Posted on 03/11/2011 4:53:59 AM PST by NowApproachingMidnight
All I have at the moment, from the Kyodo site:
BREAKING NEWS: Japan requests cooperation from U.S. military after quake.
My son is also stationed in Okinawa, it is only a sew people that hate the US Military.
What a mess.
Thanks for the link. Lot’s of good pictures.
There’s gonna be a sale on flood damaged Japanese cars it looks like.
Some of those pics appear to be frames from a video shown at the BBC site.
And we will respond, as we should. The Japanese are accustomed to this sort of thing. What other country has a history of so many earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanoes, hurricanes, B-29s and fire breathing T-Rexes?
They are a smart, tough and resilient people and will rebuild.
“My son is stationed on Okinawa. He says the Japanese HATE the US Military.”
Try being a sailor in Norfolk VA. I don’t know what it is like now, but my Dad had some incredible stories of how they were treated there - and this was WWII. Like yards with signs, “dogs and sailors stay off the lawn”
The good news (for the short term) is that Japan has shut down their refineries causing crude oil prices to go down. But when they restart those refineries and begin rebuilding...look out.
Which just means that they are in the market for finished product. Diesel equipment for cleaning up the mess doesn't run on sunshine and happy thoughts.
Tsunami hitting Hawaii now. Northern California has a Tsunami warning.
In my experience the people close to the bases do tend to ‘hate’ the military. From my observations its due to the ugly drunk American syndrome.
Get away from the bases and you’ll meet real people who haven’t encountered the drunks.
Try being a sailor in Norfolk VA. I don’t know what it is like now, but my Dad had some incredible stories of how they were treated there - and this was WWII. Like yards with signs, “dogs and sailors stay off the lawn”
I wish I could remember the year, it was in the 60’s though. The Base Commander at Norfolk ordered that all service member be paid in Cash for one payday and it was all two dollar bills.
The local stores and economy were totally flooded with two dollar bills. After it was announced what the Navy had done the attitudes in Norfolk and Newport News changed for the better.
Any guesses on how 0bama would handle a similar situation if it was the US? I’d bet that, only after prodding, he would get his ugly face and teleprompters on TV for political purposes, and then go golfing.
True,I had the same experience in Germany in the 60’s.
There have been multiple pushes by the Japanese government to force the military out of Japan. It must be more than the standard mile-circumference drunk soldier/sailor/Marine syndrome.
At any rate, I’ll be interested to see how military assistance changes that dynamic.
All it takes is one rape or murder to really get folks attention. Unfortunately there have been several of those committed by service members.
I’ve heard. The Marines on Okinawa are under some severe restrictions because of it.
But still, the Japanese government has repeatedly talked about forcing the US military out of Japan. Now they’re asking for the military’s help. How this changes the dynamic in the future will be interesting to watch.
My son is a Corpsman, I’m waiting to hear if he’ll be moved to the disaster site to provide medical assistance.
I too, was stationed in Germany in the early 60s but since I'd taken 4 years of German in high school {a Catholic School} and was fluent in German, my experience was very different.
I stayed out of the "GI Gasthauses" where only GIs and German whores hung out.
I went to local German restaurants, Churches and business and since I could speak the language, had a great experience.
When you can communicate in their language, people will accept you very easily.
And yet, we’re giving them the technology to build stealth fighters?
Why is America run by idiots?
America is run by idiots because we have a population replete with idiots.
We used to go to the small towns along the Mosel river and
were quiet and respectful and were treated great by the
locals. Of course,when we just wanted to get drink,we just
walked off base into town.
Correction-a loud vocal number in Okinawa hate the US Military. Okinawa hosts a disproportionate number of the US military in Japan so they have a different perspective on it. Most mainland Japanese couldn't care less about the US military presence in Japan as it doesn't affect them personally.
For them to ask for US military assistance is significant.
The government caught a lot of flak at the time for not accepting US offers of assistance after the Hanshin earthquake in '95. They have learned their lesson.
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