GREGG K. KAKESAKO / GKAKESAKO@STARBULLETIN.COM Maj. Gen. Bob Lee, left, explained the live-fire mission undertaken by soldiers from Japan yesterday at Schofield Barracks to Cols. Mitsuru Nodomi and Kiyoshi Ogawa and Maj. Gen. Nick Perkins, who commands U.S. Army Japan. CLICK FOR LARGE

Japanese troops train in isles

The 29th Brigade shares live-fire lessons from Iraq

Hawaii Army Guard soldiers with a year of Iraqi combat duty behind them will play a greater role in the U.S.-Asia-Pacific defense mission.

They will take on missions in Indonesia, Malaysia, Japan, the Philippines and Singapore.

For the past two weeks, about 350 soldiers from the Hawaii Army National Guard's 29th Brigade Combat Team worked with 180 soldiers of the 1st Infantry Regiment of the Japanese Ground Self-Defense Force's 1st Division, Middle Army, led by Col. Tomei Mihara.

Yesterday, Mihara said his soldiers had been learning techniques like fighting in an urban environment and clearing houses. He and other Hawaii Army National Guard and Japanese leaders watched as the Japanese soldiers completed a live-fire exercise at Schofield Barracks' infantry battle course.

Maj. Gen. Bob Lee, state adjutant general, said it is normally the mission of the active Army's 25th Infantry Division to share its professional knowledge and combat expertise with the Japanese army.

"But the 25th Division is now busy with Stryker training," Lee said, "and the balance of the brigade is in Iraq, so we stepped in."

Soldiers of the 29th Brigade's 1st Squadron, 299th Cavalry, led by Lt. Col. Kenny Hara, have been working as trainers and mentors since Nov. 1.

It was the first live-fire training Hara's unit had undertaken since it was released from active duty in mid-March. Hara's unit also is undergoing a major reorganization, and this was the first training exercise since it returned from Iraq.

The training exercise, dubbed "Rising Warrior," focused on what the soldiers call military operations in urban terrain, where they are taught techniques of fighting in city streets and clearing houses occupied by insurgents.

GREGG K. KAKESAKO / GKAKESAKO@STARBULLETIN.COM Sgt. 1st Class Ferdinand Penaflor, a member of Troop B, 1st Squadron, 299th Cavalry, left, worked with soldiers of the Japanese Ground Self-Defense Force at a Schofield range. CLICK FOR LARGE

"They are mainly set up for self-defense operations," said Anno, a 21-year Hawaii Army National Guard veteran. "That's the way their constitution is set up.

"We are trained to fight both offensively and defensively."

In January the Hawaii Air Guard's 29th Brigade will start initial planning with Indonesian military officials on the establishment of a state partnership similar to those between Alaska and Mongolia and Thailand and the state of Washington.

It will be the second partnership the state has started with an Asian country -- the Philippines was first, Lee said, and "it is significant because it is the world's most Muslim country, with 250 million people."

The idea is to help fight terrorism through diplomacy and the military-to-military relationship the state hopes to develop, Lee added.

Lee said this partnership came about, in part, as a result of U.S. humanitarian assistance following the tsunami and earthquakes two years ago.

He said that in September Hawaii Army and Air National Guard medical specialists spent 10 days in Cebu and treated more than 3,000 people.

The Hawaii National Guard leader said he expects his citizen force to take a more active role in military and civic action missions in the Pacific.

The 29th Brigade also will participate in exercises in Singapore and Malaysia next year.

"The 29th Brigade has always participated in war-fighting exercises," Lee said. "Now they have gone to war. ... They are ready to go out into the Pacific."