Tag: Iwakuni

What is ironic about this story is that Arnett did not get in trouble for not taking the COVID vaccine, she got in trouble for refusing to obey orders to board an airplane three times. That is why she was jailed and had nothing to do with the COVID vaccine. Now she is back in Japan getting into more trouble with local authorities:

 A Marine veteran who refused the COVID-19 vaccine while serving in Japan and defied orders to return home was arrested this month at her former duty station.

Japanese police allege that Catherine Arnett, 25, was detained by military police after attempting to enter MCAS Iwakuni around 2:30 a.m. Dec. 1, a city police spokesman told Stars and Stripes on Tuesday. She was turned over to Iwakuni city police around 11:30 a.m. that day and released from custody “last week,” the spokesman said.

Arnett was returned to California in Marine Corps custody earlier this year and spent 113 days in brigs awaiting a court-martial before the Corps dropped all charges against her, set her free and administratively discharged her. 

As a lance corporal at MCAS Iwakuni, Arnett refused at least three times to board aircraft bound for the U.S. and faced discharge for refusing the vaccine. She was charged separately with insubordination, missing a military flight, disobeying an officer and other offenses over her refusal to leave Japan. 

Arnett, who described herself as a staunch Catholic, said the 2021 vaccine mandate from Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin was an unlawful order. Her case drew attention from a foundation critical of vaccines, Children’s Health Defense, founded by Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who interviewed her on his podcast. 

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link.

This Marine got off pretty light with a two year suspended sentence considering what he did:

This screenshot from an All Nippon News report shows security camera footage from a car dealer in Iwakuni, Japan, Dec. 3, 2022. (ANN)

A Marine whose conduct a Japanese judge described as “bold, violent and vicious” received a two-year suspended sentence Friday for stealing a car, driving drunk and injuring two others in a collision.

Lance Cpl. Dominic Youngren pleaded guilty June 6 to illegal entry, theft, drunken driving and negligent driving in December. He was formally convicted and sentenced Friday by Judge Soshi Okada in Yamaguchi District Court in Iwakuni city.

Youngren, an F-35B Lightning II mechanic with Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 242 at the air station, broke into an Iwakuni car dealership at 7:08 a.m. Dec. 3, according to a case summary of Okada’s remarks in court.

The Marine took a key to a car worth $38,000 and drove away in it at 7:57 a.m., drunk, according to the summary. These were “bold, violent and vicious” acts, the judge said.

After driving more than 2 ½ miles on city streets, Youngren rear-ended a car at a stop light, according to the summary. The other driver and a passenger suffered neck and back injuries that required 10 days of treatment. 

Youngren left the scene without reporting the accident, Okada said.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link, but according to the article the Marine paid $1,400 in restitution to the car dealership, apologized, and promised to never drink again. That was enough to get his sentence suspended.