Camp Humphreys Soldiers conduct Field Training Exercise during Freedom Shield 25

CAMP HUMPHREYS, South Korea – U.S. Army Garrison Humphreys Soldiers conducted 48-hour field operations as part of the Freedom Shield 25, here, March 14, 2025.

“Our primary objective is to train our soldiers on the Company Mission Essential Task List,” said U.S. Army 1st Sgt. Jesus Duran, USAG Humphreys Headquarters and Headquarters Company (HHC) first sergeant. “We want to make sure everyone is proficient in our mission, as we support the garrison’s mission.”

U.S. Army and Republic of Korea soldiers from all sections participated in the training alongside directorates from USAG Humphreys. Soldiers were tasked with a wide array of duties to include guarding entry points to key locations on the installation, serving as liaisons to relay communication requirements as needed and running operation centers for the installation base defense. The training took place primarily on Desiderio Army Airfield, the U.S. Army’s most active airfield in the Pacific.

“This location was chosen because its security is our mission,” said Duran. “Not only do we have soldiers who work there every day, but our wartime mission is to ensure the airfield is secure in order to maintain operations in the entire Korean Theater of Operations.”

In contrast to last year's Freedom Shield Exercise, the focus this year was to ensure soldiers understood the unit’s mission during an emergency.

“The training this year was very mission-oriented, which helped us be more aware of our roles,” said U.S. Army Sgt. Robert Sullivan, Visual Information Branch non-commissioned officer, USAG Humphreys HHC. “As opposed to last year's training, which was more tailored to us learning our duties as soldiers rather than within our unit.”

In addition to mission preparation, leaders emphasized basic soldiering skills relevant to emergency situations. Along with the aforementioned tasks, training consisted of scenarios that could pose real threats to soldiers on the Korean Peninsula, such as reacting to chemical attacks, treating and evacuating casualties, casualty collection point operations, 9-line Medical Evacuation requests, self-decontamination and reacting to indirect fire.

“The training sessions we had throughout the week were a great refresher on various soldier tasks we learned in basic training,” said Korean Augmentation to the United States Army (KATUSA) Sgt. Hwang, Su-yeon, senior KATUSA with USAG Humphreys HHC. “We don’t often get to practice these skills, so it’s easy to forget.”

Practicing basic soldier tasks is imperative to maintaining readiness and lethality, Duran said.

“It’s also important to have confidence in your unit and your allies,” he continued. “We are very lucky to have a combined team of U.S. and ROK soldiers and training events like these help us strengthen our bonds between all soldiers.”

Freedom Shield 25 is a combined, joint, all-domain training exercise that integrates ground, air, naval, space and cyber elements, and is designed to enhance readiness, simulate realistic threats and incorporate lessons learned from recent conflicts and address evolving security challenges in the region.

“All service members need to know that what we do here in South Korea is very important,” said U.S. Army Capt. Stanley Ching, commander, USAG Humphreys HHC. “We are here to maintain the stability in the region and our adversaries and allies know that.”