Welcome to One CA Podcast. Today we have Major Wyatt Hughes discusses his experience training the Central Readiness Force, a component of the Japanese Ground Self-Defense Force. Major Hughes had been a member of the Army Reserve Engagement Team
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Japan. Haiko drum music courtesy of Bensound.
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Transcript:
00:00:00 SPEAKER_02
Japan's known for Godzilla movies. So they had a new one come out called Shin Gojira, means New Godzilla. And the Simic team leader, Lieutenant Colonel Kawasaki, told me I should watch it because it would show me how Japanese military planned. And when I watched it, it was extremely obvious what she meant. Even as Tokyo was being destroyed, it took a while to get to a decision. You know, their decision -making process was very detailed. and had to be absolutely sure and and that's no i'm not finding fault in any way i'm just stating you know what they told me and what i observed because once they do decide they're going to do something it's very hard to make changes
00:00:53 SPEAKER_01
Hi, and welcome to the 1CA Podcast. My name is John McElligot, your host for today's episode. We're joined today by Wyatt Hughes, a major in the Army for Civil Affairs, and he was a civil affairs planner for the U .S. Army -Japan's Army Reserve Engagement Team, also called an ARET. Major Hughes, welcome to the 1CA Podcast.
00:01:11 SPEAKER_02
Hey, good morning.
00:01:13 SPEAKER_01
Where are you now? What are you doing? I think you're in ILE, is that right?
00:01:18 SPEAKER_02
That's correct. I'm currently assigned here at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, going through the CGSC curriculum. I'm thankfully halfway through and should PCS around June of this year. Not really sure where I'm going yet, but I'm certainly enjoying the educational experience while I'm here.
00:01:33 SPEAKER_01
That's great. How long is the program?
00:01:36 SPEAKER_02
The program is 10 and a half months. It's changed a few times over the years, but currently they project that for the next few years it will remain anywhere from 10 to 11 months, depending on your report date. which also is tied to any preparatory courses you may have to do based on a specific branch.
00:01:53 SPEAKER_01
Okay. Well, we may get to that. If that's okay with you, ask any follow -up questions toward the end of this or maybe as a bonus. What we wanted to focus on for this discussion was a paper that you had written regarding your experience in Japan, and it's entitled Civil Affairs Interoperability, Japan Ground Self -Defense Force, Civil -Military Cooperation Education. So you were a CA planner, as I mentioned, and the ARET, those in Japan, and wanted to focus your discussion here on your experience working with the Japanese Central Readiness Force, or the CRF. And before we get into that, try to set the stage for listeners. So that's a part of what's called the Japanese Self -Defense Force, which was created in 1954 after World War II. The U .S. had been occupying Japan and essentially got rid of its... the previous version of its military. And so it helped to reestablish a self -defense force for Japan that did not have offensive capabilities. In the early years, I think it was mainly a police force helping to maintain a law and order within Japanese borders, not really going outside of Japanese borders, and has evolved to a very powerful force today. And it's now considering adding some offensive capabilities. So could you talk about, if you know this, the history of the Central Readiness Force in Japan?
