Posted on 11/19/2017 8:27:39 PM PST by Ronin
Effective immediately, U.S. service members on Okinawa are restricted to base and to their residences. Until further notice, alcohol consumption is prohibited. This includes in residences and public locations such as bars and clubs, and hotels.
Additionally, U.S. service members on mainland Japan are prohibited from purchasing or consuming alcohol, on or off base.
The new restrictions follow an accident Sunday morning in Naha in which a Okinawan man was killed when his vehicle was struck by a truck being driven by a U.S. service member. Alcohol may have been a factor.
Commanders across Japan will immediately lead mandatory training to address responsible alcohol use, risk management and acceptable behavior. All military members and U.S. government civilians in Japan are required to attend.
The vast majority of Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, Marines and civilians in Japan serve honorably and make great contributions to the defense of Japan. When our service members fail to live up to the high standards we set for them, it damages the bonds between bases and local communities and makes it harder for us to accomplish our mission. We are committed to being good neighbors with our host communities and we are thankful for the support we receive from them every day.
One DUI death and the Americans on lock down. Jeez. Wouldn’t it be nice of our government did the same thing with illegals after one of them kills an American here.
Had a commander tell me once it’s a team. They are responsible for their buddy.
You are exactly right. China has been building up man made islands into the southern Okinawan island terriroty and has been causing trouble in and about. I’m retired and live here and know.
Reading that Facebook page in the context of this story is a real hoot.
Starting immediately Liberty Passes were issued for all crew members and collected at morning muster by the shop supervisor or senior NCO if on the weekend. You got it back at Liberty Call if you weren't on duty and if you could be trusted. NCO could hold a troublemakers pass from them. But I didn't see it happen except to one or two serious screw ups. Some had Cinderella Liberty meaning no all night liberty be on the ship card turned in by 0000.
When we got back to the states they had Pier Passes by then as well. During workday to leave the ship in working uniform you had to have a pier pass to take off garbage, go to the exchange etc. To leave in civies meant you had to have a Liberty Pass to get off the ship. Even after nearly 16 months and in the yards for a year of that with a change of command and over 90% turnover in crew we still had them when I got out. I still have my Liberty Pass.
The Japanese are very hard on drunk driving these days. 10 years in jail first offense. They’ve manage to lower the rates of death from drunk diving almost to zero.
Did you serve? My view is this can be a continual extension of Basic Training. The one most important thing that was fed to us is that we all live by the sword or die by the sword. There are no cliques or clubs outside of officers and enlisted. When one falls short, so does the entire group. Take a clue from Seal training as a prime example.
On the third day of basic at the morning formation, the Senior DS gave us the rules of our engagement. When he rhetorically asked if there were any questions, one fool piped up questioning what we were just told about company cohesion by exclaiming this is a free country.
Senior DS came back instantly with; “Sure this is free country, but your in the army now”. I will never forget that and I still hear it in his Filipino accent. Naturally, as a lifelong Army Brat, I already knew that.
4+ years in Yoko. Was legal officer (non-JAG) as a collateral duty on my first ship and spent 6 months TAD with the base legal office between commands.
More guys got in trouble at the E-Club at the gate then anywhere else. After I left all military was eventually prohibited from going to Roppongi which was a big club district in Tokyo. That came due to a shift in problems from the base club to Roppongi - which created a lot of bad PR. There was at least one murder (early 90s) there.
The proportions were exactly in line with age and rank. Younger and lower the rank more problems. We always ended up with at least one drunk watch every weekend when we were in port.
My first CO was an alcoholic and I know for sure that he had an on-base DUI scrubbed from the logs by Desron. The double standard, especially due to his harsh punishments at NJP did not go well for him later in his tour. His last year (after I was gone) his wardroom and Chief’s Mess basically collapsed.
I had to go on a couple of accident calls while TAD - it’s customary in Japan to give a token of monetary gomenasai (I’m sorry) money to the other party involved in an accident. This in no way implies who is at fault nor is it used in court - it’s just a standard custom.
So I would go with the Japanese lawyer (working for base command as a go-between with the local DA) and make the call on the families as the Navy rep when something like that happened. If there was a death or serious injury involved then a much more senior officer was expected to make the call.
Mine being usually fender benders resulted in a very cordial call where they were excited to meet a foreigner.
They have ruled out rum, but can they rule out sodomy in this LGBTXYZ world?
Mainland too....that sucks. They usually have all sorts of problems. Glad this wasn’t in effect while at Yokota. Not like it would have stopped anyone.
I believe the legal limit in Japan is 0.04 so this guy was at 0.12.
Total BS in my opinion.
I guess a bit of punitive liberalism has permeated the Army high command.
This wasn’t the fist incident. Honestly, I see this everywhere.
Sometimes it is the only thing you can do.
Japan incarcerates first time offenders for years. Sounds like we don’t want to risk having our service personnel filling up Japanese jails. And FWIW, I will never understand why forgoing booze is a hardship.
Ban trucks!
Prayers for the man and his family. The US serviceman deserves punishment. The entire base does not deserve punishment for what one did unless this is an ongoing problem.
I don’t drink either but I still think it’s BS that goes against a basic tenet of military leadership not to punish everyone for the misbehavior of a few.
There’s the aroma of CYA in this.
The military rapes in Japan are almost always black dudes.
As a service member and father of a sailor, I expect such reactions on foreign soil. The Japanese are xenophobic—racism is too limiting. They may hate most things not Japanese, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing given the state of the world.
Of course incidents with our military are prone to overreaction, but we’re an easy target when GIs do stupid things. As far as punishing all for an individual transgression, that’s pretty much institutionalized in military culture. Tends to reinforce that whole “one for all; all for one” mindset that’s kinda needed in field operations.
The Japanese drink like fish.
Alcohol abuse is common in that country, where you can buy beer and whiskey from vending machines on the street.
That doesn’t excuse American servicemen from driving drunk, but the permissive atmosphere in Japan contributes to situations like this.
..........we were there at the same time. I remember many things but one is how fast the Japanese guys rode the motorcycles. Crazy!
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