well first off, lemme just say there will be lots of info on this post. lemme start off by shouting out to this flickr link.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/starfield/12451419/in/set-304033/
me and starfield have the exact same photo almost. same place. neat ‘eh? well now lets get into the down and dirty.
okinawa. this tiny island houses about ( from what last I remember reading) 50,000 +. a report came down from people smarter then me that a relocation was suppose to take place sometime in the near future, 2008, to move 3,000+ Marines to Mainland Japan & Korea. there is about 21,000 of us here. as you can read here on Gerald’s blog, there have been many occasions were we were told to leave. in fact, in the past 10 years, more promises have been passed up then i care to mention. you can read many articles reporting how Japan and US are trying to as I quote “…reduce the American Military footprint on the island…” i personally feel that these actions are slow in effect because both have people with alot of collar weight ( high ranking people ) that don’t want to change what they currently have in the Japan/US relation of Okinawa. sure, the people on the real level have different feelings. i’ve heard alot of okinawa and our relation here. being a Marine isn’t hard, but it isn’t easy here. i was amazed when i tried to go into a store to have a drink ( soda ) and watch some japanese tv and maybe get a bite to eat and was told “Japanese Only!” i wasn’t rude. i gave my hai and left. i’m sure other “different” Marines wouldn’t or haven’t given the same response. i’ve been told both sides, coming from the Marines and coming from the Okinawans. “Marines are rude, and crazy drunken men.” “Okinawans are nice upfront and quite rude behind your back.” of course these are just one sided part of the stories, but believe me, each of us have a different view on the other. i, in my own thoughts, think okinawans have endured alot thru their life. i try to put myself in their shoes. to see the way we act out in town, the way some Americans conduct themselves. i’ll just say a large portion tend to be quite noticable. on the other hand, i found Okinawa to be one peaceful place to live. the longest living people in the world, little to no crime, remarkable atmosphere. i enjoy it to death. i fail to see how military members bash it so much and how unfair people can be when they compare it to a place such as …America.

many protest have been started in okinawa. too many for me to count since i’ve been here. this is one. happend over the weekend at MCAS Futenma. you can read about it here the major of that part of Okinawa has fought long and hard to get that base moved. fact of the matter is, that last year a helo came crashing down onto a part of the Okinawa University there. a large protest was formed short after that and also when a girl was raped by….you guessed it,US Marines back in ‘95. althought even after the rape in ‘95, US told Japan that they’d move the base, but still, no real movement has happened. not even a word to get ready to reloc. i hope they get what they want soon….
now, what started this post? this. Old-Fashioned Peace @ goyablog by Gerald if you read, you’ll learn about how Gerald had to view this kind of single minded militarism. i am often dissapointed in my fellow Marines when i have to put up with their attitude on being on the island of Okinawa. i see this place as a chance to grow. others see it as a prison. Marines love to stand out from the rest. and we do a good job at it. some take the positive route, others take the negative one. Marine and service members try depresatly to operate programs and community services to shapen up the view of locals on Marines, but every payday weekend, a Few and Proud will tear it down. don’t get me wrong, i enjoy what do and how i conduct myself. i enjoy being called a Marine. but it isn’t that great when your title is tainted by a dirty dozen. in any case, my relationship here with my girlfriend has been stressless. i thought i’d feel some emotions from her family or friends or even locals that see us, but so far, nothing. amazing huh? in anycase, our relationship is still strong.

i don’t know what else to say, but, i guess and ending statement right? i think that okinawa isn’t going to change much for a long, long time. us forces and japan nationals will have to learn to deal with each other as they have since the ’50s. i’d just wish the military service to stop and think about what they are doing before they do it out in town. holla…