Marines' move from Okinawa to Guam could begin as early as October 2024
The transfer of Marines from Okinawa (Japan) to Guam (U.S. territory) could begin as early as October 2024 and take 18 months to complete, according to a report by Japan’s Kyodo News service that cites a Marine Corps official on the U.S. Pacific island territory.
The Marine Corps’ Asia-Pacific realignment calls for 4,100 Okinawa-based Marines to be relocated to Guam, along with 900 others from elsewhere around the globe.
About 2,700 more Okinawa-based Marines will be sent to Hawaii, while 800 will go to the U.S. mainland. Another 1,300 are to make up most of a 2,500-person rotational force in Australia.
“Per U.S.- Government of Japan statements, the Marine Corps is committed to commencing the relocation of the force by the end of the first half of the 2020’s,” headquarters spokeswoman Capt. Karoline Foote wrote in a statement to Stars and Stripes on Saturday.
The Marine Corps’ realignment in the Indo-Pacific was born out of massive protests following the 1995 rape of a 12-year-old Okinawan girl by two Marines and a sailor.
https://www.stripes.com/news/marines-move-from-okinawa-to-guam-could-begin-as-early-as-october-2024-report-says-1.581201
