Taiwan's Top U.S. SFA Commander Fired
Unanswered Questions Over How Recent Firings Impact Taiwan's Military
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26 June 2023 (Monday)
Taiwan's Top U.S. SFA Commander Fired
Unanswered Questions Over How Recent Firings Impact Taiwan’s Military
By Wendell Minnick (Whiskey Mike) 顏文德
TAIPEI - According to Army Times, U.S. Army Colonel Jonathan Chung was fired as commander of the 5th Security Force Assistance Brigade (SFAB) responsible for training Taiwan’s Aviation and Special Forces Command (ASFC), along with training U.S. allies and friends in Asia.
SFAB should not be confused with the 5th Special Forces Group (Green Berets) and SFAB is not a special operations unit, per se. The 5th SFAB executes Security Force Assistance (SFA) training tasks in a variety of areas that vary between infantry to special operations.
Chung was suspended in April and fired on 22 June. Since his suspension, Col. Tony Braxton was appointed as interim commander until the investigation into allegations of violations of Army Regulation 15-6 (“toxic leadership”) were complete.
To be fair to Chung, he is the fifth Army brigade commander to be relieved of his command since October. The uncomfortable question Taiwan’s military has to ask itself is whether instability in the 5th’s leadership weakens ASFC’s training opportunities.
Some sources speculate that the new Woke indoctrination training now being enforced in the military is part of the problem at the 5th.
Chung’s LinkedIn account illustrated an impressive 25-year career that began at West Point, then served in Light, Mechanized, Airborne, Ranger, and Special Operations Units, including the legendary 10th Mountain Division, ending as the commander of the 5th SFAB for the Pacific Area of Responsibility (AOR) at Joint Base Lewis McChord (JBLM), Washington.
Whatever Chung was crucified for, it was not for his career highlights.
Taiwan has been flooded with special operations trainers over the past year. Over the past six months all of Taiwan’s special operations bases have been off-limits for both local and foreign media, including the military’s internal media outlets.
Please consider this for further reading:
Taiwan Army Weapons and Equipment, including Marine Corps (2022)
