Yet another Self-Defense Forces service member has been disciplined for helping himself to too much food or free meals at an SDF dining facility.

It is the latest incident involving frugal service members and even a Defense Ministry official dining at taxpayers' expense. And it has senior brass concerned about a lack of discipline and disregard for the rules, even minor ones.

An Air SDF captain in his 50s, who is stationed at Iruma Air Base in Saitama Prefecture, was suspended for three days after he grabbed two savory buns at the base’s cafeteria at around 7:40 a.m. on April 26.

Those two buns, more than he was entitled to, were enough to warrant an apology from the ASDF's highest-ranking officer.

“He was clearly willing to have more than he was allowed to,” Shunji Izutsu, chief of staff of the ASDF, said at the Defense Ministry building in Tokyo’s Ichigaya district on June 30. “It is truly regrettable that we failed to prevent this from happening.”

With a solemn look on his face, Izutsu then bowed in apology.

The cafeteria offers free meals to ASDF members living on the base. The captain in question resides off base, so he must pay 234 yen ($1.76) per meal at the cafeteria.

ASDF personnel need to choose between either buns or a bowl of rice to go with their breakfast set meal. But the captain took both.

He returned the buns on the spot after he was cautioned by a staff member serving the meals. The captain then reported the offense to his unit himself.

“I reduced the amount of rice, so I thought there would be no problem with picking up buns,” he was quoted as telling the unit. “I didn’t quite understand the rules.”

This case constitutes an “extremely minor” violation of the rules on the handling of public funds and government property, as outlined in a directive issued by the Ground, Maritime and Air SDF.

But it is not an isolated incident, with similar instances reported at MSDF and GSDF facilities.

The Defense Ministry's clerical official was suspended from work for four days in March after treating himself and others to free curry lunches over two years at an MSDF facility, despite not being authorized for the free meals.

And some of the members of the MSDF unit under the official’s supervision while he served at his previous post were not entitled to the free meals, either. But they kept getting free curry lunches at the facility every Friday for those two years.

The official did not stop them, despite knowing they were breaking the rules, and even joined them in dining for free.

“It has been customary among MSDF members to have free curry in the name of ‘sampling’ even before I assumed my post there. So, I did not think having free curry constituted a serious lapse in judgment,” the official said.

A high-ranking GSDF official was dismissed in April 2021 as a disciplinary measure for eating 51 free meals, worth about 17,000 yen in total, from September 2019 to June 2020, despite not seeking approval to do so.

The official also reportedly made GSDF members working under him bring the meals to him for roughly four months during that period.

CAFETERIAS RELY ON HONOR SYSTEM

A source close to the SDF pointed out that “misconduct” incidents are more likely to occur at cafeterias for SDF personnel.

Those eligible for free meals can go straight to a cafeteria and have their meals served without having to obtain meal tickets. That is because there is a fixed number of members who qualify for free meals, according to the source.

But the source said those cafeterias are operated entirely on the assumption that users will follow the rules.

Some service members argue the SDF should increase its budget for meals to allow its members to eat as much as they want, just like the workers at U.S. military bases in Japan.

In fact, young SDF members often complain that the meal portions on offer at the cafeterias are so small that they need to supplement their diets by buying extra food at convenience stores, according to the source.

But the source also said SDF personnel are served a reasonable portion overall based on their required duties.

“If they eat too much, they will gain weight and find it harder to perform their duties,” the source said. “The current system exists for a reason.”

A Defense Ministry source blames “lax morality” for those who are eating free meals despite not being eligible for them.

Some free meals are often left untouched when eligible SDF members are forced to abandon them at a moment’s notice to carry out duties suddenly assigned to them, according to the source.

The source said some personnel not entitled to the free meals may think they can consume those meals since the food will go to waste at the end of the day. So, they think it’s “not a big deal” and that they can save on food expenses.

High-ranking SDF officials are more likely to be singled out for disciplinary measures against such misconduct to make an example of them, according to the source.

The source said some complain to the ministry that it is imposing punishments that are “too severe” and others have asked the government to let SDF members “eat until they are full.”

But the source said they will eventually understand why there are penalties once ministry officials explain it to them in detail.

“SDF members stationed in camps and bases have the right and obligation to eat meals,” said the ministry source. “But they are prepared with taxpayers’ money. It’s only natural that personnel ineligible for free meals will be punished for failing to pay for the meals.”