The problems associated with relocating the U.S. Marine Corps' Futenma Air Station in Okinawa Prefecture have entered a new stage following the United States' acceptance of Japan's proposal to relocate the facility to the coastal region along Camp Schwab, in the northern part of the prefecture. This is the third installment of a five-part series focusing on the realignment of U.S. forces in Japan.
Speaking at a National Press Club lunch in Washington on Nov. 7, Gen. Michael Hagee, commander of the 180,000-strong U.S. Marine Corps, backed a recent agreement between Tokyo and Washington to relocate some U.S. marines stationed in Okinawa Prefecture to Guam.
Hagee said, "Just as an example, going from Okinawa to Korea, we can move a battalion, with all its equipment, in just about 24 hours."
Hagee added that excellent training areas around Guam made it logical to relocate some U.S. troops to that island.
The relocation of the command of the Marine Corps' 3rd Marine Expeditionary Force (3rd MEF) and 7,000 marines to Guam is seen here as a symbolic move aimed at reducing the burden on communities hosting U.S. forces.
The United States needs to maintain friendly relations with Okinawa to ensure an environment in which it can stably run military bases.
U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld's policy of stationing troops "in places where they are wanted, welcomed and needed" greatly influenced the outcome of bilateral negotiations on the realignment.
Indeed, his policy has resulted in U.S. plans to withdraw 12,500 of 37,000 troops stationed in South Korea by the end of 2008.
However, a genuinely decisive factor behind the reduction of the presence of marines in Okinawa was Washington's judgment that its military would be able to sufficiently maintain a deterrence in Northeast Asia thanks to the "revolution in military affairs" (RMA) doctrine.
RMA proposes a major change in the nature of warfare with the application of innovative technology. An interim report on the transformation of U.S. forces refers to surface transport capabilities, including high-speed vessels (HSVs), as a key part of the RMA concept.
It takes four days for U.S. marines to move from Guam to Okinawa aboard an amphibious assault ship. But an HSV carrying 1,000 troops can complete the journey in half the time.
Following this logic, headquarters staff of 3rd MEF, logistics and other noncombat units no longer need to be stationed in Okinawa, while Washington will retain the 31st Marine Expedition Unit--part of the Unites States' forward deployment in the Pacific--in the prefecture.
Japan, for its part, is studying whether to buy HSVs to improve interoperability with U.S. troops.
U.S. Air Force and Navy units on Guam have been upgrading their presence by deploying state-of-the-art stealth bombers and nuclear-powered submarines.
Richard Lawless, U.S. deputy undersecretary of defense for Asia and the Pacific, recently said Guam would become the most important hub for the Unites States' forward deployed troops in the Pacific. The U.S. side obviously wants Japan to help pay for the revamping of U.S. military facilities on Guam.
While the 3rd MEF command will leave Japan, the army will station a new army command--called a unit of employment (UEx)--at Camp Zama, Kanagawa Prefecture, by reorganizing the army's 1st Corps in Washington state.
The army is currently in the middle of a major restructuring program called the Modular Force Initiative to make itself "more powerful, flexible and more rapidly deployable" by shifting the emphasis from divisions to brigades.
The transformation is designed to enable the army to be better prepared for small-scale conflicts involving terrorist and guerrilla attacks, rather than conventional full-scale war involving tank divisions.
In its "Military Balance 2005-2006" report, the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies said irregular threats such as terrorism were overwhelmingly land based, and armies would assume a major combat role against them over the next few decades.
A 1,000-strong UEx is more mobile and capable of being deployed more quickly than conventional troop headquarters. The command directs not only the army, but also the joint operations involving navy, air and marine corps.
A Defense Department official said, "The UEx can be deployed anywhere in the world, as marines corp members in Okinawa were deployed in Iraq."
The UEx to be based at Camp Zama will primarily command operations in the event of a conflict on the Korean Peninsula. But it could assume a wider role, including fighting international terrorism and engaging in humanitarian aid in a natural disaster.
In a report released in early November, Andrew Krepinevich, executive director at the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments in Washington, cited the challenges facing the United States as:
-- Islamic extremists.
-- A nuclear-armed India, Pakistan, North Korea and Iran.
-- The emergence of China.
Japan is geopolitically close to Southeast Asian countries with large Islamic populations, well acquainted with the arc of instability that stretches from Northeast Asia to the Middle East, and face-to-face with China.
With this in mind, the role of U.S. forces in Japan in dealing with these three "threats" is bound to grow.
