United States Pacific Command

The United States Pacific Command ( USPACOM; German Pacific Command of the United States) is one of six branches of the armed forces overarching regional command of the U.S. armed forces and is responsible for the Pacific and Southeast Asia. As the supreme command service, it has the command over the entire United States military in the region, including Japan and South Korea. Since March 9, 2012 Admiral Samuel J. Locklear is commander of PACOM. The headquarters is located at Camp HM Smith in Salt Lake ( Hawaii) to Honolulu in the U.S. state of Hawaii.

History

The PACOM was established on 1 January 1947 by U.S. President Harry S. Truman and stationed in Honolulu ( Hawaii). It is the oldest and largest of the Unified Combatant Commands. The command were all U.S. units in the region, which was called by the United States during World War II Pacific Theater of Operations, assumed. Ronald Reagan then expanded its area of ​​operations also affect China, Mongolia, South Korea and Madagascar.

Until January 1958 the commander of PACOM also was under the U.S. Pacific Fleet, until then a separate component of PACOM was and got its own commander.

1986 wrote the Goldwater -Nichols Act, which reorganized the command structure of the U.S. armed forces, the powers of the commanders of the various Unified Combatant Commands fixed.

From 1989 to the year 2000, the jurisdiction of the PACOM was gradually reduced. In 1989, the operation areas of the Gulf of Oman and the Gulf of Aden, 1996, the Seychelles and adjacent marine areas CENTCOM. And finally, in 2000, the shores of the Indian Ocean from Tanzania, Mozambique and South Africa, the United States European Command ( EUCOM ) have been allocated.

Since after the events of September 11, the focus of U.S. military strategists went more in the direction of the Middle East, the command structure of the U.S. armed forces in 2002 was again reformed. For the first time so the entire surface of the earth has been assigned to the various Unified Combatant Commands. As a result of these reforms, the United States Northern Command ( NORTCOM ) was created to improve the "internal security " ( homeland security ) of the United States. This new regional command and the West Coast of the United States was transferred as an operational area and so separated from the responsibility of PACOM. In the course of restructuring the Territory of Alaska was assigned to NORTHCOM, while the command of the troops stationed there U.S. forces remained with the PACOM. Also, the Antarctic has been moved to the jurisdiction of PACOM.

The last major aspect of the reform are the command- conditions related to Russia to call. Although the entire territory of Russia EUCOM is assigned as the operational area, the responsibility for evacuations of civilians ( noncombatant evacuation operations ( NEO ) ), anti- terror plans for U.S. diplomacy missions ( counterterrorism (CT ) planning) and the protection of the troops of the 100th meridian remains east at PACOM ( see Figure responsibility of PACOM ). EUCOM and PACOM have the task to make cooperation effective, to meet the security interest of the United States justice here.

Mission and responsibility

The PACOM is the supreme command of all U.S. forces in the Pacific and the Indian Ocean.

The area of ​​responsibility covers more than 50 % of the earth's surface, which is about 169 million km ². The area extends from the west coast of the United States to the east coast of Africa, excluding waters north of the 5th southern latitudes and the 68th degree of longitude, which fall within the jurisdiction of the United States Central Command ( CENTCOM ). In North - south extension, the jurisdiction of the Arctic to the Antarctic, including the U.S. state of Hawaii and troops in Alaska extends. This relates to an area of ​​over 100 million square miles, 16 time zones, nearly 60 % of the world population, 43 countries and five of the seven mutual defense treaty of the United States (the Philippines, Australia and New Zealand, South Korea, Thailand and Japan).

Subordinate commands and units

The U.S. Pacific Command is subordinate to approximately 300,000 soldiers of all U.S. armed forces, more than 20 % of all active U.S. troops. These troops are divided into three categories: upstream employed (about 100,000 ), stationed in front and stationed in the United States.

In the operational chain of command under PACOM has the following commands:

• U.S. Army Pacific ( USARPAC ) Headquarters, I Corps, Fort Lewis ( Washington)
• 25th Infantry Division, Hawaii and Alaska
• U.S. Army, Japan, in Japan
• U.S. Army Chemical Activity Pacific, on Johnston Iceland
• 9th Regional Support Command

• Commander, U.S. Pacific Fleet ( COMPACFLT ) U.S. 3rd Fleet, Pearl Harbor ( Hawaii)
• U.S. 7th Fleet in Yokosuka (Japan)

• U.S. Marine Forces Pacific ( MarForPac ) I Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Pendleton (California )
• III. Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Courtney in Okinawa Gushikawa

• U.S. Pacific Air Forces ( PACAF ) Fifth Air Force, Yokota Air Base (Japan)
• Seventh Air Force, Osan Air Base (South Korea)
• Eleventh Air Force, Elmendorf Air Force Base ( Alaska)
• Thirteenth Air Force, Hickam Air Force Base, Oahu (Hawaii)

• U.S. Special Operations Command Pacific ( SOCPAC ), Camp HM Smith, Oahu ( Hawaii) Joint Task Force 510
• Joint Special Operations Task Force - Philippines
• 1st Special Forces Group
• 353rd Special Operations Group

The PACOM are three other regional composite commands (sub Unified Commands ) assumed:

• U.S. Aalaskan Command ( Elmendorf Air Force Base, Anchorage )
• U.S. Forces Japan ( Yokota AB)
• U.S. Forces Korea / Combined Forces Command ( Army Garrison Yongsan, Seoul ). This command is itself a composite Forces Command and is exactly like the PACOM under the command of a four - star general. The command consists of: 8th U.S. Army ( Yongsan Army Garrison, Seoul )
• Seventh Air Force (7th Air Force )
• Commander, U.S. Naval Forces Korea ( NAVFOR -K)
• Marine Forces Korea ( MARFOR -K)
• U.S. Special Operations Command Korea ( SOCKOR )

Other affiliated support units:

• Asia -Pacific Center for Security Studies ( Honolulu, Hawaii)
• United News Service Center Pacific (Pearl Harbor, Hawaii)
• Center for Disaster Management and studies of Humanitarian Affairs ( Tripler Army Medical Center, Hawaii)
• Joint POW / MIA Accounting Command to search for POWs and MIAs

Leadership

Rod

(As of December 2010) The command as Commander, U.S. Pacific Command ( CDRUSPACOM ) has Admiral Robert F. Willard, who took over the post on October 19, 2009 by Admiral Timothy J. Keating.

• Deputy Chairman: Lieutenant General Daniel J. Darnell (USAF) and
• Chief of Staff: Rear Admiral Robin M. Watters

The headquarters of PACOM is located on the U.S. Marine Corps Base Camp HM Smith on Oahu (Hawaii) and employs more than 530 soldiers of the U.S. Army, U.S. Navy, U.S. Air Force and U.S. Marine Corps and 110 civilian employees.

Commanders

* Between 1947 and 1958, the commander of PACOM also has served as the commander of the U.S. Pacific Fleet.