Sgt. 1st Class Tsutomu Matsui and Lt. Col. Keizo Zagaya, both with the Japanese Self-Defense Force, examine an old-style Japanese bomb Tuesday at the Explosive Ordnance Disposal Company museum on Camp Hansen. The museum, which the company uses as a training tool, contains ordnance from around the world. (Cindy Fisher / Stars and Stripes)
CAMP HANSEN, Okinawa — About 20 Japanese Self-Defense Force soldiers got hands-on here Tuesday with some of the Marine Corps’ latest explosive ordnance disposal gadgetry.
Marines of Explosive Ordnance Company, 9th Engineer Support Battalion, 3rd Marine Logistics Group, showcased the capabilities of their company during a two-hour tour.
It’s not uncommon for people off base to come across unexploded ordnance from World War II, said Marine Warrant Officer Tim Buckles. Marines here provide explosive ordnance disposal support to the JSDF when needed, he said.
“And if it’s American ordnance,” he said, “it automatically becomes our responsibility. … It’s only proper that we show them what we bring to the fight.”
In addition to giving a tour of the company’s museum, Marines demonstrated some high-tech robotic equipment — including a lightweight robot the company had received just that morning — protective gear and a training-aid display of improvised explosive devices being used by insurgents in Iraq.
“We have old equipment, old information and old technology,” said JSDF Warrant Officer Nakahara Yoshiyuki. “Coming here and studying the equipment here gives us the opportunity to know about new equipment, technology and information.”
Sgt. 1st Class Tsutomu Matsui and Lt. Col. Keizo Zagaya, both with the Japanese Self-Defense Force, examine an old-style Japanese bomb Tuesday at the Explosive Ordnance Disposal Company museum on Camp Hansen. The museum, which the company uses as a training tool, contains ordnance from around the world. (Cindy Fisher / Stars and Stripes)
Japanese Self-Defense Force soldiers trained in explosive ordnance disposal put the U.S. Marine Explosive Ordnance Disposal Company’s newest lightweight robot through its paces at Camp Hansen on Tuesday as part of a two-hour visit. (Cindy Fisher / Stars and Stripes)
Staff Sgt. Nathaniel Corsby straps Sgt. Kazuhide Daeda, a Japanese Self Defense Force soldier, into an 85-pound explosive-ordnance-disposal-8 bomb suit. (Cindy Fisher / Stars and Stripes)
