How would you handle DUIs & multiple criminal incidents in your unit overseas?

Capt Brandon Charters — Mon, 06 Jun 2016 21:00:47 -0400

Back story: The U.S. Navy has just banned its personnel in Japan from drinking alcohol after a sailor was arrested for allegedly driving drunk & causing a multiple-vehicle collision. Okinawa Governor Takeshi Onaga condemned the incident and said misbehavior by U.S. military personnel was a recurring problem that requires a “fundamental resolution.”
Also, in March, a U.S. Sailor in Okinawa was arrested on suspicion of rape. In May, a civilian contractor at a U.S. base in Okinawa was arrested in connection with the death of a 20-year-old woman.

Today (June 6th), the U.S. Navy issued a ban for drinking both on and off base. The order also prohibits personnel from coming and going from the base as they please. As a leader of this Naval command, how would you address this international attention with your Sailors and other joint forces in the area?

http://www.cnn.com/2016/06/06/politics/us-navy-alcohol-ban-japan/index.html

U.S. Navy bans booze in Japan

All U.S. Navy sailors in Japan are banned from drinking alcohol and restricted to base except for essential trips after several recent alcohol-related incidents which the Navy's 7th Fleet said are harming U.S.-Japan relations.

Response by CPT Private RallyPoint Member made Jun 6 at 2016 9:02 PM

CPT Private RallyPoint Member — Mon, 06 Jun 2016 21:02:19 -0400

Send'em back state side.

Response by SPC Andrew Griffin made Jun 6 at 2016 9:02 PM

SPC Andrew Griffin — Mon, 06 Jun 2016 21:02:55 -0400

ZERO TOLERANCE!

Response by SN Greg Wright made Jun 6 at 2016 9:06 PM

SN Greg Wright — Mon, 06 Jun 2016 21:06:24 -0400

Keelhaul the Sailor, sure, but punishment for the masses? I don't agree with that. There's going to be a LOT of needlessly disgruntled Sailors over there. The Admiral didn't just ban booze, he banned liberty, too. I can't get behind that.

Response by SFC Private RallyPoint Member made Jun 6 at 2016 9:20 PM

SFC Private RallyPoint Member — Mon, 06 Jun 2016 21:20:16 -0400

If it was off base (which I'm reading correctly it was) turn said offender over to local authorities. Mass punishment and a "hip shot" reaction is not a good thing.

Response by SGT Jerrold Pesz made Jun 6 at 2016 9:24 PM

SGT Jerrold Pesz — Mon, 06 Jun 2016 21:24:43 -0400

The news that I saw said that it was a civilian employee?

Response by CW5 Andrew J. Foreman made Jun 6 at 2016 9:49 PM

CW5 Andrew J. Foreman — Mon, 06 Jun 2016 21:49:43 -0400

Very reactionary to a single incident. Now if there is a systemic problem that it works for me.

Response by Sgt Private RallyPoint Member made Jun 6 at 2016 11:18 PM

Sgt Private RallyPoint Member — Mon, 06 Jun 2016 23:18:47 -0400

I would be alot more lenient with liberty in general and burn the hell out of anyone breaking the rules. I think the current libo and alcohol policy sqeezes too tight. Lighten up, make punishment more harsh including dismissal instead of riding out your contract since you arent going to re enlist anyway and add some brig time. Make punishment serious enough that people wouldnt dare break the rules, and make sure those that do are publicy held accountable so everyone can see the consequences

Response by CPT Aaron Kletzing made Jun 7 at 2016 12:53 AM

CPT Aaron Kletzing — Tue, 07 Jun 2016 00:53:11 -0400

In that situation it looks like the unit requires major cultural changes to get back on track. I'm okay with the unit -- or the larger command itself -- banning alcohol. If the behavior keeps recurring so much as it did here, then whatever lesser actions you're taking aren't doing the trick. I'm sure it's a complex matter but just my two cents...

Response by Capt Michael Greene made Jun 7 at 2016 1:33 AM

Capt Michael Greene — Tue, 07 Jun 2016 01:33:56 -0400

It's political, not criminal. It's avoiding further incidents, not punishing sailors.
I doubt that this new, and temporary, policy is an attempt to address a crime problem or an alcohol problem. It is certainly not about punishing sailors.
The political environment in Japan, especially Okinawa, is really hot. The people question why we are there. The local leaders rail against the American presence.
If there were to be one more horrific incident, the US commander and the ambassador would be called on the carpet to explain why Japan shouldn't just kick us out.
So our Navy in Japan is fighting for its political survival in a way, and enforcing a ban on alcohol and a limit on local interactions to provide a cooling off period.

