What the Secret Service Could Learn from Drunken Sailors (The Curse of the Unpaid Prostitute)

The Washington Post ^ | April 26 | Roberto Loiederman

[DogByte6RER]

What the Secret Service could learn from drunken sailors

Roberto Loiederman, a merchant seaman from 1966 to 1974, is a writer in California. He co-authored “The Eagle Mutiny,” an account of the 1970 mutiny on a U.S. vessel.

What happened in Cartagena, Colombia, with the Secret Service seems unsavory to me, but not for the reasons you might think.

I make no judgments about men spending a night with escorts. As far as I’m concerned, those who take a holier-than-thou attitude about this are like Inspector Renault in “Casablanca” when he says he’s “shocked, shocked” to discover there is gambling at Rick’s Cafe . . . just before someone hands him his winnings.

No, what the Secret Service agents apparently did seems unsavory because of my own experiences.

More than 40 years ago, I was a merchant seaman. Whenever our ship would get to port — any port — we’d hurry to an area near the docks filled with bars and women. Valparaiso or Santos, Pusan or Saigon, Djibouti or Cartagena — the only changes, from port to port, were the local women’s ethnicity and language.

As a seaman, what other options do you have? You’re in a strange city for a few days. You’re with other hardworking, hard-playing guys. And you’ve got cash in your pocket. So you go to a bar, drink more than you should, smile at the women buzzing around, maybe dance with one and then — for a pre-arranged fee — take her to a hotel room.

I imagine the Secret Service agents in the scandal du jour went through similar steps. Of course, the current situation is different from what I remember.

[rlmorel]

Being in the USN gave a lot of exposure to that environment...

LOL...just ask any 6th Fleet sailor who visited Naples in the last 40 years about Humpty Dumpty!

And yes. If I were attempting to get classified info from military people, I would target them from a sexual angle.

[cmomm44]

It has nothing to do with the prostitutes or being drunk——it is the ‘HONOR’ of representing the USA in a foreign land as part of the Presidential Detail (regardless of who is the President as any given time)-—they ‘disgraced’ the HONOR of my Nation

WW2 vet

[Chgogal]

Duh, that's why you don't hire your ordinary Joe. The USSS are supposed to be better and smarter than your average Joes. Are you telling me that there are only Dumb Dicks available for those Secret Service positions?

And what do you think I was referring to,? Of course I was referring to Honey Traps. Again DUH!!!! Anyone can figure THAT out. The security breach could be severe. It's a bloody no brainer. This wouldn't have been as bad if this happened AFTER the visit. But before.? WTF! Even after the visit, information would have been garnered that was sensitive for future visits. But before the visit, the USSS is begging for trouble. And if something happened to Obama, dammit, we would be stuck with a Marxist Martyr on our hands for generations to come. God Damn the Secret Service for hiring Dumb Dicks.

You Dumb Dicks out there, you really piss me off.

If you can't handle a God Damned Honey then quit the job. NOW the Secret Service is handing out “Enhanced Rules”!!! Are you kidding me?

WTF, are we running here, kindergartens?

[a fool in paradise]

Yes they did. And this president disgraces this nation every month. Has he ever said a favorable word about this nation while on foreign soil?

It seemed to me that his speeches always talked down this country, with the possible exception of a phrase such as "but all of that's changed now that I'm King, President.

It's taken this bit of whoremongering for the Bill Clinton legacy to weigh a bit heavier in the public's minds.

[Revolting cat!]

So you been in China, but you ain’t been to Carolina?

Alger Hiss was not an SS man. Neither were the Rosenbergs. Do we get it? SS men are meant to be stupid jocks. They don’t know no secrets.

[Chgogal]

LOL!!!!

You made my day. This USSS thingie gets me going. Your post saved me about a $400/hr analyst visit. ; )

Yes, I am joking about the $400 analyst visit. Really I am. ; )

[Delta 21]

"they wouldn't even know they were taken. "

They didnt.

[Chgogal]

Yes, for some reason it was easier for me to get to China than the beautiful Carolinas! Can you believe that?

I'm ticked off with the USSS because if anything happens to Obama we have a Martyred Marxist on our hands. It was bad enough with JFK. Can you imagine a Martyred Obama? It was unthinkable a month ago, but now?????

[Revolting cat!]

I got you you, yes! But whatever happens we won’t be able to stop the renaming of what’s left of Jefferson High Schools, streets and public squares.

[Chgogal]

I am thinking that BUT I don't want to admit it. GRRRRR.......

[oldsalt]

LOL...just ask any 6th Fleet sailor who visited Naples in the last 40 years about Humpty Dumpty!

Er, you might want to make that 50 or 60 years shipmate,my first Med cruise was in 1960 and she was well-known then!

Of course I've always suspected it was a franchise over the years.

[freeandfreezing]

There are probably some who have never been stationed overseas or been in or around intelligence operations or don't realize that there are a lot of men out there that don't have any qualms about purchasing the services of prostitutes or that prostitutes maybe spies, and they may in fact be genuinely shocked. But most of us know otherwise.

