A couple of issues here. First off the army has specified this policy is only for recruiters, which make up a VERY small portion of the army. The reason for this is perception. They do not want a recruiter arrested and their mug shot on the local news since this would detract from their mission of enticing young people to join the military. The same would apply to someone that wants to go into politics. I doubt the women's groups and conservatives would be voting for someone known to frequent SC, so they tend to stay away from such places. Also there is the chance that the recruiter would run into someone inside the club (brother, father, sister, etc) of a potential recruit and that the "message" would get back to the prospect that the military has questionable morals and the person would opt not to join. This is why the army is telling it's recruiters to stay out of strip clubs.
As for everyone else in the army, as long as the establishment has not been identified as a rip off location or a place likely to get the soldier attacked, then the army does not place restrictions on going there. During my military career, there were always bars or areas off limits to soldiers. Didn't mean you didn't go there, but you made sure you were more attentive to your surroundings to avoid getting in trouble. And the truth is that usually the off limit locations were the ones nearest post and had the nastiest options for entertainment, so just driving a little farther got you a better quality level of entertainment and a better evening.
Finally, the stat about the amount of money spent last year and the number of military personnel. A couple of things need to be remembered. First, a large percent of the military is either deployed or stationed outside the US and that total probably doesn't include what they spent. Secondly, a lot of military personnel are married, with families, so the disposable income is probably not there to be going to SC. Third, the pay scale sucks, especially for lower enlisted which are the most likely to be single, but they tend to spend a lot of their income on electronics, their cars, and booze on post. Finally, if you look at the location of military posts, they tend to be out in the middle of nowhere, with at best a small town locally. This does not bode well to having a lot of options for strip clubs and if there are options, the clubs have to be VERY careful not to get in trouble because that will lead to being placed off limits by the post.
Overall, the military are not a bunch of prudes like the story might make it sound. Hell it took years for them to stop selling booze to 18 year old recruits (I still think they should) and considering the risks you face doing the job, they are not going to limit you legal options for entertainment on your personal time. This was simply a business decision because they want to keep their recruitment numbers up without having to rotate new soldiers in as recruiters to replace ones that have lost their creditability.
The recruiters used to promise outings to strip clubs to get high school kids to enlist. Between the time you enlisted and the time you shipped off for boot camp, the recruiters would throw parties and take groups of recruits to strip clubs. Anything to meet their recruiting quotas.
I sent Trump a text about this outrage. We are on a first name basis since I correctly predicted his election victory. He wrote back and said he’d promptly issue an executive order requiring members of the military to frequent strip clubs and grab ‘em you know where.
Was there anyone here who was sent to serve a tour in South Korea? I don't know about the other services, but I spoke to an Army enlisted and an Army officer on two separate occasions about the different "black gonorrhea" speeches they received. Ill tell the rest of the story after I hear if anyone got that speech.
I got the SDI class along with film when I was stationed in Japan back in '64. Didn't stop any of us. I remember one story of 30 military guys returning from Viet Nam to Japan in a C-130. 29 of them had their dicks wrapped in toilet paper.
When I went down to the Air Force recruiting office to enlist, I was surprised to see a sergeant that I recognized from one of my college night classes.
The $1 million is only the amount charged to government travel cards. It’s the only way they would know. Its strictly forbidden to use the card for anything other than official travel related expenses. Anyway, there’s no way to track money spent by soldiers at strip clubs using cash or individual credit cards.
Another interesting thing about this policy is it only applies to recruiters on TDY (Temporary Duty). If at home station, they are free to monger as much as they want.
@DC: what you do not realize is that soldiers stationed in Germany, for example, are not deployed, so they would not be in your numbers of deployed troops. The deployed number are soldiers who are away from their home station for any reason and can include being sent to training posts like the National Training Center in California for war games/training or soldiers shipped to Iraq. Deployed covers a broad spectrum, but just being outside the US does not make you deployed. As for the reservists/Nasty Guardsmen (I can say that since I was one), they are basically free to do what ever they want on their own dime as long as they are able to report for duty on their drill weekends/ annual training and DOD policies really only apply to them full time when they are activated/deployed. As long as they are sober, can pass a drug test if required, qualify to be deployed, and report on time the DOD doesn't care what they do the other 28(+/-) days a month they are civilian.
@DrE: you are correct, assuming they monger at home on their own dime. Likewise, if they are on TDY, they can still monger on their own dime, they just need to make sure they do not raise any attention on themselves.
I am surprised to see them doing that because travel expenses/ credit cards used to be scrutinized much closer and even booze often got you in trouble if you charged it. Times must be a changing. And hell, all I got out of enlisting was 3 college degrees, bad knees, and PTSD, but no strippers. I feel cheated. LOL
Dude I worked briefly in some shithole Oklahoma town where some moron I was trying to sell a dance to was trying to recruit me to join the army LOL like wtf
I was at a club once when a female soldier walked in, in uniform. Was kinda taken aback, then a bunch of dancers ran up to her to say hi - she was a former dancer who enlisted. No idea if her recruiter first met her there!
I used to work with a former Army Ranger. So this is not some rear line artillery loader or gomer pyle dogface. The Army's premier light infantry turned top-tier instrumentation tech. He swore 100% that when he rotated into SK, they took everyone in a room for the STD briefing and they learned that there was an incurable strain of gonorrhea called "the Black Gonorrhea", and if they caught it they would not be allowed back into the USA. This disease was so nasty and un-treatable that their passports would be revoked, they would get a dishonorable discharge, and they could never go home. No matter how much I argued there was no such thing and that would never happen, he was adamant that it was true and real.
