Frontlines, the SLDN Blog
Military Uses Trumped Up Charges to Boot Out Service Member Assumed to be Gay
Reporter Julie Weisberg has a great story up on PageOneQ today about SLDN client Chris Mastromarino, a member of the military's prestigious Old Guard.
Mastromarino, who had a stellar service record and was recommended for the Guard by his previous command, is now being targeted for dismissal after rumors began circulating that he is gay. Rather than go after him under "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," however, his command brought trumped up criminal charges - including an assault charge based on a game of 'punch bug' - to try and drum him out of the service.
Now, Chris's future is in the hands of a new Guard commander, who has the choice of refusing to sign off on the charade of a trial that brought about the conviction or of validating an anti-gay fishing expedition that could not only end Mastromarino's military career, but threaten his future civilian opportunities, too.
(Stay tuned here at Frontlines for updates on what Mastromarino's command decides to do. As Weisberg notes in her story, "Mastromarino's command has already begun the process of administratively removing him from the Army -- a process that could be completed as soon as tomorrow and began the day after his court martial.")
You can read Julie's full investigative report online at PageOneQ. And surf over to Bilerico.com for more coverage, too.
- Steve RallsLabels: in the news, old guard, other blogs, pageoneq
08-03-07 Comment (1)
Kudos to Collins
Kudos to Republican Senator Susan Collins of Maine, who quizzed soon-to-be Joint Chiefs Chairman Admiral Michael Mullen about "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" during recent confirmation hearings at the Senate Armed Services Committee.
Here's a transcript of the exchange between Collins and Mullen:
COLLINS:
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Admiral Mullen, this morning you described our troops as being strained and stretched. And this is a concern that I share and that I think every member of this panel shares.
We've seen longer deployments, more waivers granted to recruits with criminal records. We've actually seen an extension of the age limit for recruits.
We've also experienced considerable difficulty in filling specialty positions such as for linguists, which are obviously very important in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Press reports have said that more than 50 Arabic linguists have been discharged from our armed forces since the "don't ask/don't tell" policy was instituted. In addition to the loss of translators, the estimates are that there were more than 11,000 other servicemembers that have been separated since "don't ask/don't tell" was instituted by Congress back in the early '90s.
I recently met with a retired admiral in Maine who urged me to urge you to reexamine the "don't ask/don't tell" policy. In your view, should we reevaluate this policy?
MULLEN:
Senator, the current policy and law is as you've described.
MULLEN:
And it's a policy that came in at a time -- in a time -- it was greatly debated at the time that it was actually put in place.
I'm supportive of that policy and I really think it is for the American people to come forward, really through this body, to both debate that policy and make changes, if that's appropriate.
And so, from that standpoint, that's really where -- that's how I see it. The current policy is one I support, have supported. And until it's -- until it changes or really changes both in policy and law, that's where I am.
COLLINS:
Would you encourage Congress to reevaluate the policy?
MULLEN:
I'd love to have Congress make its own decisions with respect to
that.
Note the remark by Collins that she was approached by a retired admiral, in her home state, about questioning Mullen about repeal. Her question is proof that, when we speak up, we can impact change at a national level.
All of us at SLDN are grateful to Senator Collins for bringing up the topic during the recent hearing, and for her thoughtful questions about "Don't Ask, Don't Tell." You can also send the Senator a note of gratitude by clicking here.
- Steve Ralls
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08-02-07 Comment (0)
“Moral” Waivers
Two days ago, CBS reported that 100 of the Army enlistees had felony convictions. I am not sure why they didn’t do a little more digging but the real overall numbers and growth in “moral waivers” since the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan began will shed new light on this topic. The quoted recruiters are correct that all branches have allowed second chances but this number has steadily grown. Also, there are some residual effects of allowing “reformed” felons to join the U.S. military. My graduate thesis uncovered several studies about this topic. These are the real numbers for all of the services as published by the Palm Center.
Whoo, Semper Fi!! Did CBS miss something? Recruits
that require moral waivers pose twice as large a risk of being discharged for misconduct than members that did not require a moral waiver. I would be curious to see how many personnel discharged under “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” required waivers to enter.
I was awarded my Gold Badge with all of the achievement sapphires within nine months of reporting to recruiting duty. Many recruiters work their entire careers to earn this award. Doing these waivers takes a tremendous amount of extra time. I have always found it disturbing that allowing “reformed” criminals into the services wasn't disruptive to unit morale and cohesion but kicking me out after 12 years of unblemished service because I am gay was necessary.
-Stacy VasquezLabels: recruiting, research
08-01-07 Comment (1)
