An Army of 1 in 10

Today needs no preamble; instead, I present UserFriendly’s tribute to vets.

Riley Woina recently had the experience of his life: he spent a week training with the Army Rangers at Camp James E. Rudder. What’s really cool about this story, is that Riley is only 14 years old, and he was able to do this because he made a wish.
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Day is done, gone the sun,
From the hills, from the lake,
From the sky.
All is well, safely rest,
God is nigh.
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There has been an explosion of discussion in the AKO Forums (make sure you’re logged in before following the link) in the “Bi?” thread.  A Future Soldier made this comment which set off a firestorm:

i personally wouldnt want any faggots in the military PERIOD.

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Once upon a time, there was a Presidential candidate who promised to lift the ban on gays in the military and failed.

I was a senior in high school when President Clinton was running for office and he made that pledge. At the time, I was still coming to terms with being gay, so I was very supportive of his candidacy. I also had no intention of ever joining the Army so I didn’t really think that the ban would affect me. Turns out, I did and it does.
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The other day, I received an email from Corrie Zielinski from the Military Channel (a Discovery Channel property) asking for video submissions from military personnel for a “new initiative” which will air in mid-February. If anyone is interested, I’m including the information below. Remember, if you’re subject to DADT, you might want to consider very carefully the possible ramifications of submitting a video. Also, if you do contribute, keep OPSEC in mind when you’re making your video.

The Military Channel is seeking personal videos from members of the U.S. Military to let soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines tell their story directly to viewers.
Real-life moments captured on film by service members will be broadcast on the Military Channel as part of a new on-air programming initiative. Servicemen and women anywhere in the world who brought a camcorder with them on a recent deployment, or those who currently have a camera with them on the frontlines, can submit their videos directly to the Military Channel.

Additional information is available from a recent DOD release: http://www.defenselink.mil/News/NewsArticle.aspx?ID=2762

As well as a recent piece that aired on the Pentagon Channel: http://www.media-file.net/discovery/militarychannel/

We appreciate your support by passing along this message to fellow members of the military, friends and colleagues. With your help, the Military Channel can continue to be a voice for the troops

Personal videos can be submitted online at www.mywardiary.com, or mailed to the address below. Or email mywardiary@discovery.com for more information.

Mailing Address

MILITARY VIDEOS
Discovery Productions
8045 Kennett Street
Silver Spring, MD 20910

The Military Channel is owned and operated by Discovery Communications, Inc. More information about Discovery and its businesses can be found at www.discovery.com.

Jack Army writes:

While folks were thinking hard about the implications of Saddam’s verdict, this little Kurdish boy was trying to poke me in the eye!

Read more… (Jack Army)

I found this image somewhere, and though I’m sure it’s already been seen a million times, I found it amusing enough to share with you guys. Still, it does put the ridiculous arguments against lifting the ban into another perspective.

Every year at this time, the nation honors the brave men and women who have placed their lives on the line or given their lives to defend our great nation. This holiday began as Armistice Day, observed by several countries to remember the end of the Great War, but soon evolved into its present form here in the United States. While I absolutely do not wish to diminish the sacrifices my forebears made, today I would like to use the day to recognize a few vets who were caught up in the gears of the military’s anti-gay stance.

Jeff Howe¹
Specialist Jeff Howe joined the Army at the age of 29 after the terrorist attacks of 9/11 and a lot of thought. Deciding that he could sacrifice being out of the closet in order to serve his country, he enlisted and went to basic training at Fort Sill. After his training was complete, he PCS’d to Fort Riley where he found out that his unit was deploying to Iraq in only three days. He served there until the spring of 2004, and then returned to Fort Riley. As he was preparing to ETS, he was stop-lossed and was redeployed to Iraq.

After arriving back in Iraq, he began blogging about his experiences in that country with the approval and encouragement from his company commander. The fateful day came that July when a convoy was attacked by enemy RPG’s and his commander instructed him to post photos of the attack on his blog. However, the brigade commander ordered the photos and blog removed when he found out about them. He even went further and ordered a 15-6 investigation to find out whether or not SPC Howe had any ties to terrorists. It was during the course of this investigation that it was discovered that he had a profile on a gay site (I’m assuming Gay.com). SPC Howe was then immediately processed for separation from the U.S. Army.

Austin Rook¹
Captain Austin Rooke is another Iraq vet who is no longer in the military because of DADT. The difference between him and SPC Howe, is that he chose to leave the Army after his service obligation ended. CPT Rooke was an intelligence officer who didn’t experience as much homophobia as many other Soldiers until he deployed to Qatar. When he arrived, he was in for a bit of some culture shock: as an intelligence officer, he was able to enjoy a lack of ignorance in his branch and even engage in conversations on gays in the military; in Qatar, things were vastly different. His brigade commander was a homophobe, he didn’t have a support structure that he could turn to, and was far from home in a war zone.

“Homophobia is part of the culture—and it’s part of the culture because it’s the law,” he says. It was due to this rampant homophobia in the unit he was assigned to that he really had to keep his orientation a secret in order to ensure his safety.

Barry Winchell²
Private First Class Barry Winchell is more well-known than SPC Howe and CPT Rooke. That’s because he was brutally slain by two members of his platoon at Fort Campbell in the early morning of 5 Jul 99. While he wasn’t necessarily gay, he was perceived to be due to his relationship with Calpernia Addams, a MtF showgirl he met at a club. Interestingly enough, it was his roommate, Specialist Justin Fisher who took him to the club in the first place.

Several months after PFC Winchell and Calpernia began dating, SPC Fisher and another buddy, Private Calvin Glover attacked Winchell as he slept in his bed with baseball bats. PFC Winchell died of blunt force trauma and massive internal injuries the next day. PVT Glover is currently serving a life sentence, but Fisher has recently been released from prison.

Allen Schindler³
Radioman Third Class Allen Schindler was a sailor assigned to the USS Belleau Wood in 1992. Like PFC Winchell after him, ET3 Schindler was brutally murdered by two fellow sailors. Terry Helvey and Charles Vins attacked him in a public restroom in Sasebo, Japan and beat and stomped him to death. The attack was so brutal that they destroyed every internal organ in Schindler’s body, and the only way he could be identified was through tattoos on his arms. The medical examiner who conducted the autopsy stated that the injuries were similar to those caused by an airplane crash or a high-speed car accident. ET3 Schindler’s penis bore cut marks, all but two of his ribs were broken, and his liver even had holes large enough to see through.

During the interrogation, Helvey stated that he hated homosexuals and that he was disgusted by them. A part of that statement also included the following words: I don’t regret it. I’d do it again. … He deserved it.

Sources:
¹ Jeff Howe and Austin Rooke

² Wikipedia SLDN

³ Allen Schindler Memorial

With the recent report that the military is stepping up its monitoring of service members’ blogs in order to protect itself against OPSEC violations, SLDN would like to direct LGBT service members to its online safety guidelines on Gay.com.