Support the Troops?

Taking a look through Stars & Stripes, I found this article on a pending DoD rule barring the use of prostitutes by servicemembers. According to the article:

The Pentagon wants to add to the UCMJ a charge specifically addressing prostitution, and affixing a maximum punishment of one year of confinement and a dishonorable discharge for anyone convicted of paying a prostitute for sex.

A few days later, this article was followed by one summarizing the reactions of U.S. troops to this looming policy change:

Troops stationed in Germany are seeing red over the Pentagon’s proposal to add an anti-prostitution charge to the Uniform Code of Military Justice, and it’s not just the glow from the local red light district. Military personnel and their families on Rhein Main Air Base, only minutes from one of the largest red light districts in the world, are angered by the Department of Defense announcement to change the UCMJ. Those interviewed largely agree that Germany is not the place to enforce such a law.

Further surveys of troop opinions were offered, here and here

Most intriguing is the firestorm of controversy this has unleashed in the Letters Pages.

For example, one soldier, based in Kuwait writes:

I am disturbed by the severity of the proposed anti-prostitution law as described in “DOD: Soliciting prostitute could end career” (Sept. 23), and that so many people agree with it because they feel prostitution is “morally wrong.” ... I think the Department of Defense really needs to reconsider this issue, and the gray areas in it, before the first freedom-loving GI’s life is destroyed by it.

Another, stationed in Okinawa, complains, "As if it’s not bad enough that we are already the laughingstock of the world for our puritanical views on sex, now someone feels the need to reinforce these beliefs with a new rule!" A former Air Force soldier now working as a contractor in Japan worries "I really don’t like the way this law (or rule) is headed. The change in policy by the extreme conservative minority seems to be the start to a whole series of rules to come."

One soldier, stationed in Okinawa wrote in to support the proposed rule, arguing:

An airman’s comment that “if it’s illegal in the United States, then it should be illegal for the U.S. military” is right on. However, it’s more than an issue of legality: It’s an issue of morality. It is illegal to engage in prostitution because sex outside of marriage is wrong, much less sex engaged in for profit and/or recreation — not to mention against Christian principles and God’s law. The overwhelming majority of Americans profess to be Christians, and yet, to even consider prostitution as situationally acceptable is in direct violation of the basic tenets of Christianity.

Another soldier agrees, asserting "I was appalled after reading a letter to the editor to find out there are Americans who think they can do whatever they want and be justified. Prostitution is not only illegal, it is also immoral and degrading to the men who purchase sex and the women who sell it."

In contrast, a long-time soldier writes: "OK, enough is enough. As a member of the Army for 13 years, I have seen some rather stupid rules and regulations. Do we really need this type of regulation [against prostitution]?"

One airman stationed in Japan tactfully asserts: "Making a law against prostitution part of the Uniform Code of Military Justice is a little too personal. If this new law is implemented, you are adding and compounding problems. They’re demanding too much and the punishments will be too harsh."

One soldier colorfully notes:

When I read the article about the proposed ban on soldiers contracting prostitutes (“DOD: Soliciting prostitute should end career,” Sept. 23), I almost fell off my chair. Who could think of such a thing with a straight face?

An interesting debate...