2nd Lt. Anthony Livhits reviews counter attack grid coordinates with members of the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force during Orient Shield field training exercise, Aibano Training Site, Japan, Oct. 16, 2009. Orient Shield is a mutual US Army and Japan Ground Self Defense Force joint exercise designed to enhance staff coordination and promote regimental and battalion level command and staff training opportunities, combat readiness and tactical level training. The exercise took place at Camp Imazu and Aibano Training Area in Shiga-prefecture, Japan, October, 10-17, 2009. **************************** Orient Shield Succeeds Through Exchange of Tactical and Cultural Experiences Story by Master Sgt. Corine Lombardo, 42nd Infantry Division Aibano Training Area, Japan -- Hundreds of US and Japanese Soldiers took to the wood lines here in a simulated combat field training exercise. Moving simultaneously and parallel with one goal in mind – defeat a common enemy. Soldiers from the New York Army National Guard’s 1st Battalion 69th Infantry Regiment identified enemy fighting positions and collected information on the makeup and strength of the fictional enemy. This was used to assist both the US Army and the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force (JGSDF) soldiers set up hasty defense positions and attack and defeat enemy forces. Ground and mounted soldiers from both forces crossed steep elevations and rivers, concealing their movements as they denied the enemy the capability to conduct counter attacks on friendly forces. The ultimate goal was to advance the 7th Regiment, JGSDF, to their appointed objective and secure it. Mission Accomplished! During the field exercise, which took place from October 16-18, Soldiers put into play many of the combat skills and techniques they demonstrated to one another over the past week, while participating in Orient Shield 10, October 10-17, 2009. “Orient shield is an exercise we run every year with the Japanese in a bilateral environment to really strengthen the relationship between the US Army and JGSDF,” said Major General Francis J. Wiercinski, US Army Japan/I Corps (Forward) Commanding General, Camp Zama, Japan. “The 1-69th Soldiers have been training side by side with their Japanese counterparts and sharing their knowledge; not only what they’ve learned in combat, but their Soldiers skills as well,” Wiercinski said. Throughout the week-long exercise designed to promote regimental and battalion level command training opportunities, combat readiness and tactical level training, US and JGSDF soldiers exchanged combat skills and techniques. Demonstrating how they conduct military maneuvers in urban terrain operations, air assault missions, squad movement and reconnaissance techniques. Of particular interest to Japan forces was learning to engage targets while moving in a confined area and reacting quickly to unstable targets. “The command and control abilities of the 69th Regiment Commander, staff activities and basic action of each soldiers, are very helpful for us,” said Col. Hiroyuki Hata, 7th Infantry Regiment Commander. “They’ve also learned about Japanese leadership skills and techniques, tactics and procedures… and that’s what this whole thing’s about,” Wiercinski added. “This training is a way to build up connections between the US and Japan Ground Self-defense Force. It is most important in case we must conduct combined operations under each chain of command,” said Lt. General Mamoru Fujisaki, Commanding General for the 3rd Division, JGSDF, Camp Senzo, Japan. “This field training exercise is remarkable, which has a direct bearing on interoperability.” For many of these Soldiers it was their first opportunity to train with soldiers from a different culture with totally different weapons systems. “This has been a great opportunity to assess how they perform their missions and possibly utilize some of their practices,” said Staff Sgt. Johnny Madera, a Squad Leader with Bravo Company, 1-69 Inf. from Queens Village, NY. “Their mission performance was executed on point with successful use of their equipment. Everything we saw convinces me I’d fight alongside them any day,” Madera added. Sgt. Masahiro Jyoko, Co. 5 Rifle Platoon Squad Leader, gained a great deal of information from the combined training opportunity. “The 69th infantry regiment fight effectively and have experience from combat. I am very happy to teach this important skills to my subordinates,” said Jyoko. “We should train more and we must reflect on what we have studied from US and also hope this exercise has the honor of good relationship between US and Japan. The friendship and trust built between 1st Bn. 69th Regiment and the 7th Infantry Regiment is forever,” Hata said. “It’s an honor to have the 69th here. They have a great history, a magnificent combat record and they come here with an attitude of learning and an attitude of teaching and that’s exactly what we need,” Wier

