Okinawan lockdown to stay in place until at least March 3rd, and a rumour
This comes straight from the horses mouth (that horse being Lt General Richard C. Zilmer in Okinawa) that all SOFA status personnel on Okinawa will continue to be under lockdown until March 3rd at the earliest. The full story from Stars & Stripes is below:
Lt. Gen. Richard C. Zilmer has decided to continue a “period of reflection” that has all SOFA-status personnel on the island restricted to the bases and off-base homes.
The restriction, which also applies to Marines at Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni and Camp Fuji in mainland Japan, will be reassessed March 3, he announced in a statement released Monday.
Zilmer, the Okinawa Area coordinator and senior U.S. general on the island, said the restriction will remain in place guntil further notice while service leaders continue to review procedures and orders that govern the discipline and conduct of all U.S. servicemembers serving in Okinawa.h
“I need leaders at all echelons in all the services to continue to reinforce what the vast majority do well as forward serving ambassadors of America,” Zilmer said.
“For the indefinite future, SOFA-status personnel will continue to be limited to their place of duty or employment, worship, education, or medical or dental treatment,” the release stated. “SOFA-status personnel are authorized to transit between U.S. military installations or their off- base residence via privately owned vehicle, military supported transportation, or commercial taxi.
“I highly encourage our servicemembers, civilians and family members to continue to utilize the plethora of activities and services aboard all camps and installations on Okinawa,” Zilmer said.
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Venting frustrations in a creative way
Well, it looks like someone is doing just that. A quick trawl of the internet has come up with this Photoshop effort of US Marine Lt General Richard C. Zilmer. It’s very tongue-in-cheek but thought it might make some of you frustrated by the lockdown smile.
A couple of brief personal updates
With all that’s been happening recently, I have barely talked a word about myself. I know most of you are probably saying “I know, and it’s great!” but settle down! I try to keep this site professional and it’s taken a few turns in its content in recent months as I realise what is important to you folks, the readers.
Before anything else, I must thank you all once again for visiting my site. Sunday was the busiest day for visitors on my page, with over 1270 visits from different people. Every single visitor is appreciated and I hope you will return. Let me know what kind of things you want to hear about from Okinawa and Japan. If it’s possible, I’ll write about it.
Well, a couple of bits of good news and a bit of bad news. First my car, and it’s both good and bad news here. The good news came in the middle of last week when my mechanic was fitting some new camshafts to my car. He’d found the balancer belt on my car (which spins a shaft to do something with the vibrations of the engine) was completely split, so that you could lay it down flat. While not a problem in itself, if that falls apart it can cause the timing belt in your car to jump or break. If that happens, the valves stop moving and the pistons smash… basically your engine is dead. I was very lucky here and am so glad he picked up on it. I’ve no idea how long it had been going round like that, seemingly clinging onto the gears by sheer luck.
The lockdown continues…
Well, this quote has come into my possession this morning, and so it looks like the military lockdown here in Okinawa will continue:
“From tonight’s meeting with Gen Zilmer, the current restricted liberty policy will remain in effect this week and is officially still considered guntil further noticeh. LtGen Zilmer deeply appreciates our support on this. Our positive response and period of reflection has been helpful to our cause of supporting a healthy military relationship with our Japanese hosts. Let’s keep our people on track and push the positive things such as the many healthy recreational activities available on our various installations. “
“The same exception policies are in effect. People shall continue to pay bills, walk their dogs, etc…. If you have a prepaid/registered event, plan on doing it - the intent is NOT for our people to lose money. Still no liberty dining, drinking and shopping out in town.
We all know that this is painful to a degree and even more so for those living out in town, but let’s keep our focus on maintaining the strategic alliance that we talked to so much last week and carry on until the transition from this restricted liberty policy. Ifll provide more info as it continues to develop. Ask your chain of command if you have questions/issues.”
The writing on the wall was probably there for all to see when the Japanese media started announcing as soon as this started that it would be over by Monday. Whether that was a guess or a leak of intelligence, quite a few people think it will be extended just to prove them wrong. The 2 lines of thought are: firstly, it will continue until tomorrow evening or thereabouts (just to prove the media wrong, although it would be in slight contradiction to this quote above); and secondly, that it will continue until next payday (March 1st). There are a lot of people anxiously hoping it will be soon.
Okinawan rape: the backlash continues
Well, unfortunately I have to continue where I left off with yesterday’s entry on how Okinawans are venting their anger against members of the military and their family on Okinawa. Mark Cronan told us of his incident which happened on Saturday night, and I have an incident from last night to report from my friend too. He was in his apartment late at night having a quiet drink when he was disturbed by a noise. He looked outside to find a drunken Okinawan man urinating in his parking space. He went outside to confront the man and was greeted with a slightly slurred “Go home!”. Now as anyone who has lived in Okinawa for sometime will know, a natural occurance is to see drunken Japanese men urinating out in public. But with all the parking spaces around, this guy had to choose my friend’s, with his Y-plated car there.
In other news, 2 people from the Air Force were said to have been caught off base yesterday when they shouldn’t have been. A colonel became involved (can’t forget his name exactly, I’m afraid) and the couple have been told they have 48 hours to leave the island. Make no mistake, the military are taking this lockdown very seriously. When a 3-star general (correct me if I’m wrong guys) issues a services wide lockdown, people listen. Or at least they should do.
Still no word as to whether Hadnott is going to be charged with rape or not. “Investigations” continue. But on a lighter note, you can now order your “I survived Lockdown 2008″ T-shirts from here!. You can also find “You rack a disciprine” gear from the same site. Be the envy of your friends on Okinawa and show everyone you’ve come through the other side! (Note that this does assume you actually survive the lockdown. If you don’t, you have my condolences and please pass this blog information to your next of kin).