Taking the Measure of a Man - A Military Service Story
I've been thinking about Roy Moore, like many of us have recently. It brought to mind something that affected me over 50 years ago as a young man. Something that was a test that some passed and some failed.
When I was just a young guy of 21-22 years, back in the latter half of the 1960s, I found myself in Turkey for 15 months, courtesy of the USAF. The base where I was stationed only had about 600 Air Force people on it. Its mission was highly classified then, and still is. It was considered a "remote" base, so no women were stationed there and married Airmen and Non-Coms were strongly urged not to bring their wives there, since there were no quarters for families.
Fifteen months is a relatively long time in a young man's life. For some of the guys I knew, it was a particularly difficult time. But, here's the thing about Turkey in those days. Every large city, like the one adjacent to the base I was on, had a women's prison. Inmates in those prisons could "work off" part of their sentence through prostitution in a government-run "compound." I learned of the local "compound" very soon after arriving at the base.
Over the next 15 months, I knew people who were stationed there who visited that "compound" with some regularity. My guess was that it was between 10-15% of the men stationed there who did that. I did not. In fact, I never even considered it. To me, the idea of "working off" part of a prison sentence by submitting oneself to having sex with random men was abhorrent. But, some percentage of guys stationed there apparently had no problem with the concept. They used to visit that "compound," usually in small groups, on a fairly regular basis.
As I said, I knew some people who went there. A few bragged about it. Most didn't, but just made their weekly visits. The rest of us found other outlets that did not involve exploiting the Turkish women who were in that place. By the time I finished my assignment at that place, I learned that most of the men who did visit the compound were flawed in other ways, as well. It was merely an observation.
Life tests us all. How we choose to act is the measure of our ethical compass. Some people are able do things that others could not bring themselves to do. I've never forgotten that Turkish "compound" and what it revealed about the people I knew during my 15 months in Turkey. We were all tested. Some of us failed that test, in my opinion. I've never forgotten, and never will.
Roy Moore would have been one of those who visited that "compound," I am certain. I believe he would have failed that test and come up short of my expectations. Yes, I think so.
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