MORE CHANGES

The United States has given South Korea formal notification it wants to remove about one-third of the 37,000 U.S. troops on the Korean peninsula by the end of 2005, U.S. and South Korean officials confirmed Monday.

The two allies, bound for more than 50 years by a military alliance against North Korea, are conducting the ninth round of Future of the Alliance (FOTA) talks this week in Seoul. The proposal to relocate about 12,500 U.S. troops was made at an unannounced meeting Sunday, a South Korean official said Monday.

The proposal would include the 3,500 2nd Infantry Division troops slated for a deployment to Iraq later this summer, said Kim Sook, director general of the South Korean Foreign Ministry’s North American Affairs bureau.

Add this to the idea of pulling the two divisions from Germany back to the USA...overlay atop that the "temporary" additional two divisions congress is adding to the Army. Result? There is going to be some notable expansion at certain Forts around the USA. The population spike will cause a housing squeeze. And it might just be good news for businesses - once we figure out what Forts will be affected.