The goober christo-fascist brigade has made a significant inroad into crime and punishment. In the US Military. It's now a UCMJ-punishable offense to patronize a hooker (what about in Nevada, where prostitution is, um..legal?).
For the first time, the Department of Defense has specifically made it a crime for a servicemember to patronize a prostitute. The punishment: up to a year in prison, forfeiture of pay and dishonorable discharge.
The formal order came in a presidential executive order signed without fanfare Oct. 14, directing changes in the Manual for Courts-Martial. It is part of an assault the military has been waging against human trafficking.
Interesting that it's in another Preznit Stumpy Dick fiat, isn't it? I wonder how much pressure the right idiot Dobson and his cohorts exerted to get it enacted?
Let me be real clear here: I don't favor human trafficking, and ostensibly this is what this is going to help end. But, soldiers and sailors have always sought the comfort of women of the oldest profession for as long as there have been armies. Right? No. True? Yes. Seeking that "comfort" is not a practice that restricts itself to the E-1 to E-9 group of soldiers and sailors either. It will be interesting to see if this is enforced in the case of officers as well. I have seen many, many of my peers in the former Subic Bay/Cubi Point bases make their required and entirely voluntary missions over Shit River to score a little comfort. Yours truly was no choir boy as a first-tour San Miguel fueled young aviator on a mission.
Subic doesn't exist as a port that is anything like it was, but the Navy still goes (I think) to ports like Phattaya Beach, Thailand, where you used to be able to go to a whorehouse and see all the girls sitting on bleachers, with big numbers on their chests...you ordered a girl (or two or three) by number, and went off to do business with them. I can honestly say that the exploits of some of the senior officers would have earned them that Duck Dinner rather quickly...Their defense, for all pencil-necked moralists would have been Phattaya was our first port after a 135-day at-sea period. No liquor, except beer days, no women and no (known) sex.
Is this going to end the practice? No. But it's guaranteed to ruin lives. You can't legislate keeping your dick in your pants no matter how much you try. Education about what the victims of human trafficking go through, and reinforcement of that by discussion would do far more, I believe to keep most soldiers and sailors out of brothels than all the puritanical rules promulgated on behalf of the alleged "men of god" who are Preznit Mine's Bigger "base".
While the change to the courts-martial manual makes it clearer that prostitution is illegal, Marine commanders from the top down already know that prostitution is a punishable offense and have taken steps to combat it, wrote Marine Corps spokesman Maj. Douglas Powell via e-mail.
“Marines are briefed by their commanders, especially those who are deploying overseas, that they should not engage in prostitution,” Powell said.
Yeah. Briefed. Wink. Wink. Unless they're required to provide a scalp or two, I have a feeling this is some "feel-good" rule-making. Prosecution of this would probably drive morale into the shitter so fast it wouldn't be funny. Besides, what happens when the first one caught is a popular, fast-track officer? Ooops. Sorry, can you say...Article 15?
Jo, you're letting your irrational hatred of Christians and Bush get in the way of clear thinking. A UCMJ ban on patronizing prostitutes is a good thing not just because it puts a dent in the market for human trafficking but because it puts a dent in the market for AZT (to treat HIV infection) and pennicilin to treat the clap and syphillis.
Yes, I made the journey over Shit River into Olongopo back in my day, but just to get get tanked up on San Miguel (still have an empty bottle in my office!) and to listen to a band at the Arizona Club that you could have sworn was the real Led Zepplin. Every single guy in my platoon came down with the clap but me. I wonder why.
posted by: bean on 01.08.06 at 04:56 PM [permalink]
Because nothing will stop people like telling them it's against the rules. This isn't about disliking the sock puppet and the uber-Christians, it's stupid as hell, and the only thing that will come out of it is fucking up a lot of careers.
posted by: suburban refugee on 01.08.06 at 10:51 PM [permalink]
Whether it will put a dent in this or not remains to be seen,but like you said it is going to destroy lives and that is a fact. They are never gonna stop this stuff from going on and they know it,it is another way to bleed money out of the guys risking thier lives and nine times out of ten a right wing nut came up with this,they "the right" want full control and if it is making a stupid thing into reality that is the road they take because what it is about is,,,,control and power.
