7 things you didn’t know about the Marine Jungle Warfare Training Center

Okinawa's Camp Gonsalves, named after the World War II-era Medal of Honor recipient, Pfc. Harold Gonsalves, is home to the Marine Corps' Jungle Warfare Training Center. JWTC is 17,500 acres of dense tropical jungle. The instructors here…
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Okinawa’s Camp Gonsalves, named after the World War II-era Medal of Honor recipient, Pfc. Harold Gonsalves, is home to the Marine Corps’ Jungle Warfare Training Center.


JWTC is 17,500 acres of dense tropical jungle. The instructors here have established a curriculum and training environment that none forget.

Here’s what you didn’t know.

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1. JWTC is not in America.

You and your unit will travel to lovely Okinawa, Japan where you will proceed to avoid all of its gorgeous beaches, coral reefs, and beautiful culture by traveling 25 kilometers to the Northern Training areas. Then, you’ll move through a crowd of protestors blocking the gate to arrive at a replica of the inner island from the show, Lost.

So much beauty… but you aren’t going here.

2. You will not be training in vehicles.

Once you arrive, you will dismount because the roads are very few and most of the locations you will be bivouacking are in the middle of nowhere and can only be reached by foot. To get to camp may require some terrain rope suspension techniques.

3. You will be doing some unique movements.

All of the instructors at JWTC are TRST masters and, before you graduate from the course, you will learn to repel off the side of cliffs, hasty repel into and across a dangerous slope, and safely cross a gorge with the aid of a makeshift cable bridge.

4. The ‘E’ course is intense.

The last major evolution after all your classes, supervised evolutions, field craft, and various other skillset development instructions is basically a roided-up mud run through the jungle with your very own JWTC guide. It’s named the ‘E’-course, it involves a lot of endurance, but it can be a lot of fun.

5. You don’t want to be a heat casualty.

On top of the health concern is movement. If you can’t get out of this environment under your own power, you are in for the worst ride of your life. Cas-evac (casualty evacuation), party of ten!

6. Don’t bring your good cammies.

They will be destroyed. That is all.

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7. The wildlife is deadly.

From poisonous snakes and spiders to eels and unsteady terrain with steep falls onto jagged rocks, Okinawa is not for the faint of heart.

Do not pet. (Photo by Shawn Miller)