women currently serving here, an essential seat of u.s. and south korean operations and a prime target. we expect that north korea is going to target any of our military bases that are here in the south. what kind of threat could north korea present to the base here? we worry about their short-range ballistic missiles here and we know that they have chemical weapons at their disposal. reporter: they stay ready to fend off a ground invasion from north korean special forces, and to take the fight north from the air. , obviously, having that air to surface capability, being able to take out the long range artillery that would be bombing seoul. this is the third tour for colonel s colonel shoemaker. it s different. we know north korea has advanced its nuclear and missile capabilities. have you changed the way you do things at all? it is a mindset shift of why it is so important and the seriousness with which all of the airmen and soldiers here at
practice how to survive and operate on the ground. reporter: the air base is home to two u.s. f-16 fighter jet squaderants. flying time to north korea, 12 minutes. what do the first few hours of a conflict look like here? time isn t measured on a clock. it s measured in casualties, and the faster that we can get on the job, the less casualties we ll see particularly in seoul in the opening volley of that war. reporter: in wartime it could expand up to four times of the number of service men and women currently serving here. an essential seat of u.s. and south korean operations and a target. we expect north korea is going to target any of our military bases here in the south. reporter: what kind of threat could north korea present to the base here? we worry about their short range ballistic missiles here, and we know they have chemical