Why Parachutes Couldn't Be Used in the Noto Peninsula Earthquake 《Self-Defense Force Tales》

☂️The Self-Defense Forces and Parachutes

I will state the conclusion first:
The Self-Defense Forces do not envision using parachutes for disaster relief.
The Self-Defense Forces' cargo parachutes are not designed for drops into urban areas.

☂️The Strongest Unit: The 1st Airborne Brigade

When it comes to parachutes, the
1st Airborne Brigade in Narashino, Chiba Prefecture, is famous.
They are the strongest group in the Ground Self-Defense Force.
Their mission is area suppression.

In scenarios where a region within Japan has been occupied by an enemy,
their job is to deploy a large number of elite troops right under the enemy's nose to recapture it.

Air Self-Defense Force parachutes are primarily for crew survival.
They are the ones used when an ejection seat fires from an aircraft about to be shot down.
Some of you may have seen them in movies like "Ibuki."

☂️The Maritime Self-Defense Force and Parachutes

The purpose of using parachutes (cargo parachutes) in the Maritime Self-Defense Force is

to drop food and consumables onto the sea surface.

For a certain unit that operates covertly for long periods...
submarines, that is... the purpose is to secretly resupply them with goods.

Some might say that if that's the case, it could be used for disaster relief...
but the impact is different between land and water.

If you were threatened to "jump" from a height of 5 meters
and forced to choose between a water surface or a sandy area,
which would you choose?
Naturally, the water surface, right? But even the water surface has quite an impact...

☂️Cargo Parachutes

I have twice been involved in
food resupply at sea using cargo parachutes
on a vessel that was not a submarine.
I cannot reveal the name,
but it was a ship that conducted long-term covert operations, not a submarine.
That ship... would sail for long periods without returning to its home port or nearby ports to load food.

Resupplying goods is always a source of trouble.

If cargo parachutes could be used, efficiency would improve dramatically.

☂️The Sea's Convenience Store & Gas Station: 【Supply Ships】

The Maritime Self-Defense Force has ships called supply ships that provide
fuel, food, ammunition, and consumables to other vessels.
They are like convenience stores on the ocean.

During the Gulf deployment, they were even mocked as
free gas stations
.

I have served on seven different vessels.
The one I served on the longest (five years) was a supply ship.

☂️ The Fourth Division

I am a member of what the MSDF calls the Fourth Division,
a field involved in the procurement and contracting of equipment and supplies, accounting, general affairs, cooking, and medical services.

☂️ The Greatest Weakness of a Supply Ship

Simply put, the weakness of a supply ship is that
it is most vulnerable when it is performing its supply duties.
It is a terrible paradox for a ship whose purpose is to supply.

Since two or more ships must gather to exchange supplies,
it is the perfect opportunity for the enemy
to strike.

Shigeki Miyajima once used the analogy that
you are most vulnerable when you are sitting on the toilet.

So, the MSDF wondered if it could use its own equipment to secretly resupply food without being targeted by the enemy,
and the conclusion they reached was cargo parachutes.

☂️ Recovering parachutes at sea... for all that effort...

Certain ships that conduct long-term covert operations
are fairly large vessels
equipped with powerful outboard motors
and carry rubber boats.

Multiple cargo parachutes dropped from a certain MSDF aircraft (fixed-wing) landed correctly at the position indicated by smoke signals,
were recovered by the onboard boat, and hoisted into the ship by crane... but

it is a labor-intensive task.

And it costs an enormous amount of money.

It uses the time of over a dozen crew members on a certain aircraft,
the fuel costs to fly to and from a certain sea area,
and the air traffic controllers and ground personnel involved in operating that aircraft...

For supplies worth several tens of thousands of yen dropped by parachute,
if you asked a black cat, a courier, or a post bearto deliver them,
they would charge you hundreds of times more in shipping fees.

☂️ Does the Self-Defense Force lack cost awareness?

The quasi-bureaucratic organization known as the Self-Defense Force
is often mocked for having no cost awareness.

Personnel like me,
who interact with the private sector to procure goods and food,
have a very high level of cost awareness, and the reason is...

“A certain government office that is noisy about training and operations that cost money” and
“a certain government office that makes excessive demands and inspections regarding how things are used” are
keeping a close watch.

That said, I have no intention of blaming these two government offices in the sense of making effective use of the people's tax money.
(Actually, I do have a few things to say about it.)

🌂Even though they went to the trouble of transporting it

Food that was transported by hundreds of personnel and
finally reached the ship on the ocean after a long journey

“Tofu is smashed ⇒ used for Mapo Tofu”

“Grapes are off the vine, and tangerines and peaches are crushed ⇒ consumed as juice”

“Konjac saves the trouble of cutting with a knife ⇒ improved work efficiency”

is the miserable state of affairs that makes one want to be sarcastic.

☂️Cost-benefit analysis

Considering the effort... it is at the lowest level in terms of cost-benefit analysis
(cost–benefit analysis)
I am sure the upper management, whom I am not familiar with, is conducting more
sophisticated analyses.

The royal road to disaster relief is to implement it using effective means
rather than such inefficient and ineffective measures.

To the performers on a certain program and
the opposition party lawmakers
have you understood?

The purpose is not to criticize the Self-Defense Forces or the government,
and the intent of the remarks is surely out of concern for the disaster-stricken areas.
I am confident that you will naturally understand.

🌂March 11th “And today, they are working hard in the disaster-stricken areas”

Today is March 11th.
I have been involved in disaster relief dispatches twice in total.
In the Self-Defense Forces, we train for
foreseeable situations within the limits of a restricted budget.

Which option is the fastest and most efficient?

“And today, they are working hard in the disaster-stricken areas”

Even if it is only a portion of the people,
“If you cannot understand, we must provide a full explanation.”
However, active-duty Self-Defense Force personnel are prohibited from making such statements themselves,

and naturally, they have no opportunity to refute them.
Therefore, I, as an alumnus who can speak relatively freely,
have explained “the reason why cargo parachutes are not often used in natural disasters.”

Thank you for your understanding.