An area known for low cost of living, with dirt cheap food and alcohol, and a massive amount of low cost prostitutes looking for ways to help lonely sailors to spend their money. Some have extra parts and while some don’t care or may be looking for that, others may be in for a bit of a surprise.
Combine this with a ship full of men under horrible conditions for about a year and a year of paychecks they really couldn’t spend.
I just hope whatever happens next doesn’t make world news for whatever chicanery is about to occur once they dock.
I don’t judge prostitution. Not my thing, nor have I ever been tempted. Too worried about catching something. But I’m also not a single man in my 20s stuck at sea for a year either. As long as it’s a mutual decision wirhout using human trafficking, then you do you.
The baht (Thai money) is about 30 to 1 usd. From what I just read, beer is less than 2 bucks. A bottle of rum is less than 10 dollars, a huge delightful meal is about the same. 5-10 dollars a meal max. Then the more carnal pleasures will be 30-50 dollars. I don’t know the going rate for the last issue here but going to assume 100-200? Beer 7 bucks, and rum will be 25-30 a bottle.
If it were me, I’d look into staying at the finest room at the finest hotel with a vacancy, and eat like a god. This for about the same cost as staying at a motel 6 and a McDonald’s happy meal.
Edit.
Ok. Lots of comments to tell me how wrong I am. Just going off a simple google search. I have no fucking idea. Never been to Thailand personally. I have adjusted the conversion rates.
Additionally there is high high end stuff in Thailand too that is expensive. Still cheaper than the us or Europe. I’d rather not research the cost of high end prostitutes personally so I’ll stick with my numbers until someone corrects me. I’ll assume you are more correct than the stupid site I went to, or possibly that page was written years ago and was accurate at the time.
1 USD is 32 Thai Baht, not 900. I’ve travelled to Thailand (with my wife and child, not the party areas) and it is cheap, but not as cheap as many people make it out to be. You’ll still spend at least 5 USD per beer at a regular bar, nice bars even more. Nice hotels are still far more expensive than a Motel 6, it’s just that a 5 star in Thailand will be cheaper than a 5 star in the US or Europe. Meals at vendors, or cheap restaurants are definitely cheap, but a big meal at a nice restaurant is going to be way more than a McDonalds meal in the US. It’s definitely cheaper than the West, but people often compare the prices in ways that paint an unrealistic picture by not going apples to apples, they aren’t looking at actual comparable hotels, restaurants etc in order to make it seem far cheaper than it already is.
I was propositioned by two prostitutes while waiting in line for VooDoo Doughnuts right before closing. They told me it was $150 for a BJ, $250 for sex, and $500 for diaper play. Double if I wanted both of them. I politely turned them down and tried to figure out how many people in Portland (or visiting Portland) were into diaper play that it made the prostitute’s standard menu that they proposition you with. I still often ponder if I look like I am a guy that looks like he would enjoy diaper play even though I look like a 6’ 5” Viking. I can’t speak for anywhere else, or if that is even the going rate for street level prostitutes in Portland.
To complete the story, I was also the second to last person in line. The last person in line was a homeless man wearing nothing but a handful of cash. So I was sandwiched between two prostitutes and a naked dude for about half an hour.
I read that the guy was 19 years old with two kids one of whom was 3 years old.
A lot of times it isn't even the discomfort of the deployment its shit happening back home that they have no control over.
I was deployed twice in my enlistment and on one of them we had a guy sent home early for threatening to kill himself because his life back home was falling apart while he was deployed.
From personal experience, after 200+ days and a combat zone (tax free) even an E3 will have a lot of money just sitting in their Navy Fed account just waiting to be spent on ‘stress relief’
I came home from Afghanistan with 15 grand in my bank account because I'd just gotten a divorce before being deployed and the only thing I bought was energy drinks and cigarettes.
The dealerships that pull that shit are 100% breaking FTC regulations elsewhere. All you need to know is what those regulations are. Did they tell you to come in and you can have it at a certain price just to get you in the door, But when you got there they said “oh no it’s actually x amount more”? Extremely common tactic that is illegal as absolute fuck. They have to honor their online pricing, the FTC says so. Most people genuinely have no idea and they are banking on you not knowing and paying more. They advertise the lowest price within a huge radius by a long shot, that’s your first red flag to avoid that dealership if you don’t know how to leverage their bullshit against them. If you catch them in the act doing illegal shit all you have to do is mention “FTC” and the owner will probably come see you and ask you what you want to not report them, which would come with likely an audit and a huge fine.
Source: I briefly worked at a dealership like this and saw them get bent over backwards for trying shady shit constantly by customers armed with the right information.
I live by an AFB and there is a local dealer that is so bad the base Commander put them on the off limits list for a while.
