Cpl. Chue Lee, a radio operator with the 12th Marine Littoral Regiment, is promoted during the Resolute Dragon exercsie at Camp Ishigaki, Okinawa, Aug. 1, 2024. He is the first Marine to be promoted into the non-commissioned officer ranks on Ishigaki. (Alyssa Chuluda/U.S. Marine Corps)
Two members of the 12th Marine Littoral Regiment are the first in the Marine Corps to be promoted at a Japanese army base on Ishigaki, 150 miles west of Taiwan.
Promotion ceremonies for Cpls. Chue Lee and Tyler Clinard were held Aug. 1 at Camp Ishigaki of the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force.
“I feel it’s important that my promotion took place here of all places because normally Marines don’t have the opportunity to promote in a foreign country, let alone a place that Marines have only set foot on once before,” Clinard said in an Aug. 5 Marine Corps news release.
The Marines visited Camp Ishigaki for the first time last year for Resolute Dragon, annual training between the III Marine Expeditionary Force and Japan’s Western Army.
III MEF did not respond to emailed requests from Stars and Stripes for further information about the promotions.
The two corporals were promoted during the final week of this year’s Resolute Dragon, the fourth iteration of the exercise. Approximately 3,000 Marines and 5,700 Japanese troops participated in this year’s training, which concluded Aug. 7.
“I am so proud to have been promoted here,” Lee said in the release. “Now that I’m a corporal I will need to set the example for my junior Marines and learn how to lead and mentor them.”
Promoting the two Marines on the Japanese base in Okinawa prefecture highlights the focus on integrating American and Japanese military efforts, according to the release.
The U.S. and Japan are increasing their levels of cooperation as China increases its military strength and asserts territorial claims in the East and South China seas.
The promotions also garnered strong reactions from the Marines’ families.
“Being a Marine dad, there is no greater honor,” Clinard’s father, Jackie Clinard, said in the release. “I handed the Corps a boy, and they returned me America’s best Marine.”
Cpl. Tyler Clinard, an intelligence analyst with 12th Marine Littoral Regiment, is promoted during the Resolute Dragon exercsie at Camp Ishigaki, Okinawa, Aug. 1, 2024. He is the second Marine ever to be promoted into the non-commissioned officer ranks on Ishigaki. (Alyssa Chuluda/U.S. Marine Corps)
This year’s Resolute Dragon included deploying radar systems to Yonaguni, Japan’s westernmost inhabited island, training with U.S. MV-22 and Japanese V-22 Ospreys, medical and logistics training, and force-on-force and live fire exercises, the release said.
The Air Force had two CV-22 Ospreys scheduled to participate in Resolute Dragon but canceled their involvement before the exercise began, citing a need to focus on training requirements.
The U.S. and Japanese militaries previously grounded their tiltrotor fleets after an Osprey from Yokota Air Base crashed off Japan’s southern coast, killing all eight airmen onboard. The U.S. lifted its grounding orders on March 8, and Japan began flying its Ospreys again on March 21.
