[War] Japan: "Help from Our Friends

[Ian Martell]

"Help from Our Friends"
Defence Minister Tadao Inoue
Japan
September 27th 2006

Tadao Inoue was hardly the sort of man you’d expect to be in charge of the 
world’s sixth best funded military organization on the planet, even on 
paper. He was a short man of nearly sixty who’s hair had long since 
retreated to a grey arch across the back and sides of his head and who’s 
eyes were framed by a set of thick glasses. However appearances were 
deceiving and in the scant few months that he had been in charge of the 
Defence Agency (Japan not officially having a Ministry of Defence) had 
quickly took charge and made it clear to those who worked for him in and out 
of uniform, that the constitution stipulated that the JSDF must be under 
civilian control, and he was the voice of that control.

As such General Tanaka the Chairman of the Branch Chiefs; Vice-Minister 
Watanabe and Brigadier General Asao Fukudome stat patiently waiting while 
the Minister finished a phone call with the Minister of Foreign Affairs 
returning from his trip from the United Kingdom.

“I see, yes, of course… I will see you when you get back Kin-kun,” Inoue 
said and then hung up the phone.

“The British have accepted our proposal,” Fukudome said.

Tanaka made a grunt of acknowledgment. He had not been shy in letting the 
Minister know he disagreed with Watanabe’s plan to bring in foreign 
militaries to advise the JSDF about how to best reform their forces. It was 
a blow to the pride of the Forces in his eyes.

“And the deployment?” asked Watanabe.

“They agreed of course. General Fukudome, how long does planning bureau 
expect to the deployment will take?”

“From approval to complete deployment, about three weeks,” Fukudome said and 
paused to see if the Minister wanted more and it was clear that he did. “We 
would be sending the helicopters themselves by ship from Yokusuka, meanwhile 
the crews and pilots would be flown ahead to the theatre to be briefed on 
their operational expectations and get a feel for what they will be in for.”

Inoue nodded. “How long will the tours last?”

“That would depend on the length of the deployment.”

“Six-months,” replied Inoue.

“Two to three month tours then,” said Fukudome. “Anything less than two 
months is a waste of resources, and more than three and the next group 
doesn’t get as much experience as the first group.”

The British proposal for Japanese troops to go to Afghanistan had come at an 
auspicious time for the Planning Bureau who had been tasked with working out 
with two-battalion sized peacekeeping force supported by the very 
helicopters which would now be deployed to the country. It would be an 
excellent chance for those pilots and crews to gain experience.

Inoue nodded. Brusque and demanding as he was, he knew his people were good 
at what they did and let them do the work. His in his mind was keeping a 
leash on things and passing orders down and requests up to the Prime 
Minister, a change from the usual order of things; it was normal for 
Minister’s to run their Ministries like private fiefs but Sato’s little 
cabal at least worked differently including the Prime Minister in much of 
the work they did.

“How does this play with the budget?” Inoue asked Watanabe.

“Alone, its bearable, but I’d like to remind everyone here that we are 
deploying more and more and we will need more money in the operations budget 
if this process is to continue.”

“Noted,” Inoue said. “But we can afford this mission?”

“Absolutely.”

“Alright the partnerships, who goes and where do we put the men who are 
coming from Britain?” asked Inoue.

Tanaka spoke first. “Obviously those units and personnel most likely to see 
deployment in a post-Article 9 setting would be the first choice. Is there 
any sign of what the government is thinking about in the way of deployments 
if the amendment passes.”

“I got a note from the Prime Minister after the cabinet meeting about White 
Force to Lebanon.”

White Force, was the working name in the Defence Agency for two battalion 
sized composite force of infantry, armoured infantry, engineers and MPs 
being developed by the Planning Bureau, the name was chosen because it was 
designed to be part of a traditional UN peacekeeping mission. The Planning 
Bureau however had nicknamed it the Bento Box, for it’s a little of 
everything configuration.

Tanaka nodded. That was anticipated, making friends with China was a big 
item on the government’s agenda right now and some shoulder to shoulder 
military cooperation would be a good chance to make some friends in the PLA. 
Fukudome however frowned wondering if that situation might be a tinder box, 
one friendly fire incident could set back relations by decades if handled 
wrong.

“Then I suggest we put the line officers and NCOs of White Force on the 
observer list,” Watanabe said.

“I would wait,” Fukudome said. “We have yet to approach all our prospective 
partners yet, and if we are successful in getting Israel to help us wouldn’t 
White Force’s personnel be better sent to work with the IDF?”

Inoue nodded. “Agreed. On that matter do we have a full list of prospective 
partner nations yet?”

Watanabe nodded and pulled up a file on his PDA. “Increasing joint 
operations with the US, Britain, Canada, Australia, Thai… well we’ll leave 
them off for now, Peru and Israel.”

Inoue nodded and took that list down himself to brief the Prime Minister 
about later. “Very good, we will talk later about how best to approach the 
various governments.”

