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GINOWAN, Okinawa — The U.S. and Japan announced Friday that they will move ahead with plans to close Marine Corps Air Station Futenma here and move Marine air operations to a new facility on Camp Schwab. In a joint statement signed by U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, Japanese Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada and Japanese Defense Minister Toshimi Kitazawa, the two countries confirmed their commitment to steadily implement a 2006 agreement to realign U.S. troops in Japan. According to Kyodo News, Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama spoke with U.S. President Barack Obama by telephone...

3/4 gears up for Operation Iraqi Freedom IISubmitted by: MCB Camp ButlerStory Identification Number: 200413175830Story by Cpl. Ryan D. Libbert CAMP SCHWAB, Okinawa, Japan -- More than 800 Marines and Sailors from 3rd Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment, currently serving with 3rd Marine Division under the Unit Deployment Program, will deploy to Iraq within the coming weeks to support the security and stability operations there. Commonly referred to as Operation Iraqi Freedom II by the majority of the Marine Corps, both 3/4 and 1st Battalion, 5th Marines, another UDP unit serving under 4th Marines, will leave Okinawa to join the...