XPost: sci.military.naval, soc.history.war.misc, ca.politics

from https://www.military.com/daily-news/2024/12/14/us-marines-start-partial-transfer-okinawa-japan-guam-under-plan-agreed-12-years-ago.html


Under Plan Agreed 12 Years Ago
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Air Force KC-135 Stratotanker takes off from the Kadena Air Base
airfield on Okinawa.
FILE - A U.S. Air Force KC-135 Stratotanker takes off from the Kadena
Air Base airfield in Kadena, west of Okinawa, southern Japan, Wednesday,
Aug. 30, 2023. (AP Photo/Hiro Komae, File)
Associated Press | By MARI YAMAGUCHI
Published December 14, 2024 at 8:12am ET

(How could it be??????
Over 50 years ago I was a USMC 1st Lt that by flukes ended up
filling the job of a Major on a General's staff in charge of
a Division in Okinawa! How time flies!!)

TOKYO (AP) — The partial transfer of U.S. Marines from Okinawa to Guam
began on Saturday, 12 years after Japan and the United States agreed on
their realignment to reduce the heavy burden of American troop presence
on the southern Japanese island, officials said.

The relocation started with 100 members of III Marine Expeditionary
Force stationed on Okinawa moving to the Pacific island for the initial logistical work, the U.S. Marine Corps and Japan’s Defense Ministry said
in a joint statement.

Under the plan agreed between Tokyo and Washington in April 2012, about
9,000 of the 19,000 Marines currently stationed on Okinawa are to be
moved out of Okinawa, including about 4,000 of them to be moved to Guam
in phases. Details, including the size and timing of the next transfer,
were not immediately released.

The Marine Corps is committed to the defense of Japan and meeting
operational requirements to maintain a free and open Indo-Pacific, and
it will maintain presence in the region “through a combination of
stationing and rotating Marines in Japan, Guam and Hawaii,” the joint statement said.

Japan has paid up to $2.8 billion for the building of infrastructure at
the U.S. bases on Guam, and the U.S. government will fund the remaining
costs. The two governments will continue to cooperate on the development
of Camp Blaz, which will serve as the main installation for Marines
stationed in Guam.

The Marines and Japan Self Defense Forces will conduct joint training in
Guam, the statement

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