Welcome, Mister Lincoln! Pattaya, the world mecca of sex tourism, has been waiting for the arrival of the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln by its side for over a week. Its five thousand marines, mostly in their twenties, had been on a tough mission at sea for 286 days, not too close nor too far from Iran. D-Day, the landing in Thailand, finally arrived this Wednesday morning. Its entertainment industry – of all kinds – welcomes them with open arms and welcome signs at its hottest spots. From the vital forces to the lively ones, in a parody of Welcome Mr. Marshall.
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That said, the authorities have felt obliged to proclaim that Pattaya, slips aside, is a decent city and that prostitution is illegal in Thailand, no matter what the rest of the world may think. Having said that, they have assured that the US sailors are free to go to Walking Street – the main street of the nightlife bars, overflowing with offers – but “only until two in the morning.”
At that time, the last of the 40 buses, operating 23 hours a day, will leave, shuttling between the bar area and the hotels where the troops are staying, 20 kilometers away, until Sunday. Six hundred Thai police officers will watch over their safety. And the US commanders – who will maintain authority over their men – will watch over the safety of both their own and others. This will be aided by the ban on jet skis – with or without attached parachutes – during these days.
The freedom of movement of the marines is not absolute either. On paper, they are banned from letting off steam on streets 6 and 7 – where every brewery might be a brothel – as well as from entering pharmacies or cannabis dispensaries. But they have carte blanche to approach Walking Street, an avenue with a reputation not much less sinful.
On Walking Street the girls are warriors, but the sailors of the USS Lincoln are not defenseless. They will be flanked by the sailors of the guided missile destroyer USS Frank E. Petersen – docked in Si Racha. While the USS Robert Smalls could anchor off Map Ta Phut. All of them strategically close ports to Pattaya, like Laem Chabang, the one chosen by the USS Lincoln.
If the tropical break is a godsend for the sailors, it is also so for the sector, while the low rainy season still lingers, in a weak year. Tourism in Thailand, moreover, has not regained the vigor it had before the pandemic.
Bars and restaurants expect a shower of dollars to at least compensate for the disastrous months of March and April, when the airports of Dubai, Qatar, or Abu Dhabi stopped pumping tourists to Thailand. Precisely as a result of the aggression against Iran co-starring the US Navy. Later, dozens of fighters housed on the USS Lincoln itself, sent to those waters from Guam, intervened in it.
This aircraft carrier made headlines last month after family members of crew complained about the psychological damage caused by the unusually prolonged mission, with added hygiene and food deficiencies. A cocktail that would have caused a large number of episodes of anxiety, depression, and even some suicide attempts. The families’ complaint may have triggered the decision to send the USS Lincoln home, stopping first in Pattaya.
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This vacation city is very far from the US, but for the Navy it has something of a homecoming. The nearby naval base of Sattihap and the air base of U-Tapao, very active during the Vietnam War, are at the very origin of Pattaya as the capital of sin. With the added attraction of being two hours from Bangkok.
“Our arrival at Laem Chabang provides our marines a well-deserved opportunity to rest and recharge,” said Admiral Robert E. Loughran, highlighting the long alliance with Thai society. “This stopover will help us gain a deeper mutual understanding,” added Captain Dan Keeler.
In reality, not everything was so bad aboard the USS Lincoln. The toilets, for example, are still working, unlike what happened with the USS Gerald Ford – the most modern of its fleet – which had to leave the war theater never to return, due to tremendous clogs in its toilets.
There were reasons for this, knowing it was a legitimate target for Iran, especially after the sinking near the coasts of Sri Lanka of the frigate IRIS Dena, an Iranian training ship returning from multinational exercises in India. Additional reasons upon seeing how air defenses did not prevent at least 17 US bases in the Middle East from being battered by Iranian missiles.
Its aircraft carriers can inflict immeasurable damage – the USS Abraham Lincoln itself has entered combat – but they are no longer invulnerable, for example, to a combination of drone swarms and supersonic missiles. Something that advised very early to keep them more than a thousand miles from the Iranian coast.
Some Asian US allies have complained that sending military resources to the Arabian Sea has left their flank unprotected. With the USS Lincoln’s battle group docked next to Pattaya, they will have to remain silent temporarily. For days or hours.
Gulf of Thailand
The murky waters of Pattaya
Pattaya has beaches – among the most vulgar in the country and with waters not exactly transparent, nor fragrant – but its hook is different. Like in Las Vegas, what happens in Pattaya often stays in Pattaya. Although it is not always possible to hide it. Its crime rate multiplies that of a generally peaceful country, so it often makes headlines in Thailand. It also contributes that it has traditionally served as a hideout for fugitives from all over the world. It also helps that Thailand is the favorite decompression destination for soldiers, recruits, and young people of military age coming from war or fleeing it. Although Israelis prefer the islands of Samui and Phangan, while Russians and Ukrainians fraternize in Phuket.
Thailand is aware of the abuse of its hospitality. Spanish diving instructors deported ten days ago know this. In the middle of this month, moreover, sixty countries – mostly Western, like Spain – will see the visa-free period cut from 60 days to 30. The effort to clean up the image is notable. In the case of Pattaya, it is, if not sincere, at least recurrent. Last weekend it arrested about fifty people for street prostitution, both foreigners and Thais. From time to time, from its official loudspeakers, Pattaya says it would like to stop street prostitution. But it relapses and leaves it for another day, like now.
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