Fairness for All the Troops

Hey, a second scoop—but the originator is looking for feedback, so please feel free to comment, or send me an EMail at crk@theworld.com.

CBS Reporter Kimberly Dozier, who survived an VB-IED (car bomb) attack♠ in Iraq a while back, had a short mention today, as part of Memorial Day Weekend, of one of the medics who kept her alive after the attack, which killed four others on the foot patrol.

The other medic from that day has just been chaptered out of the military, after being outed as a lesbian on her second tour, as an act of vengeance when she turned in a superior officer who was dealing drugs.

Lets skip the question about DADT (Don't Ask, Don't Tell) for a moment.

This is ugly because s Service Member turned in a drug dealer and vengeance was then extracted on that Service Member in a way that caould't be fought.  The individual's integrity required her, in this situation, to say, "Yes, I am a lesbian."  That the military, which should be a band of brothers (and sisters) should allow this to happen is flat out wrong.

Where is the commander who should have said, "Do you want to be discharged?  If not, get out of my office and back to doing the kind of job that would justify my ignoring this whole thing."  Did we not learn from Admiral Nelson about "turning a blind eye," as he did at the Battle of Copenhagen.

The issue of DADT has not gone away and likely won't during this Administration.  Already there are those who voted for President Obama who are upset with him for not tackling this issue.  Frankly, from a political point of view he is probably wise to put it off for a while.  The recession and the political issues surrounding the war on terror and especially "Guantanamo" are enough for his plate right now.  To change DADT, he will need the support of the US Congress and they may be a little skittish to reverse what is their own policy.  But, President Obama takes the heat for it.

Should we change our policy with regard to the military?  I am of mixed feelings.  The policy doesn't keep homosexuals out of the military. We need to be clear on that.  The policy may add to good order and discipline by providing a "bright line" as to what is acceptable behavior.  On the other hand, the trajectory of freedom in this nation is about letting everyone serve. In the early days it was the Jews in New York taking their local government to Court to be allowed to serve in the local militia.  Then it was the integration of Blacks into all combat units.  With women it was first deciding that they didn't need to be segregated in their own corps and then the realization that they could be allowed in combat units, e.g., becoming Air Force and Navy fighter pilots and Army artillery officers and serving at sea.  The fact is, Americans want to serve and serve proudly.

Frankly, I am totally NOT moved by administrations and professors in colleges and universities that rail against this issue and block ROTC on their campuses and try to ban military recruiters because of DADT.  They are like our Supreme Judicial Court Chief Justice, Ms Margaret Marshall, who wrote the majority opinion on the Goodridge Gay Marriage ruling.  She reached into a grab bag of excluded classes and pulled out one and told the Great and General Court it could continue to discriminate against all the other classes.

On balance, I think that if the US Congress repeals DADT little will change and this irritant to some will go away.  My expectation is the change will go down with very little trouble in the military.  There will be, for a short period, some increase in discipline problems.  The smaller portion will be homosexuals testing the limits of what is acceptable under the rules against sexual harassment.  The greater portion will be people who want out of uniform and who might have taken the route of claiming a homosexual orientation, but now find that not to be an option.

In the mean time, there is a former Army medic out there who has been treated shamefully.  Can anyone make it right?

I expect we will learn more about this when Ms Dozier does her Sunday Morning report on the 2006 attack, on June 21st.

You might well ask why this is fitting for a Memorial Day Weekend.  It is about honoring those who serve, including those who serve in mufti.  The specific connection goes back to the day Kimberly Dozier was blown up, 29 May 2006.  CBS Evening New reported that evening that the crew had been working on a story about how Memorial Day "is like any other day" in Iraq.

Ms Dozier wrote about her experiences in Iraq in her 2008 book, Breathing the Fire:  Fighting to Report-and Survive-the War in Iraq.

UPDATED

I misspoke (mistyped?) in describing the bomb that injured Ms Dozier and killed her four companions—I should have read her book. Appropriate paragraph is updated above.

Regards  —  Cliff

♠  All five were within 20 feet of a 300-500 pound car bomb.