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PEP in South Korea/Japan
- Thread starter kayesjay
- Start date
The 1st on LASTSHIP did the same tour.
I can only imagine that cruising on an IJN ship would be eye opening and a culinary challenge. Sure they serve katsu curry on Fridays but I'd be worried about every other meal. There was a mid at my NROTC unit who did six weeks with the IJN, said it was VERY different.
That said, it could be an awesome experience. The japanese have a great naval tradition and are amazing mariners. And hardcore too. The IJN ships we shared a pier with had no shore power connections and always had steam up in port.
Getting a shore tour out in the ROK or Japan shouldn't be hard if one is available. In addition to PEP jobs, there are plenty of regular US shore/staff jobs out there as well.
One word of caution, close continuing ties with foreign nationals (including relatives) can be an issue for higher clearances.
One word of caution, close continuing ties with foreign nationals (including relatives) can be an issue for higher clearances.
Well, you should watch the news. Putin, Assad, ISIL, LH, and others, have gooned up the "pivot to the Pacific." 7th Fleet has great liberty, and your family is there, but I wouldn't oversell yourself on its 'strategic importance.'
BigRed, I'll keep that in mind. I see my relatives once a year (if that), but obviously shore duty in the ROK could change that.
azguy, we can agree to disagree, but I would still argue that the Asia-Pacific is of greater strategic importance than Syria or Ukraine. The "pivot to the Pacific" has not changed in any significant way because of any of the entities you list making headlines.
azguy, we can agree to disagree, but I would still argue that the Asia-Pacific is of greater strategic importance than Syria or Ukraine. The "pivot to the Pacific" has not changed in any significant way because of any of the entities you list making headlines.
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One could argue that the "rebalance" (the term pivot is now a bit passé) has yet to really occur. Lots of talk in our national strategic documents, but very little in terms of action. Regardless of the emphasis we choose to place on the Asia-Pacific AOR, one could also argue that reducing our focus on Europe and the Middle East as a means of resourcing the rebalance has, thus far, proven challenging and will ultimately be deemed strategically shortsighted.
We can certainly agree to disagree on the relative strategic importance of China, but your bolded statement is patently false. As Brett points out, the 'pivot' became a 'rebalance' a while ago. My world view is admittedly limited to the SWO world, but the major growth industry for us is the East Med. Follow the money... Look at the newest speed to fleet systems being fielded, the latest AWS baseline updates coming down the pipe, the urgency isn't driven by PACOM. As someone going off to be a DH soon, seeking advice from mentors on what to do, it looks like FDNF Rota is the place to be.
I'm not saying PACOM isn't an important place, just that with limited resources, the USN will focus on the alligator closest to the boat. PACOM won't be an issue for the USN in my career, if it blows up at all.
Being stationed in Japan right now, I admit I'm not very aware of what's going on in the East Med, regarding what the Navy's doing. But I know we are adding several ships to FDNF Yokosuka. And some of the ships already out here are either undergoing or will be receiving the upgrade.
And it's not just China. China's a huge piece, seeing how they've grown their navy exponentially in quantity and quality over the past 15 years and become more assertive, but we're also talking about North Korea and all the PSAs. But if someone's looking to shoot Tomahawks in the very near future, sure, it's more likely that they'll get to do that in the Med.
And it's not just China. China's a huge piece, seeing how they've grown their navy exponentially in quantity and quality over the past 15 years and become more assertive, but we're also talking about North Korea and all the PSAs. But if someone's looking to shoot Tomahawks in the very near future, sure, it's more likely that they'll get to do that in the Med.
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Need SIPR AW to go into more detail, but if you're an AEGIS guy, you know what I'm talking about now. If you're an Amphib dude, don't worry about it
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That is a very limited view of what is going across the military, the Aegis ships being stationed in Rota are only a small piece of the big pie. While CENTCOM continues to suck up resources PACOM will continue to get its fair share and then some. There are a lot of alligators our there and the Navy only handles some of them.