4 Navy special operators arrested for trespassing and drunkenly beating a police car in Okinawa

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The top officer in charge of Naval Special Warfare Command has been trying to get his personnel off the skyline, but four of his sailors have heard that message loud and clear and responded with, sir, hold my beer.

“Four Naval Special Warfare Command service members were arrested in Okinawa and are being detained for various charges. The incident is still under investigation,” NSW spokesman Lt. Matthew Stroup told Task & Purpose on Tuesday.

Japanese police on the island of Okinawa arrested four sailors assigned to NSW over the weekend in Onna village. One was arrested on suspicion of home invasion, while three others allegedly attacked the police car of the officer responding to the scene, according to a report in the Okinawa Times.

A few hours prior, three sailors — one of them shirtless — who were apparently (obviously?) drunk, walked into a local pub and asked for information on a “strip bar” in the area and started throwing shit until they heard sirens and ran away, the Times wrote.

The sailors were “out of control,” the store manager told the paper.

Okinawa police identified the men as Desmond Ruffin, 23; Mark Elam, 30; Colter Krebill, 21; and Todd Casselman, 23, according to Stripes. Ruffin was charged with trespassing while the others were charged with obstruction of performance of public duty.

Stroup declined to say whether the four sailors were SEALs in his statement, citing operational security. The Okinawa Times, however, said they were assigned to the Navy in Hawaii, and since there are two SEAL Delivery Vehicle Teams stationed in Pearl Harbor that fall under NSW, you can probably do the math.

Sadly, they never actually found that strip bar.

The Navy is cooperating with the investigation, according to Navy Times.

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Paul Szoldra

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Paul Szoldra was the Editor in Chief of Task & Purpose from October 2018 until August 2022. Since joining T&P, he has led a talented team of writers, editors, and creators who produce military journalism reaching millions of readers each month. He also founded and edits Duffel Blog, a popular satirical newsletter for the military. Before becoming a journalist in 2013, he served as a Marine infantryman in Afghanistan, Korea, and other areas of the Pacific. His eyes still go up every time a helicopter from Camp Pendleton flies over his office in Southern California.