Joint U.S.-Japan exercise comes to a close

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Lt. General Charles H. Jacoby, I Corps commander, talks about the importance of the Yama Sakura exercise on Saturday. Yama Sakura provides a tremendous benefit to both I Corps and the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force's Northeastern Army, he said.


Joint U.S.-Japan exercise comes to a close
By Bryce S. Dubee, Stars and Stripes
Pacific edition, Wednesday, December 19, 2007

CAMP SENDAI, Japan — As the tents were torn down and the last soldiers prepared to leave, Yama Sakura, a bilateral training exercise between the U.S. Army and the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force, came to a close on Sunday.

Roughly 3,500 Japanese and 2,000 U.S. servicemembers took part in the command-level exercise, which used computer simulations to pit the U.S. Army’s I Corps and the JGSDF’s Northeastern Army against an invading enemy force. It was the 25th year that the exercise has taken place and is among the military’s largest bilateral events.

In years past, the primary focus of Yama Sakura had been improving the working relationship between the U.S. and Japanese militaries. Recently, as U.S. Army corps-level headquarters are routinely being deployed, the exercise has transformed into a more strenuous training event.

Yama Sakura provides a tremendous benefit to both I Corps and the Northeastern Army, said Lt. Gen Charles H. Jacoby Jr., the I Corps commanding general.

“All battlefield functions are being tested,” he said, adding that because the exercise is a warfighting event, there is additional rigor due to the intensity and quality of the simulation.


Rest of article at: http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=51082