Tag: USFJ

It looks like servicemembers in Japan will be stuck on their bases for a little while longer:

The U.S. military authority in Japan has extended a stay-at-home order until Jan. 31 for its service members, civilian employees and their families as COVID-19 continues to spready quickly throughout the nation.

“This decision was made out of an abundance of caution to protect all personnel from rapid spread of COVID-19 in local communities,” U.S. Forces Japan announced on its website Friday. The original two-week order was scheduled to expire Monday.

Omicron, while creating milder symptoms and fewer hospitalizations than previous variants, continues to infect record numbers of people in Japan. But case counts within the U.S. military are flattening and, at many U.S. bases, numbers are falling, according to USFJ.

“The stringent COVID-19 mitigations implemented in December have effectively stalled the spread of the virus on U.S. installations,” said Friday’s statement.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link.

Here is the latest on the COVID situation in Japan:

The U.S. and Japan on Sunday agreed to keep American troops within their bases as worries grew about a sharp rise in coronavirus cases in the country. 

The restrictions starting Monday will last 14 days, confining U.S. military personnel to base facilities except for “essential activities,” a statement from the U.S. Forces in Japan said. The Japanese Foreign Ministry released the same statement. 

The allies will share information and cooperate on coronavirus measures, “given the extraordinary virulence of the omicron variant spreading throughout Japan,” the statement said. 

U.S. military members will wear masks, both on and off base, when outside their homes, and will continue to carry out strict testing before leaving for and after arrival in Japan, it said. 

New COVID-19 cases have surged in Japan, jumping above 8,000 on Saturday, a four-month record. The spike has been most pronounced in areas near U.S. bases. Last week, Japan asked the U.S. for cooperation in keeping its military personnel on base.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link.

USFJ is trying to mitigate the repetitional damage done to the command with the Japanese public with these new changes:

U.S. Forces Japan re-imposed a testing requirement for personnel heading to Japan on Thursday after the country’s foreign minister admonished the U.S. military for breaching its border protection measures. 

Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi expressed “deep regret” to USFJ commander Lt. Gen. Ricky Rupp that a unit of Marines was not tested for COVID-19 before it arrived on Okinawa aboard a U.S. government flight. The newly arrived Marines were quarantined at Camp Hansen but permitted base access for five days before being tested, Hayashi said at a Wednesday news conference in Tokyo. 

Marine Corps Installations Pacific on Dec. 17 said “multiple” Marines in the group had tested positive for COVID-19, the coronavirus respiratory disease. By Thursday, that cluster had grown to 227, up from 180 on Monday, Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno said at a news conference that morning.

Matsuno said he would continue to push the U.S. military to “take more thorough measures” to prevent the virus from spreading and hopefully ease locals’ concerns.

USFJ said the Hansen cases have prompted changes, according to a statement emailed to Stars and Stripes by spokeswoman Yukiko Date.

“In light of the current omicron variant, the COVID-19 positive cases at Camp Hansen in Okinawa, and to ensure the health and safety of all SOFA members and the citizens of Japan, USFJ has updated our COVID Health Protection Guidance to require pre-arrival testing for all SOFA members within 72 hours of flights departing for Japan on all forms of transportation,” the statement said. 

USFJ acknowledged Hayashi’s complaint but said it followed guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Defense Department and Indo-Pacific Command when it discontinued pre-departure testing in September.

The Okinawa Department of Public Health and Medical Care believed the U.S. military was testing its personnel before they boarded flights for Japan until it learned otherwise on Wednesday, a spokesman for the department said during an online press conference on Thursday.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link.

Not a good look for USFJ:

U.S. forces in Japan did not test their personnel for COVID-19 prior to their departure from the United States, a move that goes against Tokyo’s request for American military personnel to follow the nation’s border control measures, Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno said Thursday.

A government source said Tokyo was “still checking” if COVID-19 testing was not conducted for military personnel stationed at all U.S. military bases in Japan before their arrival, adding that tests were not conducted for military personnel at U.S. Marine Corps’ Camp Hansen in Okinawa Prefecture. A total of 227 people at the base had been infected as of Thursday morning.

Matsuno’s comments came as the Japanese government on Wednesday urged the U.S. military to adhere to coronavirus testing and quarantine rules.

Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi said Wednesday that he had voiced “strong regret” to the commander of U.S. Forces Japan, Lt. Gen. Ricky Rupp, over anti-infection procedures for American military arrivals.

Japan’s borders are closed to almost all foreign nationals except for residents. Incoming travelers must get tested within 72 hours before departure and on arrival, then isolate for two weeks at home or in hotels.

Japan Times

You can read more at the link, but what I don’t understand is that personnel flying to Japan via Patriot Express flights have to get tested before boarding. Maybe these personnel at Camp Hansen flew in as a complete unit via military aircraft and got around testing that way?

The case of the missing Yokota Airbase substitute teacher just took a dark twist:

The body of a U.S. civilian reported missing more than two weeks ago was discovered Tuesday in the housing tower where he and his wife lived at Yokota, according to the Air Force.

Trevor Balint, 34, of Hubbard, Ohio, the spouse of a Defense Department computer programmer and analyst, disappeared suddenly Feb. 1, prompting a search of the base from the ground and the air. His face appears on fliers, fading now, posted everywhere at Yokota, the headquarters in western Tokyo of U.S. Forces Japan.

