Exercise Foal Eagle 2007 in Full Swing

An Air Cushion Landing Craft prepares to enter the well deck of USS Essex (LHD 2). Essex is the Navy's only forward deployed multi-purpose amphibious assault ship and is the flagship for the Essex Amphibious Readiness Group (ARG) operating from Sasebo, Japan. U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Jhoan M. Montolio

From USS Essex Public Affairs

USS ESSEX, At Sea (NNS) -- Essex Amphibious Ready Group and embarked elements of the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit arrived in the Republic of Korea (ROK) on March 5 to conduct Reception Staging Onward-Movement and Integration and Foal Eagle 2007 (RSOI/FE 07), an exercise which will run through the end of March.

RSOI/FE is one of two annual command post exercises held by U.S. Forces Korea and conducted with the ROK armed forces. RSOI/FE 07 is designed to demonstrate U.S. resolve to support the ROK while improving overall readiness.

RSOI focuses on initial operational flow of deployed forces to Korean Theater of Operations: receiving military units in Korea (reception); connecting units with their equipment once in country (staging); moving them into their respective strategic position within the peninsula (onward movement) and integrating newly arrived forces with the forces that are already here (integration).

“Foal Eagle gives the Navy the unique opportunity to plan and execute a complex expeditionary strike group exercise with one of our key 7th Fleet partners. We’ll deliver an integrated U.S. and ROK Marine team and their equipment to the beach,” said USS Essex (LHD 2) Operations Officer Cmdr. Chris Polk. “And the success of this exercise will be measured, among other things, by how efficiently and safely we execute our interoperability training.”

This year’s exercise will mark the 46th Foal Eagle exercise and the sixth time it’s been combined with RSOI.

Essex, the only forward-deployed amphibious assault ship and serves Task Force 76, the Navy’s only forward-deployed amphibious force. Task Force 76 headquartered at White Beach Naval Facility, Okinawa, Japan, with an operating detachment in Sasebo, Japan.