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Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Jim Stingl - To serve, but not deserve dignity?
It’s not that Britton Andrew Jones failed to grasp the military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy on homosexuality.
The 21-year-old Shorewood man simply couldn’t live in the shadows anymore. He struggled to make sense of an environment that stresses integrity on one hand but then prevents him from saying aloud who he really is.
Last month, Pvt. Jones walked into his commander’s office and handed him a letter that begins:
“After much thought and consideration, I have decided to come out as a bisexual service member in the Wisconsin Army National Guard.”
It continues: “Though I fully understand that this statement is grounds for discharge, I find it most necessary from an ethical standpoint. My only request is that my discharge be honorable, as my service has been executed in such a nature.”
At first, the commander put him down for what the military calls an other than honorable conditions discharge. That was upgraded to a general discharge under honorable conditions, but Jones is fighting for a straight-up honorable discharge and no loss of benefits, including thousands of dollars in tuition and other payouts the military may try to recover. He has until mid-August to pull together his case.
“My service record has been impeccable,” he said.
He’s also speaking out against the 15-year-old don’t ask, don’t tell policy. He figures he has less to lose than, say, a gay soldier who will need extensive medical care for a war injury.
It probably hasn’t helped his case that he joined Iraq Veterans Against the War and posted his grievances on the group’s Web site. He said his commander at the Oak Creek support headquarters told him he was being punished for going public, but military policy does not prohibit soldiers from speaking their minds so long as they’re not in uniform or at a duty station.
Lt. Col. Tim Donovan, spokesman for the Wisconsin National Guard, said confidentiality prohibits him from speaking about Jones’ case, but he said the Guard complies with the Defense Department policy on homosexuality. Congress, he added, has stated that homosexuality poses an unacceptable risk to the morale, good order, discipline and unit cohesion in the military.
The Wisconsin Army National Guard has discharged three soldiers under the policy since 2002, Donovan said. That’s out of approximately 16,000 people who have served in the Guard in that time.
A group in Washington, D.C., Servicemembers Legal Defense Network, is fighting to do away with don’t ask, don’t tell, and is advocating for soldiers affected by it. The Pentagon has kicked out more than 12,000 service members since 1994, they say.
“It codifies discrimination. It creates license for homophobia and can lead to a hostile workplace,” said a spokesman for the network, Adam Ebbin.
A bill to repeal the policy will be reintroduced in the next session of Congress, Ebbin said. A congressional hearing on the issue was held last week.
Aaron Tax, a staff attorney for the defense network, said approximately 70% of soldiers snared by don’t ask, don’t tell receive honorable discharges. Some commanders simply look the other way. And some service members are discharged, but only after they complete deployment to a war zone.
“It’s extremely arbitrary,” Tax said.
The son of a clergyman, Jones went to high school near Madison and came to the Milwaukee area in 2005 to attend UWM, where he’s majoring in musical theater. With a desire to be of service, he enlisted in the Guard in November of 2006. He was trained as an infantryman, but then became a paralegal specialist, helping hundreds of Iraq-bound soldiers with wills, power of attorney and other matters.
He found himself becoming more and more opposed to the idea of war as a way of settling differences. The work he was doing was satisfying, but he was offended by the anti-gay jokes and derisive remarks he often heard from fellow soldiers.
Jones already had come out to numerous family and friends, and he knew what he had to do. He wrote the letter to his commander.
“I feel like I’m more myself. I can speak as Pvt. Jones, not the faux Pvt. Jones who was putting on the ultimate masculine facade,” he said. “People should be able to be who they are and serve.”
A military lawyer has been appointed for Jones. A panel of officers in Madison will make a recommendation to the adjutant general, who has the final say on Jones’ discharge.
In the meantime, Jones is working with organizations involved in literacy and ecology. They accept him as he is.
