Marine Expeditionary Camp, Pohang [MEC-P]
/ Camp Mu Juk
Marine Expeditionary Camp, Pohang [MEC-P] is a base where Marine units can stay while they're training at one of several ranges in the area. The Camp can handle 2,000 Marines, and is home to several major exercises each year including Foal Eagle, KITP, UFL, and RSOI. Marine Expeditionary Camp, Pohang is an 84-acre expeditionary encampment area located just outside the town of O'chon, South Korea. MEC-P has been a base camp for Marines deployed to exercises in the Republic of Korea for more than two decades. In 1980, Camp Muchuk, a Republic of Korea Marine Corps ammunition depot, was established as a III MEF billeting facility to support repeated USMC deployment to the ROK.
The city of P'ohang is located on the eastern coast of the Republic of Korea, approximately 400 kilometers (250 miles) from Seoul. CNFK Det P'ohang is located just south of P'ohang, on the 1st ROK Marine Division Base.
CNFK Det P'ohang is home to 13 Marines and 2 Sailors. The mission of CNFK Det P'ohang is to liaison with Republic of Korea military and civilian agencies for U.S. deployment training and contingency support planning and coordination. Det P'ohang also coordinates the use of 1st ROK Marine Division training areas and firing ranges by U.S. forces to conduct combined training, maintains pre-positioned war reserve aviation and ground ordnance facilities at P'ohang and Yechon, maintains TacAir refueling operations, and provides supplemental communication capability for Commander Naval Shore Based Forces Korea. CNFK Det P'ohang is responsible for maintaining pre-postioned war reserve aviation and ground ordnance facilities, maintaining TacAir refueling operations, and coordinating the use of 1st ROK Marine Division firing ranges.
Three new prototype fuel systems were tested on the chilling east coast beaches of South Korea in October 1998 in an effort to revolutionize the re-supplying of fuel for future Marine warfighters. Both U.S. and Republic of Korea Marine forces, participating in the combined exercise Foal Eagle, provided an ideal setting for the D-Day Mobile Fuel Distribution System Concept Demonstration. In addition to the Marine participants from III Marine Expeditionary Force and 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit, numerous researchers and other contributors came from around the world to witness the testing of the three fuel systems. Prior to the D-Day Mobile Fuel effort, there was no way to deliver bulk logistics fuel from over the horizon. So this was trying to meet a critical requirement that, up until this time, was not met. The Navy is required to provide fuel support to Marine landing forces from a ship offshore, but it is the Marine Corps’ responsibility to receive that fuel at the high water mark ashore and push it inland to the warfighter. In the past, a Navy’s landing ship tank (LST) was used to feed fuel hose lines within 10,000 feet from the shore, but their deactivation from the active force and their limited distance forced the Marine Corps to find new ways of expediently bringing fuel ashore. To combat these issues, the MARFORPAC Warfighting lab in Hawaii and several technical experts from around the country started developing new designs for bulk fuel containers, about four years ago with support from the Office of Naval Research.
Approximately 45,000 gallons of fuel were offloaded from the Maritime Prepositioning Ship Motor Vessel Sgt. William R. Button and distributed to several units throughout Pohang and Marine Expeditionarry Camp Pohang to kick off Exercise Foal Eagle/Freedom Banner 14 October 1998. Combat Service Support Group 3 Marines from Marine Corps Base Hawaii, Kaneohe Bay, and Force Service Support Group 3 Marines from Okinawa, Japan, used 5,000-gallon M970 tanks loaded on 931 tractors to receive the fuel and distribute it to dozens of vehicles, generators and other vital mechical assets in the exercises. The fuel was distributed to Marines to use over five weeks in field exercises, an amphibious landing and continuous base camp operations.
The Korean Intergrated Training Program (KITP) is a one and a half month joint training in conjunction with the Republic of Korea (ROK) Marines that takes place in Pohang, Korea Marine Expeditionary Camp Pohang (MEC-P) from November 8, 2000 thru December 2000. 1st Bn., 3rd Marines and Combat Service Support Detachment 33 deployed to the chilly and austere Marine Expeditionary Camp Pohang in the Republic of Korea 08 November 2000. Korean Incremental Training Program 00-1 was conducted in coordination with Republic of Korea Marine Corps forces to enhance warfighting skills and increase bilateral interoperability. After the exercise, 1/3 and CSSD-33 redeployed to Okinawa to continue their training. 9th Engineer Support Bn.'s MEC-P Combat Service Detachment remained behind and prepare the camp for the next exercise.
In early 2001 Marines from 3rd Battalion, 8th Marines, practice systematic room clearing techniques and skills during a recent ‘Military Operations in Urban Terrain’ exercise in the Republic of Korea Marine Expeditionary Camp-Pohang. The Marines also tested versions of the new Marine combat uniform.
Maintaining MEC-P throughout the year is challenging, especially for the detachment of Marines and Sailors stationed here to maintain the camp throughout the year. The Camp is a two-hour drive from the nearest commissary or post exchange, and the temperature ranges from 98 degrees in the summer to below freezing in the winter.
The normal rotation is six months for the Marines and Sailors who come from Okinawa. Many of them extend their tour here because they enjoy the training and the experience they get doing their job in an expeditionary environment.
With the help of the Naval construction detachment, the 9th Engineering Support Bn. Combat Service Detachment has made several improvements to the camp. Improvements to the camp over the past 10 years include re-grading gravel roads, adding drainage ditches, a fuel point, generator shed, and water distribution system, as well as installing pre-engineered buildings and a second water well. In addition to improved facilities, the quality of life has improved at MEC-P with the addition of a mini mall, long-distance telephones, and the ROK Hard Cafe.
The name Mu Juk means invincible in the Korean language. For the 32 Marines stationed at Camp Mu Juk, invincible is a word that captures an essence of life on this dusty, 84-acre military facility. The small estate, which rests one mile outside the Republic of Korea Marine Corps' 1st Marine Division headquarters, is the site of numerous exercises for U.S. Marines training in conjunction with ROK Marines. The overall mission of Camp Mu Juk is to house and support the incoming Marines who visit here annually. Camp Mu Juk has sat on the outskirts of Pohang for more than 20 years. The name of the camp switches every few years between Mu Juk and MEC-P, which stands for Marine Expeditionary Camp-Pohang. Along with the name, the ownership is also in a "ping-pong" state as well.
