Bunk Mates

Martin Sutovec (Slovakia)

Because I could not stop for Death
He kindly stopped for me
--Emily Dickenson

Death is always the same,
but each man dies in his own way
--Carson McCullers

--I'll give you nothing more to eat.
--Then we'll die.
--I'll give you just enough to keep you from dying.
You'll be hungry all the time.
--Then we won't die
--Endgame, Samuel Beckett
________________

In a rather non-cohesive statement on unit cohesion and why the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy against openly gay service should remain intact, General James Amos -- new commandant of the U.S. Marine Crops said,

"There is nothing more intimate than young men and young women — and when you talk of infantry, we're talking our young men — laying out, sleeping alongside of one another and sharing death, fear and loss of brothers," he said. "I don't know what the effect of that will be on cohesion. I mean, that's what we're looking at. It's unit cohesion, it's combat effectiveness" (Marines' Leader: Keep Policy on Gays in Military.)

In Ranger's experience, death is never a shared experience; one is either dead or not, and no man can die your death for you. Everyone witnesses death as an individual, and one's confrontation with death does not change based upon one's sexual affiliation. Homosexual soldiers die and can witness death, too.

Pity the General does not abide by his word when he states his concerns: "This is not a social thing. This is combat effectiveness. That’s what the country pays its Marines to do."

If Gen. Amos was worried about Marines' combat effectiveness, he might remember Staff Sergeant Eric Fidelis Alva, the first Marine seriously wounded in the Iraq occupation; SSG Alva is gay.

Alva lost a leg to an IED. When asked by interviewer Paula Zahn if he had ever been attracted to a soldier in the field, Alva said, "I never took my personal life to work." Exactly, as it should be for hetero Marines and soldiers, too.

Alva has also said, "I come from a family of servicemen. My dad, Fidelis, is a Vietnam vet. My grandfather, also named Fidelis, was a World War II and Korean War veteran. I was named after them. My middle name is Fidelis. Fidelis means faithful."

Faithful. It is the least the Commandant can be to his fellow Marines.

Semper Fi.

FWG, or, Flying While Gay

(h/t to Deep Confusion)

I'm homosexual . . . How and why are idle questions.
It's a little like wanting to know why my eyes are green
--Jean Genet

The homosexual subculture based on brief,
barren assignations is, in part,
a dark mirror of the sex-obsessed majority culture
--George F. Will

Ain't I a woman?
--Harriet Tubman

Hateful to me as the gates of Hades
is that man who hides one thing in his heart
and speaks another
--Homer

_________________

Two recent cases have highlighted the military's hypocritical "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy (DADT) regarding the right of homosexuals to serve in the U.S. Armed Forces.

Hypocritical because gays have long served honorably in the military; hypocritical because it presumes serviceman must live a closeted life if they are to be allowed to execute their job.

Hypocritical because 2-10% of the animal kingdom is homosexual, and a civil nation cannot force someone to switch their sexual orientation, any more than they can require they bleach their skin or hew to a state religion. These are not things a democracy forces upon its citizens. DADT gives the lie to the idea of a nation where All Men are Created Equal.

The Army should have one standard for retention, that being performance of duty.

The Supreme Court denied former Army Captain James Pietrangelo II the right to contest his discharge under DADT on June 8. However, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco is allowing former Air Force Maj. Margaret Witt, a decorated flight nurse, to pursue her lawsuit over her dismissal.

The 9th Circuit Court got it right when they said the AF must prove that discharging Witt advanced its goals of readiness and unit cohesion.

Also in the news is Lt. Col. Victor Fehrenbach, discharged after a distinguished 18-year career after being outed by an acquaintance.

He is being kicked to the curb just shy of retirement for Flying While Gay (FWG). As with the prejudicial view towards those ensnared DWB (Driving While Black), so it goes with FWG . What possible impact does this officer's sexual orientation have on his ability to fly his aircraft?

"The winner of nine air medals for distinguished service in flight, including one for heroism the night U.S. forces captured Baghdad International Airport in 2003, Fehrenbach is in the process of getting kicked out of the military a year after an acquaintance told his bosses he was gay (Aviator Hopes Gay Ban Will End Soon Enough for Him)."

In the case of both officers there is no indication their dismissal had anything to do with military logic. The military traditionally eliminates/discharges personnel via one of two methods: qualitative or quantitative review. Neither Witt nor Fehrenbach fit either mold, as both are producing qualitatively and there in no Reduction in Force in place requiring quantitative limning down.

It is both cruel and unusual to eliminate people like Witt and Fehrenbach after honorably serving their country and having reached field grade officer status. If heterosexuals can serve and still have sexual liaisons without harassment, the same respect is due homosexuals. Why should one community have to essentially neuter themselves to remain acceptable?

Your boss may be a Yankees fan, but that doesn't mean you can't root for the Mets without fearing your dismissal. Freedom of choice.

That's the American way.