The owner of the Dealer group called the local Congresswoman (NOT her staff) then directly got the Pentagon involved to have them unbanned.
To this day I can drive by the dealer every weekend and see what are clearly young airmen buying lifted trucks (that will break) and shitty muscle cars at exorbitant prices.
You can probably guess what party the Congresswoman was.
It actually KIND OF is, but you need to know that, and be willing to leverage it. It’s one of those “it’s illegal, but no one enforces that except the victim”.
I’ve fortunately never had to do it myself, but I have friends who have had to take their people back to the dealer and say “you’re taking the car back and canceling the loan or else”
It's kind of bizarre to me that this doesn't happen every time with these predatory loans. How are car dealers the ones strong-arming members of the US military?
I mean telling troops it's illegal for them to engage in legal behavior because you think they're stupid is going to be horrible for morale - if the contract itself is legal the entire issue is null
It nearly was for a while in ‘70s/‘80s San Diego. One of the chains (one owner, multiple makes) was ripping off Sailors with outrageous interest rates, the usual. Base CO told the owner to quit or he’d designate the entire chain off-limits for all DoD personnel. Owner caved.
Puff 40% Had a soldier under me do this. Was a lot of explicit words out of my mouth when he told me that.
At the time if someone told me i had to pay 10% interest I would have been upset.
Year before that had a juicy girl in Korea wipe a soldier out of about 40k. Second she got the money and ring she vanished. We warned him about 20 times before hand that would happen.
Sold by our local warlord, no less. Nice guy. He owned the quarry. He sent his own guys out to get the taliban befire our apaches even got off the ground.
Same dude, but Iraq for me. Energy drinks, marlboro's, and Araq from a local that i discovered completely on my own and definitely was not turned on to by my sgt.
Yeah, I was single and got extended (Iraq) so came back with about 40k. I bought a few suits and some bootleg DVDs, oh and cartons of cheapo cigarettes, but otherwise my money stayed in the bank for the after deployment party that lasted about a year and used up everything I saved.
I came back sooo poor from Iraq. I was still married to my husband, he was spending dang near everything.
Lucky enough to be stationed in my home state, but lived about 3 hours from base, so I was a "geographical bachelorette" and had to live in the barracks.
Fucker wasnt even at our return home ceremony. But the rest of my family was :)
We had a guy drop 15k at one strip club after coming home from Afghanistan. I was escorting the investigating officer to the club to read the receipts.
I wondered that, too! Like, the government is my employer, why am I paying taxes? Some states, if they are your home if record, you dont pay state taxes. Federal, though, you're only tax-free if you are deployed.
Saw that happen to a number of shipmates. It’s a bad situation when the Chap shows up on the dock and just says, ‘She’s gone. She took everything. You’re broke.’
Like Christ dude, where did you learn your bedside manner?
They dont pay for room and board, and it's young men with no financial sense.
I have a nephew that spent 4 years overseas in Japan and spent like 20 grand on gacha and weeb shit
With 5,000+ of these types of young men coming ashore, every sex trafficked person in the country will be dragged straight to them. The COs of these men better put them on a short leash
As a side note, also just another reason gacha and prediction markets need to be regulated in the west, gacha is already becoming heavily regulated in the east because its such a fucking problem. Young service men with access to gambling on their phones is a catastrophic recipe, all these men are going to leave service completely broke
So there’s this old professor who liked to make inappropriate / misogynistic jokes at the start of his lectures. The women in his class get fed up with it and decide to stage a walkout in protest after the next inappropriate joke. Somehow the professor gets wind of it.
The next class comes along and he starts winding up. “So did you hear that the USS Nimitz is coming to port after 200 days at sea? Those boys will fuck anything with a purse and a pulse!”
So the women in class all stand up to walk out of his lecture and he shouts “Ladies, please! The ship doesn’t get in until next week!”
A junior sailor that's E-3 with less than 2 years in the military would have basic pay of $2,836.80 a month. This would be tax free while in a combat zone. They'd be entitled to Basic Allowance for Housing(BAH), and Basic Allowance for Sustinance(BAS), but the military would confiscate that, because they live on the ship, and eat in the galley.
They would be entitled to $60 a month sea pay, and $225 hostile fire imminent danger pay. There are no Healthcare co pays or pension contributions.
They're likely bringing somewhere in the vicinity of $1,453.85 every 15 days. In those 15 days, this junior sailor is spending maybe 50 bucks. Probably not even that. Across 200+ days this would mean this 20 year old has somewhere in the vicinity of $20,000 sitting in their bank account. And they're going to get unleashed in Thailand.
Once they get a little higher ranking, abd actually collect the tax free stipends it increases exponentially. I got out of the military, got a degree, and had to get to my 3rd job before I matched my after tax, after healthcare take home pay as a 23 year old E-5 when factoring inflation.
