1,000 sailors at Sasebo restricted to base

[unhappycamper]

1,000 sailors at Sasebo restricted to base
By Gidget Fuentes - Staff writer
Posted : Thursday Jan 24, 2008 12:18:55 EST

SAN DIEGO — If you’re a junior sailor on a ship in Sasebo, Japan, you might have to forget about any pre-deployment travel.

After the weekend arrest of a Sasebo-based sailor in an off-base incident, one Navy commander ordered that all of the command’s junior sailors be restricted to the Sasebo base indefinitely — at least until they leave on their amphibious ships for scheduled spring patrols.

Rear Adm. Carol M. Pottenger, who commands Expeditionary Strike Group 7, issued the edict Sunday, said Lt. Denver Applehans, the ESG-7 public affairs officer.

The restriction applies to about 1,000 sailors, E-3 and below, assigned to the strike group’s four amphibious ships — assault ship Essex, dock landing ships Harpers Ferry and Tortuga and amphibious transport dock Juneau — as well as members of attached support elements from Assault Craft Units 1 and 5 and Beach Master Unit 1, Applehans said.

The lockdown applies to any sailor E-3 and below, single or married, he said. Married sailors “are restricted to their quarters, basically,” he added.


Rest of article at: http://www.navytimes.com/news/2008/01/navy_sasebolockdown_080124w/



uhc comment: Here's what prompted the grounding --> http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=259&topic_id=10227