Mt Fuji home to centuries-old training base

Photo By Cpl. Justin Wheeler | Camp Fuji is a base comprised of more than a dozen buildings operated by about 150 Marines. The camp is a small part of the 34,000-acre military training site located at the base of Mt. Fuji.  

OKINAWA, AICHI, JAPAN

06.01.2012

Story by Cpl. Justin Wheeler 

III Marine Expeditionary Force   

OKINAWA, Japan - Loud cracks of artillery fire expose a different side of the snow-covered, 12,000-foot high peak of Mt. Fuji. What many don’t know is the mountain is more than a tourist attraction; it has also been the site of military operations for centuries.

Located at the mountain’s base, more than 150 Marines operate within Combined Arms Training Center Camp Fuji, a 34,000-acre training site.

Tucked away within the training site is a small operations hub, more than 2,000 feet above sea level, comprised of more than a dozen buildings. The Marines of Camp Fuji live, eat, play and work here. They have a chapel, fire department, Post Exchange, post office, mess hall, medical clinic, motor pool, basketball court and even an obstacle course.

Their mission is to facilitate units from mainland Japan and Okinawa conducting training at their facility.

“We are a support element designed to help train other units,” said Gunnery Sgt. Edward L. Buggs Jr., acting company first sergeant of the CATC Camp Fuji, Marine Corps Installations Pacific. “We have numerous ranges for artillery and convoy operations.”

Military operations on the base date back to as early as the Japanese Kamakura Period of 1185–1333. Thousands of Samurai, under the feudal government, trained here in the 15th century.

The Marine Corps, however, has operated on this facility for fewer than 60 years. After World War II, the U.S. Army utilized the land, now a part of Marine Corps Installations Pacific, until it turned the facility over to the Marine Corps in 1953.

Since then, Camp Fuji Marines have facilitated hundreds of training evolutions each decade – more than 50 yearly. Many assets on the base exist for the sole purpose of facilitating the needs of units training there, according to Buggs.

“Many of our vehicles in the motor pool for example are solely designed to be issued to other units for the purposes of training,” he said.

However, Marines at Camp Fuji oversee more than the Marines who train on their base. They also fulfill the administrative needs of Marines on non-Marine Corps installations within mainland Japan.
“As the company first sergeant, when I conduct morning accountability I oversee our 150 Marines (and) more than 100 other Marines scattered on bases throughout mainland Japan,” said Buggs. “Our admin section of about 10 Marines takes care of not only Camp Fuji Marines but also many others.”

The Marines on the installation often enjoy the yearlong, unaccompanied tour on the base.

“It feels like being so far away from home, yet, the Marines and local Japanese here make it feel much like home,” said Lance Cpl. Stephen N. Shorter, an administrative clerk with the administration staff section, CATC Camp Fuji, MCIPAC.

Buggs believes Marines enjoy the opportunity to experience a foreign country.

“The majority of the Marines we receive are fresh out of military occupational specialty school, and they love the experience of being in Japan,” said Buggs. “Many of them have never left America before.”

• Date Taken: 06.01.2012
• Date Posted: 06.01.2012 03:54
• Story ID: 89276
• Location: OKINAWA, AICHI, JP