Welcome to Okinawa

There are many ubiquitous locations in the Marine Corps. Places like Twentynine Palms and Jacksonville, North Carolina are famous across the land for their unique brands of misery and depression offered to young Marines. Every duty station is filled with its own microcosm of culture and identity that can be found nowhere else.

I live on the west coast and I was stationed in Marine Corps Base Hawaii, over in beautiful Kaneohe Bay. This, no doubt, has had a huge influence on the kind of work that I create and where I choose to set most of my Marine Corps comics. A hefty chunk of Marines have quite a different experience, though. Just ask the people that get stationed in Okinawa, Japan.

I’ve actually never been to any of the Japanese Marine Corps bases, but this is how I imagine it probably goes. How can one resist the allure of anime waifus and yakisoba?

In all seriousness, I’ve never really heard any good things about being stationed aboard Okinawa (as a Marine). To my knowledge, there’s a lot of liberty restrictions and some cultural barriers that make it less-than-ideal for a young 20-something year old to enjoy themselves. Not really a fault of Okinawa itself–more than likely the fault of rampant dumbfuckery on the part of Marines and sailors (we’ve all heard the stories).

If you find yourself getting stationed there, just be sure to pack your body pillow and make the best of it.