Solider Dismissed After Revealing He's Gay

[Scooter24]

(CLIP)

SAN FRANCISCO - Brian Muller, an Army bomb squad team leader who served on a security detail for President Bush, said he was dismissed from duty after deciding to tell his commander he's gay.

"I didn't do it to get out of a war — I already served in a war," Muller, 25, said in an interview. "After putting my life on the line in the war, the idea that I was fighting for the freedoms of so many other people that I couldn't myself enjoy was almost unbearable."

...

Hundreds of those discharged held high-level job specialties that required years of training and expertise, including 90 nuclear power engineers, 150 rocket and missile specialists and 49 nuclear, chemical, and biological warfare specialists.

Eighty-eight linguists were discharged, including at least seven Arab language specialists

...

Elaine Donnelly of the Center for Military Readiness, a conservative advocacy group that opposes gays serving in the military, said the loss of gays and lesbians serving in specialized areas is irrelevant because they never should have been in those jobs in the first place.


"We need to defend the law, and the law says that homosexuality is incompatible with military service," Donnelly said. "There is no shortage of people in the military, and we do not need people who identify themselves as homosexual."

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=542&e=1&u=/ap/military_gays

------------------

Argh...
:mad:

[Jmeyers130]

1. well...

now we all know how to get out of the service when * enacts a draft.

on edit: sometimes i guess homophobia can be a good thing...this is one of those times.

[DarkPhenyx]

2. having been a "rocket specialist" in the Army...

...it isn't that high level and it doesn't take years of training.

[ElectroPrincess]

3. Yes, but that didn't apply to a number of linguists in the past ...

Nor will it apply IMHO to any other MOS (Military Occupational Speciality). Although I've served (what was I thinking, I even volunteered?!?) during the 80s, it's great to know that the Bush Administration is AFRAID of allowing gays to serve ... all thoughtful folks have an out of the draft without breaking their legs. <eg>

Homosexuality is FRIGHTENING to the fundamentalist Christians in our government. It would crack me up for all of us to have an *everyone* support Gay Pride day. The Bush Administration would freak out. LOL

[cocoabeach]

6. The people (hetrosexuals) know that there are gays among them

in the service. They don't care but they just don't want to know the details. Do your job and leave the love life at home.

[Scooter24]

9. Tell that

to those men that have had their personal lives investigated and subsequently discharged. It's not so "private" when your in the Military, they want to control everything about you. It's all about uniformity... sorta like a 'stepford' soldier

[ablbodyed]

13. They want to know when....

there's just the two o f you and nobody else will know

[Bronco69]

16. "Do your job and leave the love life at home. "

It's not about doing your job and leaving the love life at home, and YES they DO want to know the details. When you're alone with a freeper, right winger and they suspect your gay they can't ask questions about your love life fast enough. Then, when they get enough details to satisfy them they go running around telling everything they just heard. And if you tell them "please leave me alone, I'm not answering any of your questions" that's just as good as an admission of guilt. When they don't get the answers they want they will go around and make shit up!

[Hoping4Change]

21. Hi cocoabeach!

Glad you're here, welcome to DU. :bounce:

[cocoabeach]

25. Thanks for the welcome, I love this board!

N/T

[Hoping4Change]

28. It is really is a great board and its addictive especially

when a big story breaks and you get fed up with mainstream spin and need some sanity.

[jmowreader]

5. The NBC specialist one was a hoot too...

It requires so many years of training and experience, every MI unit in the Army just grabs a sergeant from one of the platoons, hands him the key to the NBC cage, and says "this is your additional duty."

[DarkPhenyx]

8. If you are lucky enough...

...to get the keys. Now, I have to say my Bugs and Gasses was actually trained and a member of Chem Corps. I'm sure that isn't always the case though.

[jmowreader]

4. How long until they make you prove you're gay?

And what would they make you do to prove you're gay?

