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ROK, U.S. partnerships highlight Key Resolve

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Zachary Wolf
  • 7th Air Force Public Affairs
OSAN AIR BASE, Republic of Korea --  One powerful warfighting asset that is often overlooked is the joint relationship between the Republic of Korea and the U.S. at Exercise Key Resolve.

ROK Air Force members and U.S. Air Force members collaborated to execute the exercise with sending state nations from the United Nations Command supporting Key Resolve hosted by Osan Air Base, ROK.

A former C-130 Hercules crew chief found himself in Korea in March to be part of this exercise not as a crew chief, but as a space duty technician.

U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. Michael Hoover is a space duty technician stationed at Schriever Air Force Base, Colo. Hoover's job during this exercise was to inform key personnel of the space section's capabilities and how it would support mission completion.

Hoover was ready for exercise tasks, but an unexpected partnership occurred with his ROKAF counterparts.

"I knew that they (ROKAF) would be in the AOC (Air Operations Command) with us the entire exercise, but I didn't know I was going to be able to train with them, learn with them and help them with issues and to help me become a better space technician," Hoover said.

As Hoover puts it in perspective, the partnership between the U.S. Air Force and ROKAF may be one part of a bigger picture.

"My role (in this exercise) is a small part of a bigger picture," Hoover said. "It takes all the smaller parts to make the bigger picture whole, and if we start from that part, then our relationships can go up from there."

Another unusual aspect to this partnership was that a U.S. Air Force enlisted member was working shoulder-to-shoulder with a ROKAF officer.

Sergeant Hoover worked with ROKAF 2nd Lt. Song Hoeun, 7th Group Frequency Management Control Center, during the entire exercise and mentioned it was a great learning experience to work with an Air Force officer from a different country. They both work with global positioning satellites and reflected upon their exercise experiences.

"Working with Lieutenant Song is great because I am learning a lot from him and I hope he is learning as much from me," Hoover said.

Although language and culture can be a huge gap, Hoover and Song worked together and overcame language and culture barriers.

"At first it was a little difficult working with our U.S. counterparts because there was a great gap in our understanding," Song said. "However, I was able to attend high school and college in the United States, and I was quickly able approach our U.S. counterparts to make things easier to overcome challenges together. I have learned a lot from this experience."

Song was also met with a welcomed unsuspected surprise working with Hoover.

"It was a lot of fun working together," Song said. "I never thought in my service with the ROKAF that I would have an opportunity to work with the U.S. military, but we were able to get close, have a lot of fun, and I am very fortunate to be here."

Both service members stressed the importance of the ROK and U.S. relationship.

"I believe that the ROK and U.S. partnership is very important," Song said. "We are very thankful for all the help that the United States military is giving us."

He added the technical assistance the Air Force provides is helpful and important to the ROKAF. They are able to conduct operations through ROK-U.S. cooperation.

"Korea is an important ally," Hoover said. "We can't just have huge relationships; we have to work on the small ones too, so if we can work together, we can accomplish the mission better."