| Joseph Rocha was 18 when he flew to Bahrein to serve in a military policy unit. He was dedicated, and later volunteered for an elite unit, the dog handlers.
He knew he was gay when he enlisted, but chose to put service to his nation above his personal interests. He kept to himself about his orientation. It didn't matter, as the two paragraphs already quoted clearly demonstrate.
It was not just gay men. Straight women who report sexual assaults were accused of being gay, told that since homosexuals were not supposed to be in the service their accusations could be ignored: After all, homosexuals have no rights in our military. You can't sexually assault someone who doesn't exist. Perhaps that is why he did not report what had been happening to him. He wanted to stay in the Navy: I feared that reporting the abuse would lead to an investigation into my sexuality. My leaders and fellow sailors were punishing me for keeping my sexuality to myself, punishing me because I wouldn't "tell."
Someone else, new to the unit, reported an incident where Rocha was tied up in a dog kennel, which led to an investigation. Still, Rocha did refused to talk about it until threatened with a subpoena. The results? The Navy confirmed 93 incidents of misconduct, including hazing, abuse, physical assault, solicitation of prostitutes and misuse of government property and funds, but the case was closed. After receiving a letter of caution, the military's version of a slap on the wrist, my chief was eventually promoted in rank and position.
So who was punished? Rocha's best friend was the 2nd in command of the unit, a female Petty Officer First Class, who just as she was due to return to the states was charged (with dereliction of duty?) for failing to stop the abuse of the Chief, although as Rocha has demonstrated the Navy itself failed to properly stop him. Fearing she would never return to the States, Petty Officer 1st Class Jennifer Valdivia, a 27-year-old Sailor of the Year, committed suicide.
Valdivia had helped Rocha get an appointment to the Naval Academy prep school in Rhode Island. For those who do not know, any enlisted person in the Navy or Marine Corps who is offered an appointment to Annapolis is required to spend a year at the Prep School, even if one already has several years in college. It is one reason I turned down an Annapolis appointment when I was a Marine - after two years at Haverford College I did not see the point of returning to a high school setting.
For Joseph Rocha, this was a dream come true. Yet it was a dream not to be, because he was severely impacted by his friend's death, haunted himself by thoughts of suicide. So he wrote the following letter: "I am a homosexual. I deeply regret that my personal feelings are not compatible with Naval regulations or policy. I am proud of my service and had hoped I would be able to serve the Navy and the country for my entire career. However, the principles of honor, courage and commitment mean I must be honest with myself, courageous in my beliefs, and committed in my action. I understand that this statement will be used to end my Naval career." Since he was despite the harrassment a successful sailor who had risen to Petty Officer Third Class and selected for Annapolis, it took several months for the Navy to decide what to do with him, during which time he was given make-work. He received an honorable discharge, which enabled him to have GI benefits allowing him to attend college (he is a junior at UC San Diego) and to received treatment through the VA, which determined he was suffering Post Traumatic Stress Disorder as a result of his experiences.
Rocha still hopes to serve as an officer upon graduation from UCSD. It is remarkable that he still wants to serve his nation in a service that so ill-treated him. One hopes that his desire to serve will be recognized, and that when DADT is ended the Navy will be willing to accept him back to the leadership role for which it was willing to have him serve until he wrote the aforementioned letter.
We have heard much about the cost to our military of DADT - the trained linguists lost, the lives broken. Even absent the issue of sexuality, that we still allow extreme forms of hazing should trouble the nation's policy makers. We have seen in the past the cost of such "tolerance" of the abuse of others - remember Tailhook? Hazing quickly can degenerate into harassment and abuse. Females who refuse unwanted sexual advances far too easily are subject to accusations of being lesbians - I saw that occur to Women Marines that I knew.
Barry Goldwater once opined that it should not matter if a soldier were straight or gay, only if he could should straight. In a time when far too many - especially on the Right (Dick Cheney or Jonah Goldberg or so many of the younger generation) avoid their own military service even as some insist that liberals are reluctant to include the military as a form of service for young people - remember William Kristol criticizing Obama's speech on behalf of Ted Kennedy at Wesleyan? - it is odd that we still try to force out those who want to serve because we fear their sexual orientation.
Fear - some are too fearful of the possibility of their own death to serve, even as they advocate policies that will lead to the deaths of young (and not so young) men and women who have volunteered. Chickenhawks is too good a term for them.
But fear of the "other" is still too widespread in this nation. We have politicians who ramp up fear of immigrants, of those of non-Christian faith. Some are still fearful of people with dark skins, which clearly underlies their reaction to our President, as I wrote in this diary yesterday It is a fear that leads to ridiculous statements about same sex couples who want to marry somehow threatening marriage itself, when the state with lowest divorce rate is Massachusetts which has gay marriage, while the states of the red "Bible Belt" rank among those with the highest divorce rates.
The nation would be fortunate to have people like Joseph Rocha serving in our military. Just as we are fortunate in having Barney Frank, Tammy Baldwin, and Jared Polis serving in the House of Representatives. Those of us in Arlington are honored by the service of Jay Fisette on our County Board, Adam Ebben in the House of Delegates, and Sally Baird on our School Board.
Al Gray is considered one of the great Marines, one of its best Commandants. Those who knew his sexual orientation, including then Navy Secretary James Webb, had to fight to get him confirmed. His sexual orientation was no secret to many in Congress. Gray married his mother's nurse to give those in Congress worried about what they were doing some cover. Webb has said that Gray was the best man for the job, but that it was a severe battle to get him confirmed. I first heard about his sexuality from Larry Korb, who was an Assistant Secretary of Defense at the time of Gray's appointment as Commandant. It would have been a great loss had the nation been denied Gray's service as Commandant when his sexuality had nothing to do with his superb leadership. And if a gay man can be part of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, it is hard to understand why he - or she - cannot be a dog handler in the Middle East.
Once upon a time we were harsh to Blacks who wanted to serve. Henry Flipper, First Black through West Point, had to be more disciplined than Jackie Robinson integrating the major leagues - he went through his Point experience basically with no schoolmate even willing to talk with him, and yet still saw his career ended by a phony Court Martial. Since then Colin Powell has served as Chair of the Joint Chiefs. The military has probably done more to demonstrate to the nation how it can overcome racism than any other organization in the nation. Perhaps it is time for the military to demonstrate similar leadership on the issue of homophobia.
Because gays have always served. They are serving now. And we should honor their service. Not merely because we need it, but because it is the right thing to do.
Let me end with Rocha's hopeful conclusion: The more I talk about what happened to me, the more I hear from others who have been in similar situations. Students in the service academies calling me, crying, asking if they should quit. World War II veterans. Enlisted soldiers serving overseas. They are hopeful that we may soon have a different kind of military, that gay and lesbian men and women can serve the country we love with job security and dignity.
Despite everything, I am hopeful, too.
Peace |
