Pretty Much the Standard for the Navy

People who have zero experience either being in the military or knowing people in the military seem to have these pre-conceived notions that folks who choose to serve our country are all soul-less, politically correct robots that don't know how to have a good time. That's why it doesn't surprise me that WSJ ran a ridiculous piece on McCain canoodling with a ladyfriend during a port visit in Brazil in his Navy days like it was some big freakin' scandal (it registered pretty damn low on my shock factor). Wonkette turned up the snark to take jabs at the Republican, but all of these potshots fail to neglect the fact that this is pretty much the MO for sailors. Granted, McCain was an officer, so he should be held to more scrutiny. But, anyone who thinks that playing Xbox and calling home is a "super-fun time" for a sailor in a liberty port, who has to go back out to sea for 2 months afterwards, needs to have their head examined. Our enlisted single guys need to have some good times while in-port, since working out at sea is a grueling, boring, and extremely laborious endeavor. To deny them the chance to uh...meet and greet the ladies in exotic port locations is extremely detrimental to morale. The Army has already succumbed to this gross intrusion of politically correct nitwitology, setting R&R policies by shipping troops from the frontlines to Qatar for a 4-day pass, where alcohol consumption is limited to a lousy 3 beers a day, and they've got you locked up on base like the prison camp from Running Man. I apologize to female sailors for not understanding what their idea of a good time in port is, but I imagine it's not sitting around some Stalin-era barracks room on base somewhere. The double standard in American society is that legions of meathead college students (the future leaders of America) are allowed to descend upon places like Cancun and make complete asses out of themselves, but the minute someone from the military decides to drink a shot of the dreaded Habu-Sake in Okinawa, it's some kind of international incident. I'm not a big McCain fan because of his bizarre opinions on foreign policy, but I certainly give the guy respect for meeting this Brazilian babe. Man, he didn't even have to pay for it, good for him!

Thailand, a sailor's idea of a good time (watch out for the lady-boys)