Marines in Iraq brace for Japan restrictions

[unhappycamper]

Civic group members holding banners protest against a US Marine's alleged rape of a 14-year-old girl in front of the headquarters of the US Marines at Kita Nakagusuku village in Japan's southern island of Okinawa on February 12, 2008.


Marines in Iraq brace for Japan restrictions
By Eric Talmadge - The Associated Press
Posted : Wednesday Feb 20, 2008 2:42:54 EST

AL-ASAD, Iraq — After nearly seven months rigging convoys for runs through the desert around this remote base in western Iraq, Lance Cpl. Bobby Elsworth was hoping that returning to his home camp in southern Japan would mean an easier life.

But he and several hundred other Marines preparing to return to Okinawa were warned Tuesday to think again.

With anger rising over the alleged rape of an Okinawan teenager by a 38-year-old Marine staff sergeant, the Marines here were told that they can count on tough measures aimed at keeping them on base and out of trouble.

“You are heroes, and you deserve a hero’s welcome,” Col. Brent Spawn, commander of the 4th Combat Logistics Battalion, told an assembly of nearly 900 troops who will be returning to Japan over the next month. “Don’t do anything to tarnish that.”

Spawn said the Marines will likely face tighter curfews, along with programs to “reinforce our core values,” as the U.S. military clamps down on crime. He did not elaborate on what the new restrictions might specifically entail.


Rest of article at: http://www.marinecorpstimes.com/news/2008/02/marine_080219_restrictions/

[MikeNearMcChord]

1. How about getting out of Okinawa?

Chalmers Johnson writes extensively about the friction between the US military and the residents of Okinawa.