A U.S. Navy officer stationed at Yokosuka Naval Base in Japan is under investigation after he allegedly wrote a letter to the base housing office complaining about having to live in a base housing detachment among his enlisted counterparts.
Lt. Nathanael Allison of Naval Hospital Yokosuka, the alleged author of the complaint letter, said Ikego Housing Detachment in an apartment building for enlisted families is “unacceptable.” According to Stars and Stripes, Allison wrote that enlisted sailors are “perverts” and accused them of dangerous behavior including rape, involvement in drug cartels and attacking each other with hatchets.
“There are often drunk and often hostile sailors hanging around enlisted housing,” the letter reportedly states. “Housing with enlisted greatly increases the risk to my family. I have a good-looking family, a wife and two daughters ages 3 and 4. They are prime targets to be victims for these enlisted deviant activities.”
The letter also calls officers “more respectable” than enlisted members and states Allison’s children should “only be friends with officers’ children” and his wife “only friends with officer wives.” The letter also expresses concern Allison’s fellow officer friends will not want to visit him at his base residence in the predominantly enlisted housing section.
Allison’s letter reportedly contained numerous spelling and grammatical errors.
The letter appears to have been sent to the base housing office on Feb. 8, after which it became a viral sensation. A comedic YouTube account even made a video slamming the officer’s letter in a video that has garnered nearly 400,000 views since it was posted on Saturday.
On Saturday, Naval Hospital Yokosuka shared a Facebook post in which the hospital commanding officer Cpt. Carolyn Rice said, “I am aware of the recent allegation that a member of our staff sent a letter to the housing office with comments disparaging to enlisted service members. We are conducting an internal investigation into the matter and if any allegations are found to be true, we will take appropriate actions.”
Rice said, “I assure you the comments in the letter allegedly written by a staff member do not reflect the sentiments of this command.”
Rice said any behavior, whether personal or professional, that goes against the hospital’s core values and “does not treat all others with dignity and respect” will not be tolerated.
The hospital commanding officer told Stars and Stripes “It is under investigation, as is any case when someone allegedly acts in a way that is counter to our standards of behavior.”
Hospital spokeswoman Erika Figueroa told Stars and Stripes the command is working with the base housing office to confirm the letter’s authorship.
Amy Hayes, a former resident of the Ikego housing detachment told Stars and Stripes, “Emotions are high because some extremely offensive things were said,” adding, “Any trust community members could have possessed for this man to serve hospital patrons without bias has been obliterated.”
Amber Borreo, a Navy veteran and Ikego resident told Stars and Stripes she did not agree with the letter’s characterization that the housing detachment is an unsafe place.
“I always feel safe here,” Borreo said. “It’s really upsetting, because our community is always really helpful. We have support pages specifically for Ikego, and if anyone needs anything they can make a post, and someone usually helps.”
The Yokosuka housing office declined Stars and Stripes request for comment.
Allison has also not responded to Stars and Stripes’ attempts to reach him by email.
