Veterans’ Stories Underscore Need for Open Military Service
Earlier this week I traveled to the University of Nebraska to participate in a panel discussion on “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.” There were five veterans who told their personal stories serving under this law and how it personally affected them. I told my story of serving as an officer in the Air Force for 13 years, with four deployments to the Middle East, and how I was subsequently discharged after my private e-mails were searched in Iraq.
There were approximately 150 people in the audience, mostly students, but a few veterans and parents as well. The audience reinforced the generational aspect of this issue. Young men and women entering the military today, fresh out of high school or college, largely don’t care about a person’s sexual orientation. They have grown up with gays and lesbians on TV, in their schools and neighborhoods, on their sports teams, and most assuredly serving in their military. Even in the heart of the Midwest, “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” doesn’t make much sense for the generation entering the military today, and they constitute the largest demographic in the military.
Perhaps the strongest testimony came from a straight veteran who spoke about his first encounter with a gay service member in his unit. He grew up in a small Nebraska town and had never encountered someone who was gay. He also knew they weren’t allowed to serve openly in the military. Eventually he had to share a room on base with the “gay” guy. As they became more acquainted, our straight veteran realized his roommate wasn’t just a gay guy, but a patriotic American, who was making valuable contributions to our nation’s defense. He also realized his homophobia was misguided and ignorant. Through his experiences living in close proximity to an openly gay service member, he realized “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” is an archaic law that serves no purpose today.
Gays and lesbians can serve openly, with integrity, right alongside their straight counterparts. His story is irrefutable in that argument and another example of why this law must be repealed.
03-31-10 By Former Air Force Major Mike Almy |
5 Comments
Comments for this entry are closed.Dino in Washington, DC on April 05, 2010 at 12.07 pm
Thank you Mike. Obviously there is a generational split over acceptance of gays and lesbians however we don’t want to appear ageist, and we should remember that thoughfulness as broad minded thinking trancends generations. My late father who was born in 1924, and would be eighty-six today, thought that DADT was absurd. His cousin served in the Marines during World War II and fought in the Battle of Ivo Jima, and today is in his late eighties, also thought don’t ask don’t tell was a joke. US Senator Frank Lautenberg (D)- New Jersey, who is eighty-six and fought in WWII, was seen rising to his feet when President Obama called for DADT to be repealled at the State of the Union earlier this year. Lets we forget the immortal words of the late US Senator Barry Goldwater (R) Arizona, who famously said in 1993 “you don’t have to be straight just shoot straight, to be in the military.” Goldwater was born in 1909 and was eighty-four when he made that statement. Senator Carl Levin (D) Michigan, the leading advocate of DADT Repeal in the US Senate, is also in his mid-seventies. Lets give some members of the older generation credit for changing with the times.
sal in Seattle on April 02, 2010 at 06.13 pm
Well put Margaret Witt in Spokane…
The average age of the military is what??? With rules made by who??? Old retired generals??? Dead generals???
A former president was quoted as saying:
“I am increasingly persuaded that the earth belongs exclusively to the living, and that ONE GENERATION HAS NO more RIGHT TO BIND ANOTHER TO IT’S LAWS AND JUDGMENTS, than one independent nation has the right to command another.” [Thomas Jefferson in “John Adams” 2008 Movie.]
Makes no sense that a ninety three year old congressman and ninety five year old generals are influencing the laws of OUR Generation.
Margaret Witt in Spokane, WA on March 31, 2010 at 08.49 pm
Thank you Maj Mike! This is truly the issue we are facing today. I would love to send a copy of “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner” to all of the more senior members of the military. I would ask that they pay close attention to Sydney Poitier’s talk with his father. He states “You and your whoIe Iousy generation..
believes the way it was for you
is the way it’s got to be!
And not until your whoIe generation
has Iain down and died…
wilI the deadweight of you
be off our backs!
You understand?
You’ve got to get off my back.
Written in 1967
Karl Olson in Washington DC on March 31, 2010 at 03.59 pm
Mike, I join Rick Bodnar Jr. in Tampa in thanking you for all that you are doing.
Rick Bodnar, Jr. in Tampa on March 31, 2010 at 11.15 am
Thanks, Mike, for you continued fight in this cause - a fellow officer.
It was a pleasure to meet and chat with you during the recent Lobby Day.