It was 138 degrees in summer 2003, as my lead Humvee roared through the middle of Baghdad. I was a captain with the 82nd Airborne. Temperatures and tension ran high.
As we drove through the dusty streets, I kept a vigilant lookout for roadside bombs. Suddenly, we spotted an agitated crowd of Iraqis at a gas station. As our vehicles pulled up, the crowd turned to us with anger in its eyes and began shouting furiously in Arabic. I felt the tightness of fear rise up in my chest as the crowd closed around us.
*snip*
America is currently engaged in two wars. Our military is stretched thin. Yet we have removed more than 13,000 honorable men and women — including 60 Arabic speakers — from our armed forces. They were removed from our military’s ranks not for any misconduct but simply because they are gay.
Those are 60 linguists who could be out with our soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan, helping them avoid situations like the one my men and I found ourselves in. That’s 60 translators who right now could be interpreting intelligence that could prevent the next Sept. 11.
The arguments for keeping the misguided 1993 law that prohibits gays and lesbians from serving openly — known as “don’t ask, don’t tell” — are weak and outdated.
*snip*
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