Sister Joan Chittister famously said, "We are each called to go through life reclaiming the planet an inch at a time until the Garden of Eden grows green again." Reflecting on that journey -- a blog at a time -- is the focus of this site.
Don't Ask Don't Tell will likely be repealed this weekend. Understand that its repeal is going to cost some lives of gay and straight service members. This won't happen very often and probably not in a combat situations or deployment, but will happen in basic training, AIT, and in garrison.
Infantry, Artillery, and Armor organizations are no bastions of enlightenment or for that matter, critical thinking on social issues. There are no women, it is a land of testosterone, cruelty and open misogyny. Their job is to kill people and break things – they are the trigger pullers. A gay man wishing to make a point will be in danger of bayonet between the ribs or a faked suicide. He will most likely be the only out gay man in the unit and unless he has mad social skills, he will become a target. The Army will investigate, the unit will close ranks, and the perpetrators will, most likely, be caught. One man will be dead and the other lives will end in Leavenworth. This will happen more than once.
It is not right, but it will be a reality for a period of time. It will be the price paid for the privilege to serve.
3 comments:
Don't Ask Don't Tell will likely be repealed this weekend. Understand that its repeal is going to cost some lives of gay and straight service members. This won't happen very often and probably not in a combat situations or deployment, but will happen in basic training, AIT, and in garrison.
Infantry, Artillery, and Armor organizations are no bastions of enlightenment or for that matter, critical thinking on social issues. There are no women, it is a land of testosterone, cruelty and open misogyny. Their job is to kill people and break things – they are the trigger pullers. A gay man wishing to make a point will be in danger of bayonet between the ribs or a faked suicide. He will most likely be the only out gay man in the unit and unless he has mad social skills, he will become a target. The Army will investigate, the unit will close ranks, and the perpetrators will, most likely, be caught. One man will be dead and the other lives will end in Leavenworth. This will happen more than once.
It is not right, but it will be a reality for a period of time. It will be the price paid for the privilege to serve.
And your point is what? That ignorant homophobia kills people?
We knew that.
My point is what I wrote ... be prepared for a cost in lives lost and ruined. Pray the period is short lived and passes quickly.
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