{"id":48484,"date":"2022-07-01T18:32:05","date_gmt":"2022-07-01T18:32:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/armytimes\/uncategorized\/2022\/07\/01\/army-will-no-longer-rotate-tank-units-to-korea-but-the-tanks-are-staying\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T03:47:54","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T03:47:54","slug":"army-will-no-longer-rotate-tank-units-to-korea-but-the-tanks-are-staying","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/armytimes\/news\/your-army\/2022\/07\/01\/army-will-no-longer-rotate-tank-units-to-korea-but-the-tanks-are-staying\/","title":{"rendered":"Army will no longer rotate tank units to Korea \u2014 but the tanks are staying"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Army will no longer rotate tank brigades to South Korea beginning this fall, the service acknowledged in a press release<\/a> Thursday afternoon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Instead, the Army will now rotate a Stryker brigade combat team to Korea every nine months. It will also maintain the existing armored brigade combat team\u2019s worth of tanks and equipment on the peninsula in a similar manner to the pre-positioned tank stocks<\/a> in Europe that allowed a tank brigade to rapidly deploy out of Fort Stewart, Georgia, in response to Russia\u2019s renewed invasion of Ukraine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Removing the rotational armored brigade is the latest step in a gradual drawdown of American ground firepower on the peninsula, too, although a permanent air cavalry squadron<\/a> was activated there in May.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Before it was deactivated<\/a> in 2015, the 2nd Infantry Division\u2019s 1st ABCT \u201cIron Brigade\u201d was permanently stationed there. In the years since, the Army has maintained a rotational tank brigade commitment \u2014 until now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reduced OPTEMPO for ABCTs?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The change to Strykers is also a tacit acknowledgement that the service\u2019s armored brigades may be overcommitted after the Ukraine crisis led the Army to increase its European armor commitment from one brigade combat team to three.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At a March town hall with family members of the 3rd Infantry Division\u2019s 1st ABCT, which had just deployed to Europe less than six months after returning from a Korea rotation, Sergeant Major of the Army Michael Grinston acknowledged \u201chow this math is going<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

An Army official told Army Times that with the departure of 1st Infantry Division\u2019s 1st ABCT the service currently has two armored brigades in Europe. And the Army\u2019s long-term rotational commitments now include an ABCT and a new additional rotational brigade in Romania.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Defense Department fact sheet on the changes indicated that an infantry brigade could fill the Romania commitment in the future, though.<\/p>\n\n\n\t