Denial of Marriage while based in iwakuni, is this legal?

Also can a married marine live of base with his non sponsered wife?

Ok so here is the deal, I met my fiancé whilst on holiday in Japan, he is based in Iwakuni, I am a Australian citizen. We have been together nearly a year and we are getting married. 

Although when he went to hand in the paperwork the higher ups kept it in the office and will not allow him to move it forward to the CO, they keep telling him to sleep around and to drink and be a 21 year old boy, they think he has no idea what he is getting himself into.

After multiple times of telling them he wishes still to be married and that goes against his religion they are now just holding onto the paperwork and making him talk to more people, is this legal?

Can they actually stop you from being married? I do not wish to apply for command sponsorship due to being Australian I can live in Iwakuni for up to a year anyway and work this is not a problem.

 Although I am curious if we are eventually allowed to be married, once married will he be allowed to live in town with me if I am not command sponsored?

Also if they do not forward his paperwork to the CO for marriage approval we will obtain the affidavit of competency to marry form the US embassy in Osaka, seeing as though we have done all the blood tests and the pre counselling and classes.

The order states that you may get married overseas if this is all complete and the only reason you need CO approval is to go to legal and get the affidavit, can he get in trouble for skipping this step? I thought US citizens have every right to be married if they want to be and being a marine cannot stop that. 

I am very confused and angry by this type of behaviour from people who are supposed to be role models to my fiancé. 

Any information would help

I am a little surprised that you have to have permission to do this. My husband and I were both active duty at at one time and we did not have to get permission to get married. By the way, I was 21 when we got married and he was 23...we have been married 18 years.

I don't know if the marine and the navy is the same but I am married to a navy, not command sponsored and we didn't ask permission. The reason that they are making him do all the paperwork and process is due to the high divorce rate with young military people overseas that gets married and the fact that most of them are not ready. What we did though is we got married in the US. But here I cant guarantee you can do that since he is here under the SOFA as a marine. But maybe you can. If he is E5 he can get a house even if your not command sponsored but you cant live on base and it will be hard for him to get a house if hes not 2nd class which idk what you call in the USMC. But it is possible....

Marrying a foreign citizen without Command approval could result in problems (or revocation) of your fiance's security clearance. Make sure that his security manager is informed in writing of this request, and that part will be covered. If you guys get married and this is not reported, the next renewal of his clearance will NOT go well.  Also getting married without command sponsorship could cause multiple headaches with regard to SOFA sponsorship, off-quarters housing, medical insurance, life insurance, and the list goes on.  

Marrying into the military has a ton of headaches, but there are a ton of benefits, too.  You shouldn't go into this with the attitude that you can accept nothing from the military and will therefore have to put up with none of the crap.  It just doesn't work that way.  Do it right, jump through the hoops, and then the thing will be sewn up from the start and you and your new husband can concentrate on the important stuff.

Getting this done right is as simple as getting a chit routed up to the Commanding Officer, and even chits recommended for disapproval must be routed up the chain of command.  That's the rules, been there and done that... your immediate superior cannot simple throw your chit in the trashcan.  Save the copies, and after a few have been trashed request an audience with the XO/CO and plead your case.  It will really upset the folks in between but it will get the thing done.   

Posted By Humbrecht on 05-04-2012 10:24 PM
Marrying a foreign citizen without Command approval could result in problems (or revocation) of your fiance's security clearance.

This really is worth repeating.  At this point it sounds like they just think they are looking out for the guy, which given my own experiences - I can't say that's wrong.  BUT if he does completly buck them - then it could have a negative effect on his career.

I can not help you on this, my husband and I got married at the courthouse. From my knowledge he did not have to get permission but this may be different as I am already a U.S. Citizen.
While Military life is most defiantly hard on spouses and their children it is not an impossible task. My husband and I had a long distance relationship for a year before getting married and since then have had a deployments and our 3rd child is due in June. We are very happy, but you have to understand that it isn't his choice to have to stay over and do random little things at work... He will most likely come home in a bad mood now and then and can't even tell you why. If you would like to talk more about being a military spouse feel free to inbox me

I do wish you both the best of luck and hope to hear about your wedding soon :-)

I am an American who married an American Marine and we had problems ourselves. On the day that he went to take leave (already had it pre-approved for our wedding), his 1st Sergeant canceled it. Said he (the 1st Sergeant) decided we could postpone our wedding. We were both 25! It was/is also against our religious views to drink, have premarital sex, etc. and we refused to put off our wedding any longer - especially after leave orders had already been published for him to take for our wedding. Anyway, my husband just said if his leave to get married was going to be canceled then he was going to request mast. That was all he had to say for the 1st Sergeant to back off and let him leave for our wedding. I don't know if your fiance could also request mast - if he's already exhausted his other options.

Red- Just a note. Even after leave is approved, the military still reserves the right to cancel it, though it would require a much better reason than that.

As for this situation, i would do what has already been suggested and go to the next person up the chain of the command. If I remember correctly, for any type of request chit, there is a time limit that they are supposed to be routed in, so the person that is sitting on it would be violating that instruction, in the very least. Go to the next person up the chain and ask if they have seen it, then get them to ask why not.