I don't remember seeing anything like this bus, with these hippies on top, which is not to say that I didn't. This whole long Getting to Woodstock story has been a exercise in the selectivity of memory. For instance, in reviewing the list of performers at Woodstock, I see that it was Country Joe who performed on Saturday---he came back and performed with The Fish on Sunday. The first thing I remember from Saturday (following the events in the last section of the story, with the ticket) , was The Grateful Dead. I don't remember hearing them play anything---all I remember is that they had trouble with their equipment and left the stage. The Wikipedia Woodstock article says they played five songs. I guess they weren't all that memorable. Creedence Clearwater came out after The Grateful Dead, and I rmember being disappointed because they sounded note for note the same as they did on their albums. Creedence Clearwater was always a band that made you feel like you were stoned when you listened to them, even if you weren't, but I wanted something more than just a rehash of their album cuts. And then after them Janis Joplin came out, and again I was disappointed. I wanted the Southern Comfort swigging, rough-and-ready Janis Joplin, the hard-living party girl, but she had on this blue evening gown and was all dolled-up like a nightclub singer. It must have been about two-in-the-morning, and I had been sitting in the same spot all that time. I really, I mean really, had to go and relieve myself. One of the reasons I hadn't gotten up (apart from the fact that I had no intention of using the Porta-John, which I knew would be beyond disgusting) was that I wasn't sure I could find my way back to where I was sitting. But about twenty feet behind me, a trash pile had gotten started, and by Saturday evening, that trash pile was about ten-feet high. So while Janis Joplin was singing I got up and went out into a far pasture, where I had some relative privacy. Refreshed, shall we say, I made my way back to the vicinity of the trash pile and found my spot, and my pack, untouched. I probably had asked someone to keep an eye on it, knowing me. What happened after that, for at least a couple-of-hours, I don't remember, most unfortunately, because I went to sleep. The one group that I missed all of, was, of course, the one group I might have been most excited about---Sly and the Family Stone. Growing up in the 60's, apart from Viet Nam, race relations was the other thing I worried about (I tend to worry a lot) the most. After Martin Luther KIng was murdered, it seemed like we were going to have a race war in this country. Of course, I wasn't doing anything about it, except worrying. And then Sly and the Family Stone came along, and their message seemed to be that black folks and white folks could get along; they could even make music together, and that wonderful music made you want to jump for joy, if you could stop dancing long enough. And at Woodstock, exhausted I guess, I flat slept through every bit of Sly and the Family Stone. And then I compounded my error by sleeping through almost all of The Who. And I really liked The Who---The Who, Live at Leeds is one of the great albums, the album that started me liking them (I hadn't gotten in to their earlier albums). I think, as a matter-of-fact, that The Who were playing "My Generation" when I woke back up. And it was probably close to 5 o'clock in the morning at that point. After The Who, Jefferson Airplane was scheduled to come on. It had started to get light, but the sun was not up. Up on the stage, there was a lot of scurrying around, getting things ready, and it seemed like we waited a long time. And then, just at the exact instant that the sun came up over the hill behind the stage, Grace Slick came striding out, in this white beaded (well, I think it was beaded) gown. I'm not sure why I didn't hold it against Grace Slick for getting all dolled-up, when I did fault Janis Joplin, but there you go. The timing of the band's entrance was perfect---I'm sure somebody cued them who was watching from in front of the stage. And they started playing "Gotta Revolution" with that new sun blazing behind the stage and, well, at that moment, revolution, of some sort, perhaps just the good feeling that the moment engendered, seemed more than possible---seemed likely, seemed almost certain. At that moment, I'm sure I felt like I was getting my money's worth.