Wild GI's.

This is coolbert:

  Here are additional exceptions to the assertion I have made that the U.S. military DOES NOT produce GI's that are aggressive and prone to violence and criminal behavior.

Once again, however, these exceptions prove the rule that the U.S. military DOES NOT condone or encourage criminal, violent, aggressive behavior or condones it, but, rather, harshly punishes same.

These exceptions occurred fairly recently on the island of Okinawa.

ALL these exceptions [criminal incidents] involved the rape or attempted rape of Okinawan [Japanese] women.

One one occasion, three U.S. servicemen abducted a twelve year old Okinawan girl and gang raped her. These military men were caught, tried, and sent to serve hard time in Japanese prisons.

[Crimes by U.S. servicemen in Japan committed OFF-BASE are tried in Japanese courts under Status Of Forces Agreements [SOFA]].

On another occasion, a drunken American GI climbed through an open bedroom window with the purported intention of raping an Okinawan woman sleeping in her bed!!

[This GI was so drunk he passed out and fell asleep in the woman's bedroom without being able to follow through on the rape attempt!!!]

This GI, the home invader, was also punished harshly.

And the media coverage of these events, especially the former gang rape of the twelve year old, seemed to suggest a whole bunch of GI's on Okinawa WERE out of control, committing crimes. Crimes seemingly directed against the Okinawan people. GI"s were portrayed as running amuck. Or so it was presented by the media.

[Indeed, when the three accused rapists of the twelve year old girl were moved around the island PRIOR to trial, they had hoods placed over their heads so they could not be identified, such was the reaction on Okinawa to the crime!!]

The Okinawan people were themselves up-in-arms in the aftermath of these crimes. Again, especially after the gang-rape of the twelve year old girl. Demonstrations for U.S. military withdrawal were constant. Military bases were surrounded by hand-clasping Okinawan demonstrators. A common refrain of the Okinawans themselves was, "these GI's are young, they are aggressive, they drink a lot!!"

The comments of an American Marine Corps General did not help matters. According to this Marine senior commander, the three rapists, "could have found plenty of sex from prostitutes off-base, if that is what they wanted!!"

[this Marine General does not seem to realize that rape, for the most part, is an act of power rather than an act of sex committed out of lust.]

So, is the image of American GI's on Okinawa running amuck and perpetrating a whole lot of crime against the Okinawan people a true image or a false image??

Are these American GI's young, aggressive, drunk, and violence prone because of their military training? Does the military milieu create a soldier with a greater inclination to violence than would be normally expected from the average citizen?? DO the Okinawan people have a reasonable, well-founded fear of being set upon by an American GI who is out-of-control?

NO!! NO!! As I have said before in other blog entries, emphatically NO!!

Statistics of violent crime on Okinawa are most revealing in this matter!!

American GI's stationed on Okinawa commit violent crime against the Okinawan populace at a rate only one/sixth [1/6th] the rate with which Okinawans commit violent crime against one another. An Okinawan is SIX [6] times more likely to be attacked by a compatriot than by an American GI. Notwithstanding that the GI is "young, aggressive, and drinking a lot".

Given the low crime rate in Japan period, I would have to assume that the overall crime rate in Okinawa is similar to what is found in Japan proper. I have no reason to believe otherwise. So, you have a very low crime rate to begin with in Okinawa, as compared to almost anywhere else in the world. And an even much less lower number of violent incidents where the American GI is the perp and the Okinawan is the victim!!

Should this be considered as some sort of excuse for the bad behavior of American GI's?? NO!! NOT at all. Criminal behavior should never be condoned or excused. Perpetrators SHOULD be punished. And are on Okinawa!!

Again, the U.S. military wants you to be aggressive as a soldier. Prepared to use violence. BUT, only when they want you to. If you act violent otherwise, you WILL be punished.

coolbert.