MARINE CORPS AIR STATION IWAKUNI, Japan -- Japanese and American military forces all over Japan brought the weeklong command post exercise known as Keen Edge to a close Jan. 27.
Senior station officials alongside members of the Japanese Self Defense Force here participated in the annual exercise designed to measure and improve the combat readiness and interoperability of U.S. and JSDF forces in defense of Japan against any threat.
“The main focus (of this exercise) is for us to be able to communicate better jointly so we can come up with a coordinated response to all incidents within our cluster,” said Andrew Samuels, Base Cluster 4 station anti-terrorism officer.
In case of an attack, Japan is split into a base cluster program assigning different regions of the country to different commanders within those regions.
Col. Michael A. O’Halloran, station commanding officer, along with senior station officials and base cluster JSDF officials, are responsible for the defense of Cluster 4, the area from Shimonoseki to Osaka.
Cluster 4 includes MCAS Iwakuni, U.S. Army Hiro Ammunition Depot, U.S. Army Kure pier number 6, Akizuki Ammunition Depot and the U.S. Army Kawakami Ammunition Depot.
Various scenarios ranging from breaches of defense lines to ballistic missile and terrorist attacks were played out as part of Keen Edge.
Samuels said in between scenarios he was able to have short professional military educational classes in which both American and Japanese officials could learn how each other operated.
“(As a result of the exercise) we are better able to coordinate a response because we are here in person. We can train, teach each other, coordinate, and we can go through the motions ... here together,” said Samuels. “They can better understand how we are trying to do business, and I can better understand how they are trying to do business. We see different view points, but we always come up with a happy medium.”
Maj. Kiyoshi Nakahara, a Japan Ground Self-Defense Force Middle Army headquarters commander, said while the language barrier was a small problem, it was not something that prevented them from effectively defending their cluster.
“There was no problem,” said Nakahara. “I think (Keen Edge) is a very good exercise for U.S. and Japanese forces to realize mutual needs. It’s a very important exercise that should continue into the future to improve our working relationship."