Navy Sailors Used Government Credit Cards to Hire Prostitutes, Attend Adult Clubs

AP via TBO ^ | 10/7/02 | Larry Margasak

[Savage Beast]

I would much rather my hard earned money be spent on brothel services for sailors than on entitlement programs and other programs designed to elect corrupt Democrat politicians.

[Jean S]

Since when did we start determining what's right and wrong by the price tag?

Get real, it's $200,000 and the AP put this in their breaking news category. Don't you see an agenda here? Sheesh.

[HIDEK6]

No joke, all Congressmen combined probably spend tens of millions annually on drugs, alcohol, and hookers at taxpayer expense.

And what really frosts me is that the same thing is happening with hookers that happened with health care.

Once the government gets involved in paying for it, the normal guy can't afford it anymore.

[Excuse_My_Bellicosity]

Yes, I think they do need to conduct some intensive training. During my navy days, I've seen enlisted and junior officers that have gone out and blown 3/4 of their paycheck on the Friday after payday at the titty bar, then blow the rest on Saturday night drinking. God only knows what they would have done with a credit card. On my boat, we had two disbursing clerks (DKs) that were absconding with re-enlistment bonus checks worth about $10,000 each. By the time the authorities caught up with them, which didn't take very long, they had blown every nickel. They stole $60,000 each.

I've heard it said the Michael Jordan has more money than he can spend. He should send a big fat check to your average 21-year-old. They'll show you how to spend it.

[Excuse_My_Bellicosity]

On TV one time, I heard Steve Tyler from Aerosmith say that it is extremely dangerous for a 19-year-old to be able to literally afford his vices. Heck, I'd say it's dangerous for a really large segment of the population regardless of age.

[HIDEK6]

And we all know what an expert Steve Tyler is on the subject of adolescent develpment.

[Criminal Number 18F]

Thereare two separate issues here, which the promoters of this study are combining.

1. The financial dimension. That is, people are not paying their card bill and sticking DOD with it, supposedly, and;
2. The moral dimension. Some people are using the cards for things that the Powers That Be consider immoral.

If it's OK for Sailor Sam to draw a cash advance on his card (presuming he pays it back) it should be a matter of official indifference if he draws it in the ATM in the lobby of a church (not that I have ever seen such a thing, but then I've been out of Catholicism for a while) or if he draws it in a cathouse. To whoever wrote this, that's not the case.

The other side of the coin, that GAO is not disposed to investigate, is the crookedness of the DOD card system, which grew and which became mandatory to use for official travel during the Clinton administration.

The principal causes of delinquencies are two: the DOD is very slow to reimburse travel expences, and some guys, mostly junior guys, are simply too dumb to understand that they can't charge forever without paying.

The delays in paying the troops for their travel vouchers, which are routine, are simply a way to get the troops to loan part of their pay back to DOD interest free, and to bear personal responsibility for any resulting delinquencies.

Example: one of our guys, Joe, attended a school where he was required to stay in a hotel. A specific hotel (probably another FOB kickback in there). Joe was there three plus months. All on the GI credit card. It took three more months for the clerks who make up 95% of the Army to get around to cutting Joe a check (actually direct-depositing some $9,000 in overdue travel pay), by which time his hiney was in Afghanistan. Meantime he did not have the spare cash to pay the bill (since he had been dragged out of his profitable civilian job, activated, and put to work for some $5,000 less a month than he made before). His wife and kid are stressed out, and his credit now is ruined.

But hey, the way DOD manages this helps buy the clerks typewriter ribbons.

The reason the use of the card is mandatory is that it is affiliated with some "connected" bank corp (paging Mr Rubin?) and the bank profits hugely by the use of the card, and kicks back a portion of its profit to DOD. The last thing DOD wants is PO3 Smith or SGT Jones charging his lap dance (can you do such a thing?) on his private card and then getting the cash back or frequent flyer miles himself.

The reason the GAO is doing this investigation is because the high delinquency rate is making the bank and the DOD leave money on the table -- for every dollar they can screw out of a senior guy (at the cost of his credit) they are losing one to young folks' fiscal irresponsibility. So the bank uses its connexions to scream, "do something," and the Congress reacts and sends its GAO scurrying.

The troops are good, but there's a bucket of corrupt leadership in the Pentagon.

d.o.l.

Criminal Number 18F

[slowhandluke]

And the real hidden fun is that this was part of Gore's 'Reinventing Government' scam.

[Deb]

The only reason sailors haven't charged hookers before was...we didn't give 'em credit cards.

Whose idea was that?

[Jean S]

Clinton's?

[Excuse_My_Bellicosity]

On this one thing, he makes a good point. He's actually been in the position that he described and he didn't have good enough guidance as a kid to make the right choices later on. When Steve and Joe Perry were in their early 20s, they would share a fifth of vodka and snort a very large bag of coke every day. When it comes to drug use and how it can screw you up, Steve is an expert. Beyond that, I wouldn't trust him to bring me a glass of water.

[Deb]

Kennedy's?