Fess up, bean. You LOVED having the stainless swab ran down the end of yer schlong, testing for clap.
You just didn't say shit about it. I only got a minor dose myself. And, I was careful about the hookers too. I was only in Olongapo 4 days, on a parts run from Iwakuni.
When that nice looking female Navy Doc ran the bastid down the end of my hooooo-ya...it sure makes those transforaminal nerve blocks in my spine with those 14" needles, seem like a cakewalk.
posted by: Barndog on 01.09.06 at 03:22 AM [permalink]
Getting the Clap, was always a 'Captains Mast' on my ship. Getting a bad sunburn was also. 'Destruction of Government property'
It's good to see Bush & Co. still have their priorities in order.
posted by: Tony on 01.09.06 at 09:54 AM [permalink]
Getting the Clap, was always a 'Captains Mast' on my ship. Getting a bad sunburn was also.
Funny enough, the worst sunburn I ever got in my life was at the MAU camp near Cubi Point. I was burned so bad I was puking, but I didn't see the corpsman because it would have been an Article 15.
posted by: bean on 01.09.06 at 11:00 AM [permalink]
What the hey? They don't call it the oldest profession for no good reason. I don't care how much the legislate and make rules the soldiers and sailors will continue to find solace in the arms of these ladies of the night.
I agree that this may be a career breaker for some, but then these places have always been put off limits anyway and they continued to flourish. I know from my three tours in Korea and Vietnam that if a guy has to take care of business, he will. Hell, in Korea they had an early warning system for when the MPs were spotted in the neighborhood. Suddenly everyone would scatter just to reassemble later on.
So now to the serious question. Is the administration going to appoint a Sex Czar to enforce these new policies? What do you want to bet it will be another crony. Brother Neil Bush perhaps? He's got a lot of experience in Asian whorehouses.
posted by: Lowell on 01.09.06 at 01:10 PM [permalink]
It's one of the conditions of my going into the military, access to booze and whores.
Had a discussion about this with my girlfriend. I was really just feeling her out "So, apparently, under pressure from right-wingers who've never smelled the smoke, the administration made it a punishable offense to visit a prostitute, even in countries where prostitution is legal." Being a vet, I thought I had an airtight case. Oh, no.
"Well, good. Don't we want our servicepeople to be held to a higher standard than that of sleazy sex tourists?"
She got me there. Having been a Marine, I was always horrified at the behavior abroad of soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines. I held the Marines Who Bahaved Badly in special contempt, however.
First with the jab, then with the roundhouse: "And just because they treat women one way in that country, does that mean we have to treat them that way, too?" The human rights roundhouse was the finisher.
So, I think that at least on paper, the thing is a good idea. And it will, in all practical purposes, be best used as a nuisance punishment to get rid of shitbirds and Cat V types.
Sincerely,
Never Got To Pubic Bay, Dammit.
posted by: Echo4Mike on 01.11.06 at 02:36 PM [permalink]
Mike - well I could go the my squadron photo my Bro has in his shop, and pick off about 20 "O"'s along with the OHMIGOD enlisted scumbags pukes, whom have violated those human rights.
But, your retort should have been (I should PT you until your ass bleeds): until you travel there, and sample the culture as I have, then you will never understand their reasoning for such behavior towards servicemen and women. Men are not the only ones approached by prostitutes.
I know plenty of women who went in the military straight as the day is long, and came out - gay or bi-sexual. Same with men.
The shoe fits all sizes and feet. It doesn't know any gender discrimination.
posted by: Barndog on 01.12.06 at 03:50 AM [permalink]
Tne final sentence in the Stripes report is intriguing: "Marines are briefed by their commanders, especially those who are deploying overseas, that they should not engage in prostitution."
Does this mean they are not to charge either anymore?
