The US Navy conducts our unreps with their oiler on our way to the gulf, east Africa, Diego Garcia et al for the same reason the USS Cole used Yemen’s port as a refueling station: politics. The State Department wants to keep good relations with Japan and the Japanese want to lecture Americans about their “sacrifices”. I haven’t been to Japan for several years, Skippy, but how many Japanese these days actually believe their “contribution” could actually make or break the war effort. I seemed to remember that alot of Japs were complaining along the lines of how much America owed them. I wonder if any of that’s changed since then.

Any observations Skippy?

I don’t have to give you GPS coordinates to tell you that their ships refuel well out of harm’s way. I don’t have problems with support personell – far from it – but I’ve NEVER heard US Sealift Command crews and contractors complain in droves to me about how much America owes them. We’re on the same team.

There are some people in Japan who also want to expand their own warfare capabilities to make Japan the regional power in the hemisphere and use the US military as a scapegoat for all the criticisms of this kind of agenda. It goes like “Japan has no choice but to become a military power because the Ugly Americans are forcing us to do it. If you have a problem with our military aspirations, don’t blame us, blame the Yanqis (yes, I know what that word means among the Japs).

A few thousand pounds of JP5 isn’t worth this. Apparently, the command doesn’t think so either. Had a buddy on a submarine who told me they were doing alot of construction on Guam several years ago (2003-2004 I think). Rummy made a deicision to remove several thousand troops from Korea and Japan back stateside because they were being inhibited/depracated by local politics. He said it was really funny because the Japanese and Koreans politicians initially tried to sabotage and suspend the move back to US turf (or tried to get the troops relocated to another part of their country). What was even more hilarious was that the Koreans and Japanese tried to make it look like it was their “victory” to “kick out” our troops about a year after Rummy’s decison was made and after the money for new housing and maintenance expasion had been allocated.

Use a USNS out of Guam for our unreps and cut the useless Japs and Roks off the roster. If they want accolades without the necessary achievements, make them do it at somebody else’s expense. Their troops elsewhere in places like Kurdistan can be similarly maligned but I’ll let others conduct the turkey shoot. Plenty of people are well aware that our “allies” are primadonnas posing for the cameras.

I would have thought you had to FOIA them and they would have to be vetted by somebody first.