00:03:12 SPEAKER_02
Absolutely. So the Central Readiness Force was established in 2007. It was established as part of a directive that was a national policy directive, which included defense guidelines for Japan. The establishment specifically of special operations and an unconventional warfare force. but primarily one that could provide defense of the homeland using special skills or be utilized in international peace cooperation activities. At the same time that the CRF was established, the International Peace Cooperation Activities Training Unit in Camp Komikato, Japan, was also established. So within the CRF, you've got the Special Forces Unit, which is in Okinawa. It works very closely with our own special forces for direct action and special operations in event that Japan itself is attacked, not for exportation of those skills or use overseas in any missions. However, from the International Peace Cooperation Activities Training Unit, what you see is a different focus. So looking at what for years was considered within CA as our core task, Two specific ones that are related to the IPCAT, or International Peace Cooperation Activities Training Unit, are populist and resources control, and also foreign humanitarian assistance. Since 2007, the CRF assumed the duties of deploying personnel, specifically personnel who are from the CRF, in support of various United Nations missions. Since 2007,
00:05:00 SPEAKER_02
There has been more than five instances where they've been deployed to places such as Rwanda or Sudan in support of the United Nations missions. But prior to the CRF even, the Japanese have taken part in numerous UN peacekeeping operations. So what you saw with the CRF was a transition from the Japan Ground Self -Defense Force, which is one of three branches of the Japan Self -Defense Force, a transition of the UN peacekeeping duties. from across the Ground Self -Defense Force to a specific population that was trained more so to be culturally focused and regionally focused in support of HADR, or Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief Operations. Unfortunately, the CRF was disbanded in March of 2018. A little bit of history behind what happened. While I was stationed in Japan at Kamzama from 2015 June until 2017 June, The Central Readiness Force continued to focus its efforts where it had previously in the international peace cooperation area within the region. However, due to realignment within the Japan Ground Self -Defense Force and additional defense guidelines, the CRF itself was disbanded, although the capabilities remain. So CRF headquarters at Kamsama Japan was then switched to Tokyo itself, and then ultimately... The same capabilities exist, but were pushed back into the ground self -defense force in various units. So that's a little history there,
00:06:40 SPEAKER_02
not due to a lack of importance, a lack of, well, not lack of, but rather a realignment of the management of those capabilities. The Special Forces Unit in Okinawa was combined with a Western Army. or amphibious force that was within the Western Army in Kyushu. So this is just some of the basics, the dynamics, as the leadership changes and ultimately as some of their guidelines change under their prime minister, Shinzo Abe.
00:07:14 SPEAKER_01
All right. I mean, those changes always happen, certainly when leadership swaps out. So the buildup of capabilities, which are no longer in CRF but elsewhere, for HADR, Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief that you mentioned. Why did the CRF become a regional go -to partner for HADR?
00:07:32 SPEAKER_02
Well, part of it has to do with the United Nations budget. So next to the United States, we contribute 25 % of the UN's budget annually. Japan is the next largest partner. They contribute about 11%. As such, and as part of that mandate, their focus is within their own region. They look at it as a preparation for...
00:08:07 SPEAKER_02
Japan is well known to be a place that has experienced every type of humanitarian disaster imaginable due to the fact that they have volcanoes,
00:08:09 SPEAKER_00
well known
00:08:13 SPEAKER_02
humanitarian disaster imaginable due to the fact that they have volcanoes, earthquakes, tsunamis. They've had a combination of events March 11th of 2011, which led to a complete change in how they looked at regional response. They're also, unfortunately, geographically situated in such a place that the plates beneath them could easily lead to a major disaster at any time, which is one that they've prepared for and hopefully will never experience, but could destroy a large portion of what we know now as Japan in the event of a massive earthquake.
00:08:51 SPEAKER_01
What happened in 2011?
00:08:53 SPEAKER_02
Well, in 2011, the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami took place virtually within minutes of each other. And then ultimately, as a result of the earthquake and tsunami, the Fukushima nuclear power plant was essentially, it led to a meltdown.
00:09:10 SPEAKER_01
Right. Inundated with seawater and contaminated everything.
00:09:11 SPEAKER_02
with seawater
00:09:14 SPEAKER_02
Absolutely. And as part of their national response and the combined response of United States forces that were also within the country, Japan continued to look at ways that they can respond internally to disasters in a similar way that we look at FEMA. In fact, within the CRF, there is a national welfare section, and that itself is tied to how they respond to disasters. They became experts by default. Due to that and several other disasters over the years. And as such, each division of CRF was not only focused on defense of Japan, but how do you maintain a response to a crisis internal to Japan? You know, it was never really focused on exporting these abilities or capabilities aside from humanitarian relief. And because they were so quick to respond to so many UN disasters within the region. or essentially like the ring of fire, you know, as it's often considered, then by default their expert abilities have continued to be relied upon, you know, as a go -to partner for United Nations.