Response by MSG Private RallyPoint Member made Jun 7 at 2016 1:48 AM

MSG Private RallyPoint Member — Tue, 07 Jun 2016 01:48:18 -0400

Mass punishment is just a tool for weak and lazy leadership. Court martial the accused, hand down max penalties, and advertise the hell out of it. All Prohibition is doing is punishing the thousands of others who weren't F***ing up.

Response by CSM Private RallyPoint Member made Jun 7 at 2016 9:38 AM

CSM Private RallyPoint Member — Tue, 07 Jun 2016 09:38:27 -0400

No liberty and no dinking anywhere? Seems harsh, but I'm sure this is a reaction to the situation and trying to appease the locals.

Response by Lt Col John (Jack) Christensen made Jun 7 at 2016 10:32 AM

Lt Col John (Jack) Christensen — Tue, 07 Jun 2016 10:32:57 -0400

Never been a fan of punishing the masses for the crimes of a few. Absolutely court martial individual(s) involved in creating this situation, perhaps even a couple weeks of no off base/post passes for the rest of the organization, but an all out ban is too excessive. Okinawa has a long history of being a great liberty location and commanders should be ensuring that their soldiers get briefings on the sensitivities of locals before ever being allowed off base/post. If the locals were offended or hurt it may be necessary to get the soldiers out of country then punish them back home. I recall helping coordinate a special flight to get a sailor who got drunk and climbed a statue of Ataturk out of Turkey before local police could get ahold of him. I'm told he became a resident of Leavenworth for his actions. Fear this whole thing was more a PC solution to appease the Okinawan Government and cover up the inability of commanders to prepare their people for a night on the town than an attempt to control our soldiers activities.

Response by PO3 Sherry Thornburg made Jun 7 at 2016 5:47 PM

PO3 Sherry Thornburg — Tue, 07 Jun 2016 17:47:14 -0400

Off base or on base, the kind of issues listed above are a bad thing, especially in a foreign country. With this short list of problems (pretty sure this isn't all) the Captain was right to do something major to squash the situation.
Now that he or she has everyone's attention, there should be training, not just on alcohol, rape and such, but also what it is to be a representative to the U.S. in a foreign country.
Then CAC counseling for those that need it.
When everyone is on board with the issue and prevention, only then the rules can be relaxed.

Response by MAJ Private RallyPoint Member made Jun 8 at 2016 1:23 AM

MAJ Private RallyPoint Member — Wed, 08 Jun 2016 01:23:53 -0400

As I understand the bigger picture, these incidents are negatively effecting our strategic position on Okinawa. They want us out and these incidents are hurting our legitimacy to stay. Anyone who has been in command recognizes immediately how little control you have over the actions of your servicemembers off duty. There will always be the 10% who do the wrong thing and tarnish the rest. The problem is predicting the 10%. When you think you know who they all are, someone does something to add themselves to the list. It's the add-ons you didn't predict that become the incidents in question. From the outside it looks like a command not doing their job when internally you were trying balance the negativity of the 10% while protecting the rights and morale of the remaining 90%. This is the vicious cycle commanders deal with.

If the commander feels the U.S. position in Okinawa is in jeopardy, he has to do what needs to be done to reign in these problems. it's a tough position to be in as the commander. I'm sure the decision was not easy.

Response by CWO4 Al Heb made Jun 8 at 2016 2:19 AM

CWO4 Al Heb — Wed, 08 Jun 2016 02:19:18 -0400

How many of you posting comments have actually been stationed on Okinawa? Well I was for way to many years. This is nothing new, its been going on for many many years. The III MEF Commader is the Law on Okinawa, so if he says no booze, liberty restricted so be it. I went through many types of Command directed non drinking, restricted to base etc, and well here we go again, same solution to a never ending problem. Its all very political.

Response by Cpl Justin Goolsby made Jun 8 at 2016 10:39 AM

Cpl Justin Goolsby — Wed, 08 Jun 2016 10:39:31 -0400

Honestly, I think they are handling it appropriately, but it's far too little far too late. Over the past 5 years, I've heard of multiple incidents with service members getting in trouble in the Pacific. They've done lockdowns. They've canned liberty. Yet each time incidents continue to happen which has put serious strains on our relations with foreign entities.

