Drunk U.S. soldiers clash on Pattaya's Walking Street, sent back to ship

After a five-day port call in Pattaya, Thailand, roughly 5,000 U.S. military personnel disembarked following a long deployment at sea. In the first night, two U.S. Army soldiers, both heavily intoxicated, engaged in a loud fight on the city’s notorious Walking Street, a hub for sex tourism. The disturbance prompted a local resident to alert police at about 1:30 a.m., and police chief Anek Strathongyoo reported the incident.

Authorities escorted the soldiers to a joint operations center operated by the U.S. Navy, the U.S. Marine Corps and Thai officials at the Hard Rock Cafe, after which they were returned to the carrier. The Navy announced that the two will stay aboard for the remainder of the shore leave, though no criminal charges are expected unless a Thai citizen is involved. Apart from this episode, police noted that heightened security measures and coordination with the U.S. Navy kept the rest of the visit incident-free.