Armored Regiment Soldiers were notified they would leave Fort Bliss for a no-notice deployment readiness exercise. Six days later, they began drawing their combat equipment at Camp Carroll, South Korea. This deployment readiness exercise is part of Pacific Fortitude, which is part of a longstanding agreement to support the Republic of Korea – U.S. alliance.
The rapid deployment exercise is a standard, routine readiness validation where a U.S. Army unit is tested on its ability to rapidly deploy personnel successfully to a given environment, conduct training and redeploy back to their home station. This exercise also tests the swift deployment and decisive utilization of vehicles and equipment already present on the Korean peninsula. Army Prepositioned Stock-4, or APS-4, are strategically placed caches of warfighting equipment in Korea and Japan that serve as a critical component of the U.S. Army’s ability to rapidly project combat power throughout the Indo-Pacific.
“We are extremely proud of our team who worked tirelessly to prepare our equipment to conduct squad and platoon collective training, culminating in tank platoon live-fires and a combined ROK-U.S. mechanized infantry platoon live-fire,” Lorete said. “This opportunity to train as part of Pacific Fortitude enhances our operational readiness enabling our team to grow and learn every day and reinforces our commitment to the ROK in maintaining security and stability on the Korean peninsula. It is an honor to train side by side with our Republic of Korea Army partners increasing readiness and winning every day.”
Pacific Fortitude enhances the U.S. Army’s combat readiness and the ROK-U.S. combined defense posture, and further strengthens security and stability on the Korean peninsula. All professional militaries train on routine and continuously executed events to maintain readiness, proficiency, credibility, and trust.
By Eighth Army Public Affairs Office
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