| Camp Kinser | |
|---|---|
| Okinawa, Japan | |
 Barracks buildings on Camp Kinser. | |
| Coordinates | 26°15′09″N127°41′51″E / 26.252528°N 127.697396°E |
| Type | Military base |
| Site information | |
| Controlled by | United States Marine Corps |
| Garrison information | |
| Past commanders | Colonel John E. Kasperski |
Camp Kinser is a United States Marine Corps logistics base in Okinawa, Japan.
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Camp Kinser is a major logistics base for Marine Corps Forces on Okinawa. Its flagship command is the 3rd Marine Logistics Group. It sits adjacent to the East China Sea in the city of Urasoe, and just a few kilometers north of Naha.
Camp Kinser is the southernmost of nine Marine Corps bases on Okinawa, which make up Marine Corps Base Camp Smedley D. Butler. Another military installation, the Naha Port Facility which belongs to the U.S. Army is located south of Camp Kinser.
Camp Kinser is equipped with a DeCA Commissary, AAFES Shopette, and an AAFES PX, which houses a food court with eateries such as Subway, Pizza Hut, and Taco Bell. It sports a bowling alley, enlisted club, fitness center, and mess hall.
It was named for 21 year old Sergeant Elbert L. Kinser, who threw himself on a grenade to protect his fellow Marines at the Battle of Okinawa during World War II, and was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor.
Camp Kinser was Founded in 1949, Shortly after The Pacific War Ended.
The USMC Currently, (2024) Controls the Military base, with Co-op From the USAA
As of 2013, the U.S has indicated that it wants to return to Camp Kinser also known as the Machinato or Makiminato Service Area to Japan by 2030. [1]
In 1975, a large leak of hexavalent chromium spilled at the base with contamination reportedly 8,000 times safe levels. The U.S. consulate in Naha dismissed the accident as a “flap” and warned “the newspapers and the leftists will certainly make good use of this issue against us.” [2] In 1993, the US government issued a classified report entitled "USFJ Talking Paper on Possible Toxic Contamination at Camp Kinser, Okinawa". Publicly available U.S. military documents have quoted excerpts suggesting extensive pollution with Vietnam era chemicals stored there, like insecticides including DDT (dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane) and heavy metals, rodenticides, herbicides, inorganic and organic acids, alkalis, inorganic salts, organic solvents like vapor degreasers and ferric chloride, of which 12.5 tons were buried. [3] [4]
Evidence of wildlife contamination are the 2013 finding of mongooses caught near the installation with high levels of polychlorinated biphenyls and the September 2015 report of habu snakes from the vicinity of Camp Kinser with elevated concentrations of polychlorinated biphenyls and DDT. In 2009 six Japanese workers of a warehouse on the base had fallen ill of an unknown illness. A scholar from Okinawa International University has speculated that "the Pentagon wants to conceal the reality of contamination that would damage the political value of Camp Kinser's return". [3]
The Department of Defense Education Activity (DoDEA) operates Kinser Elementary School at Camp Kinser. [5] Beginning operations on April 22, 1987, it replaced Makiminato Elementary School in the Makiminato Housing Area. [6]
Okinawa Prefecture is the southernmost and westernmost prefecture of Japan. It has a population of 1,457,162 and a geographic area of 2,281 km2.
Urasoe is a city located in Okinawa Prefecture, Japan. The neighboring municipalities are Naha to the south, Ginowan to the north, and Nishihara to the east. As of February 2024, the city has an estimated population of 115,518 and a population density of 6,051.2 persons per km2. The total area is 19.09 km2.
The United States Forces Japan (USFJ) is a subordinate unified command of the United States Indo-Pacific Command. It was activated at Fuchū Air Station in Tokyo, Japan, on 1 July 1957 to replace the Far East Command. USFJ is headquartered at Yokota Air Base in Tokyo and is commanded by the Commander, US Forces Japan who is also commander of the Fifth Air Force. Since then, it is the first and only sustained presence of a foreign military on Japanese soil in its history.
Kin is a town located in Kunigami District, Okinawa Prefecture, Japan.
Okinawa Island, officially Okinawa Main Island, is the largest of the Okinawa Islands and the Ryukyu (Nansei) Islands of Japan in the Kyushu region. It is the smallest and least populated of the five main islands of Japan. The island is approximately 106 kilometres (66 mi) long, an average 11 kilometres (7 mi) wide, and has an area of 1,206.98 square kilometers (466.02 sq mi). It is roughly 640 kilometres south of the main island of Kyushu and the rest of Japan. It is 500 km northeast of Taiwan. The total population of Okinawa Island is 1,384,762. The greater Naha area has roughly 800,000 residents, while the city itself has about 320,000 people. Naha is the seat of Okinawa Prefecture on the southwestern part of Okinawa Island. Okinawa has a humid subtropical climate.
Marine Corps Air Station Futenma or MCAS FutenmaA is a United States Marine Corps base located in Ginowan, Okinawa, Japan, 5 NM northeastB of Naha, on the island of Okinawa. It is home to approximately 3,000 Marines of the 1st Marine Aircraft Wing and other units, and has been a U.S. military airbase since the defeat of the Japanese Imperial Army in the Battle of Okinawa in 1945. Marine Corps pilots and aircrew are assigned to the base for training and providing air support to other land and sea-based Marines in Okinawa and throughout the Asia-Pacific region. MCAS Futenma is part of the Marine Corps Installations Pacific command.
III Marine Expeditionary Force is a formation of the Marine Air-Ground Task Force of the United States Marine Corps. It is forward-deployed and able to rapidly conduct operations across the spectrum from humanitarian assistance and disaster relief (HA/DR) to amphibious assault and high-intensity combat.
