It is strange to me that the military expects courage, honesty and integrity from its soldiers, but does not always uphold those values itself. Why one's sexual orientation should matter when risking one's life to defend and protect a nation is beyond my imagination. Homosexuality is not a mental illness. It is not a depravity, a fetish or an obscenity. Gay men and women are no more likely to act inappropriately towards their peers than their heterosexual counterparts. In fact, from personal experiences, I've found it is quite the opposite.
So why, why, why, is it that even after,
"the Guard's Federal Recognition Board heard from members of Choi's unit, his commanding officer and fellow soldiers who served in Iraq, and reviewed more than 150 letters of support for Choi, a 2003 West Point graduate and an Arab linguist.
'At the end of the day, they did not consider any of that material [to] whether he was a good soldier," she said. "It was solely about whether he said he was gay.'"
I don't buy it that the military is going solely on protocol - there is a unique protocol in the military, different from civilians, and it frustrates me to no end that they're being so ass-backwards about this. Apparently it's better to fire a highly qualified, Arabic speaking, honored and respected soldier and keep the incompetent, ill-mannered punk who just wants to fire his gun in the air to prove he's the alpha dog.
And, I'm not letting Obama off the hook. He did promise to work to repeal the "don't ask, don't tell" policy, and although he is working on it, I agree that:
"'while Obama can't change the law himself, he could sign an executive order halting discharges while the policy is under review.'"
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