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thedrifter
02-09-07, 09:02 AM
Marines plan parachute drill on Okinawa

Kyodo News Service
Posted : Friday Feb 9, 2007 9:10:42 EST

NAHA, Japan — The U.S. military is slated to conduct a parachute drill Tuesday in training waters off the Marine Corps’ Camp Schwab in Okinawa in a move that is drawing protests from the local government, Okinawa officials said Friday.

The Marine Corps in Okinawa has informed the Nago Defense Facilities Administration Bureau about the drill, the first since 1999 off Camp Schwab in the northern city of Nago on Okinawa, they said.

The Okinawa prefectural government has asked for the drill to be halted, saying any parachute training should be held on Ie Island, in line with a 1996 agreement.

According to the Defense Facilities Administration Agency’s local bureau, the drill will be conducted in waters where ships are banned from berthing and mooring.

The move comes on the heels of a similar training exercise by the U.S. military Jan. 26 at Kadena Air Base, despite local opposition based on a history of accidents, including a fatal one, caused by materials landing outside designated areas.

Earlier this month, a U.S. paratrooper involved in a drill at an auxiliary airfield on Ie Island landed on private land outside the military installation by mistake.

The drill was held at Kadena, the largest U.S. Air Force base in East Asia, for the first time in eight years due to unstable weather conditions around Ie Island, according to the military.

Ellie