Semenpaddy – I did not find that word in any dictionaries, but it is the rough translation of a German slang expression.
It describes a state of mind and odd behavior young males invariably fall into when they have no release for their natural hormone induced horniness. Usually it unfolds as some crankiness, but it soon evolves into serious aggression.
That was the reasoning behind providing army whorehouses in WW I and II and recreational vacations to Asian hotspots for troops in Vietnam. A military with semenpaddy is aggressive, undisciplined and the soldiers do behave irrational. Any mastersergeant worth his stripes will care for his troops to have some occasions. But now this:
For the first time, the Department of Defense has specifically made it a crime for a servicemember to patronize a prostitute. The punishment: up to a year in prison, forfeiture of pay and dishonorable discharge.
The formal order came in a presidential executive order signed without fanfare Oct. 14, directing changes in the Manual for Courts-Martial.
Stars & Stripes
I grew up in German town with some 4,000 locals plus some 500 GI’s whose boring job was to maintain a bunch of nuclear rocket tips stored in the woods nearby.
Even with the needed establishments available, there still was a lot of strain and serious barfights between the locals and those GIs with semenpaddy symptoms. Without some services it would have been unsustainable.
So when the U.S. military does not allow homosexual behavior, does not allow intergender relations between lots of male and few female troopers and now prohibits visiting prostitutes, the aggression will look for other ways out.
The higher command tries to pray away the problem by providing lots of, mostly radical christian, religious services. But when your troops are asked to pacify an area with people of different believes that wad goes off in the wrong direction too.
In one room, cupboards used to store the shoes of those attending prayers had what appeared to be Christian crosses scrawled on them. Other footage showed papers strewn on office floors and windows smashed.
U.S. troops raid Sunni clerics’ Iraq office
From a plain operational perspective the new directive will lead directly to such incidents and does deny the political effectiveness of the troops in a the attempt to pacify.
That only, of course, if you really want to attempt to pacify.
Otherwise, the directive is even be effective to further the political aim.