A cost of Don't Ask, Don't Tell - one sailor's experience

by: teacherken

Sun Oct 11, 2009 at 09:25:20 AM EDT

Shop talk in the unit revolved around sex, either the prostitute-filled parties of days past or the escapades my comrades looked forward to. They interpreted my silence and total lack of interest as an admission of homosexuality. My higher-ups seemed to think that gave them the right to bind me to chairs, ridicule me, hose me down and lock me in a feces-filled dog kennel.

I can't say for certain when the abuse started or when it stopped. Now, several years removed from those days in Bahrain, it blends together in my mind as a 28-month nightmare.

Those two paragraphs are from a remarkable op ed in today's Washington Post, I Didn't Tell. It Didn't Matter.  The subtitle of this piece by Joseph Rocha is "Trying to serve his country, a young man faced bigotry and abuse".   Read it and you will not need to continue below the fold.

The Real Propagandists of Kids (Hint: It Isn't President Obama)

by: KathyinBlacksburg

Wed Sep 09, 2009 at 12:42:25 PM EDT

Obama needs just a bit of Truman's courage

by: teacherken

Sun Jun 28, 2009 at 01:54:11 AM EDT

When will Barack Obama tap his inner Truman and take the initiative to end the ignominious ban on gays serving openly in the military?

Actually, he needs to exhibit only a fraction of Harry Truman's political courage. When FDR's successor announced in 1948 that he intended to racially integrate the armed forces, Americans recoiled in horror. Gallup reported that only 13 percent of the people endorsed the notion of blacks and whites serving together. Yet Truman signed the executive order anyway; as he liked to say, "I wonder how far Moses would have gone if he'd taken a poll in Egypt."

So begin Dick Polman, the National Political Columnist for the Philadelphia InquirerM in his column today, whose full title reads The American Debate: Obama needs just a bit of Truman's courage.  I was planning to go to bed until I read the column.  I decided I needed to write about it immediately.

Pandering to the Military and Veterans

by: Dan Sullivan

Fri May 22, 2009 at 23:31:43 PM EDT

I apologize up front to all the service members who deserve our sincere gratitude. But the phrase "support the troops" as used by the Bush administration and on and on was immediately so hollow, obtuse, and meaningless that I am at a loss to express how angry I became and remain because I deeply hold the belief that its use was a violation of the law of the land. It is unlawful to use psychological operations against our own citizens. And while the phrase was used to tamp down any objection to pursuing an unwise military adventure, I and a whole lot of "great Americans" were off fulfilling the direction of our Commander in Chief by planning a series of other unwinnable wars. Meanwhile the buffoons in Washington giving guidance deflected any criticism by using a lesson from the Viet Nam War that highlighted the need to engage the public if you want support for the war. That was part of the syllabus at every military staff and war college during the eighties and nineties. And engage the public those miscreants did. They sucked us in unawares. So, Speaker Pelosi isn't the only frog in a pot of water slowly brought to a boil.

I was not in Iraq for that adventure. I was in Japan with my then non-citizen wife and our high school aged son. I would come home from work and she would be watching the news featuring stories of the young men and women killed and injured or just off in a place they should not have been. She cried at every death and mangling. She was angry that they and their families suffered for no good reason and could not understand why a great nation had done this. I can't tell you how many times she took out her frustration on me. That was supporting the troops; only not this troop. I know it was partially because she looked across the room at her son and saw those youngsters in him. She didn't know then how frustrated and angry I was every day and in every meeting I attended where the leadership simply brushed away the concerns of the planners. I was not silent, I just wasn't heard by the careerists. And I could not tell my wife much of it.  

Brian Moran Thanks Military Families

by: Eileen

Sun May 10, 2009 at 09:44:15 AM EDT

Last year, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates presented Brian Moran with an award for his work on behalf of Our Military Kids, a nonprofit foundation for giving more than $1 million to the families of deployed or wounded National Guard and Reserve members. "Military children may experience a deep sense of loss when they have a parent serving far from home," Gates said.  "Organizations like this one make our military kids feel special and loved," he said.

"We are greatly indebted to Brian for his strong advocacy of the program," Our Military Kids Co-Founder Gail Kruzel said. "Thanks to Brian, we have been able to provide additional benefits to the children of Virginia's deployed. Virginia's support of the program sets the benchmark for other states to emulate."

Reflecting on the 2008 award yesterday, Brian said "I wanted to make sure military families know that we appreciate the sacrifice they make for our nation. And, especially to the children of our military service members, they need to know that while their moms and dads aren't home, they are doing the bravest thing they can and helping to keep millions of families safe."