Due to a series of recent incidents, including two rapes, a murder, and a head-on collision caused by a female American sailor driving heavily intoxicated on the wrong side of the road, all in Okinawa, U.S. forces in Japan, particularly the navy, are increasing their so-called liberty restrictions. While these and other measures are necessary, everyone understands that sadly they will not be enough to stop stupid or evil people from doing what they do while 99.8 percent of other U.S. personnel members remain not only well-behaved but have done many selfless acts to save lives and render assistance.
With this said, however, there remain deeply entrenched institutional problems which will make it difficult to fix at least one serious issue — that of alcohol use and abuse by U.S. personnel, which causes them (like it would to any other person) to have impaired judgment and to get into a career-ending situation, or in some cases, a life-ending accident.
Indeed, most of the incidents that have happened off base (and on base, too) tend to be alcohol-related. Getting control over alcohol once and for all will help to further reduce our already low crime and incident rates. This requires both the de-glamorization of alcohol and the increased accountability of those in command, especially when they themselves might be at fault.
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