Unique unit gets things moving on Okinawa

[unhappycamper]

Unique unit gets things moving on Okinawa
By Vince Little, Stars and Stripes
Pacific edition, Tuesday, September 30, 2008

CHIBANA COMPOUND, Okinawa — The 505th Quartermaster Battalion is the pump that keeps U.S. vehicles rolling on Okinawa roads and military aircraft roaring in the skies. It’s also the last of a dying breed.

"The harsh reality is nothing on Okinawa moves without us," said 1st Lt. Ken Smith, the battalion’s petroleum operations officer.

As the Defense Energy Support Center’s storekeeper on the island, it’s the only unit in the Army responsible for maintaining a petroleum pipeline and terminal distribution network. Other fuel requirements around the service have been farmed out to private contractors.

The battalion oversees a 78-mile pipeline and supplies all Defense Department agencies on Okinawa — 747 to be exact, officials said. Recipients include the 18th Wing at Kadena Air Base, the 31st Marine Aircraft Group at Futenma, the Navy’s USS Essex Expeditionary Strike Group at White Beach, and Army and Air Force Exchange Service gas stations islandwide.

"This is a unique battalion, last of its kind," added Master Sgt. Ricky Davis, the operations noncommissioned officer in charge and senior enlisted adviser. "It’s a pretty big operation here."


Rest of article at: http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=57758

[rgbecker]

1. Could someone explain to me why we are in Okinawa 63 years after Japan's surrender.

Oh yeah, the yellow peril.