New branch in Dutch army, Ladies of the Night

Dutch mayor backed the idea of sending prostitutes to accompany Dutch troops on foreign missions.
"The army must consider ways its soldiers can let off steam," said Annemarie Jorritsma, mayor of the town of Almere in central Netherlands and a member of the ruling VVD liberals.
"There was once the suggestion that a few Ladies should accompany troops on missions. I think that is something we should talk about," she said, adding that the Ladies would keep soldiers from turning to local women.


Red Light District among army tents

Her comments have drawn a mixed response in the Netherlands, renowned for its liberal prostitution laws.
"I don't think my wife would find it a good idea," Wim van den Burg, a spokesman for the military service trade union told Dutch newspaper Volkskrant on Monday.

Would they wear these uniforms or something new?

Andre van Dorst of adult industry organisation VER told the same paper: "I can see something in this, though it's a very strange idea."

The Netherlands has more than 2,000 soldiers serving abroad, most of them in Afghanistan as part of a NATO peacekeeping force, and in Bosnia.