Breaking News: Pentagon offers to evacuate all US military family members on Japan main island....

[Junkdrawer]

If you're following the crisis from the "Look what they do, not what they say" basis, this is ominous.

On edit: CNN breaking news headline. http://www.cnn.com/

[HereSince1628]

1. If you consider the logistics of moving large numbers of people

then moving some of them BEFORE there is an absolute necessity of doing so makes good sense.

It's time to act prudently, even if the worst case hasn't been realized.

[Poll_Blind]

2. Wow, that is quite a different level of severity than it has been before.

Wow again.

PB

[hedgehog]

3. With rolling blackouts, gasoline shortages, possible problems

with food and water for the near future, it makes sense to get as man people out of the way as possible.

[Thunderstruck]

13. OH YEAH... It just CAN'T be bacause of 4-6 broken nuclear

reactors that's spurring this. IT'S THE LACK OF FOOD, WATER, AND SERVICES!

[ensho]

4. kick

nt

[Baclava]

5. The balloon goes up

US military begins evacuations of families from Japan due to nuclear threat

The Navy has moved quickly to start the process at Naval Air Facility Atsugi and Yokuska Naval Base. Those facilities are approximately 200 miles south of the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant.

Following suit, the Air Force announced similar measures at Misawa Air Base and the Army began evacuations at a facility near Tokyo. The Marine Corps has not announced any evacuations at their facilities at this time.

Other military facilities in Japan are expected to announce the evacuations to service members and their families today

http://www.examiner.com/natural-disasters-in-national/u-s-military-begins-evacuations-of-families-from-japan-due-to-nuclear-threat#ixzz1GsMB6fvv

[Junkdrawer]

6. Here's what I think: 3 reasons:

1.) Logistics of doing it now rather than later.

2.) The military knows A LOT more than the public about what is going on. It wants to keep that secret. Much harder to do if families are still there.

3.) The military will be asking for volunteers to help bury the reactor. Again, much harder if families are still there.

[Yo_Mama]

7. It is

Military spends a lot and does a lot of disaster prep/modelling etc. When they're worried, it should be a knowledgeable worry.

[forty6]

8. Where do these people go? Their homes, (temporarily, at least) are

in Japan on those bases.

Will they be sent to military family housing in the USA? Is there enough housing available for them on bases in the USA?

Will they be able to choose where they are shipped off to?

Other places? Phillipines? Germany?

[Hugabear]

9. They'll probably be set up in a military version of a refugee camp

Although I, too, would like to know how this plays out.

[forty6]

11. Maybe they could move to Wisconsin and sign the recall petitions for

the Senate Rethuglicans there, and vote them all out!

[Baclava]

14. That's a good question - most will probably go to family back home, I'd guess.

I bet Yokota AFB is one busy terminal right now ... moving all these people out.

[forty6]

15. How many people are on these bases? Thousands or tens of thoisands?

Could it be that we can actually SAVE some defense funding by having less of them abroad?

These are just my innocent questions, not having served in the military.

[Baclava]

20. 14,000 on Yokota - - it's the main airlift command base for the AF

Real close to Toyko - it's big.

[Hugabear]

22. Yokosuka is a pretty big base as well

I lived there as a teenager back in the mid-80s. Yokosuka is home to the Navy's Seventh Fleet. The aircraft carrier USS George Washington has a crew of over 5,000, and has a complement of about 10 other ships. Quite a few of them have their families living on the Navy base and in the surrounding community.

[Solly Mack]

17. South Korea

There's a plan in place to move dependents to Japan from South Korea in the event of hostilities - so they are evacuating in reverse now.

[Lone_Star_Dem]

10. I read on BBC yesterday where a pregnant woman in the the US military station in Japan was worried

This is from yesterday:

2201There is some anxiety at US military bases in Japan about exposure to radiation, Reuters reports. On a Facebook page for US Naval Forces Japan, some Americans voiced concern. One living in Atsugi, Japan, where radiation was detected at a naval base, asked about a potential evacuation. "Having a toddler and being pregnant, I need to know if they can get us going," wrote 21-year-old Chelsea Origer.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/9427318.stm

I'm glad they're giving them the option to leave.

[forty6]

12. I agree with you, let's bring them home!

It's the right thing to do. They are ALL Americans!

[onethatcares]

16. good, I have relatives on that island

and two grandkids.

I wonder where they'll take em?

[malaise]

18. I'm glad they're moving

Conditions must be terrible and it is better to be safe than sorry

[Cali_Democrat]

19. So they can come back to America? What does it matter? The cloud is floating this way!

[Baclava]

21. Time, Distance and Shielding

How to Reduce Exposure to Radiation ...

"The guiding principle behind radiation protection is that radiation exposures should be kept "As Low As Reasonably Achievable (ALARA)"

http://www.doh.wa.gov/ehp/rp/factsheets/factsheets-htm/fs22redexp.htm

[eppur_se_muova]

23. Hey, maybe we could PERMANENTLY reduce those bases while we're at it !!

Get the US out of a perpetual war economy!