Regarding the subject of prostitution and the military once again, it gets worse. From TTB, a veteran:
5:23 pm on May 2, 2012I doubt I can add any more to what you’ve already heard from other former and current members of the military regarding prostitution. It is indeed rampant wherever there’s a military presence. With prior military personnel joining the Secret Service, it can be expected they’ll continue their old habits in their new jobs.
Earlier I saw a link with a story about how folks living near a west coast Navy base were upset by a story about how sailors were using the services of Australian prostitutes who were apparently being overworked by all the traffic they had when US ships were in port. The hypocrisy is overwhelming. Virtually everyone in and around the Navy, to include family members, knows exactly what happens when sailors go to other ports. They just don’t want to publicly acknowledge it.
The spouses are no better. While the husbands are out to sea, they look for action as well. When I was in the Air Force a couple of decades ago at Charleston AFB, a transport base in SC, there was a large Navy presence in town and the Navy wives would come over to the Air Force base’s NCO club (where they weren’t as well known) “looking for action.” A senior NCO in my squadron told me about the “glory days” during the Vietnam War when so many ships were off the coast of Vietnam and Navy wives were coming over to the air base club for fun. This was so widely known that transport planes from other bases would work it into their schedules to have layovers at Charleston just to be able to take part. Even 20 years ago it was still going on, as confirmed by a guy in my own squadron who brought back Navy wives to his room after meeting them in the NCO club.
Navy wife morals were such a big joke that a local DJ used to regularly make cracks about them on the radio. Finally a Navy wives club offered him some money (I can’t remember how much — $100, maybe $500) to be donated to his favorite charity if he would cut the jokes. He was tempted, but he couldn’t do it, and he continued to make jokes about them and their activities.
As if all these revelations weren’t bad enough (to say nothing of GIs raping female soldiers and civilian women in occupied countries), the Army Times is now reporting on male soldiers sexually assaulting other male soldiers.
Of course there will be the usual blather about “just a few bad apples,” “not maintain Army core values,” “an isolated incident,” blah, blah, blah. Despite the denials, this sort of thing has been going on for a very long time, and it’s much more common than the Army will lead you to believe.
I’ve noticed that the more a unit thinks of itself as “elite,” the worse and more bizarre the actions. Here’s an incident reported in February in the Stars & Stripes.
The troublesome unit was the 1st Squadron, 108th Cavalry Regiment of the Georgia Army National Guard, and although the article didn’t get specific, I believe the real trouble was in Troop C, which is the squadron’s Long Range Surveillance unit. It’s the only part of the squadron on jump status, and in LRS units you’ll find “sick puppies” who had previously been in one of the Army’s Ranger battalions or at least went through Ranger School and feel they have to prove something to the rest of the squadron. I don’t know why some people in units feel an obligation to “initiate” newcomers, but if parents and youngsters knew what might await a new enlistee, they might be less enthusiastic about enlistments. I’m trying to figure out the difference between gang initiations and military unit initiations but, other than clothing worn by participants, they seem to be cut from the same cloth.