Fast forward a few years, I'm having a dinner with a client when I find out he was a commissioned officer in the Army who spent a lot of time in Korea. I tell him the story about the Black Gonorrhea briefing. He laughs and tells me how, when he was first deployed to SK, they separated the enlisted guys and officers for the STI briefing. The commissioned officers all signed NDAs, and were then told about the fiction being given to the enlisted guys in the next room.
It makes sense. The Army would rather use the antibiotics to treat wounded than STDs (remember the Cipro shortage after the Iraq invasion), and all the soldiers would go to the same brothels and share the same diseases. It cracks me up that they would go so far as to invent that type of fiction, complete with NDAs for officers who were clued in.
I’m sure you did hear it. I heard the story too. It’s barracks talk, but there were no briefings on “black gonnarhea.” The Army does lots of stupid shit, but this wasn’t one of them.
In the STD class that I had to attend in Japan and concern was leaking classified information to prostitutes that might be working for the other side. Living off base with them was really frowned upon.
In the 2 years that I was stationed there I probably had sex with 50 different prostitutes. All night bare back and the only thing I ever caught was a case of the crabs and I blame that on the cheap hotel she took me to.
Back in 1992, when we prepared to deploy to Somalia, we were all given "the briefing" about STDs. We heard about all the normal stuff and then they dropped the cherry on top of the sundae so to speak. They said and I quote "you are being deployed to the region that is the epi-center of the worlds AIDS/HIV outbreak, we strongly suggest you do not partake of the local populace because the odds are STRONGLY in your favor that you will be infected which will result in at best a general discharge (no pun intended) and potential charges under the Uniformed Code of Military Justice for dereliction of duty and damage to government property. Additionally, it is doubtful that you will qualify for VA benefits if discharged."
Needless to say, homie here did NOT partake even though I had a local offer his 15 year old sister, 3 hits of cocaine, and a handful of Chat (local drug) all for $5 US total. Plus, with the nurses from the Swedish Army hospital, who the hell needed the emaciated locals for entertainment.
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As for everyone else in the army, as long as the establishment has not been identified as a rip off location or a place likely to get the soldier attacked, then the army does not place restrictions on going there. During my military career, there were always bars or areas off limits to soldiers. Didn't mean you didn't go there, but you made sure you were more attentive to your surroundings to avoid getting in trouble. And the truth is that usually the off limit locations were the ones nearest post and had the nastiest options for entertainment, so just driving a little farther got you a better quality level of entertainment and a better evening.
Finally, the stat about the amount of money spent last year and the number of military personnel. A couple of things need to be remembered. First, a large percent of the military is either deployed or stationed outside the US and that total probably doesn't include what they spent. Secondly, a lot of military personnel are married, with families, so the disposable income is probably not there to be going to SC. Third, the pay scale sucks, especially for lower enlisted which are the most likely to be single, but they tend to spend a lot of their income on electronics, their cars, and booze on post. Finally, if you look at the location of military posts, they tend to be out in the middle of nowhere, with at best a small town locally. This does not bode well to having a lot of options for strip clubs and if there are options, the clubs have to be VERY careful not to get in trouble because that will lead to being placed off limits by the post.
Overall, the military are not a bunch of prudes like the story might make it sound. Hell it took years for them to stop selling booze to 18 year old recruits (I still think they should) and considering the risks you face doing the job, they are not going to limit you legal options for entertainment on your personal time. This was simply a business decision because they want to keep their recruitment numbers up without having to rotate new soldiers in as recruiters to replace ones that have lost their creditability.
When I went down to the Air Force recruiting office to enlist, I was surprised to see a sergeant that I recognized from one of my college night classes.
@DrE: you are correct, assuming they monger at home on their own dime. Likewise, if they are on TDY, they can still monger on their own dime, they just need to make sure they do not raise any attention on themselves.
I am surprised to see them doing that because travel expenses/ credit cards used to be scrutinized much closer and even booze often got you in trouble if you charged it. Times must be a changing. And hell, all I got out of enlisting was 3 college degrees, bad knees, and PTSD, but no strippers. I feel cheated. LOL
Fast forward a few years, I'm having a dinner with a client when I find out he was a commissioned officer in the Army who spent a lot of time in Korea. I tell him the story about the Black Gonorrhea briefing. He laughs and tells me how, when he was first deployed to SK, they separated the enlisted guys and officers for the STI briefing. The commissioned officers all signed NDAs, and were then told about the fiction being given to the enlisted guys in the next room.
It makes sense. The Army would rather use the antibiotics to treat wounded than STDs (remember the Cipro shortage after the Iraq invasion), and all the soldiers would go to the same brothels and share the same diseases. It cracks me up that they would go so far as to invent that type of fiction, complete with NDAs for officers who were clued in.
In the 2 years that I was stationed there I probably had sex with 50 different prostitutes. All night bare back and the only thing I ever caught was a case of the crabs and I blame that on the cheap hotel she took me to.
Needless to say, homie here did NOT partake even though I had a local offer his 15 year old sister, 3 hits of cocaine, and a handful of Chat (local drug) all for $5 US total. Plus, with the nurses from the Swedish Army hospital, who the hell needed the emaciated locals for entertainment.