Message to American Helicopters: THANK YOU USA

Every time America helps out we get lambasted as spreading Imperialism and propaganda. but if we don’t, we get labeled as heartless.

Give us a break man. As bad as the United States is, at least we’re not cutting and running like the cowardly French.

Notice how the caption mentions “Family members” – The people in question are having whichever parent stay in the country.

There’s no shame in sending off the rest of your family overseas while you stay. Too bad that Steve character in that other thread doesn’t have the cojones to do that.

If anything, this justifies the need for a massive US Coast Guard base, or Japanese equivalent

I agree. They should call it a Maritime Self-Defens…. ohhhhh, wait.

Anyway, it’s no secret that we’re in Okinawa for Taiwan and Korea. The “tip of the spear” is actually in Sapporo — well, right now it’s apparently by Hachinohe doing “beech surveys” and looking for insertion points. Marines are very good at that — finding insertion points and surveying beeches.

http://politics.gaeatimes.com/2010/02/18/marine-general-says-us-troops-not-a-burden-on-okinawa-but-a-benefit-to-japan-19461/
(emphasis mine)

Stalder, in an interview with The Associated Press, said the issue should not be looked at as a local problem, but should be seen from the regional strategic perspective.

He said the troops on Okinawa continue to serve a key deterrent and stabilizing role, need to be close to potential hot spots like North Korea and Taiwan and are now well positioned to deal with other HUMANITARIAN or security contingencies in the region.

“You’ve got to have forward-deployed ground forces. In our case, that happens to be the Marines,” he said. “Okinawa, if you look at the map, is strategically in maybe the perfect place in the region. From there, you deter a lot of potentially bad events, and you can get everywhere you need to get very quickly.”

He said that moving the Marines off Okinawa completely would compromise the U.S. military’s ability to respond to crises because troops would have to be called in from Hawaii or the west coast of the United States.

“Days lost truly equate to lost lives,” he said. “If you are trying to deploy from farther away, people are going to die because it took you too long to get there.”

Thankfully Lieutenant General Stalder retired back in September, so Okinawans may yet be spared an “I told you so”. Unless he becomes one of the latest in the increasing trend of retired flag officers to turn pundit/commentators.