Story by Lance Cpl. Robert Alejandre | 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit | 02.12.2018
MARINE CORPS BASE CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. – For more than a decade, the U.S. Marine Corps and Western Army Infantry Regiment, Japan Ground Self Defense Force have worked hand-in-hand, conducting bilateral amphibious training exercises in Southern California that focus on advanced marksmanship, amphibious reconnaissance, fire and maneuver assaults, staff planning, logistical support, medical......
Story by Lance Cpl. Robert Alejandre | 13th Marine Expeditionary Unit | 02.09.2017
MARINE CORPS BASE CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. – U.S. Marine instructors with the 1st Marine Division Schools ‘Pre-Scout Sniper Course’ and soldiers with the Japanese Ground Self-Defense Force’s Western Army Infantry Regiment conducted a known-distance, live-fire sniper range during exercise Iron Fist 2017, Feb. 7, 2017, aboard Camp Pendleton, California....
Story by Cpl. Shaltiel Dominguez | Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton | 03.09.2016
I awoke inside my coffin rack to the sounds of bottles and other small items clanking on metal surfaces as the USS Somerset rocked back and forth amid violent waves. I checked my phone to look at the time. 0400. Damn. I still had an hour before work. I opened up an electronic book I was reading the night before; Haruki Murakami's South of the Border, West of the Sun. After swiping through the......
Story by Cpl. April Price | 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit | 03.01.2016
Forged in the wake of World War II, the U.S.-Japan security alliance has served as one of the Asia-Pacific Region's most important military relationships and as an anchor of U.S. engagement in the Pacific. Revised in 1960, the Treaty of Mutual Cooperation and Security grants the United States the rights to military bases in the Japanese archipelago in exchange for a U.S. pledge to defend Japan......
Story by Cpl. April Price | 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit | 02.26.2016
After a month of training at Exercise Iron Fist 2016, U.S. Marines, sailors, and Japanese soldiers concluded Iron Fist training with a scenario based, battalion-sized amphibious landing exercise, or PHIBLEX, at Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton on Feb. 24-27, 2016....
Story by Lance Cpl. Devan Gowans | 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit | 02.23.2016
U.S. Marines and Japanese soldiers with the Western Army Infantry Regiment, Japan Ground Self-Defense Force, conducted a supporting arms coordination center exercise (SACCEX), on San Clemente Island, Feb. 22-23 as part of Exercise Iron Fist 2016....
Story by Cpl. Garrett White | 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit | 02.02.2016
U.S. Marines and Japan Ground Self-Defense Force Soldiers conducted a live-fire mortar range aboard Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, Calif., Feb 1, 2016. The training event was a part of Exercise Iron Fist, the largest bilateral exercise conducted by I Marine Expeditionary Force, which is aimed at improving the combined amphibious operation capabilities of the U.S. and Japan....
Story by Lance Cpl. Timothy Valero | 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit | 02.01.2016
Over the roar of the wind, a voice yelled “contact front!” Without hesitation, Sgt. First Class Yusuke Irie of the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force’s Western Army Infantry Regiment Scout Sniper program sprinted to get on line and provide firepower. Surrounded by the sounds of gun fire and yelling, the soldiers alternate seamlessly between providing cover fire and bounding backward. Once......
