U.S. Army Alaska and Japanese paratroopers jump together on JBER

A combined 260 paratroopers from the U.S. Army Alaska’s 4th Infantry Brigade Combat Team (Airborne), 25th Infantry Division and the 1st Airborne Battalion, 1st Airborne Brigade and Japanese Ground Self-Defense Force jumped from C-130 Hercules cargo planes and floated to the ground on a cloudless Monday during the annual training exercise Arctic Aurora.

“It’s great to see the commonality of paratroopers between two countries” said U.S. Army Lt. Col. Matthew Myer commander of the 1st Battalion, 501st Infantry (Airborne), 4th Infantry Brigade Combat Team (Airborne), 25th Infantry Division. “Military partnership is really important for the United States, especially in the Pacific Theater. We jump at every opportunity to be able to train together and learn from each other. It makes both countries’ military better.”

After a Jump Wing exchange, Myer called it “a symbol of our partnership.”

“I think that’s proof of a strong relationship between U.S. and Japan,” Lt. Col. Nishiguchi Satoshi commander of the 1st Airborne Battalion, 1st Airborne Brigade, Japanese Ground Self-Defense Force, said.