http://grognews.blogspot.com/2012/05/us-troops-on-ground-in-north-korea.html
wow...
QuoteU.S. Army Gen. Neil Tolley, commander of U.S. Special Operations Forces in South Korea, told an audience in Tampa that U.S. and South Korean forces have been sent into North Korea to spy on the communist country's vast collection of underground tunnels and military installations.
The extraordinary admission, which went unreported by U.S. media, came on May 22 during the Special Operations Forces Industry Conference. Tolley said his command has identified 20 airfields and 180 munitions factories that are partially underground, along with thousands of subterranean artillery positions.
more at link and original article
I shouldn't be surprised...but I am.
This piece out of the UK says they parachuted in: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/northkorea/9296587/US-special-forces-parachuted-into-North-Korea.html
The USFK spokesman at the end of the article from The Telegraph is a good friend of mine and an old grad school classmate.
I love the file photo of Marines disembarking from an AAV. What that has to do with SOF parachuting into N. Korea is beyond my comprehension.
Quote from: Jarhead0331 on May 29, 2012, 11:33:57 AM
I love the file photo of Marines disembarking from an AAV. What that has to do with SOF parachuting into N. Korea is beyond my comprehension.
Maybe they look scarier to the Norks?
.
They should hack Rambo into Nork state TV.
(https://www.grogheads.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fstatic8.businessinsider.com%2Fimage%2F49c2287914b9b9bc006d6f72%2F.jpg&hash=a8566a18c36ecd09c5d45e0c12ef52fb497a3991)
Why would they officially admit to doing this? ( I am sure everyone already assumed we did) Won't that just give the North Koreans more reason to start trouble?
Quote from: TheCommandTent on May 29, 2012, 08:04:08 PM
Why would they officially admit to doing this? ( I am sure everyone already assumed we did) Won't that just give the North Koreans more reason to start trouble?
It doesn't sound like we officially admitted to anything. From what I've read, one General brought it up in a conference and it was officially disputed rather quickly.
Quote from: mirth on May 29, 2012, 08:15:57 PM
Quote from: TheCommandTent on May 29, 2012, 08:04:08 PM
Why would they officially admit to doing this? ( I am sure everyone already assumed we did) Won't that just give the North Koreans more reason to start trouble?
It doesn't sound like we officially admitted to anything. From what I've read, one General brought it up in a conference and it was officially disputed rather quickly.
I have trouble believing we're really put guys in harm's way over there. If things go badly, it won't be easy getting them out.
More likely we're beating the bushes to see what the Norks do.
Just because it is not logical don't think some group wouldn't try it.
Why I'll bet you guys never heard of the ex - OSS group that explored Kamchatka during the Cold War.
Did you?
backpedaling?
http://grognews.blogspot.com/2012/05/clarification-about-sof-nork-remarks.html
Quote from: bayonetbrant on May 31, 2012, 05:44:01 AM
backpedaling?
http://grognews.blogspot.com/2012/05/clarification-about-sof-nork-remarks.html
I was wondering when that was going to happen.
Quote from: besilarius on May 30, 2012, 06:45:16 PM
Just because it is not logical don't think some group wouldn't try it.
Why I'll bet you guys never heard of the ex - OSS group that explored Kamchatka during the Cold War.
Did you?
Nope. But I've heard that a few of them used to poke around East Germany (DDR) and Czechoslovakia back in the day.
Then there were the persisten rumors of Russian Specops troops scoping out the BMEWS radars in Alaska and Canada, and the air bases in Alaska.
Never was certain about this, but it made sense for them to get as much intel as possib le.
Heard of one incident where the Sovs surged a lot of strategic air assets over the North Pole, to see how we would react.
Don't know what they learned, but circumstantially, it showed us that they were also operating on a quarterly funding. The surge occurred in April, and it cost so much operating allowance that they barely flew for the rest of the quarter.
Quote from: besilarius on June 01, 2012, 09:28:24 PM
Heard of one incident where the Sovs surged a lot of strategic air assets over the North Pole, to see how we would react.
Don't know what they learned, but circumstantially, it showed us that they were also operating on a quarterly funding. The surge occurred in April, and it cost so much operating allowance that they barely flew for the rest of the quarter.
Funny how that works.
As they say, "Tracers work both ways."
General Tolley has been replaced in Korea in a "routine rotation" of jobs
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/06/world/asia/american-general-in-south-korea-replaced-after-spy-report.html?_r=2&hp
The scheduling is about right for him to rotate. Typically, command tours are 18-24 months, and many rotations (especially in Korea) are scheduled for the summer to synch the family moves with the kids' school schedules.
Now, he might've had his change of command moved up from, say, mid-July to now b/c of his comments. But there's easy money in the bet that he was likely rotating out this summer already.
The interesting thing to see will be where he goes next. SOF-USFK is typically a stepping stone to bigger things. It's a job where climbers go. If he gets sidelined to a nothing job somewhere for a 3-year tour, then he's sunk.