Japanese exercise at Yakima Training Center goes beyond combat proficiency

By Sgt. Christopher M. GaylordOctober 5, 2010

Japanese exercise at Yakima Training Center goes beyond combat proficiency
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Japanese exercise at Yakima Training Center goes beyond combat proficiency
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YAKIMA, Wash. - The annual Japanese-led training exercise in its 17th year at Central Washington State's Yakima Training Center, this year dubbed Operation Rising Thunder, officially came to a close Friday.

The event, lasting nearly a month, offers the use of Yakima's vast expanse of ranges, trails and expendable terrain to Japan's most proficient collection of soldiers.

The first artillery strike let out a roaring boom that rolled like thunder across the barren hills of Yakima as the 13th Brigade of the Japanese Ground Self Defense Force broke the seal on a 20-hour culmination exercise of ground maneuvers and reaction to enemy attacks Sept. 22 that would conclude its previous weeks of training.

Under a soft touch of scattered moonlight, the foreign soldiers then began to take center stage.

The immense space at YTC, something Japan doesn't have at its disposal, is a blessing to the soldiers lucky enough to travel there.

"Japan is limited because our training center is very small," said Sgt. 1st Class Ochi Katsutaro, a platoon leader with Japan's 13th Brigade. "We can't even carry live ammunition there, so here it is much more practical and more like the real world."

Joint Base Lewis-McChord Soldiers from the 528th Quartermaster Company merely provided support throughout the exercise by handling ammunition; opening, closing and operating ranges; and snuffing out range fires most commonly caused by anti-tank missiles.

The company's executive officer and the officer in charge for the U.S. support side of the exercise, 1st Lt. Roger Thompson, said the Japanese soldiers who travel to YTC each year are of Japan's highest caliber.

"The Soldiers here are the best at their specific jobs over in Japan," said Thompson, who worked with the Japanese during their 2008 visit. "The Cobra helicopter pilot here, for example, is the number one Cobra pilot in Japan."

"It just gives you an idea of the level of competence with these soldiers on the ground," he added.

The 349 Japanese soldiers are leaving YTC with more combat competence, but perhaps more fundamental are the lasting friendships they'll take with them that for the past month have bridged cultural gaps.

Spc. Aaron Tafolla, a petroleum supply specialist with the 528th Quartermaster Co. who extinguished range fires for the Japanese soldiers, has talked with his foreign counterparts about sports, family and military life, among many other things.

If he didn't know before, he certainly knows now that regardless of where they're from, Soldiers have a lot in common.

"This exercise has gotten misconceptions out of the way," Taffola said. "[the Japanese] have misconceptions about us and we may have misconceptions about them, but we get on the ground and work hand in hand and find out that pretty much all Soldiers are the same."

On the final week of their training mission, Japanese soldiers of all ages and types displayed U.S. Army name tapes and unit patches, along with patches of their own that commemorated the 50th anniversary of the peace treaty between Japan and the U.S.

American Soldiers sported tabs and patches with foreign characters they'd received from new friends in a trade for their own.

Japanese soldiers all over the installation, in keeping with their customary displays of appreciation, handed out tangible memories to their U.S. counterparts in the form of headbands, noodle cups and name tapes.

Out of the camaraderie that ensued, it was only natural for Americans to find something - anything to give back.

As the U.S. Soldiers' digital camouflage pattern of tan and teal shades clashed with the green, black and brown areas of spotted Japanese woodland uniforms, more attention might have been owed to a bond between two allied nations than to combat training.

Squad leader Sgt. Tatsushi Taniyuchi had just one regret upon the successful completion of his brigade's training at Yakima: he never got to see firsthand how U.S. Soldiers train.

"I have a kind of regret that I couldn't do the actual training with the U.S. Army," Taniyuchi said. "I really wanted to observe how the U.S. Soldiers do training."

Nonetheless, Taniyuchi will anxiously await the next opportunity he has to be around U.S. Soldiers.

"I greatly hope I can come here next year."