The problem isn't that the security guys like hookers, its that they hired them while on a mission. Even the bouncer at a strip joint knows not to fool around while on duty. If the same Secret Service team decided to stay a couple of days on vacation after the mission was over and have at it with the local girls nobody would care.

[af_vet_rr]

Duh, that's why you don't hire your ordinary Joe. The USSS are supposed to be better and smarter than your average Joes. Are you telling me that there are only Dumb Dicks available for those Secret Service positions?

I have seen many supposedly bright men and women in and out of the military throw their careers away over the years in the pursuit of the opposite sex (and a few on the same sex). Men with PhDs, men with stars on their shoulder or who were on their way to having stars on their shoulders, men and women who were on their way to really big things. Their lives and careers were derailed by prostitutes, affairs with co-workers, affairs with co-workers' spouses, spurned spouses, you name it, I've seen it.

Some had their transgressions make it into the media because of who they were, but most didn't. Some were actually allowed to retire, some were demoted, some booted out, some did jail time.

You Dumb Dicks out there, you really piss me off.

If you can't handle a God Damned Honey then quit the job.

It's admirable that you feel that we should only have 100% morally upright folks serving in the military and Secret Service, but I'm going to burst your bubble and tell you to find the largest military bases in your state. Now visit the areas around them. In most places, you'll find pawnshops, bars, and strip clubs. You'll find a lot of of them, especially around the larger bases. And many of those strip clubs are nothing more than thinly-veiled covers for prostitution.

If you want to go on some kind of moral crusade/witch hunt, I suggest you start out by trying to ban strip clubs and bars around the military bases in your state. From there, start working on the neighboring states.

Keep us updated on your progress. If you spend the next several years working really hard on this project, I imagine you might even get one or two closed down.

[Calamari]

Animal House frat boys protecting the POTUS.

Damn right you need chaperones or wardens or guards.

Maybe the federal government should provide the women. Then the fees would be settled in advance. Cleaner all the way around. Call it the FBP.

Federal Bureau of Pu$$y.

[JediJones]

[Ax]

She was working that same spot in the mid-late 70s.

[af_vet_rr]

The problem isn't that the security guys like hookers, its that they hired them while on a mission.

I agree with you, but I saw plenty of people throw their careers away on similar things. I saw it happen in Europe way too many times during the '70s and '80s. People who were given briefings explicitly stating that they might be targeted by the Soviets and a month later they are in deep trouble because they couldn't keep their pants on.

The ones that really pissed me off were the arrogant ones, the ones who felt they wouldn't get caught, that they were too smart to get caught, or that they were somehow above the rules, even though they knew there was a chance that somebody from our side might be keeping an eye on them.

To be honest though, the ones I hated were the ones who did it for money. Somebody who has had too much alcohol or some other drug that alters their personality, introduce a beautiful woman or a handsome man into the situation and a lot of otherwise moral types can find things spiraling out of control before they know it. It's no excuse, but most of us can see how it happens.

But the ones doing it for money. There was no excuse of "I was drunk and woke up in bed with $10,000 lying next to me".

[af_vet_rr]

LOL...just ask any 6th Fleet sailor who visited Naples in the last 40 years about Humpty Dumpty!

Er, you might want to make that 50 or 60 years shipmate,my first Med cruise was in 1960 and she was well-known then!

If you're talking about the "lady" who went by that nickname, there was such a lady who hung out near a wall near the AFSOUTH base in the mid 1980s. While I never saw her, I heard a few stories that stuck with me and I have a strong suspicion that the nickname was handed down between generations, otherwise she would have been in her 60s or 70s around then.

[Chgogal]

“It's admirable that you feel that we should only have 100% morally upright folks serving in the military and Secret Service, but I'm going to burst your bubble and tell you to find the largest military bases in your state.”

I don't care what they do at home. I care what they do in theater. Get it? They, the USSS agents, may have been off duty but they were in theater. Their job requires them to minimize the risk to the POTUS not maximize it through dumb dick behavior. You don't need to be ivy league or just out of seminary school to do a good and honorable job. The USSS agents did a piss poor job. Any kindergarten graduate from the Chicago Public School System could figure that out.

I am beyond concerned. I am fearful for my country because some dumb dick doesn't know when and where to pull it out. In my book wholesome virginity is not a requirement, but it would be nice if they had some common sense and minimized the risk to the POTUS. Especially this particular POTUS. This country would suffer greatly if Obama became a Martyred Marxist because of some dumb dick breached security in a Honey Trap.

Burst my bubble....I'd love to give you a tour of Amsterdam's Red Light District. I even know where you can find a fascinating Asian with bright blue eyes. But this is not the time or place. ; )

[Vermont Lt]

It’s legal there. The price was negotiated, but he was an ass and did not pay. In the US she would have gone her pimp, not he cops. Then we would not be talking about arrests—but at least assault, and at most a killing.

I’ve never paid cash for sex, but even I know you don’t not pay a prostitute or you get your ass whooped.