CAMP ZAMA, Japan – U.S. Army Garrison Japan hosted its first combined exercise with Japanese partners here Jan. 28 that demonstrated how they would manage an aircraft mishap near the installation.
More than 50 representatives from across the garrison, U.S. Army Japan, South Kanto Defense Bureau, and Zama and Sagamihara cities attended the tabletop exercise held inside the Camp Zama Community Club.
In the scenario, a UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter assigned to Camp Zama was forced to make a hard landing just outside the post, activating a multipronged response from U.S. Army and Japanese entities.
Col. Marcus Hunter, garrison commander, spoke before the exercise to recognize the unique dilemma such an incident would present to the stakeholders as they work together to quickly secure the area and provide emergency assistance, among other requirements.
“This is an opportunity for us to be able to plan and prepare and ensure that our systems are all synchronized,” Hunter said.
The colonel then asked participants, as they conduct the exercise, to help streamline the operation by finding any roadblocks in the notification, response, recovery and investigation stages of it.
“I do want to emphasize the idea that we are trying to identify gaps in our system,” he said. “We know there will be some. That’s not a failure; that’s a good thing. This is the time to figure out where we have gaps, and we can address those and refine our processes.”
Members of the South Kanto Defense Bureau have also joined similar exercises with nearby U.S. military bases to increase their readiness.
Hunter said he appreciated having them and emergency responders from local cities share their knowledge with Camp Zama personnel during their recent exercise.
“We have … the experts in the room to be able to discuss this,” he said, “and I’m excited for what we will be able to do to ensure that we are better prepared.”
Marushi Fukuda, emergency manager for the Zama City Fire Department, also believed the exercise would enhance the city’s coordination efforts with their American counterparts.
“We would like to ensure the safety of our residents and also know how we can better interact with the U.S. military if an aircraft mishap occurred,” he said. “And I also think it is very important to rescue the crew of the aircraft, so we would want to respond quickly.”
Robert Trau-Massey, the garrison’s installation emergency manager, said the capabilities and authorities of Japanese partners will be vital to ensuring overall safety during an off-post emergency.
“It’s critical that we come here and talk internally about some of our processes,” he said, “and utilize their experiences to improve our processes.”
Trau-Massey said the concept of the exercise, which he noted was the first one of its kind the garrison had held, began last summer and continued to be developed until the recent tabletop event.
He said the daylong exercise helped garrison staff realize how much they would be involved in such an operation.
“We are quickly learning that it will be an integrated process that will require all hands on deck to work through this,” Trau-Massey said. “I think the biggest takeaway from here is just getting a greater fidelity and understanding of the different roles that different sections and commands take in this initial response.”
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