A Near Re-Enlistment Story
Former Army Sergeant Bill Smith (pictured) sent along this interesting tidbit in a recent note to SLDN:"This past fall I spoke with an Army Recruiter about re-enlisting in the Army. I wanted to see what would happen. I provided the recruiter with all of my information -- DD214's, SSN, etc. After reviewing my record I was told I would be a perfect candidate for re-enlistment and possible OCS. There was no mention of me being discharged because of DADT. I found this to be very interesting and wonder—was the recruiter ignoring the fact that I came out to my commander and was discharged as a result or was this information not retained in my Personnel File?"Bill, a Bronze Star recipient and a veteran of Operation Desert Shield and Desert Storm, would have been a perfect recruit... were it not for "Don't Ask, Don't Tell."
Interestingly, there seems to be a pattern of recruiters, desperate to meet their quotas and desperate for the best and brightest, ignoring the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" ban on openly lesbian, gay, bisexual service members. Bill's story follows a November report out of Denver of Army recruiters ignoring "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" when potential recruits revealed their sexual orientation.
Needless to say, all the more reason to repeal "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" now! Check out our online action center to find out how you can help with repeal efforts!
- Rebecca Sawyer
posted by SLDN at
4:05 PM
2 Comments:
Just curious. I am a gay service member, active duty. I have served so far for 8 years and am separating in a few months. Why would you come out to your commander? I never have understood that. We all knew when we signed the dotted line that we couldn't come out. I don't agree with it at all, but I have lived up to what I signed up for, twice. Over the past year I have wanted nothing more than to separate, but pride has kept me from outing myself just to get out. I said I would do four more years and that's exactly what I'm doing. I'm not mad, just sort of confused on why a person would do that. I suppose I could understand if a member was new and didn't realize what they had gotten themselves into, but to serve for a while and then out yourself seems strange to me. I am on your side, but outing yourself probably didn't hurt the DADT policy or help yourself. Honestly, I'm just wondering. No offense intended.
Thank you for your comment. I would like to direct you to my story, which is posted as part of the Documenting Courage project. I have provided the link. I served for three years on active duty and was Honorably Discharged. I then served for an additional five years in the Army Reserves, re-enlisting once while in the reserves. I was in the process of becoming any Army Reserve recruiter when it really hit me that as a recruiter I would have to deny potential recruits the opportunity to serve because of DADT. It was because of that and because of all that the Army had instilled in me about integrity that I chose to come out to my commander. I did still receive and honorable discharge as a result of that action. I realize that by outing myself that I did not do anything to change the DADT law and also doomed my military career, but as a matter of personal integrity I did a lot.
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home