Special actions committee on Okinawa
Encyclopedia
SACO
The Colombian Air Service , or SACO, was an early Colombian airline. Founded in 1933, in 1940 SACO merged with the Colombo-German Air Transport Society ; the new company was named Airline of the American Continent...
) is a formal agreement made between the United States Government and the Government of Japan. The U.S. and the Japanese government established the SACO agreement on November 1995. About 75% of U.S. military installations in Japan exist on the island of Okinawa. The Agreement was brought on by a political uprising that escalated when an Okinawan schoolgirl was abducted and raped by three U.S. servicemen in September 1995. The agreement's purpose was to reduce the impact of the U.S. military presence on the people of Okinawa. The SACO developed recommendations to realign, consolidate, and reduce U.S. facilities and adjust operational procedures. In December 1996, the United States agreed to return 21% (about 12000 acres (48.6 km²)) of the land in Okinawa from 11 U.S. military installations. The final report of the SACO outlines the requirements of returning land, adjusting training and operational procedures, implementing noise abatement procedures, and changing the Status of Forces Agreement
Status of Forces Agreement
A status of forces agreement is an agreement between a host country and a foreign nation stationing forces in that country. SOFAs are often included, along with other types of military agreements, as part of a comprehensive security arrangement...
(SOFA) procedures.
Land to be returned
- MCAS Futenma
- About 9,900 acres (40 km²) of the Northern Training Area (Camp GonsalvesCamp GonsalvesCamp Gonsalves is located in Northern Okinawa, Japan across the villages of Kunigami and Higashi. At JWTC contains 22 helicopter landing zones, one water surface beach access, four bivouac sites, three outdoor classrooms, one firebase, three 3rd world village target sites and one target missile...
) - Aha Training Area
- Gimbaru Training Area
- Sobe Communications Site
- Yomitan Auxiliary Airfield
- Most of Camp Kuwae (Camp Lester)
- Senaha Communications Station
- Small portion of the Makiminato Service Area
- Naha Port
- Housing Consolidation on Camps Kuwae (Camp Lester) and Zukeran (Camp FosterCamp FosterCamp Foster, formerly known as Camp Zukeran, is a United States Marine Corps camp located in Ginowan City on the Japanese prefecture island of Okinawa. It is part of the Marine Corps Base Camp Smedley D. Butler complex, and named after the Medal of Honor recipient PFC William A...
)