More to the point, what would they do if lots of guys figured out that performing gay sex acts on the government's designated Homosexual Testers (we'll let you out of the service, all you have to do is spend a night with this guy right here so we know you're not just telling us a story) was better than getting shot? Probably get guys with AIDS to be the testers.

[Paranoid_Portlander]

20. Lie detector tests?

If claiming to be gay becomes popular, I can see forced lie detector tests with prison sentences for those who refuse. Polygraphy, in my opinion, is fraudulent junk science. Ask a question, and if the question upsets me, then my answer would be considered a lie. This fraud would at least be consistent with the Iraqi war fraud, and the Bush fraud. So how would we deal with lie detector machines? I can see lie detectors being used with same-sex pictures being shown to the draftee and noting his reaction.

[Village Idiot]

7. Eighty-eight linguists were discharged...

Even the cunning ones? Wow! ;^)

[luaneryder]

10. This sentence

"the loss of gays and lesbians serving in specialized areas is irrelevant because they never should have been in those jobs in the first place" makes no sense whatsoever. Then "There is no shortage of people in the military." Excuse me if I point out that there is a stop loss on and re enlistments are lagging.

[Hoping4Change]

22. You'r e excused!

BTW good to have you on board. Welcome to DU. :hi:

[Baltimoreboy]

11. Bomb squad?

We're getting rid of people brave enough to work on a bomb squad? That makes sense...

[uptown ruler]

12. yeah, well wait for the draft...

those who oppose homosexuals in the military will be saying "we dont care anymore, we need the numbers."


Spreading The Word
The Irony Curtain Shop

[Scooter24]

15. More than likely

you will see Congress pass a law to suspend that law (banning homosexuals) during the draft just to prevent law suits. Hypocritical isn't it? I would love to hear Senator Frist and Orin Hatch try and advocate for homosexuals during a draft and try not to come off as a hypocrite. Their reasoning will probably be "The law is to prevent people from claiming they are gay to get out of the draft" but in that line of reasoning, they forget all the bullcrap they spew about unit cohesion and morale, etc. and how their own actions have set up this problem. They want to have their cake and eat it too.

[the Kelly Gang]

14. "the loss of gays and lesbians"..yeh tell it to all the ones who faught

in every war to keep you safe you stupid bitch.

They weren't invented yesterday and they have been fighting for the USA since the country began.

[AntiCoup2K4]

19. Freeps probably think Bill Clinton invented homosexuality

They blame him for everything else, so why not?

[2Design]

17. well there is a great way to save your sons and daughters from

bfee illegal wars

[terrya]

18. Here we go again. More of that "unit cohesion" horseshit.

This exclusion of gay people in the military is so fucking tedious. We're the only industrialized nation in the world that bans gays and lesbians from serving in the military. Including Israel.

[cocoabeach]

27. Submariners and Marines depend on that horseshit "unit cohesion"

And we do have the worlds best military despite our faults. I beleive that trying to make the military a social experiment is a huge mistake.

[defoliate_bush]

23. Incredible.

This country always seems to find something to discriminate against. That Donnely chick is really stupid. There are plenty on gay/lesbian servicemen/women who are more compitent for their jobs than the straight people who replace them when they out themselves. The people we need to be trying to discharge from the military are the ones who torture Iraqi prisoners, not the ones who happen to be gay.

[Scooter24]

24. Hi there..

Welcome to DU! :hi:

[defoliate_bush]

29. thank you scooter!

happy to be here. great site. :)

[kerry-is-my-prez]

26. Just read that 700 soldiers have been discharged over the last few years

for being gay. Under the "don't ask don't tell" rule.

[ShaneGR]

30. OK, for the first time, I'm going to make a Bush-Nazi comparison

Hitler dismissed dozens of high-ranking military officials because they had even the smallest amount of Jewish blood. There are several books on this subject which detail the damage this did to the German war effort.

So now Bush is dismissing plenty of gays, who are well-trained and are needed in the war on terror, from high-level positions.

There's my comparison.