The USFK-ization of US forces in Japan continues:

All servicemembers assigned to Marine Corps Bases Japan and III Marine Expeditionary Force are now required to carry liberty cards, officials said Thursday.

The new policy also requires E-4s and below to be accompanied by a buddy when on liberty off base, Marine spokesman 1st Lt. Judd Wilson said Thursday in an e-mail to Stars and Stripes.

Previously only E-5s and below were required to carry liberty cards and E-3s and below were required to have liberty buddies.

The cards will be issued in red and gold. No liberty limits are placed on gold cards, but red-card holders are required to be on a base or in their off-base quarters between midnight and 5 a.m.

“This order is intended to reduce the number of off-duty liberty incidents and promote positive relations with our host nation and its citizens,” Wilson said of the policy that was approved last Saturday. “The issuance of liberty cards to all service members will provide commanders with a tool that will aid them in maintaining good order, discipline and morale.” [Stars & Stripes]

The term "Liberty Buddy" is about as lame as USFK’s "Battle Buddy" term.  I wonder if the Marines have to carry a Battle Buddy Card on them like in USFK that your battle buddy and supervisor have to sign?  The Liberty Card Policy though is actually a policy I have been advocating for in USFK.  Before the curfew was implemented in Korea soldiers in 2ID had what was known as a Warrior Pass.

Back then the Warrior Pass meant the holder of the pass could stay out past curfew and additionally allowed these soldiers to go to an area like Hongdae.  The Warrior Passes were great because they created competition within the unit every week to get one of the limited number of Warrior Passes authorized for each unit.  Our unit First Sergeant was responsible for giving out the Warrior Passes and maintaining accountability of them.  My First Sergeant would only give a pass to soldiers that were doing a great job and were deserving of a Warrior Pass.  A side benefit of this that my unit First Sergeant really liked, was that it gave him even more leverage to influence soldier behavior when he was the holder of the coveted Warrior Passes. 

Will Warrior Passes end off post incidents?  No it won’t because the vast majority of soldiers who get in trouble off post are usually not top notch soldiers that could win a Warrior Pass to begin with.  Since they are not usually top soldiers that means they are more willing to bend the rules and get in trouble.  So if you have a curfew and off limits places you will still have that select few who will push their luck and think they can get away with it.  When they do break the rules they need to be slammed for it.  There is a saying in the Army that leaders spend 90% of their time dealing with the 10% of the problem soldiers in their unit and this 10% are the ones that get in trouble and unit leaders worth the rank on their uniform need to constantly supervise.  Since unit leaders have to constantly spend so much time dealing with this 10%, at least a Warrior Pass is a way to tangibly tell that other 90% doing the right thing that, hey we appreciate what you are doing and thus trust you enough to act like a responsible adult after curfew. 

The Marines in Japan are at least allowing their unit leaders a chance to reward soldiers in their unit doing the right thing by implementing this pass policy instead of dumping an across the board curfew on everyone like you see in USFK. 

However, it is becoming pretty clear that USFJ is going the way of USFK and may be only a matter of time before something as ridiculous as 2ID’s BAC policy is implemented.

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