I was in the US Navy shortly after the Persian Gulf war. There ARE dress standards which MUST be met by servicemembers in foreign ports.

For men (this is pre-gender integration on combat vessels, and at the time the battle group my ship was in was all male. We did not hear the directives for women) the standards were long pants, button down shirts, and an overall conservative look. Outlandish patterns could get you restricted to ship until you changed.

My opinion on it? It's a combination of common sense, courtesy and PR.

Common sense because you're in a port where these matters are of extreme sensitivity to the locals, and you do NOT want your sailors pissing off the locals. After all, you're planning on coming back now, aren't you?

Courtesy, because I'd no more intentionally dress in a manner offensive to the culture of the locals than I would show up at a prospective fiancee's family Christmas dinner in swim trunks and a mohawk. It's common courtesy to show up dressed as the situation demands.

PR because... well, to be honest, because Americans oversea need a bit of good PR, and military moreso. On the whole (this is an overgeneralization. Forgive me.), military enlisted personnel are a bit coarse. Actually, extremely coarse. Moderately dim. Not generally worldly nor concerned with societal mores outside the WWF latest scandal. So having your personnel dressed conservatively gives you SOME degree of an edge in blunting the 'less than stellar' of your crew's damage that they'll likely inflict.

I say this last having been the radio operator who sent out the message on the damage totals caused by a brawl between Navy and Marines at a bar in Singapore. ANYTHING that the US can do to enhance the image that their overseas servicemembers have is a good thing.

So on the whole?

No sympathy for the woman. I wasn't allowed to have long hair, wear my Misfits punk band T-shirt, have piercings nor dyed hair, and a host of other restrictions on my appearance while in the service. To misquote a great hero of American culture, "She knew the job was dangerous when she took it.". It's a bit late to complain about the dress codes now.

M