Camp Gonsalves Camp Gonsalves is located in Northern Okinawa , Japan across the villages of Kunigami and Higashi . At JWTC contains 22 helicopter landing zones , one water surface beach access , four bivouac sites , three outdoor classrooms , one firebase , three 3rd world village target sites and one target missile site . History . Also known as the Northern Training Area ( NTA ) , the Jungle Warfare Training Center ( JWTC ) occupies of jungle in Northern Okinawa . The hilly and rugged terrain , topped with single and double canopy forest has been challenging U . S . Marines in the art of jungle warfare for over 50 years . Established in 1958 as a Counter Guerilla school in the early years of the Vietnam War , the area offers the same challenges that prepared our predecessors for operations in Southeast Asia . Over the years the base camp at NTA gradually evolved from a few Quonset hut s and other small buildings to the present facility today completed in 1984 . On 5 November 1986 , the base camp was officially named Camp Gonsalves , in memory of PFC Harold Gonsalves who was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for his heroic actions during the Battle of Okinawa . In March 1998 , to better convey NTA as a training base , the name was officially changed to the Marine Corps Jungle Warfare Training Center . Today JWTC is the only Department of Defense jungle training facility in existence . JWTC Mission . The Jungle Warfare Training Center provides expert instruction to prepare Marine and Joint Forces for the rigors of combat in a dense jungle environment . Building upon small unit leadership , a tactical mindset and unit cohesion our instructors instill confidence , bolster leadership , and challenge all individuals who train aboard JWTC . Training . Jungle Skills Course . JWTC offers a Jungle Skills Course encompassing basic Marine combat skills in a jungle environment . The course consists of six total days , five of them training days . In addition to basic combat skills in the jungle , the course is designed to enhance the training unit ' s small unit leadership , tactical mindset , and unit cohesion . Training up to 100 personnel , a few classes taught in the Jungle Skills course are land navigation , patrolling , rope management & rappelling , and jungle booby traps . The Jungle Skills course culminates with the Jungle Endurance Course . Jungle Leaders . The Jungles Leaders course is designed to develop small unit leaders in all aspects of small unit combat operations and basic survival skills in the jungle . It combines the previously taught Jungle Survival Course period of instruction with comprehensive basic warfighting skills . to take part in the Jungle Leaders Course , the Jungle Skills Course is a prerequisite . The target of the course is for small unit leaders ( Team Leaders through Platoon Commanders or equivalent ) from any Military Occupational Specialty ( MOS ) . The course consists of six total days consisting of five training days . Training up to 25 personnel , a few classes taught in the Jungle Leaders course are patrol orders , patrolling , jungle casevac ( Personnel Extraction ) , survival skills , defense and executing patrol bases . Jungle Endurance Course . The Jungle Endurance Course is the culminating point of the Jungle Skills Course . Classes taught through the five - day Jungle Skills course are utilized throughout the E - Course . In 12 – 18 - man teams , students traverse of dense jungle and rugged terrain . Using teamwork and perseverance , teams compete with one another across 31 obstacles spread along the course . Teams face hasty rappels , rope obstacles , water obstacles and a stretcher carry to complete the entire course . Independent Operations . JWTC offers areas for units to operate independently with prior coordination . Utilizing the areas , units have done Realistic Urban Terrain Exercises ( RUTEX ) , Raids , Non - Combatant Evacuation Operations ( NEO ) , Reconnaissance and Surveillance , Land Navigation , Fast Rope , SPIE Rigging , Communication Exercises , and Water Insertion . The future of JWTC . Originally scheduled for December 2008 , a fifty - one percent land reversion of the Jungle warfare Training Center to the Government of Japan is an on - going process . Plans for the reversion include building new landing zones , and the expansion of existing LZ ' s . With the backing of the 3rd Marine Division , JWTC is in a transition of becoming a TECOM ( Training and Education Command ) school . New courses and curriculum are currently under development to encompass a Jungle Tracking Course , Jungle Trauma Course , and a Jungle medicine Course . With the expansion of courses also comes the planning for enclosed classrooms , better teaching equipment , as well as many other various buildings and teaching aids . Takae citizens ' sit - in protest . Following the 1999 crash of a United States military helicopter near Takae district ' s elementary school , local villagers started a sit - in campaign to block further construction of helipads in the area . When construction officials arrived to start building the new pads in 2007 , they were met by protesters who surrounded the trucks and staged a sit - in . After a long stand - off , the prefectural police arrived and they ordered the construction to be halted since it was placing the lives of the protesters in danger . Since 2007 , approximately 10 , 000 people have participated in the sit - ins at three sites in the area . In 2008 , the Japanese government attempted to serve injunctions against 15 participants . While , 13 of the injunctions were thrown out of court , the remaining two have yet to be decided . Environment . JWTC has of single and double canopy jungle over very rugged terrain . Being part of the Nansei islands subtropical evergreen forests , most of the area surrounding JWTC is designated as a national forest by the Government of Japan . JWTC is home to 24 endangered species including the Okinawa Rail , Amami Woodcock , Pryers Woodpecker and the Ryukyu Robin . Also residing at JWTC are three species of pit viper poisonous snakes , the Okinawa habu , Himehabu , and the Sakishima Habu . JWTC supports ongoing and extensive efforts by the local Government of Japan ' s mongoose capturing project . Following the 2006 disclosure that the United States military had made widespread use of the defoliant Agent Orange in the jungle training center during the 1960s , local citizens have called for an investigation into the current use of chemical and biological weapons within the camp . The region supplies the densely - populated south of the island with drinking water and the impact on the islanders ' long term health is of grave concern .