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Pentagon cracks down on paid sex
By JAMES W. CRAWLEY
Media General News Service
Thursday, January 12, 2006
WASHINGTON -- R&R will never be the same.
Military commanders traditionally cast a blind eye to sailors, soldiers, Marines and airmen paying for sex -- especially overseas. "What happens on deployment stays on deployment," the Navy saying goes.
That's no longer true.
Paying for sex -- soliciting a prostitute -- is now a crime in the military, punishable by a dishonorable discharge and up to a year in the brig or stockade.
When President Bush signed the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act this week, patronizing prostitutes, even in locales where prostitution is legal, became punishable by court-martial, said Pentagon spokeswoman Lt. Col. Ellen Krenke.
The law and the military ban are part of the government's efforts to reduce human trafficking of children and women for sex, the main source of prostitutes overseas, officials said.
"You don't have to be a criminal to aid human trafficking," Krenke said.
By threatening to punish service members for hiring hookers, Krenke said, the Pentagon is trying to reduce the demand for prostitutes.
"It's a smart way of killing the market (for paid sex)," said Eugene Fidell, president of the National Institute of Military Justice, an organization of military law attorneys in Washington.
Tales of brothels lining the roads outside military bases are legend. Sea stories about places like Olongapo, Philippines, and Hollywood movies, like "The Last Detail," glorified the "pay-for-sex" experiences of generations of servicemen.
Then came AIDS, the Tailhook controversy and reports of rape. The Pentagon cracked down on bad behavior at home and aboard.
"The good old days of military service -- hard drinking, hard smoking and hard living, especially on the road -- are a thing of the past," Fidell said.
"This is not your daddy's military," he added.
Soliciting sex is not the only bad behavior under military scrutiny. New rules are also hanging up cell phone users who talk and drive on military bases.
A new regulation orders all military bases to ban drivers from using cell phones unless the vehicle is parked or the user has a hands-free phone. Violators, including civilians, could be fined.
Similar bans have been enacted in the District of Columbia, New York, New Jersey and Connecticut.
James W. Crawley reports from Washington for Media General News Service.
www.potomacnews.com/servlet/Satellite
---------------------
Pentagon cracks down on paid sex
By JAMES W. CRAWLEY
Media General News Service
Thursday, January 12, 2006
WASHINGTON -- R&R will never be the same.
Military commanders traditionally cast a blind eye to sailors, soldiers, Marines and airmen paying for sex -- especially overseas. "What happens on deployment stays on deployment," the Navy saying goes.
That's no longer true.
Paying for sex -- soliciting a prostitute -- is now a crime in the military, punishable by a dishonorable discharge and up to a year in the brig or stockade.
When President Bush signed the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act this week, patronizing prostitutes, even in locales where prostitution is legal, became punishable by court-martial, said Pentagon spokeswoman Lt. Col. Ellen Krenke.
The law and the military ban are part of the government's efforts to reduce human trafficking of children and women for sex, the main source of prostitutes overseas, officials said.
"You don't have to be a criminal to aid human trafficking," Krenke said.
By threatening to punish service members for hiring hookers, Krenke said, the Pentagon is trying to reduce the demand for prostitutes.
"It's a smart way of killing the market (for paid sex)," said Eugene Fidell, president of the National Institute of Military Justice, an organization of military law attorneys in Washington.
Tales of brothels lining the roads outside military bases are legend. Sea stories about places like Olongapo, Philippines, and Hollywood movies, like "The Last Detail," glorified the "pay-for-sex" experiences of generations of servicemen.
Then came AIDS, the Tailhook controversy and reports of rape. The Pentagon cracked down on bad behavior at home and aboard.
"The good old days of military service -- hard drinking, hard smoking and hard living, especially on the road -- are a thing of the past," Fidell said.
"This is not your daddy's military," he added.
Soliciting sex is not the only bad behavior under military scrutiny. New rules are also hanging up cell phone users who talk and drive on military bases.
A new regulation orders all military bases to ban drivers from using cell phones unless the vehicle is parked or the user has a hands-free phone. Violators, including civilians, could be fined.
Similar bans have been enacted in the District of Columbia, New York, New Jersey and Connecticut.
James W. Crawley reports from Washington for Media General News Service.
www.potomacnews.com/servlet/Satellite
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