USFK commander presents coins to ACC augmentees Published March 18, 2009 By Staff Sgt. Sam Hymas 7th Air Force Public Affairs OSAN AIR BASE, Republic of Korea -- The commander of U.S. Forces Korea visited here to view the Air Component Command's involvement in the Key Resolve/Foal Eagle exercise and congratulate some outstanding Airmen March 16. Gen. Walter Sharp, USFK commander, presented 14 coins: to five U.S. and five Republic of Korea servicemembers at the Hardened Tactical Air Control Center and to four Airmen at Rush Park, Osan AB's tent city for the exercise. Capt. John Macasek, the air tasking order production chief of the 607th Air Operations Center here was one of the recipients. "It was an honor to be recognized by General Sharp," he said. "It is a great experience to be able to exercise jointly with the Army, Navy, Marines and the Air Force." The Airmen at Rush Park were honored for their work setting up and maintaining the tent city where more than 650 exercises participants are living. The team that established tent city faced many challenges including limited manpower during initial stages of setup, said Master Sgt. Joe Barry, tent city first sergeant. "That reduced team worked for 15 to 16 hours a day for 10 days before they had a day off." The advance team also prepared keys and labels for all the new lockers at tent city, set up the morale computers and telephones and the environmental control units. "We had outstanding support from the 51st Fighter Wing," said Master Sgt. Inok Antunes, services superintendent for tent city, "especially from Comm, CE and the services squadron." Tech. Sgt. Jason Knepper, NCO in charge of the armory at tent city, had only praise for his team. "The entire armory team deserved a coin," he said. "They've done a great job." Sergeant Knepper joked about cutting the coin into four parts to distribute to his Airmen. Key Resolve/Foal Eagle, like all Combined Forces Command exercises, is defense-oriented and designed to enhance readiness and the ability of the ROK-U.S. Alliance to defend the ROK against external aggression. It is a routine training exercise that takes place every year at about the same time.