Foal Eagle

Foal Eagle 2000

Foal Eagle 2000, the largest field training drill conducted annually in South Korea, was held from Oct. 25 to Nov. 3. Over 30,000 U.S. military members took part in Foal Eagle 2000, a massive military exercise teaming U.S. troops with more than 500,000 Republic of Korea forces and showcasing their capability to defend South Korea should the need arise. Held at military sites throughout South Korea in October and November, the exercise tested the ability of allied forces to provide ground and air protection, launch and recover aircraft and evacuate civilians from an embattled Korean Peninsula. Courageous Channel, a noncombatant evacuation exercise, also was held during Foal Eagle.

Some units and equipment deploying from outside Korea arrived for Foal Eagle and were convoyed from Pusan, the nation's major port 270 miles south of Seoul, to tent cities set up in at least a dozen locations. The 8th Tactical Fighter Wing at Kunsan Air Base on the peninsula's west coast conducted an air base defense exercise as part of Foal Eagle. U.S. Navy and Coast Guard units conducted a harbor defense exercise at Pusan. The experience U.S. troops gained during Foal Eagle is good practice should the uneasy peace between North and South Korea ever erode. It's that kind of uncertainty that had U.S. and South Korean forces not only practicing for Foal Eagle 2000, but for real-world crises as well.