00:10:27 SPEAKER_01
Yeah, that's a great one for Japan to have and to be able to export to its partners. So the CRF had stood up and is no longer existing, but the capabilities are still there. Does Japan have its own version of civil affairs forces or personnel assigned to do CIMIC -type missions?
00:10:41 SPEAKER_02
Absolutely. So within the original Central Readiness Force headquarters, they had a section, a CEMIC team, and their entire CEMIC capability was approximately 11 people. When I got there in June of 2015, by way of conversation with our foreign area officers that were assigned to the Eastern Army and also to Central Readiness Force, I was able to engage in a couple of critical key leader. discussions with personnel who manage the systemic team and also the engineer section that was within the Eastern Army.
00:11:12 SPEAKER_02
who manage the systemic team and also the engineer section that was within the Eastern Army. So to clear that up a little, Japan's Ground Self -Defense Force has five armies within the Self -Defense Force, each one based on region. The Eastern Army is the army that is in the same region that Central Readiness Force headquarters was located. Okay. Okay.
00:12:03 SPEAKER_02
I thought this might be a great opportunity as we continue to work together to build capacity. That was also one of the missions that U .S. Army Japan was charged with, was building partner capacity with the Japan Ground Self -Defense Force. Their headquarters was approximately half a mile away from ours. Both headquarters had both personnel located working together on quite a few different things.
00:12:26 SPEAKER_02
together on quite a few different things. So I saw this as an opportunity to continue to build that capacity. I engaged the CIMIC team leader, Lieutenant Colonel Kawasaki, who was a pharmacist by branch, and she had just been assigned there for a two -year rotation to lead the CIMIC team and essentially support any efforts for HADR within the region that required a CIMIC specialist. So civil -military cooperation training is different depending on what countries you go to and depending on what they're allowed to do. CIMIC is quite different than civil affairs. However, specific to Japan, SEMIC is even more different than a lot of other SEMIC forces around the world. And what I mean by that is due to their constitution. So the Japan constitution, Article 9, prevents them from having an army, a navy, a fighting force, and essentially declaring war on anyone else. You know, this is all the way back to World War II. So if you can't have all the other skills that civil affairs has, that we teach at our schoolhouse, then how do I modify this to support what they can do? So those discussions led us to create a new curriculum together, which pulled from our populace and resources control and foreign humanitarian assistance and build them a course specific to that that would give them something within a pipeline to kind of understand how they would work with us in conjunction, you know, throughout the region for FHA. or PRC, or what they refer to as HADR. Right. Same thing our Army as a whole refers to it as, you know, humanitarian assistance and disaster relief efforts.
00:14:10 SPEAKER_01
Right. What the USAID calls HADR. Absolutely.
00:14:15 SPEAKER_02
So that combination of key leader engagements, right place, right time, because, you know, CRF had been relocated from Camp Osaka, Japan, to Camp Zama, Japan in 2013. So two years later, you know, I arrived there. I'm able to have this opportunity to engage their leadership. And from there, we began the planning process. Leadership within the CRF included Lieutenant General Kobayashi, who was assigned there as the commander in 2016.
00:14:49 SPEAKER_02
And he approved of our idea to create a course. So based on that, I reached back to the Special Warfare Center in school. and also to 322CA, which is over in Hawaii, to see what kind of support I could get to bring some instructors and some subject matter experts and begin the process of planning a modified type of course for the Japanese. Okay. Basically, what they were legally allowed to do, I put together a textbook. It was 367 pages worth of...
00:15:21 SPEAKER_02
367 pages worth of... civil affairs information focused on PRNC, FHA, and also the other core tasks, but only an overview of what the U .S. can do from that standpoint. Then I had it translated into Japanese. I attempted to do that, but not very successfully. So I had to work through professional translators to get it translated, and I reached back to SWCC to just get additional support. I knew that we did not have an exportable CA course, which is something I had wanted to do anyway, so I felt this was an opportunity to do a hybrid version. And I knew that having worked previously as the OIC