our troops may not get porn anymore
 

Q u o t e:
Soldiers Say Porn Ban May Hurt Morale
Stars and Stripes | Seth Robson | May 05, 2008
GRAFENWOHR, Germany -- Legislation that would restrict the sale of certain men's magazines on U.S. military bases around the world would be bad for morale, according to soldiers at Grafenwöhr.

U.S. Rep. Paul Broun, R-Ga., has introduced legislation that would close a loophole in the current law that allows the sale of some sexually explicit material on military bases by lowering the threshold required to deem material "sexually explicit."

A Department of Defense committee that reviews materials sold on bases ruled last year that magazines such as Playboy and Penthouse are not pornographic. But Broun's Military Honor and Decency Act includes language that could make those magazines eligible for the ban.

The prospect of missing out on men's magazines was not welcomed by soldiers at Grafenwöhr.

"We all read 'em," said Pfc. Paul Rubio, 31, of Bakersfield, Calif. "There are times we just read 'em for the technological parts like the new gadgets that come out. They have good stories sometimes too."

Sgt. Simon Brown, 34, of Daytona Beach, Fla., said men's magazines build morale. "It's not all about the pictures, although 80 percent of it is," he said.

Pfc. Greg Smith, 21, of Northboro, Mass., a regular Playboy reader, said soldiers should be allowed to buy nudie magazines at the exchange.

"Playboy is good entertainment while you are on the can. They have jokes and good stories," he said.

Broun, a Marine veteran, told Newsweek recently that the magazines sold in military exchanges are partly responsible for a rise in sexual assaults in the military and other problems.

"Allowing the sale of pornography on military bases has harmed military men and women by: escalating the number of violent, sexual crimes; feeding a base addiction; eroding the family as the primary building block of society; and denigrating the moral standing of our troops both here and abroad," Broun says on his Web site.

The legislation would require the DOD to annually review material that is not currently deemed sexually explicit to determine if it should be prohibited, according to the Web site.

Some soldiers say magazines that could be banned are particularly important downrange.

Brown deployed to Afghanistan in 2002 and 2005 and is preparing to go to Iraq with the 12th Combat Aviation Brigade this summer. When he was in Afghanistan he was one of the first to pick up a new copy of Maxim or FHM when it came out, he said.

"It would suck if they ban it," he said. "It's bad enough we are down there to begin with. Taking that away would be like a knife in the chest. I'm not saying I'm depending on Maxim to keep me alive over there, but it helps."

Publications such as Maxim and FHM are not named by Broun, but lowering the threshold of the sexually explicit definition might mean such magazines would be targeted for a ban.

Some troops in the Pacific region said the proposed legislation would impinge upon their personal freedoms.

"They're making it a point of undermining soldiers to almost make them feel like we're back in elementary school," Pfc. Nickolas Sears said Friday at Camp Red Cloud, South Korea. "We're all adults here, and if it's something we want to do, we should feel free to choose as we please."

Other than on base, there's no place in South Korea to buy magazines like Playboy, he said.

"I believe it's a breach of freedom of speech," said Senior Airman Garrett Deese, 25, of Elk Grove, Calif., who just completed a tour with the 8th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron at Kunsan Air Base, South Korea.

He said he wonders whether such a ban would lead to barring other types of magazines lawmakers chose to challenge. He also questioned whether Broun's link between magazines and sexual assaults within the military would stand close scrutiny.

At Yokota Air Base, Japan, military spouse Roberta Woolley said she understands the need for balance between rules and individual rights, but said the military has tougher standards than the rest of American society.

"It's a good idea," she said of the proposed ban. "I think there's better literature out there.... In the military, we sell cigarettes and alcohol legally. But it's also questionable whether they promote a healthy lifestyle.

"I've seen all these magazines, and they don't make men or women intelligent or beautiful. And even though they're hidden, there is still exposure to children as well. It's the parents' responsibility to give ideas about body awareness to their children. I don't think Mr. Hefner presents a positive image of men or women in his magazine."

A female soldier at Grafenwöhr -- Sgt. Pou McCall, 23, of Riverside, Calif. -- said men's magazines don't bother her a lot, but she'd support a ban.

