Senator Jim Webb, D-Va, suggested that the military revise its plans to relocate marines from Okinawa to Guam. But this could mean a military expansion for Hawai’i:
An influential U.S. senator is questioning a plan to relocate 8,000 Marines and their families from Okinawa to Guam and says an alternative would be to rotate combat forces to Guam from a home base such as Hawaii or Camp Pendleton, Calif.
Sen. Jim Webb, D-Va., raised the question as he and two other senators said the planned reorganization of American forces in East Asia, including closing bases on Okinawa, is unworkable and unaffordable.
The suggestion by Webb, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations subcommittee for East Asia and the Pacific, does not make clear whether such a plan would mean basing more Marines in Hawaii or using the Marines already here on rotations to Guam.
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U.S. Sen. Daniel Inouye said the recommendations proposed by the senators “merit further review.”
“However, it is important to note that these are recommendations, and any assumptions that the proposed changes to the Guam realignment will result in more Marines stationed in Hawaii requires careful analysis,” Inouye said in a statement. “The governments of Japan and the U.S. will continue to work together to resolve the outstanding realignment issues in a manner that is both equitable and mindful of the current fiscal challenges both our countries face.”
The Marine Corps should consider revising its plan for Guam to a “stripped-down presence” with a permanently assigned (family- accompanied) headquarters element bolstered by deployed, rotating combat units that are based elsewhere, Webb said.
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