My father is a retired Navy Command Master Chief. He spent 32 years in the Navy, so I’ve literally been in the military my entire life. My grandfather fought in WWII with the Army Air Corps in the European Theater (if you’re interested, I wrote about him after he died here, here, and here based off his journals). My dad was stationed in Japan twice growing up.
The first time we lived there, I was about 11 years old the first time we moved to Japan. We lived on a small communications base called Kamiseya. The entire base is only a little more than 100 acres large.
The housing area is at the top center, while all the building at the top right comprises all the MWR and support facilities, like the PX, gym, library, etc (it not much has changed). The building that are closest is where most of the communications stuff takes place. Admittedly, I’ve never been there and couldn’t get there anyway.
Because the base was so small, I was bussed to Naval Air Station (now Naval Air Facility) Atsugi to attend school for 4th, 5th, and 6th grade. I went to Camp Zama for 7th grade. Actually, I didn’t get bussed much because I was kicked off the bus and even though my dad worked on Atsugi, my punishment was having to ride my bike to school each day, a nearly 7 mile trip each way! He would drive by me and wave even if it was raining. I think I eventually learned my lesson, but not before putting a great deal of mileage on my bike!
Anyway, we moved back to Japan during my senior year of high school to Atsugi. Because my dad was the Command Master Chief of NAS Atsugi, we got a nice apartment on the 9th floor of some new (at the time) high rises – the top floor. Earthquakes are common in Japan, but the swerving of that building during each one didn’t make me feel very safe. It’s very nerve rattling. I don’t think that in the four years we lived there that time I went through any earthquake stronger than a 7 at the most. We had frequent drills there. I used to work a roach coach there, then DJ’d at the base club at night while working PX security during the day.
If you’ve been paying attention to the news lately, you may have heard the name Atsugi. Many of the helicopters and much of the military support is coming out of the base right now. According to base officials, there is no detectable radiation, but plans are underway to evacuate at least family members if things get worse.
I have to say that I can’t competently speak about what the Navy may or may not be doing right now. I know that on my last post I wrote I was asked about the possible radiation of the Sailors on the USS Ronald Reagan and whether it was possible for the commander to back up or turn before the cloud was surely in view. From my understanding, the plume was not visible and the ship wasn’t aware until low levels of radiation were picked up on instruments. The maximum potential radiation dose received by any ship’s force personnel aboard the ship when it passed through the area was less than the radiation exposure received from about one month of exposure to natural background radiation from sources such as rocks, soil, and the sun. Those were most likely the few that were on deck at the time and probably didn’t affect most of those on board at all. Believe me, I’m not Obama apologist, but the Commander In Chief isn’t usually that that in the weeds about the movements of specific ships – especially THIS commander in chief. He doesn’t really seem to care about military even in the macro sense (just my opinion).
So, please keep everyone in Japan in your prayers, especially our troops over there. This is a terrible disaster and we need to do whatever we can, whether it’s donating money to the Red Cross or simply praying.
Before I close, I would like to draw your attention to a military blogger that is assisting with the recovery efforts in Japan. He’s currently in an area where he doesn’t have internet access, but has put up a bunch of photos and stories about the cleanup and after effects. His name is Staff Sergeant Scott Dietrich and is in the Air Force stationed in Misawa, I believe (we used to go up there to go skiing!).