Quote:
Originally Posted by Mr Lickher Right
I heard an urban legend where 2 army nurses in Desert Storm were providing. When they got caught they claimed that they were selling condoms for $100 each. The story goes since they were selling a condom, not the act of using it, they were charged with adultery under the UCMJ, but the prostitution related charges didn't stick.
Should be fun to discuss.
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Well, by virtue of the fact that this by your own description an "urban legend" we can dismiss it as factually unlikely absent some sort of confirmation. But strictly hypothetically...
1) If they were allegedly "providing", there's evidence of behavior (or at least the intent to behave) beyond merely selling condoms for way over their fair market value. (Especially if adultery charges were preferred; that's going to require proof of some sort of sexual activity actually happening, as well as proof that at least one of the parties to the offense was married at the time the offense took place.) So basically, the "I was only selling condoms" defense wouldn't fly at a court martial any more than it would fly in a civilian court. Most likely, this urban legend (like many ULs) originated in a garbled version of an old joke, namely this one:
2) Back when I was a Navy JAG, I served at the US Naval Legal Service Office, Subic Bay, Philippines, and our office had a branch office at the Naval Support Facility, Diego Garcia ("detachment", NLSODET DGAR BIOT). At the time (and maybe still to this day), the Support Facility had a male-female personnel ratio (including civilian contractors) of several hundred men for every woman. One very junior female enlisted sailor decided to take advantage of that gender imbalance by charging for her "companionship", got caught, and went to a court martial, so I have a little familiarity with what charges would be preferred in that situation. Adultery and (and very possibly fornication) is considered a violation of "the General Article" (UCMJ Art. 134) proscribing "all disorders and neglects to the prejudice of good order and discipline in the armed forces, all conduct of a nature to bring discredit upon the armed forces, and crimes and offenses not capital, of which persons subject to this chapter may be guilty", which means that our enlisted provider got charged with multiple specifications of violations of Art. 134 (adultery and prostitution, depending on whether any of her customers were identified so that their marital status could be determined).
Nurses in the three services which have separate medical organizations (Army, Navy, Air Force) are all commissioned officers, so nurses acting as providers would also be charged separately with violations of UCMJ Art. 133, proscribing "conduct unbecoming and officer and a gentleman". I suspect they'd each be charged with multiple specifications covering fornication, adultery (were any clients identified and their marital statuses determined), and prostitution.
IIRC, our enlisted provider wound up pleading guilty at a special court martial to several charges/specifications of violations of the general article alleging prostitution in return for a plea agreement limiting her punishment to a bad conduct discharge and a couple months in the brig. Our hypothetical nurses, if convicted at a general court martial (IIRC, officers can't get tried at a special court martial), would probably receive a similar sentence to confinement (mere prostitution is a civilian misdemeanor, and adultery, if an offense at all, isn't seriously prosecuted in civilian jurisdictions) and to be dismissed from the service. (Dismissal for an officer is the equivalent to a dishonorable discharge for an enlisted member, and is the only punitive discharge officers can receive.)
Cheers,
bcg