Stamped: October 25th, 2006 | Toggle Similar
Tagged: economics, living abroad, marketing, news.

This morning I came across a story that piqued my interest. Seems those wacky Dutch are looking into unconventional ways of taking care of their troops abroad.

October 25, 2006 9:45 a.m. EST

Komfie Manalo - All Headline News Foreign Correspondent

Amsterdam, Netherlands (AHN) - A leading female lawmaker in the Netherlands is asking the government to sent Dutch prostitutes abroad for deployment with Dutch troops to help the soldiers relax.

Annemarie Jorritsma, a member for the center-right People's Party for Freedom and Democracy and the mayor of the town of Almere in the Netherlands, went on national TV to campaign for the "extra benefits" for the Dutch troops.

She said, "The army must think about how their soldiers can let off some steam."

Her proposal immediately drew support from the Dutch sex workers union.

But the Vokskrant newspaper quotes an unidentified military spokesman as expressing reservations over the proposal.

He told the newspaper, "I don't think my wife would like the idea very much."

There are currently around 2,000 Dutch soldiers stationed outside of the Netherlands, majority of them deployed either in Afghanistan and Bosnia. [via All Headline News]

Now, I know what you all are thinking, "Cool, let's hook the boys up!" Yeah, I'm all for sex as a form of stress relief. But something doesn't work for me here. First off, how do these ladies get paid? Does it come from the soldiers' pockets or will the government subsidize it? Will they have a set pay scale for service performed and who's job is it to determine the specific rates? I think it could get pretty darn complicated.

And if that weren't enough let's just throw in the Law of Unintended Consequences. Let's imagine for moment that all the red tape is worked out and the ladies are sent to Afghanistan or Bosnia. The boys are happy and the Dutch ladies are making money…sounds good, or does it? We all know that the sex trade is the oldest profession in the world so there's gotta be local ladies. So the boys are getting it on with their hometown girls and the local ladies are out of work. Is that right? Not if they want to keep the peace in these regions. Cause if the money isn't going to the local ladies their bosses won't be happy and if their bosses ain't happy they'll look for other ways to make money like drug trafficking or worse arms trafficking, eventually involving policymakers leading to major instability.

So now you see, nothing is ever as simple and easy as it seems. My suggestion: give the soldiers booty vouchers that they can earn by doing extra work, make a deal with the local ladies to accept these vouchers (perhaps with backing from the UN) and everyone wins!

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