Camp Hansen is a

United States Marine Corps The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for conducting expeditionary and amphibious operations through combi ...

base located in

Okinawa is a prefecture of Japan. Okinawa Prefecture is the southernmost and westernmost prefecture of Japan, has a population of 1,457,162 (as of 2 February 2020) and a geographic area of 2,281 km2 (880 sq mi). Naha is the capital and largest city ...

, Japan. The camp is situated in the town of

Kin __NOTOC__ Kin usually refers to kinship and family. Kin or KIN may also refer to: Culture and religion *Otherkin, people who identify as not entirely human *Kinism, a white supremacist religious movement * Kinh, the majority ethnic group of V ...

, near the northern shore of Kin Bay, and is the second-northernmost major installation on Okinawa, with

Camp Schwab Camp Schwab is a United States Marine Corps camp located in northeastern Okinawa Prefecture, Japan, that is currently home to the 4th Marine Regiment and other elements of the 28,000 American servicemen based on the island. The Camp was dedicate ...

to the north. The camp houses approximately 6,000 Marines nowadays, and is part of

Marine Corps Base Camp Butler Marine Corps Base Camp Smedley D. Butler (or simply Butler Marine Base) is a United States Marine Corps base located in the Japanese Prefecture#Japanese sense of prefecture, prefecture of Okinawa Prefecture, Okinawa. It was named after Marine Cor ...

, which itself is not a physical base and comprises all Marine Corps installations on Okinawa. Camp Hansen is named for

Medal of Honor The Medal of Honor (MOH) is the United States Armed Forces' highest military decoration and is awarded to recognize American soldiers, sailors, marines, airmen, guardians and coast guardsmen who have distinguished themselves by acts of valor. ...

recipient Dale M. Hansen, a Marine Corps private who was honored for his heroism in the fight for Hill 60 during the

Battle of Okinawa The , codenamed Operation Iceberg, was a major battle of the Pacific War fought on the island of Okinawa by United States Army (USA) and United States Marine Corps (USMC) forces against the Imperial Japanese Army (IJA). The initial invasion of ...

. Hansen was killed by a Japanese sniper's bullet three days after his actions on Hill 60. Built on the site of the former

Chimu Airfield Chimu Airfield or NAB Chimu is a former World War II airfield on the Pacific coast of Okinawa. The airfield was inactivated after October 1945. History World War II The Chimu Wan area was captured during the first week of the Battle of Okinawa ...

, the Camp was completed on September 20, 1965 after 29 months of construction by USN Mobile Construction Battalions 3, 9, and 11.

Tenant units

* Headquarters, 12th Marine Regiment * 3rd Battalion 12th Marines * 3rd Law Enforcement Battalion * 3rd Intelligence Battalion * 7th Communication Battalion *

31st Marine Expeditionary Unit The 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit (31st MEU) is one of seven Marine Expeditionary Units in existence in the United States Marine Corps. The Marine Expeditionary Unit is a Marine Air Ground Task Force with a strength of about 2,200 Marines and ...

* 5th

Air Naval Gunfire Liaison Company Air Naval Gunfire Liaison Company (ANGLICO) is an airborne fire support and liaison unit of the United States Marine Corps. The mission of ANGLICO is "To provide Marine Air-Ground Task Force (MAGTF) Commanders a liaison capability to plan, coord ...

(ANGLICO) *

9th Engineer Support Battalion The 9th Engineer Support Battalion (9th ESB) is a general and direct engineering support unit of the United States Marine Corps and is headquartered at Camp Hansen, Okinawa, Japan. The unit is subordinate to the 3rd Marine Logistics Group and th ...

* Special Operations Training Group * Elements of the 3rd Reconnaissance Battalion. * 3rd Marine Division Truck Company * III MEF Information Group (MIG) *

2nd Battalion 11th Marines 2nd Battalion of the 11th Marines ("Patriot") is an artillery battalion comprising three firing batteries (Echo, Fox, and Golf) and a Headquarters Battery. The battalion is stationed at Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, California. Its primary wea ...

*3rd Ordnance Maintenance Company (OMC)

Base information

The base is home to the Central Training Area, which includes several

firing range A shooting range, firing range, gun range or shooting ground is a specialized facility, venue or field designed specifically for firearm usage qualifications, training, practice or competitions. Some shooting ranges are operated by military ...

s, a pair of shooting houses which support live fire training, and other training areas, being one of the few locations on the island where weapons firing is permitted. Also located at Camp Hansen is a

brig A brig is a type of sailing vessel defined by its rig: two masts which are both square rig, square-rigged. Brigs originated in the second half of the 18th century and were a common type of smaller merchant vessel or warship from then until the ...

, a confinement facility that houses U.S. military members from around the Far East for short term sentences. Facilities include a Post Exchange, a theater, a convenience store, two gyms, and a "consolidated entertainment facility" known as The Palms, which has two restaurants, as well as enlisted, SNCO, and officer clubs. In March 2008, the

Japan Ground Self-Defense Force The Japan Ground Self-Defense Force ( ja, 陸上自衛隊, Rikujō Jieitai), , also referred to as the Japanese Army, is the land warfare branch of the Japan Self-Defense Forces. Created on July 1, 1954, it is the largest of the three service b ...

began training at Camp Hansen, as part of the reorganization of U.S. forces in Japan and the move towards sharing facilities between American and Japanese troops.

Controversies

In September 1995, three U.S. servicemen stationed in Camp Hansen rented a van,

kidnapped Kidnapped may refer to: * subject to the crime of kidnapping Literature * ''Kidnapped'' (novel), an 1886 novel by Robert Louis Stevenson * ''Kidnapped'' (comics), a 2007 graphic novel adaptation of R. L. Stevenson's novel by Alan Grant and Ca ...

and

rape Rape is a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse or other forms of sexual penetration carried out against a person without their consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority, or ag ...

d a 12-year-old

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

girl. The crime “stirred furor” among the Okinawans, according to ''

Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to ...

''. According to documents leaked by

Edward Snowden Edward Joseph Snowden (born June 21, 1983) is an American and naturalized Russian former computer intelligence consultant who leaked highly classified information from the National Security Agency (NSA) in 2013, when he was an employee and su ...

and published by ''

The Intercept ''The Intercept'' is an American left-wing news website founded by Glenn Greenwald, Jeremy Scahill, Laura Poitras and funded by billionaire eBay co-founder Pierre Omidyar. Its current editor is Betsy Reed. The publication initially reported ...

'', the site hosts an NSA collection facility codenamed CAMELUS. It uses a PUSHER-type antenna.

References

External links

*
An Insider's Guide to USMC Bases
{{US Marine Corps navbox Hansen Installations of the U.S. Department of Defense in Japan United States Armed Forces in Okinawa Prefecture

Tenant units

Base information

Controversies

See also

References

External links