Maj. Donald Kidd, left, acting Marine Corps provost marshal for Okinawa; Marine Corps Installations Pacific commander Maj. Gen. Brian Wolford, center; and U.S. Consul General Andrew Ou lead a solo patrol of Naha, Okinawa, Nov. 1, 2025. (Brian McElhiney/Stars and Stripes)
NAHA, OKINAWA — Only a dozen or so U.S. service members in civilian attire were spotted among the teeming revelers still celebrating Halloween on the streets of Naha’s nightlife district early Saturday.
More than one year ago, U.S. Forces Japan imposed a ban on late-night public drinking by U.S. service members in the country. It may be having its effect on Okinawa, home to the largest concentration of American troops in Japan.
The streets “seemed real quiet to me,” Maj. Gen. Brian Wolford, commander of Marine Corps Installations Pacific, told Stars and Stripes around 2 a.m. as he parted company with the first all-military patrol of the city’s Matsuyama district and Kokusai Street.
U.S. provost marshal’s officers, along with Japanese police, have walked the streets of Okinawa city near Kadena Air Base since April 18. But Naha Mayor Satoru Chinen declined Wolford’s Oct. 10 proposal to expand joint patrols into his city, though he did not rule out solo patrols, according to a city spokesman.
Naha’s “situation is different from Okinawa city” because of its distance from U.S. bases and lack of a nightlife district comparable to Gate 2 Street, just outside Kadena, the spokesman said on Oct. 17.
U.S. military police carry out a solo patrol of Naha, Okinawa, Nov. 1, 2025. (Ryan M. Breeden/Stars and Stripes)
Maj. Donald Kidd, acting Marine Corps provost marshal on Okinawa, led the 1 a.m. to 5 a.m. patrol Saturday with U.S. Consul General Andrew Ou and about 50 uniformed service members, including 20 Marines and Air Force police and Japanese provost marshal’s officers.
Military police detained two Marines for throwing water bottles at the patrol officers, Wolford said. They were placed in a patrol car at Matsuyama Park and taken to Camp Kinser. Their commands have the choice to prosecute them, according to guidelines set out earlier by the Marines.
Weekend joint patrols were instituted on April 18 as part of a response to a rash of alleged sexual assaults that started in December 2023 and have so far yielded two convictions.
Senior Airman Brennon Washington was found guilty last year of kidnapping and sexually assaulting a minor in December 2023. Marine Lance Cpl. Jamel Clayton was convicted in June of strangling and attempting to sexually assault a woman in May 2024. Both convictions are under appeal.
USFJ also imposed a liberty order in October 2024 that bars service members from off-base drinking between 1 a.m. and 5 a.m.
Military police have arrested at least 17 service members during solo and joint patrols of Okinawa city since Aug. 16 for violating the order.
U.S. military police carry out a solo patrol of Naha, Okinawa, Nov. 1, 2025. (Ryan M. Breeden/Stars and Stripes)
The patrols are mostly an education effort, Marine Corps Installations Pacific spokesman Maj. Brett Dornhege-Lazaroff told Stars and Stripes just after 1 a.m. in Naha city.
“It’s really just informing, making sure we have good order and discipline,” he said. “If we get to interact with any of the bar owners, that would be great, so we can inform them of what the liberty policies are if they don’t know already.”
The 18th Security Forces Squadron at Kadena Air Base led a separate joint patrol Saturday morning along Gate 2 Street in Okinawa city, Dornhege-Lazaroff said.
USFJ will release by Wednesday the number of service members arrested or detained during both patrols, spokesman Air Force Col. John Severns said by email Monday.
The patrols “are contributing to the maintenance of good order and discipline, and help foster strong bonds with local communities,” he wrote.
Wolford said he still hopes a joint patrol can take place in Naha in the future.
“They have manning issues, and manpower — it’s just like we do.”
Stars and Stripes reporter Ryan M. Breeden contributed to this report.
AloJapan.com