by Sixstrings » Fri 20 Apr 2012, 17:20:44
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Plantagenet', 'T')he military prohibition on patronizing prostitutes reflects concern over sex-trafficking of young women......which is exactly how the brothels in Cartegena get their young women.
Interesting.. on the one hand soldiers having been using prostitutes ever since the Roman Empire and the Greeks before them. Historically if soldiers didn't use prostitutes, they raped and pillaged -- so prostitution was the civilized practice.
In modern times, soldiers and sailors have always used prostitutes. In WWII the local commander tried to shut down prostitution in Hawaii but it caused too much trouble so finally he settled for regulating the brothels. The military by nature is an unnatural situation, the guys don't get home at 6pm on the dot every night they aren't able to see their wives if married or ever get out and meet women or have time for dating. What are they supposed to do, be celibate? What are we going to do, take out a component of military life that's been around for thousands of years?
On the other hand.. the regulation you cite makes sense because sex trafficking is a horrible crime, if the women are underage obvioiusly or if otherwise abused. The Netherlands has the best answer on this, legal prostitution where they're not underage and the girls get frequent health checks for STD's and condoms are required. But we can't do that because we're so moral, yet you're going to have this massive army where the guys are expected to be celibate.
Also there have been several sex scandals in Japan, I think those were flat out rapes not prostitution, it's a major diplomatic problem between the US and Japan. So yes the military wants to get control over their soldiers' personal conduct given the massive diplomatic problems it's caused but what are you going to do young guys can't just be celibate for years.
(secret service is a WHOLE other deal, and probably some military personnel in sensitive positions -- they need to be monks, more has to be expected from them, you can't put the president in danger because you've got your hotel room full of colombian hookers and you really don't know if one is a spy -- look at that Russian spy ring, the one girl was very attractive and it was a honeypot trap she got close to a cabinet member)