Life on Okinawa as a U.S. Marine

The United States of America has been present on the Japanese island for more than eight decades. Hundreds of thousands of US soldiers have been stationed there over a long period of time. Each decade, the experience for a US Marine changes slightly but the nostalgia for those who spent a good while, remains intact forever.

Alex tells of his experience on Okinawa and guides those interested through the ins and outs of life on the tropical paradise.

Filmed March, 2023.

Disclaimer: All subject matter is carefully filmed as to not expose sensitive material that risks operational security of the United States military. This film is not for profit and solely for educational purposes. It was not commissioned by an authority and is produced by myself for a general public audience.

[joie]

My dad retired there till 2004 and is now in heaven

[hpehoel]

I did 2 years at Camp Schwab minus one deployment, it was great.

[mumbulog]

I was Navy Corpsman! Stayed at Schwab too with 2D Marine Div, Camp Lejeune

[theroadrunnerjarhead]

I was stationed at Camp Hansen in Okinawa for 13 months with M 3/9 3rd Mar Div from 1963 to 1964. It was very hot and humid there much like Vietnam. There were flag days at the base regarding operations. A white flag meant operate as normal a yellow flag was proceed with caution. A red flag told you to halt exercises. The people of Okinawa were okay but I felt they were prostituted by American dollar. Beer at the enlisted club was 25. Cents. Mixed drinks were 50 cents. Sergeants and above could hire mamasans to do their laundry and other things. Outside in Kin Village at the bars one could hire a Nasan or waitress for 2 dollars. But I really hated wearing starched utilities in the heat and humidity because they would get wet with your sweat. But Marine battalions would rotate and go on ships as a ready force. They would cruise the far east and stop at places like Hong Kong, the Philippines, and Japan to train. Hong Kong was mostly a liberty call. We went to Subic Bay in the Philippines to subscribe for a week or two. The town of olongapo outside of the base reminded me of a more raunchier version of Tijuana with bars of female impersonators otherwise known as Benny boys. So you had to choose carefully which bars you went to. The streets were full of shysters who would con you out of your money. I liked Japan, a beautiful country. We stopped in Japan for a week or so and trained on the foothills of Mount Fuji. We went there in November and one day we were training. It was very cold and we had no cold weather gear. It started snowing. We stayed at a tent camp. The heard was about 50 yards away from our tents. It was funny because after breakfast there were Marines running to the head. Some of them never made it in time before the greasy chow caused diarrhea. Some of them would just give up and sit on the snow. Overall I thought my time overseas was okay.

[johnnyappplesz]

yo iwas on the island a couple days ago