▲ This file photo, uploaded on the Pentagon's Defense Visual Information Distribution Service, shows South Korean Army's 5th Engineer Brigade and its K1A2 tank crossing a U.S. Army Improved Ribbon Brigade during a joint wet gap training as part of the Freedom Shield exercise on March 20, 2025. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)

US military-joint drills

8th Army participates in Freedom Shield exercise to enhance readiness posture

SEOUL, March 9 (Yonhap) -- The U.S. Army based in South Korea began taking part in an annual springtime military exercise with the ally's forces Monday with a focus on enhancing readiness and modernizing the South Korea-U.S. alliance, the Eighth Army said.

The U.S. Eighth Army has joined the Freedom Shield (FS) exercise, which kicked off earlier in the day and will run until March 19, as the ground component for U.S. Forces Korea (USFK) and the Combined Forces Command, according to U.S. military officials.

During the joint drills, the allies will train under complex scenarios, including a combined live-fire air assault exercise, a combined wet gap crossing and a joint medical evacuation exercise, the Eighth Army said in a statement.

All of the Eighth Army's major subordinate commands, including the 2nd Infantry Division, the 19th Expeditionary Sustainment Command and the 65th Medical Brigade, will participate in the FS exercise.

The U.S. 11th Airborne Division deployed from Alaska will be engaged in a combined airborne operation in which paratroopers will perform a strategic airborne insertion into the Korean theater of operations, it said.

(END)

[ⓒ K-VIBE. 무단전재-재배포 금지]