r/nottheonion • u/novagridd • 6h ago

Thailand's Prostitution Patrol on High Alert as 5,000 US Sailors Drop Ship After 200 Days at Sea

https://www.fashiontimes.co.uk/pattaya-police-intensify-prostitution-patrols-us-navy-visit-1763395
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u/nerdmor 6h ago

Honest question for those who served: isn't there a serious risk of a bunch of those sailors simply going AWOL?

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u/MsCorningstone 6h ago

Thailand has really strict visa policies for US military. Even if they do go awol, they are not getting out of the country and will have a tough time since many sailors do not even have passports. I was there in '09 and we had to jump through hoops to get sailors in and out of the country. Some were denied entry and had to be sent to the next port.

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u/VirtualLife76 5h ago

Never thought about it, how does that work? Do they have a local checking everyone as the get off the boat or is it more of an honor system?

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u/MsCorningstone 4h ago

There is an agreement between the two countries. Sailors do not go through immigration when they go into a foreign port. Essentially they send a list to the country and everyone that comes in with the boat needs to leave with the boat.

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u/front_yard_duck_dad 5h ago

I never served but have been around enough Old timers to know that they will have flown military police from the mainland and be patrolling because the second those dudes don't check into their boat. They will get snatched up by military police

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u/MsCorningstone 4h ago

The ship has its own police force, and shore patrol will consist of MA's and people on assigned duty. They do not fly in military police... they're already on the boat.

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u/front_yard_duck_dad 4h ago

You're totally right under normal circumstances but I firmly believe with how aggressive this administration is to look good at all times they will take extra precaution and up the numbers.

They absolutely would not take the chance of even a single news story getting out about AWOL's

Edit. Especially with the low morale. The pictures that are getting leaked of how bad the food is for them. Not to mention, I can't imagine they are gung-ho about what their mission is and how shitty it looks to the world.

This is the administration that murders its own citizens with an extra judicial masked police force after all

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u/RentIsThePoint 3h ago

I firmly believe with how aggressive this administration is to look good at all times

lol what? If that's what they are trying they are doing the worst job of it.

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u/tractiontiresadvised 3h ago

In addition to what the other person said about sailors not going through immigration, civilian contractors also go to other countries with the military without passports. (A guy I know went to the Middle East as a civilian contractor, and while he had a passport he ended up never having to show it to anybody because he flew there on a military cargo transport.)

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u/harambe_did911 4h ago

The way immigration typically works in every country is you have to prove you're legal to be there for anything important like employment or housing. It's common to have a list of people overdue that they are hunting down

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u/nerdmor 2h ago

Thank you very much for the perspective

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u/yinzerthrowaway412 5h ago

Most of these folks have family and lives at home. Many are working on earning a retirement pension.

They’ll get leave, some will do stupid shit, then they’ll be back at sea in like a week

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u/Shaggy_bulls07 6h ago

Lol I wasn't in this specific branch but I mean not really. Again being at sea is really shitty but most of these Saliors have lives in the US they not gonna abandon and lose their pay benefits for what. Also depending on the ship maybe the Navy is different but they probably gonna be extra strict.

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u/Own-Lemon8708 5h ago

Not really, everyone knows that basically ruins your life forever. 

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u/swaywithwords 5h ago

Do you understand the consequences of going AWOL?

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u/maurosmane 5h ago

I was in the US army and was part of a small group of soldiers that went and built some elementary schools in rural Thailand that were gifted to the Thai people as part of a much larger two week exercise later that year.

We only had two platoons, and one of the platoon sergeants (E7) had already been to the city we were staying in to scout out hotels, etc.

When we got to the city we had about 12 hours of personal time to explore. He went to go see some people he met when he was there prior. Didn't come back for four days and was in rough shape when he did.

People were seriously worried about him, and then when it was fine out he essentially went AWOL it got real hush hush and we never saw him again.

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u/zdubbzzz 3h ago

I'm just a corporate desk jockey. I don't understand the consequences of going AWOL. What are they?

1

u/harambe_did911 4h ago

DEATH! Fr though I had an unhinged lpo once that would threaten the new guys with "the max penalty for unauthorized absence" a lot lol

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u/Vaylor77 5h ago

Not really. They would be stuck in a foreign country with a bunch of issues coming their way. They're on their way home now, probably another port visit or 2 on the way. They also have a ton of money in their pockets from all of the bonus pay they've been getting, unless they have a family at home. 

Once they get home half the crew will take a month off, then they swap. At least that's how it was when I had an extended deployment similar to this. Ship needed a lot of repairs. 

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u/trooperjess 5h ago

You think they will get hazardous duty pay. I doubt it. It will come down as "well you weren't at war and the Democrats made us to make you leave right before we won the war." "Winners get paid, losers are suckers."

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u/goodsnpr 4h ago

They have sea pay and likely hazard duty pay, though that may be rating dependant. The real question is wether it's a combat zone and tax free or not.

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u/harambe_did911 4h ago

Why would they do that? To live as a fugitive in Thailand forever when they are finally almost home?

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u/Successful-Reason403 5h ago

Our military is voluntary service, and for many it’s looked at as a career or path to one. So no, if someone wanted out they would probably just go through normal channels.

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u/french_snail 4h ago

No lol consider the fact that at most overseas bases you can go off base whenever you want and you never hear of a soldier wandering off Okinawa or camp Humphreys and trying to integrate with the local population 

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u/Pure_Perspective_201 2h ago

IIRC the ship is on it's way home. No one in their right mind is going to go AWOL when home port is a few weeks away.

Liberty incidents will be down too I bet. Again, the threat of being on restriction when they return to home port is going to keep people inline.

Shit, I bet a bunch of people on that ship wish they could just skip the port entirely if it meant getting home a few days earlier.

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u/freddbare 1h ago

Especially the ones who know charges will be coming if they drink

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u/-gildash- 4h ago

Not at all. That would be a remarkably unhinged choice.

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u/VicariousNarok 4h ago

All sense leaves when man sees the promised land after many months of hand-to-gland combat.

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u/freddbare 1h ago

It's typical behavior for an "active" time to not port up every six months... Squeaky wheels and orange man bad is all we want to hear