History is in the making at Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron 204 as Sgt. 1st Class Midsru Miyazaki is slated to be Japan’s first soldier to earn the title of crew chief aboard an MV-22 Osprey at Marine Corps Air Station New River, April 7, 2017.
Miyazaki is currently training with VMMT-204 where he works closely with Marines in order to learn the skills necessary to become a crew chief.
“It feels great to be out here on his first flight, it’s a momentous occasion,” said Marine Staff Sgt. Andrew Davison, a crew chief assigned to VMMT-204. “I’ve heard great things about what Miyazaki [has] done during the classroom portion. I think he is going to have a lot to offer the MV-22 community.”
According to Miyazaki, he joined the military in 2002 to serve his country.
“I’m so excited; I’m very honored to be here in the flight as the first Japanese crew chief,” said Miyazaki.
So far, Miyazaki has been learning the ground service and knowledge aspect of the Osprey in order to learn about the mindset needed to become a crew chief. Prior to his training with VMMT-204, Miyazaki was a crew chief for the CH-47 Chinook in the Japanese Ground Self-Defense Force.
“From what I understand with his history and his background, he is a prior crew member on another platform for the Japanese military,” said Davison. “Having that experience and bringing it over to what he is learning to the MV-22 is going to be a great help for him as he moves on with the rest of his career and moving on to possibly be an instructor for the MV-22 on the Japanese military.”
According to Miyazaki, it is important for the United States and Japan to have a working relationship in order to allow for more training opportunities.
“I think it’s highly important to having a good relation with other military branches,” said Davison. “I think this is going to show the Japanese government what the MV-22 has to offer and I think this is going to work out really well.”
Miyazaki said there was little difference between the education of Japan and the Marine Corps.
“I want to bring back the experience, the spirit and the knowledge for my education program,” said Miyazaki.