"What if it was their (soldiers') sisters (in the magazines)?"

it's a hard job to be a lil' soldier..

I already heard from a few soldiers that have mentioned that a lot of adult sites are blocked.

I think that's a little too much regulation. What if what if what if? It's stupid. All the reasoning is the same reasoning as people in the gen pop would use. I doubt that it's the cause of a raise in violent crime after all of these years. It sounds like a lot of butch lesbian wanna ladies pissed off because nobody will pay their manly asses any attention.

I was the in the Marines for four years. Not once did I see a Playboy or even a porno mag. We were way too busy working out, drinking, and chasing women.

Possession of porn is against military regs and always has been.

They fight and die for our freedoms but some politician looking to gain brownie points can take rights away from them.That sucks.

we train them to kill but better protect them from gettin' wood

Holy War, holy shit

Not true. Its only against UCMJ to download on goverment issued computers. You can have legal porn on your personal computer all day.

That sucks!

They can always produce their own ... ( Abu Gharib )

We sell quite a few passwords from Iraq.

The default call-to-action there is in arabic. However, sometimes this is changed into English. We assume these to be our boys...

"Allowing the sale of pornography on military bases has harmed military men and women by: escalating the number of violent, sexual crimes; feeding a base addiction; eroding the family as the primary building block of society; and denigrating the moral standing of our troops both here and abroad,"

Ok now that just pisses me off.

Recap.

Naked women = violent sexual crimes.
Naked women = feeding an addiction.
Naked women = eroding the family.
Naked women = denigrating the moral standing of our troops. Not just there but here too.

Will someone go box him about the ears some and then hire a PI to pull every fucking damn bone let alone skeleton out of his closet for even saying that.

You are wrong...unless they have changed the regs since '92...and I cannot find any info about changing the regs...so maybe you can educate me?

US troops rape and murder their way across the globe and their not allowed to look at naked women...

LOL

I worked as S-1 NCOIC at battalion level, as well as working in S-1 at division level for a few years. Ive known hundreds of soldiers including officers, from many different units that collected porn on her computers in barracks and off post and its completly ok. We had to give a few guys article 15's for downloading on unit computers but thats about it. There is NO UCMJ regulation that has ever been on the books that involves computer porn files, especially as far back as 92.

I guess they rather have them banging diseased prostitutes.

At this point, I'm afraid that's impossible.

I was in the military for 12 years and was an E-7 Platoon SGT. when my career was ended during Desert Storm...and unless it may be computer specific only (which seems unlikely to me)...it was against regs to have possession of porn for the entire 12 years I was in service.

Nice. But what was your unit? MP? I worked hand in hand with full birds and did all awards, leave, Actions, blah blah, you know where I worked. I lived regs and saw every report at three rapid deployment units and Im tell you. There is no reg about a soldier having porn on his own computer. So many people would have been fucked if that were true.

Why not produce a new porn on their own!

I served with the 82nd Airborne Division for my entire 12 years and was an Infantry Plt. Sgt. and as I stated it may be computer specific...but that does not make any sense to me. I know that I personally enforced the no porn reg within my Platoon as did the Platoon Leader, though neither of us ever had anyone brought up on charges. Few actually had computers and I never searched their computers and for that matter never searched for porn period but when it came to my attention it was placed in file thirteen along with an ass chewing.

Congrats on the service. Like I said the only porn banned in the military was when the republicans were trying to ban the sale of porn magazines on post. I beleive the law passed but the military still sold the materials anyways. Half the single guys at Ft Drum frequented the same porn shop one block off post to get their dirty movies to bring back to the barracks. By the time computer porn rolled around I was working division S-1, 3rd ID every unit was having problems keeping porn of military computers so they started handing out 15/15 if you were caught. I personally knew many people at many different ranks who looked at computer porn. No changes have ever been made to the UCMJ. Matter of fact I knew a few guys who brought back some sick fucking mags they got in Budapest while on leave from Bosnia. Talking animals and bottles. I think everyone in 10th mountain saw them things. No problems.

I mean 14/14, 14 days extra duty and 14 days restriction. got carried away with the 15's.