Commands across Japan spread news of solicitation ban

[thedrifter]

Commands across Japan spread news of solicitation ban
Sailors, Marines briefed about new UCMJ prohibition
By Juliana Gittler, Stars and Stripes
Pacific edition, Thursday, January 12, 2006

Along with the security and liberty briefings U.S. sailors and Marines from Japan received before visiting the Philippines for bilateral training in late 2005, they learned about a new article under the Uniform Code of Military Justice that for the first time makes it a crime to solicit a prostitute.

An Oct. 14 presidential order made soliciting prostitution a specific crime under the UCMJ, although it had been punishable under other charges in the past, officials said.

The new law took effect with little fanfare last year, but the changes are being noted on deck plates and in briefings throughout the region.

“We work hard to ensure our sailors get the word. For example, our leadership conveys changes of policy in morning quarters, in plans of the day, and in each of the port-visit briefings, where it’s particularly relevant,” said Cmdr. Ike Skelton, spokesman for the 7th Fleet at Yokosuka Naval Base.

The awareness is part of a larger Navy campaign to inform sailors and Marines about human trafficking. A Navy instruction in November mandated that all Navy and Marine Corps servicemembers and civilians take an online course by February about recognizing signs of human trafficking.

The training is part of a Defense Department effort to root out military involvement in human trafficking, which in recent years Pentagon officials have called a threat to national security.

The focus, according to DOD Deputy Inspector General Jerry Hansen, began in 2002 with a Pentagon study that found soldiers in South Korea were contributing to human trafficking by supporting prostitution there. Hansen said in a speech in March that the new UCMJ charge would be part of the solution since many prostitutes are victims of human trafficking.

“Trafficking in humans is brutal and humiliating to the victims; it could undermine our relationship with our host nation and regional allies and it is contrary to our core values of honor, courage and commitment,” Gunnery Sgt. Chuck Albrecht, a Marine Corps spokesman on Okinawa, wrote in a statement.

“The Marine Corps in collaboration with host-nation authorities and other U.S. government agencies will remain vigilant and proactive in preventing and identifying trafficking in humans enterprises and activities.”

Under a directive by Brig. Gen. Joseph V. Medina, Marine Corps Bases Japan deputy commander, all Marines on Okinawa will receive training about the new UCMJ article and human trafficking prevention by the end of January, Albrecht said. Marines new to Japan are to receive the training within the first 90 days they are in the country.

Marine Cpl. Robert Drinkwine from Camp Foster, Okinawa, said the briefing he received on prostitution and human trafficking was an eye-opener.

“It helped me recognize that human trafficking happens all over the world and the Marine Corps isn’t going to tolerate it,” he said. “I never really thought about it [before the briefing], but I know it’s out there.”

James Duke, a Department of Defense civilian at Yokosuka Naval Base, said he heard about the new UCMJ law in similar human trafficking training.

“Maybe it will make sailors behave better, but it will definitely make civilians think twice,” he said.

In Japan, Army and Air Force leaders plan to start similar education campaigns later this month, according to U.S. Forces Japan. Base officials will inform servicemembers during future newcomers’ briefings and through command announcements in January.

Accordingly, Senior Airman Paul Wyrozynski of the 374th Maintenance Squadron at Yokota Air Base, Japan, said Tuesday he’d read about the proposal online but didn’t know it officially had become part of the UCMJ. It wasn’t announced through the chain of command, he said, and airmen haven’t been required to attend any classes yet on the modification. “It’s not to say that’s not coming,” he added.

So far, no servicemembers in Japan have been punished for the new crime, military officials said.

“Personally,” Wyrozynski said, “the change doesn’t really affect me” but “it’s like any other law. If you break the rules, you should be punished accordingly.”

Under the revised UCMJ, soliciting a prostitute will carry a maximum punishment of one year of confinement, forfeiture of pay and a dishonorable discharge.

While many servicemembers agree with the penalties, Drinkwine said he thinks it may be a bit too easy on perpetrators. The loss of pay and ticket out of the military are fine, he said, “but I think they should serve more time.”

Staff writers David Allen, Allison Batdorff, Vince Little and Fred Zimmerman contributed to this story.


Message mandates training for sailors

Vice Admiral A.E. Rondeau, director of Navy Staff, message to all Navy leaders in November:

“By 90 days from release of this message commanders and leaders of all Department of Navy units shall ensure that all DON personnel assigned their units have completed the TIP (trafficking in persons) awareness training package, understand and recognize indicators of TIP, and how to avoid fostering or aiding it. To keep TIP awareness fresh in the minds of DON personnel, commanders shall ensure TIP awareness briefs are a mandatory part of liberty (safety) briefs before each port call.”

“TIP is a significant criminal activity that results in the involuntary servitude of thousands. The Secretary of Defense has stated ‘no leader in this department should turn a blind eye to this issue.’ TIP is a violation of human rights, it is incompatible with navy core values and it under

Ellie

[thedrifter]

Prostitution ruling nothing new for USFK troops
Soliciting sex already a well-known violation in S. Korea
Stars and Stripes
Pacific edition, Thursday, January 12, 2006

YONGSAN GARRISON, South Korea — U.S. Forces Korea officials said Tuesday there has been no specific push to alert troops to an Oct. 14 presidential order that makes soliciting a prostitute a chargeable offense under Article 134 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice.

“Solicitation has been unlawful as a violation of USFK Regulation 27-5, and it was prosecuted under Article 92 — Failure to Obey a Lawful Order or Regulation,” said USFK spokesman Dave Oten. “The new specifications of Article 134 have the advantage of providing consistency both across the military services as well as assignments overseas or in the continental United States.”

The issue was raised, however, on Tuesday during an all-day, semi-annual training session in which 8th U.S. Army soldiers are trained on personal conduct on and off duty.

During a briefing for 8th Army’s Headquarters and Headquarters Company, hundreds of soldiers were reminded of the recent change. “That makes going to a house of ill repute illegal,” the battalion commander, Lt. Col. David L. Ward, told the unit.

At a senior leadership briefing the same day, officers were reminded to make sure their soldiers know how much trouble they can get into just for standing inside a bar that supports prostitution. If there’s a video camera in the front, bars on the windows and a pretty girl, “you’re probably in the wrong place,” the officers were told.

Sgt. 1st Class Thurman Hogen, who works in the engineer command on Yongsan, said he believed the change was good because it emphasized family values. He said Tuesday’s forum was the main way that most soldiers would learn about the change.

“We also get blasted with e-mails,” he said.

Still, Spc. Christian Borges and Pfc. Glen Perryman, both from the headquarters unit, said they knew little about the change other than talk among friends. But they too felt as if the change was more about clarification and less about a new policy.

Sgt. 1st Class Glen Harrison, one of 8th Army’s equal opportunity advisers, agreed. “It cuts out any gray areas,” he said, adding that soliciting a prostitute carried penalties before the military justice system change.

When Harrison addressed the soldiers in the afternoon, he asked how many had heard of the change. Only a few raised their hands. Then he asked how many had heard television spots denouncing prostitution and human trafficking. More hands raised. Had anyone heard about the health, social and career dangers from solicitation? Even more hands went up.

“The awareness is out there,” he said.

Ellie