American troops and their family members gather at Downtown Plaza on Camp Humphreys, South Korea, after a ruck march on Dec. 6, 2024. (Michelle Lessard-Terry/U.S. Army)
SEOUL, South Korea — American troops bound for duty stations on the Korean Peninsula will serve longer tours there following a change in Defense Department policy that took effect Wednesday.
Most service members who receive orders to South Korea will be serving an additional year there compared to those already in the country, according to a July amendment to the Pentagon’s joint travel regulations.
Service members accompanied by their family members to the peninsula will be required to serve 36 months; unaccompanied troops will serve 24 months. The change will not affect those already serving in the country.
Troops who are denied a 36-month accompanied tour due to logistical limitations at their new base in South Korea will be given an option to serve 12 months.
U.S. Forces Korea, the command responsible for roughly 28,500 American troops on the peninsula, previously described the extension as the “normalization” of tour lengths in the country.
The increased timeline is expected to bring more stability to service members in their homes and workplaces.
“The shift is designed to improve force stability, enhance operational readiness and support quality of life for service members and their families,” USFK said in a July 29 news release.
U.S. military bases like Camp Mujuk and Kunsan Air Base, roughly 180 and 115 miles south of Seoul, respectively, will largely be restricted to unaccompanied service members for the foreseeable future, USFK’s personnel director, Air Force Col. William Parker, said in an interview at the command’s headquarters in July.
Major U.S. bases in South Korea like Camp Humphreys, the largest American military installation overseas, will continue to invest in its infrastructure to accommodate more family members, Parker told Stars and Stripes.
“We are increasing our capacities to support accompanied tours rather significantly; we have already in the last year and we’re intending to do that in the next year or two,” he said.
Extending South Korea tours allows individual units to retain troops and their skills for another year.
“The complexities of this region have just increased in the number of years,” Parker said. “Having those regional experts is critical. That is a key component of why we’re doing this.”
The Army and Air Force each reactivated one South Korea-based unit so far this year to bolster the military’s capabilities in the region.
The Army’s 528th Military Intelligence Company was reactivated at Humphreys in August to analyze enemy forces, terrain and potential threats, according to a service news release.
The following month, the Air Force revived the 431st Expeditionary Reconnaissance Squadron at Kunsan to conduct MQ-9 Reaper drone operations.
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