On Thursday, the Okinawa prefectural assembly voted unanimously in support of a resolution that demands the immediate suspension of U.S. Marine Corps aircraft conducting flights or drills over local schools and hospitals. The decision follows an incident that involved a window falling out of a Marine Corps CH-53 helicopter over an elementary school last week, indirectly injuring one child.
“No more threat to the lives of people in Okinawa should be tolerated,” the resolution states.
The resolution goes on to state that there have been too many incidents involving American aircraft near and over Japan to tolerate, adding that the frequency of such incidents has gone up since last year. In October, another CH-53 Sea Stallion crash landed and caught fire on private property in the nearby village of Higashi.
“Accidents by the U.S. Marine Corps are continuing. We want to communicate to the U.S. side that we demand safe operations,†Defense Minister Itsunori Onodera told reporters after the incident at the school.
The Marine Corps has suffered a number of aircraft failures over the past year, in Japan and elsewhere in the world. Some have argued that these incidents could have been avoided if the Defense Department were properly funded to conduct the necessary training and maintenance needed to keep Marines safe: a problem that extends beyond the total dollar value of the defense budget, and into issues with timeliness. It has become common place for lawmakers to wait until after the start of a fiscal year to establish a budget, leaving the Marine Corps and other branches forced to operate under continuing resolution accounting for weeks or months each year, until Congress and the Senate are able to make a determination on spending.
According to the resolution passed by the Okinawa Prefectural Assembly, the Marine Corps’ “safety management and recurrence prevention measures are not working,” adding that as a result of these incidents, tensions between the residents of the prefecture and the U.S. military personnel stationed there are growing.
“A feeling of distrust is mounting among Okinawa people as these incidents vividly illustrate that the U.S. military’s measures to prevent similar accidents are not functioning.” The assembly wrote in a statement submitted to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and U.S. Ambassador to Japan William Hagerty.
The assembly told the press that they intend to present the resolution to U.S. military officials at Futenma Air Station, where the CH-53 helicopter flew out of, and to the Japanese government. They also demanded Japanese and American officials honor a previous agreement that called for all military operations out of the Nakaima air base to stop by February of 2019.
The Marine Corps has acknowledged the issue and apologized to the local populous, citing human error, rather than mechanical issues for the widow falling into the elementary school field. Gravel kicked up by the window’s impact struck one child in the arm, causing minor injuries.
“This is a regrettable incident and we apologize for any anxiety it has caused the community,†read the Marine Corps statement.
Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons
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Susan I agree the govt should concentrate on the budget and give the military the funding they need, but also the media in Okinawa seems quite biased against the U.S. military. For instance they barely mentioned that in a Dec 1 six car accident on the Okinawa Expressway, one man involved in the accident, a Marine Staff Sergeant father of 3, exited his car and instead of getting to safety off the road, ran to help a man stuck in his car. The marine was struck by another car and went to the hospital unconscious and in critical condition. His selfless sacrifice wasn’t mentioned by the media there. They also didn’t hear about a group of Marines who found a woman who had collapsed on Mt. Fuji and carried her to safety. We spend plenty of our military monies on Japan’s security, and there seems to be little appreciation for our efforts, but an overdose of criticism when something goes wrong. But I do understand the concern for the children and the sick, hopefully the restriction of us flying over schools and hospitals will make the people feel safer. Thanks!
I can certainly understand how I would feel if aircraft from our nearby airbase were either crashing or dropping heavy objects down on areas around schools and hospitals where there are children or people under medical care. There have been too many accidents and incidents around the globe concerning our aircraft in all the services.
It’s a damn shame that our Congress and Senate put their own political agendas ahead of those of our national defense. They should concentrate more on a budget and less on weighing it against their reelection outlooks. It’s about time that they made resolution to tackle these budgets well before it gets down to the wire (and keep the resolution). They procrastinate more and more each year, it seems.
Accidents happen! U.S. military accidents are happening in Okinawa because we have a large presence there to help protect THEM. So, the people now have a “feeling of distrust” towards the U.S. military, and they want us out of their base by 2019? Perhaps we should honor that request and get out – maybe they’d have more trust in Kim Jong-un. This is annoying, our military should be able to stop apologizing to these crybabies!