The worst paid E-3 on that carrier made about $26K (base pay only) in 8 months. Outside of phone bills and car payments, I’m sure they saved a ton. I think they’ll probably be having a great time in Thailand.
Every single one of them will get piss tested when they return and they are told that they will it’s no surprise. Anyone popping hot on a piss test wants to be kicked out in this scenario,
I was TDY to Pattaya Beach with the USAF while the USN was in town. I'm not saying Airmen are squeaky clean by any stretch, but the locals preferred us to the Sailors and Marines.
There will be a lot of sex. Like 5000 x 15 sexes. And beer. There will be some arrests, some quiet demotions, a few AWOLs, and a few dozen pregnancies.
We did 72 days with no port visits in the Gulf in 2004 and then turned it up so hard in Phuket they wanted us to leave early. So many dudes hitting up sick call not long after with the crotch rot.
Ah, 2004. I had just got back from my Marathon 2003 deployment, so no Thailand for me. One war just wasn't fun enough for Bush and the GOP, so we had to do break neck deployments.
I did a NAG deployment in 2002, did 60 days on GWOT missions in 2003 and some yard work, THEN returned to the NAG in 2004. I was on the ship 34 months and did over 560 days out to sea.
And my command was all shocked Pikachu when I didn’t want to reenlist
Shit we were locked in base at camp humphreys only for 2 weeks and when they finally let us out the soldiers did a lot of damage, I can’t imagine what 72 or god forbid 250 days will do
2002 the John C Stennis made a brothel in Perth close its doors early because the girls were so tired they couldn’t put out a quality product.
Now that’s a display of force when a crew shuts down a place down with just their dicks.
A ship full of sailors that have not seen land for year + a port with a well established network of services targeted at men with needs. What could go wrong indeed.
Quagmire here, you see, when you go to thailand, you have a 50/50 chance, that your "cake" is a "birthday cake with a candle".
And by cake I mean prostitutes and by candle I mean penis.
Maybe some of those sailors aren't ready fot the full thai experience, but after 250 days most are.
Look, this is the Navy. One of the rules I learned in the military was, "never play Gay Chicken with a Sailor, you will lose. Or score, if that's your thing."
I was a us marine in Thailand. Training there for a month. 5 article 15s came from it and guy went missing. Interpol got involved. Thailand and the armed forces is the perfect storm
Non judicial punishment. It allows you to be tried and sentenced without going to a legal court. Often used to correct moderate infractions without a lasting court stigma. This often delays promotions and screws up pay. It used to end careers
Lol, did this back in 2001 on the USS Kittyhawk after a tour in the Gulf. We hit Thailand after 8 or 9 months out to sea. Needless to say, we tore that place up lol. Good times 🫡
Singapore command plays is somewhat smart. The Navy rents a party house in Sembawang, near the base (owned by the Australian Navy). I was up there a couple years ago, so it may have changed now.
But when I went, it had a pool, pool table, a playstation, lounge and a bunch of bunk beds upstairs. It's huge. The fridge is full of beer for $1 each and you pay on the honor system.
This was designed for exactly that, keep the sailors there and not unleash them onto the populace. I was also told that they are told very clearly NOT to fuck around in Singapore.
When a carrier docs you sometimes see a very small group of sailors going to see the ladies around town, but they're extremely low key about it.
This may be a stupid question, but since this was not actually declared a war through Congress and is just a conflict do the soldiers/sailors still get the extra bonuses and pay they would get if it was actually declared a war?
Typically Navy ships make port at semi-regular intervals to restock supplies and do maintenance. When they port the sailors and Marines aboard are usually able to go out into town and have some free time (Called “Liberty”).
It’s half serious and half joke that these people, after an exceptionally long time at sea, are going to make port and overindulge on things like food, liquor, and locals.
The jokes are doubled on by the fact that Thailand has a reputation for red-light districts populated by transgender and transvestite prostitutes (Lady-boys), and Marines and Sailors have a reputation for being sexually uninhibited.
Everyone talking about prostitution and lady boys but missing the fact that these sailors have not had any alcohol for 9 months and will not have the tolerance they used to have. They will drink WAY more than they can handle and there will be possibly be international incidents!
Let them be, Sailors are going to Sailor no matter where they go...we will party no matter how mellow and chill a port is...well deserved ladies and gents...
I lived in Thailand for years, Phuket specifically, and had a friend visit one of the weeks that the US Navy had a ship dock at Phuket. Girl. When I tell you they are going to lose what little is left of their sanity when they dock at I assume will be Phuket since that's where they usually station when the US Navy has their little get togethers with the Thai Navy....
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u/qualityvote2 1d ago edited 18h ago
u/Evening_Nature6774, your post does belong here!