American Military and Japanese SDF at Sendai Airport

Here is a TV report about the joint Japanese-American military effort to repair Sendai Airport and use it as a base for relief supplies. It aired a few days ago on Japan’s FTV network:

• Scenes of Sendai Airport during and immediately after the tsunami are contrasted with its current cleaned-up state.
• Every morning there are meetings between the airport staff, Japanese Self-Defense Forces, and United States military. They work together to plan the day’s work.
• Members of the American military are shown living and sleeping in the terminal building with no electricity or running water. When an aftershock occurs, the reporter is impressed that the Americans do not even flinch.
• They interview one of the airport’s civilian employees, who is working long hours alongside the American and Japanese military forces. His house was near the airport. The man’s wife and disabled daughter temporarily evacuated when the tsunami hit, but they are now back home.
• The report was filmed on the day that the airport’s runways were finally deemed clear and a temporary control tower was put into service. Without the hard work of the SDF and the Americans, the clean-up probably would have taken a lot longer than two weeks.
• As in the case of the previous report, it closes with news anchors Yuko Ando and Taro Kimura praising the help that the Americans have been providing. Kimura says that up until now, many Japanese had wondered about the value of the U.S.-Japan alliance, with some doubting that Americans would even help Japan in a time of need. He thinks that Operation Tomodachi will raise public awareness about the value of a good relationship with America.

Stars and Stripes has a good article up about the lifestyle of the Americans who are deployed at Sendai Airport. Here’s an little excerpt:

Staff Sgt. Alejandro Anglada, 24, of Puerto Rico, said the camp at the airport has fewer amenities than the forward operating base he lived at in Baghdad, Iraq, during a 15-month deployment from 2006 to 2008.

“In Iraq, we had a PX (Post Exchange) and all the amenities,” he said. “Here we just have the tents.”

However there are some similarities, Anglada said.

“I went on a mission yesterday and saw all the debris on the side of the road,” he said. “For an instant, I thought I was back in Baghdad rolling around.”

Whether on the road or at the airport, the troops subsist on Meals, Ready to Eat, supplemented with fresh fruit and vegetables and items from care packages such as chocolate bars, cookies and sodas sent by family members back on Okinawa.

And despite the lack of facilities at the airport, the troops at the airport have one thing they all look forward to.

“Every three days we go to Camp Sendai for a shower,” Clark said.

The soldiers also like visiting Camp Sendai — a clean, modern Japan Self-Defense facility where white-washed barracks stand between tree-lined grassy avenues — because they can shop for items such as underwear, socks, gloves and flashlights at a Japanese store. Or they can dine at a small restaurant.

The Marine Corps has also created a short news video about their work at Sendai Airport:

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