Thursday, November 29, 2012

So, about those Japan orders ...

We have gone from tragedy to farce
The U.S. Navy cracked down Monday on late-night drinking in Japan following a spate of alleged crimes involving U.S. servicemembers that occurred despite a month-old curfew.
In addition to the 11 p.m.-5 a.m. curfew for all American servicemembers in the country, active-duty sailors are prohibited from drinking alcohol from 10 p.m.- 8 a.m., even in their homes, regardless of leave or liberty status, according to U.S. Naval Forces Japan spokesman Cmdr. Kenneth Marshall.
Yep, you read that correctly.  You just got back from a few months at sea, but there is still a lot to do. You show up for work at 0515 and work until 1945. With commute you get home about 2030. The youngest kids are already in bed, but the middle schooler is still up. You change clothes and get your dinner out of the microwave. Play dad until 2115. Have to catch up with the mail, personal email, and a honeydo or two. 

By 2130 you are looking at the clock doing the math in your head what you need to get done in order to get at least 5 hrs of sleep before heading back.  Your lovely spouse comes over and sits next to you to try to carry on a conversation as you finish the last of your personal emails back home. You finish that up at 2155 when she walks over to the table with a couple of glasses of wine and a smile.

She hasn't seen you for months in a country that is as foreign as can be. You work off the hook hours and almost never see the young kids during the week. What few hours she has you during the day, you spend trying to get things done around the house before you hit the rack to get up at an off the hook hour. She is trying to maximize what little time she has with you, and as she tries that extra bit to pretend she is in a normal marriage with the man she loves, you look to her and say, "Sorry honey, VADM Smith says I cannot drink anymore after 2200. Finish your glass, I'm going to go upstairs and brush my teeth.  Got to get to leave the house by 0430 dontchaknow!"

Either that, or you decide not to get divorced again and think to yourself, "The h311 with Smith and the funsponge he rode in on. I'll have a glass of wine in my own house with my wife if I want to."

... and there you have another habit of forcing people to willfully disobey an order. A stupid order, a CYA order. Once you do that once, you do it again .... and then we wonder how people get in the habit of blowing off orders and regulations?

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