My wife and I just got her orders yesterday to Iwakuni for an August arrival.  I know that Iwakuni is several hundred miles away from the nuclear plant in Fukushima, but I was wondering what the mood was like in Iwakuni with respect to the plant.  Is there serious fear of long-term health effects?  I have seen talk of abating dependent orders and sending only military personnel.  Has there been any talk of that in Iwakuni?  I know that information is not getting out quickly in Japan, but any info any of you have would be great.  I hope you are all doing all right and that any friends or family in other parts of Japan have been spared from this horrible tragedy.

Robert

Robert, things are pretty calm here. We feel somewhat isolated from the events up north, other than those who are actively working on relief operations. Iwakuni is involved in that, to help those up north who were affected. There has been a halt in inbound PCS up north: Certainly Misawa, and perhaps the bases around Tokyo too. Mainly this is to avoid a strain on transportation which is stretched thin right now ferrying relief supplies. My best guess is, you will execute these orders, probably ontime. There may be someone who says "Wait, we have to slow down & see what happens" but things should be a lot clearer over the next 30 days so hopefully you can plan your pack out. If you have not started your family medical screening, get that started and then check back. The base commander is holding a Town Meeting tonight and hopefully I'll have more news after that.

Thanks for the update. From the sound of things they are stopping incoming troops all together at this point. I hope becomes safe for the whole country soon and that we could resume our orders at some point. I guess it's another case of hurry up and wait until we find out what will happen.

No one knows what will happen. There is a potential for sudden, dramatic deterioration of the nuclear plants. Or, maybe they will all shut down quietly. I think we're not getting all the facts, and I don't say that lightly. My wife & I are flying out tomorrow, back to Thailand. As a contractor, I'm afraid I'd get last dibs on any military flights out of here and I don't wanna take that chance so I bought (very expensive) tickets out of Fukuoka tomorrow. One way.