Esper says US considering troop 'adjustments' in South Korea
The Pentagon is considering “adjustments” to its military presence in South Korea and around the globe as it shifts from years of countering insurgencies and militants in the greater Middle East to focusing on China, Defense Secretary Mark Esper said Tuesday.
Without discussing specifics, Esper said he favors more emphasis on rotational deployments, as opposed to permanent stationing, of American troops “because it gives us, the United States, greater strategic flexibility in terms of responding to challenges around the globe.”
Esper’s chief spokesman, Jonathan Hoffman, said later the goal of shifting to more use of rotational forces in Asia and Europe would be to “remove some of the footprint of having forces forward deployed” and allow troops to train in additional locations, “instead of being in one country all the time.”
Esper said that since taking office a year ago he has sought to review the global U.S. military footprint ... that has included looking for ways to bring more U.S. troops home so that they can train more directly for missions related to potential conflict in the Asia-Pacific region.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/esper-says-us-considering-troop-adjustments-in-south-korea/2020/07/21/9c016ed6-cb5b-11ea-99b0-8426e26d203b_story.html