His body was found in the east side housing area around 11 a.m. Tuesday, according to a statement on the base website Wednesday. Balint, a former substitute teacher at Defense Department schools, was pronounced dead at the scene by medical personnel, according to the base.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link, but the authorities claim they searched the building and for some reason did not spot his body. The family is obviously pretty upset about this. Condolences to his family and friends.

It appears coronavirus infection levels are getting better in South Korea while in the Tokyo area it is getting worse:

The third wave of coronavirus infections in Japan’s capital city worsened Friday, as the number of new cases there exceeded 2,000 individuals for a second consecutive day.

The U.S. military in Japan as of 6 p.m. Friday reported 67 people newly infected with virus, the majority of them at Yokosuka Naval Base, where a cluster emerged in December. U.S. Forces Korea reported a contractor at Yongsan Garrison, Seoul, tested positive Thursday, according to a news release.

U.S. bases in the greater Tokyo metro area imposed curfews and new limits on travel and other activities after Japan declared a state of emergency Thursday in the city and three surrounding prefectures. (……….)

Yokosuka, the home 35 miles south of Tokyo of the 7th Fleet, reported 44 individuals had tested positive for the coronavirus since Tuesday, according to a Facebook post. The naval base has 111 people with the virus under observation.

Of the new cases, 14 fell ill with symptoms of COVID-19, the coronavirus respiratory disease; 16 were discovered during contact tracing; five tested positive during medical screening; and five are new arrivals to Japan, according to the base. A base employee tested positive during contact tracing.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link, but other U.S. bases in the Tokyo area are also reporting increased coronavirus cases and implemented 8PM to 5AM curfews to help mitigate the infection risk.

Lets hope the five missing Marines are found:

Two U.S. Marine aircraft crashed early Thursday during a refueling drill, leaving five crew members missing after two were rescued off the coast of Kochi Prefecture later in the day.

A KC-130 air-refueling tanker and an F/A-18 fighter jet were involved in what the military termed a “mishap” in the early morning hours. One crew member was rescued later in the morning by the Maritime Self Defense Force and sent to a hospital, while another was rescued later in the day, according to the Japanese Defense Ministry. The Marine Corps said the second marine had been transported to a local hospital. One of the two was a crew member of the F/A-18.  [Japan Times]

You can read more at the link.

I think this can be interpreted in showing how important the US Army considers missile defense for Japan that it stood up a brigade headquarters there:

The Army has reactivated a brigade to oversee missile-defense units on mainland Japan, Okinawa and Guam.

The 38th Air Defense Artillery Brigade was reactivated in a brief ceremony Wednesday at Camp Zama, headquarters of U.S. Army Japan in Kanagawa prefecture near Tokyo.

The brigade, based at Sagami General Depot, about 25 miles west of the Japanese capital, will oversee the 1st Battalion, 1st Air Defense Regiment at Kadena Air Base, Okinawa, as well as the 10th and 14th Missile Defense Batteries on mainland Japan and a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense, or THAAD, battery on Guam.

The unit, which will include about 115 personnel at full strength, is purely a headquarters unit, said U.S. Army Japan spokesman Kevin Krejcarek.

“It’s just personnel. There won’t be any missile batteries at Sagami,” he told Stars and Stripes ahead of Wednesday’s ceremony as protestors gathered outside Zama’s main gate.  [Stars & Stripes]

You can read more at the link, but for those wondering USFK has its own air defense artillery brigade headquarters based at Osan Airbase.

I am surprised this wasn’t a requirement a long time ago:

The U.S. military has ordered extra scrutiny for South Koreans who want to visit friends or attend events on American bases in Japan.

U.S. Forces Japan recently added the longtime American ally to a list of nations whose citizens must undergo additional screening before they can be escorted onto installations.

A copy of the list posted near the entrance to the home of USFJ in western Tokyo now features South Korea alongside about 50 other nations, including North Korea, China, Russia, Iran and Afghanistan.

“No personnel will escort a designated third country national onto Yokota Air Base,” says a sign posted next to the list, which also includes France. “It is the responsibility of the escort sponsor to verify the individual is not from one of the … designated countries.”

USFJ did not provide a reason for the new checks on South Koreans.

People from designated third countries aren’t authorized to enter U.S. bases in Japan without prior coordination of supporting agencies and approval by the installation commander, said Air Force Maj. Genieve White, a USFJ spokeswoman.  [Stars & Stripes]

You can read more at the link.

The alcohol restriction for US military personnel in Japan due to a recent deadly drunk driving incident has been relaxed:

U.S. Forces Japan has loosened alcohol restrictions imposed after a fatal Nov. 19 vehicle accident involving a 21-year-old Marine on Okinawa.

The revised rules, which took effect at 4:30 p.m. Thursday local time, allow servicemembers to purchase alcoholic beverages on base and drink them in their on- or off-base homes, Maj. George Tobias, a 5th Air Force spokesman, told Stars and Stripes.

“The purchase or consumption of alcohol off-base is still not permitted with the exception of one’s own off-base residence,” he said.  [Stars & Stripes]

You can read more at the link, but if personnel in Japan think the current restrictions on alcohol are bad, at least leadership in USFJ has not resorted to blood alcohol tests at the gate like we have seen in the 2nd Infantry Division in Korea many years ago.