All 18,600 US Sailors in Japan Banned from Drinking and Confined to Base

[yuiyoshida]

Three separate scandals in less then a month involving American servicemen and contractors in the highly-controversial Navy base in Japan's Okinawa have finally resulted in an all-out alcohol ban on all the 18,600 sailors.

Starting Monday, all American sailors in Japan are banned from consuming alcohol on and off the premises.

More severe movement restrictions were also imposed – the soldiers can now only go to the store, the gym and the gas station.

The measure is the latest and comes after a Marine's drunk-driving stunt.


The full ban comes after Aimee Mejia, 21, stationed at the Kadena Air Base, was involved in a accident while driving with blood alcohol levels six times the legal limit.

https://mikadoshimbun.com/News/2016/48-US-Sailors-Banned-Drinking-Confined-Base.html

[tonyt53]

1. And they have nobody to blame but themselves.

[yeoman6987]

2. I don't agree with punishing all for a few incidents

Kick those involved out of the military.

[Cal Carpenter]

7. While I am not a fan of collective punishment

the bigger picture is that Okinawa is not happy about the base as it is. And in the recent past, there have been both a rape and a murder of Japanese women by US soldiers or contractors.

So this is about more than internal US military discipline. This is about Japan and their willingness to keep hosting our base.

[NaturalHigh]

3. Most of the sailors there had nothing to do with any of these incidents.

[StarTrombone]

4. And Goddamned Trump wants to close our bases there

And let Japan fend for itself.

Including nuclear weapons if they want.

What an asshole.

[Demonaut]

5. the stories I could tell about drunk service men during my time in the Navy

collective punishment is counterproductive, it's always been a serious offense to get a DUI while in active service, does not matter if your day off when it happens.
Far worse than what happens to a civilian.

[Iggo]

6. The addicts are gonna have a tough time, but for the rest of them, no problem, right?

It's just alcohol.

[stevenleser]

8. I realize this is a minor point but if you have served this tends to grate on you. I wish Mikado

Shimbun had taken the time to get this right. They talked about "Soldiers". This order affects only Navy personnel, Navy and Marine Corps since Marine Corps are part of the Navy.

Navy personnel are called "Sailors".

Marine Corps personnel are called "Marines"

Army personnel are called "Soldiers"

Air Force personnel are called "Airmen".

The paper at one point refers to the Navy personnel as "soldiers". That is not correct.

[yuiyoshida]

9. I am guessing that the original story was in JAPANESE

Perhaps a translation error.

[stevenleser]

10. Ahhh, that makes sense.

Thank you!

[yuiyoshida]

11. dou itashimashite

I haven't seen you on twitter lately, did you mute me?