Honestly, they should have done this as a first response. People need to understand that you are in a foreign country. You can't get away with acting stupid like you could probably do in our Country. As representatives of this country, there should be minimal incidents in order to preserve peaceful relations.

Response by SPC John Lebiecki made Jun 10 at 2016 11:22 AM

SPC John Lebiecki — Fri, 10 Jun 2016 11:22:53 -0400

If anything, doesnt this make a minor impact to the local economy as well?

Forget the alcohol issue for the moment. Sailors go out and spend money on souvenirs, stuff for the family, food, ETC. They are restricted to base, that isnt happening.

I get mass punishment (I do not agree with it.) In this case, go after that 1% who mess it up for the rest and drop the anvil on them.

Response by SSG(P) Private RallyPoint Member made Jun 10 at 2016 12:18 PM

SSG(P) Private RallyPoint Member — Fri, 10 Jun 2016 12:18:57 -0400

All that's really going to happen is that alcohol will be better hidden and great effort will be taken to conceal it. I've seen Commanders make this proclamation before and that is what happened. You'll never make alcohol go away, you'll just see less of it and the penalties will be more severe.

Response by LTC Paul Labrador made Jun 10 at 2016 4:08 PM

LTC Paul Labrador — Fri, 10 Jun 2016 16:08:20 -0400

While I am generally not in favor of mass punishments, when you are overseas (especially in an area where relations with locals are strained), the sins of one person is attached to ALL by the locals. That one idiots now representative of all of us, so individual punishment does not typically appease the local populace.

Response by MCPO Roger Collins made Jun 10 at 2016 4:15 PM

MCPO Roger Collins — Fri, 10 Jun 2016 16:15:11 -0400

Having been guilty of excessive drinking and generally carousing in my youth, when I went too far, NJP for ONE (me) was the resolution. This is absurd.

Response by SGT Kevin Adams made Jun 10 at 2016 6:51 PM

SGT Kevin Adams — Fri, 10 Jun 2016 18:51:31 -0400

I see it this way 3 major incidents in about 3 months in a foreign country, time to cool off retrain. Do stupid stuff win stupid prizes...

Response by PO1 Private RallyPoint Member made Jun 10 at 2016 6:55 PM

PO1 Private RallyPoint Member — Fri, 10 Jun 2016 18:55:08 -0400

This isn't the first time and probably won't be the last. I was there for the last curfew. You have your other service members to thank for screwing up time after time regardless of the blanket punishments handed out in the past. Obviously some people weren't getting the message and maybe it's time to really crack down. I understand Japan's frustrations. If only people saw the bigger picture. There's been a major incident once or twice a year since 1950-something and Japan is really sick and tired of it.

Response by Lt Col John (Jack) Christensen made Jun 10 at 2016 7:57 PM

Lt Col John (Jack) Christensen — Fri, 10 Jun 2016 19:57:08 -0400

Commented on this before but wording of this question dragged me in. When I read multiple I thought single individual with multiple DUIs/criminal incidents. In this case counsel/discipline once and discharge or court martial for any subsequent incidents. In the case of multiple incidents by numerous people you need to prepare your troops and contractors assigned to the base/post before they are ever let off base. I've had to sit through too many mandatory briefings on other subjects to think that commanders on Okinawa don't have the capability to do this. Local governments need to be aware of this policy as well. If troops contractors are aware of the sensitivities of locals before being allowed off base/post they should be able to conduct themselves appropriately. If they can't, those individuals should be punished, even if they have to be brought to US for punishment. Mass restrictions on everyone is not the answer. As I've posted before, Okinawa has long been a great leave/liberty/let your steam off location so commanders need to be strict with individuals who commit any infractions.

Response by Sgt David Hesser made Jun 10 at 2016 8:51 PM

Sgt David Hesser — Fri, 10 Jun 2016 20:51:58 -0400

in 1974 I was stationed at Iwakuni Japan, we where told over and over by command that if we stepped out of line we would be turned over to the Japanese authorities, one private decided to push the envelope and got busted by the M.P.,s on base for three joints was turned over to the Japanese and sentence to prison. there was never another problem that I heard of while I was there.