YOKOSUKA NAVAL BASE, Japan — Eleven ship-based sailors here are earning their 15 minutes of fame by starring in television spots aimed at bringing new blood to forward-deployed forces.
The spots are to air on ships around the world and on American Forces Television.
To help sailors based in the States overcome concerns they might have about overseas assignments, the spots show some of the benefits of overseas life, said project leader Capt. Bill Foster with the Navy Personnel Command’s Center for Career Development.
His office sent a team to Yokosuka to film sailors speaking about what living and working here is like as part of an aggressive campaign over the past year to showcase the benefits of overseas living.
“They’re using real sailors instead of actors,” Foster said.
With the personal accounts, the film crew shot footage of local sites, including off-base shopping and some of Japan’s temples — “the whole spectrum of why you would want to come to Japan,” Foster said.
U.S. forces in Japan currently have no personnel shortages, he added, but sailors in the States historically have shown some reluctance to take overseas assignments.
Foster said he hopes the spots will help erase myths about hardships of living abroad because “if you don’t make an effort to debunk those myths, they’ll perpetuate themselves.”
