The U.S. Army is increasing its operational capability in Japan to levels not seen since the postwar Occupation to expedite troop deployment, according to the new U.S. Army commander in the country.
The army will establish a command and control center at Camp Zama in Kanagawa Prefecture, installing personnel, communications equipment and military vehicles, Brig. Gen. Francis J. Wiercinski said in a recent interview at the base. This would eliminate the need to ship in those assets from the United States, enabling initial deployment "within an hour or two," he said.
Bilateral military ties, forged in the 1960 security treaty, have been strained in recent months by protests against a planned U.S. base relocation on Okinawa and domestic political opposition to the Maritime Self-Defense Force's Indian Ocean refueling missions in support of operations in Afghanistan.
Wiercinski, who has led troops in Afghanistan, said he couldn't comment on whether Japan should consider sending ground troops there.
The government in May floated the idea — controversial in view of the pacifist Constitution — of sending Ground Self-Defense Force elements to Afghanistan to aid U.S. and NATO troops.
The U.S. Army's new capability will be used in training exercises with GSDF units to prepare for any future coalition role, Wiercinski said.
One Japanese unit, the elite 4,200-strong Central Readiness Force, is moving to Zama to share the facility with U.S. forces, he said.
"If the Japanese government were to say, 'We will support coalition efforts in Afghanistan, the (GSDF) soldiers, because they're trained, because they're prepared, because they're equipped, can get up and go,' " he said. "It's not like they have to say, 'Well, we have to train 2 1/2 years now because we've never trained.' "