Each resident of the new barracks complex at Camp Hansen, Okinawa, gets a private 155-square-foot bedroom and a personal sink. Roommates share a kitchen, restroom, shower, and washer and dryer within the 710-square-foot unit. (Keishi Koja/Stars and Stripes)
CAMP HANSEN, Okinawa — Nearly 1,100 enlisted Marines will soon move into a new barracks complex featuring private bedrooms and modern amenities as part of a broader effort to upgrade military housing on Okinawa.
Marine Corps Installations Pacific commander Maj. Gen. Brian Wolford joined U.S. military and Japanese officials Friday to cut the ribbon on Hansen’s new bachelor enlisted quarters complex, during a ceremony attended by about 80 guests.
Participants included camp commander Col. Joshua Mayoral and Okinawa Defense Bureau director Masaru Murai.
Situated behind the theater on the base’s south side, the complex includes three barracks capable of housing 1,096 unaccompanied enlisted Marines through the rank of sergeant, camp director Joseph Scala told reporters during a tour. A detached parking garage provides 220 parking spaces, said project manager Michael Scott.
Nearly 1,100 enlisted Marines will soon move into this new barracks complex at Camp Hansen, Okianwa. A ribbon-cutting ceremony was held at the complex on June 5, 2026. (Keishi Koja/Stars and Stripes)
The complex replaces six older barracks as part of the Defense Policy Review Initiative, or DPRI, the long-running U.S.-Japan effort to consolidate and modernize military facilities on Okinawa.
“This is the first domino that starts falling for the rest of the construction that’s going to happen on Camp Hansen,” Wolford said. “Everything in DPRI is one big Jenga project. Everything has to go in sequence.”
Planning for the project began in 2019, and construction started in March 2022, construction manager Eric Godoy said after the ceremony. The Japanese government paid for the $320 million project, which involved 15 local construction companies.
Marines are expected to begin moving into the complex next month, Scala said.
Camp Hansen director Joseph Scala shows off a new $320 million barracks complex for enlisted Marines on June 5, 2026. (Keishi Koja/Stars and Stripes)
Okinawa Defense Bureau director Masaru Murai, left, Marine Corps Installations Pacific commander Maj. Gen. Brian Wolford, center, and Camp Hansen commander Col. Joshua Mayoral, open a new barracks complex at Camp Hansen, Okinawa, June 5, 2026. (Keishi Koja/Stars and Stripes)
Each of the three barracks contains 184 housing modules designed for two Marines. Each resident receives a private 155-square-foot bedroom and a personal sink. Roommates share a kitchen, restroom, shower, and washer and dryer within the 710-square-foot unit.
In the center of the complex, a recreation field about half the size of a standard football field provides a “one-stop shop” for Marines to exercise, Scala said.
Eventually, 11 more of the buildings — described by base officials as “barracks of the future” — will stand at Hansen to replace barracks there and at Camp Kinser.
“If I was Joe Scala, lance corporal, way back when … I would love to live here,” Scala said. “Seeing what we’ve come to is just phenomenal.”
Sgt. Benjamin Ferko, of the 7th Communication Battalion, said he is looking forward to the added privacy and getting away from loud snorers.
“We’re already thousands of miles away from home,” he told reporters after the tour. “So, to come back to a place as well-furnished and modern as this at the end of the day, it means a lot to us as Marines.”
Stars and Stripes reporter Keishi Koja contributed to this report.
AloJapan.com