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Report: 1K Marines moving from Japan to Hawaii

The Marine Corps’ plan to transfer 8,000 personnel out of Okinawa, Japan, is likely to result in 1,000 Marines relocating to Hawaii via rotations or permanent moves.

The shift would come as military officials aim to disperse about half of the 8,000 Marines originally slated to move form Okinawa to Guam as part of a 2006 agreement with the Japanese government, Sen. Daniel Inouye, D-Hawaii, told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser.

“Instead of all [8,000] going to Guam, they’ll go elsewhere — Australia, Hawaii and Guam,” said the chairman of the Senate appropriations committee and its defense subcommittee, according to an article published Tuesday.

Inouye said he was briefed on the subject by Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, Navy Secretary Ray Mabus and Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Jon Greenert.

The Marines who move to Hawaii might be accommodated at the Marine Corps’ existing base in Kaneohe Bay, and either the Army’s Schofield Barracks or on the Big Island near Kona, Inouye told the Star-Advertiser.

Hawaii is home to about 12,000 Marines, mostly based at Kaneohe Bay.

“But the question now arises, will those troops be rotating-type troops or will they be stationed here with dependents, which would require schools, et cetera?” he told the newspaper. “We have not reached that stage yet.”

Inouye’s comments follow other recent announcements outlining new Marine rotations to Darwin, Australia, where groups of 500 will deploy starting later this year, and reports of increased U.S. military visits to the Philippines. All are tied to the military’s shifting focus to the Pacific region. Media reports out of South Korea also have speculated that some Marines may begin regular rotations there.

Inouye indicated the Navy shipyard at Pearl Harbor also will see more business from surface ships homeported in Hawaii as well as transiting vessels. However, he told the newspaper that despite planned retirements of several ships, the number of warships based in Hawaii will remain steady or increase slightly.

“You will have certain ships that are now being put to rest — taken out of [active-duty service], but they are going to be replaced,” Inouye told the Star-Advertiser. “The numbers I have seen would show that you either keep it the same [as now] or above. I can’t go beyond that.”