@oldercanuck1 there were many in the sea. When I first got to Okinawa prostitution was legal. Corpsman would go into town and check on the girls. If they were found to have VD they were doctored up and out of business for two weeks. If a Marines was found to have VD he would be restricted to base for two weeks. After a couple of large doses of penicillin. I never was infected but got the crabs once, someone brought them back on ship and gave them to half of the platoon.
Being in infantry, as much as I hated it at the time, due to our mission we spent a lot of time at sea. Well I enjoyed a little more, almost a year(11-1/2 months) and visited a dozen or so different countries. Usually two or three nights. I've been Caribbean and southeast Asia but most of the time when not sitting off the coast of Vietnam we were in the Philippines. That is where the action was. That place was outlaw. Anything and everything and women galore. One of the best I had cost me a broken mickey mouse Timex. All night long. Didn't seem to be any ugly ones and poverty kept them thin. It's one of those you had to be there you call me a liar or exaggerator if could could tell it all. We Weren't boots on the ground in Vietnam but we were back up. You never knew if you were going in or not and so the way we lived was like no tomorrow. I think that's the big deal sometimes when you leave it behind to come home you really can't leave it over there but you have no one to talk to about it that can understand. So you just listen. Thanks for asking

sounds like my days in the military as well ,,,thank god for meds eh ,,, and blue butter ,,,lol ,,,yes life was differentyou never knew from one day to the next where you would be going or doing ,,even in Canada ,,,,

@oldercanuck1 I hear ya brother! Well I'm glad you made it. I would trade any of it. At the time though I was willing to negotiate. The things they did to keep up morale just pissed people off. Looking back though I guess it worked. While I was concentrating on their obvious ignorance I wasn't thinking about when it was gonna come . Military has nothing to do with fairness. Things reminded you of who was in charge and that you weren't. Just do what what your told the way you were trained to and go home on two feet. Or get shipped home In a box. Who cares. Give me a shot at some Oriental or Philippino putang and all the beer my pay scale could afford and all was good with the cosmos. If I had just a little bit of sense I'm thinking... Nah I spent half my money on women and whisky and I wasted the rest.