Camp Schwab is a United States Marine Corps camp located in northeastern Okinawa Prefecture, Japan, that is currently home to the 4th Marine Regiment and other elements of the 28,000 American servicemen based on the island. The Camp was dedicated in 1959 in honor of Medal of Honor recipient Albert E. Schwab who was killed in action during the Battle of Okinawa.
Camp Foster, formerly known as Camp Zukeran, is a United States Marine Corps camp located in Ginowan City with portions overlapping into Okinawa City, Chatan town and Kitanakagusuku village in the Japanese prefecture of Okinawa Island. It is part of the Marine Corps Base Camp Smedley D. Butler complex.
Uruma is a city located in Okinawa Prefecture, Japan. The modern city of Uruma was established on April 1, 2005, when the cities of Gushikawa and Ishikawa were merged with the towns of Katsuren and Yonashiro. As of 1 October 2020, the city has an estimated population of 125,303 and a population density of 1,500 people per km2. The total area is 86.00 km2. The city covers part of the east coast of the south of Okinawa Island, the Katsuren Peninsula, and the eight Yokatsu Islands. The Yokatsu Islands include numerous sites important to the Ryukyuan religion, and the city as a whole has numerous historical sites, including: Katsuren Castle, Agena Castle, and Iha Castle and the Iha Shell Mound. It is home to the largest venue for Okinawan bullfighting. The Mid-Sea Road, which crosses the ocean and connects the Yokatsu Islands to the main island of Okinawa, is now a symbol of Uruma.
Camp McTureous is part of Marine Corps Base Butler in Kawasaki and Nishihara, Uruma City, Okinawa, Japan.
The 3rd Marine Logistics Group is the Logistics Combat Element (LCE) for III Marine Expeditionary Force currently headquartered on Camp Kinser, Marine Corps Base Smedley D. Butler, Okinawa, Japan. 3rd MLG provides combat service support (CSS) to III MEF units above the organic capability. CSS is the essential capabilities, functions, activities, and tasks necessary to sustain all elements of operating forces in theater at all levels of war. Combat service support includes, but is not limited, to supply, maintenance, transportation, general engineering, health services, and other services required by aviation and ground combat forces to permit those units to accomplish their missions.
National Route 58 is a Japanese national highway connecting the capital cities Kagoshima and Naha of Kagoshima Prefecture and Okinawa Prefecture, respectively. With a total length of 884.4 kilometers (549.5 mi), it is the longest national highway in Japan, though it measures only 245.2 kilometers (152.4 mi) on land. The highway begins at an intersection with National Routes 3 and 10 in Kagoshima. From Kagoshima, it travels southwest along the first island chain that divides the Pacific Ocean from the East China Sea. From the north to the south, it has sections on the islands of Tanegashima, Amami Ōshima, and finally, Okinawa. On Okinawa it ends at an intersection with National Routes 330, 331, and 390 in Naha.
The Combat Logistics Regiment 35 (CLR-35) was a logistics unit of the United States Marine Corps that was headquartered at Camp Kinser, Okinawa, Japan. When active, the unit fell under the 3rd Marine Logistics Group and the III Marine Expeditionary Force. The unit was formerly known as 3rd Materiel Readiness Battalion but officially changed its designation on October 20, 2006.
The 3rd Dental Battalion is a unit of the United States Navy that supports United States Marine Corps forces on Okinawa, Japan. The battalion includes nine dental clinics, approximately 77 Dental Officers, 4 Medical Service Corps officers, 181 Dental Technicians, and 26 civilians. The unit is based out of Camp Foster and falls under the command of the 3rd Marine Logistics Group and the III Marine Expeditionary Force.
Combat Logistics Regiment 37, 3rd MLG is a logistics regiment of the United States Marine Corps. It is part of the 3rd Marine Logistics Group and III Marine Expeditionary Force. The unit is based out of the Marine Corps Base Camp Kinser, Okinawa, Japan.
Camp Gonsalves is a U.S. Marine Corps jungle warfare training area located in northern Okinawa, Japan, across the villages of Kunigami and Higashi. Established in 1958, it is the largest U.S. training facility in Okinawa. The camp is located in the Yanbaru forest protected area, raising long time ecological concerns enhanced by the 2016 plan to build new helipads.
The 3rd Supply Battalion is a battalion of the United States Marine Corps that specializes in distributing and warehousing military goods and equipment. They are headquartered at Camp Kinser, with their most remote company of Marines, Ammunition Company, located 37 miles north of Camp Kinser aboard Camp Schwab near the town of Henoko, Okinawa, Japan and fall under the command of the 3rd Marine Logistics Group.
The 3rd Maintenance Battalion is a battalion of the United States Marine Corps that provides intermediate-level maintenance for the III Marine Expeditionary Force's tactical ordnance, engineer, motor transport, communications electronics and general support ground equipment. The unit falls under the command of 3rd Sustainment Group (Experimental) and the 3rd Marine Logistics Group, and is based at Camp Kinser, Okinawa, Japan, with the exception of Regional Maintenance Operations Companies, which are located at nearby Camp Foster and Camp Hansen, respectively.
Persistent, bioaccumulative and toxic substances (PBTs) are a class of compounds that have high resistance to degradation from abiotic and biotic factors, high mobility in the environment and high toxicity. Because of these factors PBTs have been observed to have a high order of bioaccumulation and biomagnification, very long retention times in various media, and widespread distribution across the globe. Most PBTs in the environment are either created through industry or are unintentional byproducts.
Unit 35037 Camp Kinser FPO, AP 96373-5037 United States
