The Army has announced that some soldiers heading to South Korea will now spend extended tours of duty of 24 months, doubling the length of a typical one-year unaccompanied tour, in an apparent strategic move to improve operational readiness. This policy change, outlined in an Aug. 1 Army memo, would apply to single soldiers without dependents in seven critical occupational specialties.
These roles include: air traffic control operators, UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter repairers, military working dog handlers, special agents in criminal investigations, counterintelligence agents, signal intelligence analysts, and special agents in the criminal investigation division. Permanent change-of-station orders to South Korea on or after Aug. 1 by Soldiers in these Military Occupational Specialties require the new 24-month tour length.
“This affects between 100 to 200 soldiers overall in those military occupational specialties,” U.S. Army spokesman Christopher Surridge said. The bottom line on this extension is readiness, getting after these highly specialized fields that require years of training and certification before soldiers become fully mission capable.
It also pointed out that the extension is not operationally driven for requirements in the Pacific, but instead is an effort to reduce turnover in those positions that require substantial training. Soldiers serving in such roles often have less than six months remaining on their initial one-year tour by the time they become fully certified. The additional time is intended to maximize their proficiency and effectiveness in their duties.
The policy does not apply to soldiers who are assigned to the Defense Attaché System, security cooperation organizations, and those stationed in Korea without an approved accompanied tour. Soldiers already stationed in South Korea or placed on orders before Aug. 1 were not affected by this new requirement.
US Forces Korea will review the policy annually to either extend it or make changes to the noted career fields. While single soldiers already serving their obligated unaccompanied tours in South Korea are not mandated to extend their tour, they will still be asked to do so.
The United States has had a military presence in South Korea since the Korean War, with a current force size of about 28,500 troops as of 2023. The purpose of this enduring alliance is to deter armed conflict from the region and to act as a strategic staging area for military operations around the Pacific.
This decision reflects the commitment of the U.S. Army to training and maintaining a ready force in such a region—with its ongoing geopolitical tensions.