Taking a shot. . .

. . .at the proposed change in the Uniform Code of Military Justice,Wolfgang von Skeptik steps on a few delicate toes. Never one to mince words for the sake of comity, Wolfgang delivers a back-of-the-head smack to fundamentalists of all stripes -- Christian, Muslim, feminist -- in defense of our troops' right to seek the services of prostitutes while serving overseas, without facing court martial.

Soldiers and their counterparts in the other services seek sexual pleasure wherever they can find it; typically this means going “down to the vil” to some place with a name like “the House of the Blue Door” and hiring one of the young women who dwell and work within. The better classes of such places try very hard to protect their customers from VD. But if a military man should be unlucky and catch an STD, enactment of this new regulation will fling him back into the pre-World-War-II era: facing court martial, he will once again seek treatment outside the service, or from some quack, or in fear opt to do nothing save literally “pissing and moaning” (the original source of the phrase).