JUMP event in San Diego highlighted by local media

Ambassador James Zumwalt, CEO of Sasakawa USA, former U.S. ambassador to Senegal and Guinea-Bissau, and native of San Diego, was highlighted in a recent San Diego Union-Tribune article while participating in JUMP’s Marine Corps Recruit Depot Breakfast Reception event in San Diego. At the event, Ambassador Zumwalt greeted 200 Japanese Maritime Self Defense Force recruits, on a ship visit to San Diego, with a talk on the U.S.-Japan alliance.

“All these young officers will have the experience of coming to San Diego and seeing that America is a pretty nice place,” Zumwalt told reporter Carl Prine. “That has a benefit down the road when they’re off on a destroyer somewhere exercising with us.”

Describing JUMP, the article mentions JUMP activities throughout the U.S., such as last year’s Padres game with U.S. and Japanese SDF service members and JUMP’s annual visits to Pensacola, Florida. For a full list of our past events, click here.

Through social networks and events, JUMP builds relationships and provides opportunities for service members to engage with each other. JUMP provides a powerful foundation for sustaining the solid alliance and relationship that exists between the U.S. and Japan.

Click here to read the full article, published in the San Diego Union-Tribune on June 16, 2017.

Image source: Soldiers with the Japanese Ground Self-Defense Force, Western Army Infantry Regiment, fire the M24 Sniper Rifle in pairs during a known distance range conducted by Marines with 1st Marine Division Schools ‘Pre-Scout Sniper Course’ during Exercise Iron Fist 2017, aboard Camp Pendleton, Feb. 7, 2017. Marine Corps.

The U.S.-Japan military alliance and efforts to bring together those who have served in Japan were highlighted Saturday on NHK news after new crews attended an event hosted by the Defense Attaché office of the Embassy of Japan in the United States in collaboration with JUMP.

The reunion event at Marine Corps Base Quantico brought together more than 200 active and retired service members and their families who have served in Japan. The event included a reception, remarks from the host and distinguished guests, a briefing on JUMP, a toast, a performance of traditional Okinawan Eisaa dance, and comments from Marines reflecting on their memories in Japan.

“We continue to thank our friendship and close ties with the United States Marine Corps — Ooh-Rah!” said RADM Yuki Sekiguchi, Defense Attaché with the Embassy of Japan who spoke at the event.

The NHK broadcast also includes remarks from LtGen Robert S. Walsh, Commanding General, Marine Corps Combat Development Command, and Deputy Commandant, Combat Development and Integration, who spoke at the event.

“The relationship between the two countries, I think, are central to addressing the regional and global challenges that we’ve got now and into the future,” he said in the broadcast.

View the full video above, (mostly in Japanese but includes some English as well), read the Japanese-language NHK report here, or the English-language report here.

The future of the US-Japan alliance will continue to strengthen with the help of both military leaders and service members who support each other as friends and allies.

That was the message March 3 at the First Annual JUMP dinner, which drew a large crowd of about 100 people to the Army and Navy Club in Washington, D.C. The event celebrated the Japan-US Military Program’s first year of bringing together those with the common bond of having served in Japan.

That common bond also provides a strong foundation of support for the overarching US-Japan alliance. According to General Robert Neller, Commandant of the Marine Corps, this bilateral relationship is the backbone of American strength in the Pacific that becomes increasingly important in the face of challenges, such as threats from North Korea and tensions with China in the East and South China seas.

“[The relationship] needs to be strong,” Gen. Neller said during keynote remarks at the JUMP dinner. “We have these challenges, these potential friction points in the Pacific. We can’t take care of it ourselves. We have to do it with our allies.”

Gen. Neller reflected on how far the relationship has progressed since the Second World War. Survivors of that conflict, he said, never would have known the friendship that lay ahead – one that would include side-by-side training and the common fraternal bond that only those who wear the cloth of their country could understand.
He hopes the future of the bilateral alliance grows to strengthen further, to include deeper integration and interoperability both in a military capacity and also in situations where humanitarian aid is needed.

Admiral Dennis Blair, former Director of National Intelligence and Commander of Pacific Command, said he views JUMP as a way to unite the tens of thousands of service members who have served in Japan and come to love the country, as he did. Adm. Blair also is Chairman and CEO of Sasakawa USA, the organization that oversees JUMP. The program has had numerous events in the past year to bring these service members together, he said, and much more event planning already is underway to continue the momentum.

“The U.S.-Japan alliance is in the strongest shape I’ve ever seen it,” Adm. Blair said. “And that’s important because it has become a very competitive atmosphere out in that part of the world.”

JUMP’s next upcoming event is a networking social at Sine’ Irish Pub on Pentagon Row in Arlington, Virginia on March 24.

JUMP is always growing and adding new members to its ranks! Click here to join the JUMP network so you will be informed about other upcoming events being planned.

Click here to view the full photo gallery from the event.

Article by Christa Desrets. Photos by Joy Asico.