Watanabe nodded.

“Back to the British partnership,” Inoue said.

Fukudome took the lead. “The Western Army Infantry Regiment should be 
considered for both British observation and advice and for sending personnel 
to British units in Afghanistan.”

Watanabe nodded. “Makes sense, they’d be the most likely force to be sent to 
the region if we did deploy.”

“Them and the Airborne,” Fukudome said.

Inoue stroked his chin for a moment. “If we were deploying a mixed force of 
WAIR and Airborne to the region, who’d lead it?” he asked.

“Brigadier Ohira would have command under precedent but he would likely 
command the mission from Narashino, while Colonel Kimura of the WAIR would 
be on the ground.”

“Make sure both men are sent to Afghanistan.”

“Is there any reason to suspect we might be going to Afghanistan?” asked 
Tanaka. It was mission he had watched closely and he knew it was losing 
support in the west despite the successes of Operation Medusa. If the US and 
Britain were pressuring the government about deploying overseas after the 
referendum it was a likely place. Not as politically explosive as Iraq, but 
still a useful place for Japanese boots to be put on the ground; deadly too, 
he reminded himself.

“No,” Inoue answered carefully. “But it never hurts to anticipate.”

“Yes sir,” Tanaka said. “I’d like to suggest that Fukudome make a trip to 
Britain to meet with the British planners and see how things are working on 
that end of that operation as well.”

Inoue nodded. “Any objections Fukudome-Sho-sho?” he asked.

“None.”

“Consider it done so long as the British are willing. Now the rest of these 
partnership deployments?”

“If we are anticipating a deployment to the region, I suggest we put it to 
Kimura and Ohira to pick which units would likely see deployment to the 
region and let them choose say 10 officers and 10 senior NCOs total from 
those units and send them to work with the British.”

“Do we allow our observers to participate in combat?” Inoue asked.

There were a few looks around the room before Tanaka spoke. “They should be 
armed, but our policy should be that they are there for observation only. 
However if they should be attacked in the field, then they should not be 
punished for participating.”

“Also there is the matter of communication,” Fukudome said. “While most of 
our officers in the Airborne and the WAIR have done extensive training with 
the Americans there is some question of the quality of their English which 
would complicate their involvement in combat. In general, defence only, and 
let the British decide how much exposure to danger is comfortable for them. 
We don’t want to have British soldiers killed minding our personnel.”

Inoue nodded.  “Other branches?”

“The MSDF is the most experienced branch of the JSDF, and have done many of 
the jobs the British are doing, I’d say we’d appreciate some help from the 
British Naval Planning office to work and some cross over of captains from 
our missile ships to theirs and I think they’d appreciate a chance to go 
over a British carrier,” Tanaka said.

“Put it to Takayama,” Inoue said. “But in general I agree. ASDF?”

“We don’t have much capability to deploy fighter or even support aircraft 
that far a field,” Tanaka said. “I will speak with Terada and have his 
recommendations on your desk tomorrow, but likely he’d like some planning 
and logistics people to talk to and have his people see how the British are 
doing that in Afghanistan, that would most likely be the ASDF’s role in a 
Japanese led mission.”

Inoue nodded. “Good, speak with both Terada and Takayama and see what they 
think. Is there anything else?”

All the men shook their heads.

“Alright then this meeting is adjourned. Watanabe, please remain we need to 
discuss the expansion of the partnership program.”


Actions:

1>	Draw up plans for the deployment 10 CH-47Js and their required flight and 
support staff from the 1st Helicopter Brigade to Afghanistan. Helicopters 
and supplies will go by sea while the personnel will be flown ahead of them 
to get the HQ element integrated into the command structure and educate the 
pilots and ground crews about the conditions and their mission expectations.
2>	Send: Brigadier General Ohira of the 1st Airborne Brigade to Afghanistan 
to observe the British HQ and Colonel Kimura of the WAIR to observe the same 
on the front lines with the objective of gaining some understanding of what 
it takes to make an operation work in this environment.
3>	Send: Brigadier General Fukudome to the British Army planning department 
to observe mission planning for Afghanistan and Iraq and pick their brains 
about the biggest problems they are facing in both theatres and how they are 
trying to combat them.
4>	Send: 10 line officers and 10 senior NCOs each from the 1st Airborne and 
WAIR to observe combat and peacekeeping operations in Afghanistan to develop 
first hand experience.
5>	Otherwise let the partnership exchanges and observer postings go as both 
sides see fit, focusing mostly on planning and logistics for the MSDF and 
ASDF.
6>	Approach the United States about instituting a similar partnership to 
expand on the existing one.
7>	Approach Canada, Peru, and Israel about similar partnerships each with a 
different focus. Canada: Peackeeping advice, Peru: CT and anti-guerrilla 
tactics and strategy, Israel: CT tactics and strategy.

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