But that actually doesn't matter to be honest. You can have a Six Flags in the middle of Schwab or a real American mall in Hansen, that wont help make the majority of active duty personnel feel better. That majority I speak of is your average, young, single male who is out far from home defending his country. Give him a tropical island, warm water beaches, some bars, and
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In some bases, the male/female ratio can be as generous as 5:1. The northern bases (Hansen and Schwab) it can be as cruel as 15:1, maybe more. This ratio does not factor any married American or Japanese women, as this is about a single active duty personnel only. Dating can become very difficult and very competitive, almost as competitive as picking up rank.
To pick up rank, you have to look good for your leaders both in person and on paper. You do that by picking up some collaterals, doing some volunteering services during the weekends, looks sharp by having a fresh haircut and flawless uniforms. Even the occasional brown nosing is acceptable to gain the favors of that staff sergeant or petty officer 1st class you actually don't like. That same formula works in the Okinawa dating scene: you go to the gym to lift, do some volunteering in hopes of finding females other than bars, look sharp by ironing your clothes and putting on that just tight shirt to show that you lift, and brown nose your way into her heart. You'll say just about anything to get close to her even though you really don't think she's that good looking.
Stay here long enough and that young single female lance corporal will go from a 4-6 on the scale to an Okinawa 10. And how do you know that she is an Okinawa 10? She walks around the island as if she really is a 10. It gets way into their head that these young ladies don't realize that they're just in a 2-3 year relationship and then it's over when either partner moves back to the States or somewhere that isn't Okinawa. There was one I remember talking to when I was in Kinser about how her boyfriend broke up with her because she wanted to get married and he did not. Things went sour and on their separate ways, and she didn't realize that he was with her just for the sake of company and being one of the few to have a girlfriend that's on island.
Another thing that happens, and this happened to me a lot since I'm not actively chasing women into a bed, is when a female has her nose so high that anything a guy would say is heard as him wanting to hook up. No joke, I've been shut down even though all I was saying was literally "hello" walking in the opposite direction. As a nice guy (I know, I come in last place) it's frustrating to be assumed that my intentions are to get into her pants, which is one of the biggest reasons why I stopped talking to women I don't know at all on this island. There's probably more out there that feel same way, except for the not talking to women part.
Of the very few females I do talk to on this island, the things I've heard from them are the same things I've heard from females back home since high school: being looked at as an object of lust and not a person, thinking that nice guys no longer exists, why guys only want sex and then leave afterwards, having to deal with multiple guys trying to get her attention (all of them only wanting one thing...), and so forth. There's really an easy way to fix things, but you still somehow make things more complicated than it should be. This vicious cycle happens everywhere, but it seems that it's even worse here considering how little females there are. The other harsh truth is that most of the times they bring the unwanted attention upon themselves by purposely giving off the wrong signals. Ladies: that's YOUR fault.
It's very hard to be a female here, I'm glad I'm not one. Another time at Kinser there was a female marine who came into the clinic and we were making small talk as we were waiting for the dentist to walk in and do a check up. She was telling me about how she just got back from a short 2-4 week deployment on a ship, I told her that it must have been really nice considering that it's not long at all being away. Her reply was that she was glad to be done with it, and never wished to go back on a ship. The reason being is that because there was even fewer females on the ship, almost every guy was hitting on her and the other females. She even said that she was approached by a gunny who wanted to hook up with her. A married gunnery sergeant who couldn't wait for a month was wanting to get with a young and single lance corporal. Maybe it was a power trip on his part, or he seriously couldn't keep his pants on for that long, or she had a reputation of letting many guys get their hands on her cookie jar. By the way, she was an Okinawa 10.
Personally speaking, I'm glad that I'm in a great relationship. I don't have to worry about having to compete with other guys for a girl's attention only to be placed in the "friend zone" with the other nice guys. Maybe it helps that Nicole and I didn't rush into things either, it took plenty of time before making things official, and were not in the need to show off to the world about us dating. At this very day it's definitely not easy being an ocean apart, but we manage to do our parts to keep our relationship alive.
None of what I mentioned above applies if you're one of the guys who prefer to date Japanese women or are already married. And if you're a female that is stationed on Okinawa or were stationed here and are offended, we can wager a Coco's meal to see who's right. I've already won a free dinner, I can definitely go for more free curry. Come at me
