COL YT Pak Celebrates His Retirement and More...

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From APCSS | by Mary Markovinovic | 05 Mar 2013

It was a day of major milestones for Army Colonel "Y.T." Pak. He, with his family by his side, celebrated the completion of 30 years of service in the U.S. Army Monday, March 4.

While APCSS is a great place to work, the last few months have not been easy for his family.  Two and a half months ago Pak received word that his son, 1st Lt. Jason Pak, was critically injured by an IED while serving in Afghanistan.  He lost both legs below the knee and several fingers.

Jason Pak was flown to Walter Reed Army Medical Center where he received the care and attention he needed to begin his recovery.  While there, he set a milestone for himself that he wanted to attend this father's retirement ceremony and wanted to be able to stand at it. 

Yesterday he and his sister, USAF cadet (and former APCSS intern) Sarah Pak participated in their father's retirement ceremony along with their mother opera singer Young-Ae Pak.

Col. Y.T. Pak has been at the Center for almost two years. He first served as the Academic Chief of Staff before taking over as head of the Executive Operations Group.

The entire APCSS ohana wishes all the best to the Pak family.

For more on this story see the KITV feature about the ceremony and the Pak family at this link: http://www.kitv.com/Solider-who-lost-his-legs-stands-for-his-father-s-retirement/-/8906042/19181318/-/item/0/-/17vywr/-/index.html 

 

COL Y.T. Pak Biography:

 

 

Colonel Yeong-Tae “YT” Pak was born in Pusan, Korea and immigrated to Highland
Falls, NY in 1971. Colonel Pak entered military service being commissioned a second
lieutenant upon graduation from the United States Military Academy at West Point in
1983. His military education includes the Field Artillery Officer Basic and Advanced
Courses, the Japanese Command and General Staff College, and the Senior Service
College, Korean Institute for Defense Analyses Fellowship. He is also a graduate of
the United States Joint Forces Staff College and Massachusetts Institute of Technology
(MIT) Seminar XXI. He holds a Master’s degree in Asian Languages and Culture from
the University of Kansas and a Master’s in Management from Troy State University.
 
Colonel Pak has served in a variety of command and staff positions from battery to
brigade. Some of the key positions he held are platoon leader and company executive
officer in 2nd Battalion 92nd Field Artillery in Giessen, Germany. He commanded two
battery commands, Brigade Fire Support Officer and Battalion as well as Division
Artillery Executive Officer positions, all in the 2nd Infantry Division, Korea. He was
Aide de camp to the Commander, United States Army Japan and later Executive
Officer to the Deputy Commander in Chief, Republic of Korea/United States
Combined Forces Command. A graduate of the Foreign Service Institute, Joint
Military Attaché School and Defense International Security Assistance Management
courses, Colonel Pak served as the Director of Operations, Policy, and Liaison in Joint
United States Military Affairs Group (JUSMAG) and as the J5 Political-Military
Officer in the United States Forces Korea. Colonel Pak also served as the G- 3/5/7,
Strategy, Plans and Policy, lead for the 2006 Quadrennial Defense Review at the
Pentagon. He also served as the Associate Director in the Defense Language Office of
the Secretary of Defense. Colonel Pak also was the Division Chief for the Army
Current Operations and Contingency Plans in Pentagon, Washington DC.
Subsequently, Colonel Pak was the Senior Defense Official/ Defense and Army
Attaché to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Culminating his 30 years of illustrious military
career, Colonel Pak concluded his final assignments at the Asia-Pacific Center for
Security Studies as the Academic Chief of Staff/Senior Military Professor and later the
Chief, Executive Operations Group. Colonel Pak is fluent in both Korean and Japanese
with basic knowledge in Chinese and Malay languages.
 
His awards and decorations include Defense Meritorious Service Medal with three
Oak Leaf Clusters, Army Meritorious Service Medal with four Oak Leaf Clusters,
Army Commendation Medal, Army Achievement Medal, National Defense Medal and
both Airborne and Ranger badges.
 
Colonel Yeong-Tae Pak and his wife, Yeong-Ae, (Opera Singer) have two children:
Jason (21) a Lieutenant in the Army and Sarah (18) an AFROTC cadet at James
Madison University.
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