Monday, June 21, 2004
GAYS SUFFER EARLY DISCHARGE
By Tweed
A Pentagon spokesperson underscored the military readiness problem. "Say we're attacked and half to move fast," said the spokesperson. "Now, I have nothing against queers, but how ready for immediate military operations can they be? They'd have to get out of their curlers, makeup and stockings before they would be ready. I'd hate to tell our guys, 'yeah, were going into combat but we have to wait for Geoffrey because he's at a Judy Garland Retrospective.'"
Other soldiers were less critical. "I bunked next to a few homos," said PFC Pyle. "All I know is that they kept the place neat and clean. My regular bunkmates are slobs."
The Army had thought of reassigning the 770 service people to Abu Ghraib Prison. "Obviously, their homoerotic tendencies might come in handy in interrogations," said one Pentagon official. "But the soldiers already at the prison don't want to deal with the outrageous behavior that comes with having gays around."
Two servicemen react to news of early discharge from military.
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By Tweed
770 gays discharged from military in 2003
By BETH FOUHY
Associated Press Writer
SAN FRANCISCO - Even with concerns growing about military troop strength, 770 people were discharged for homosexuality last year under the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy, a new study shows.
The figure, however, is significantly lower than the record 1,227 discharges in 2001 - just before the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq. Since "don't ask, don't tell" was adopted in 1994, nearly 10,000 military personnel have been discharged - including linguists, nuclear warfare experts and other key specialists.
"The justification for the policy is that allowing gays and lesbians to serve would undermine military readiness," said Aaron Belkin, author of the study, which will be released Monday. "For the first time, we can see how it has impacted every corner of the military and goes to the heart of the military readiness argument."
A Pentagon spokesperson underscored the military readiness problem. "Say we're attacked and half to move fast," said the spokesperson. "Now, I have nothing against queers, but how ready for immediate military operations can they be? They'd have to get out of their curlers, makeup and stockings before they would be ready. I'd hate to tell our guys, 'yeah, were going into combat but we have to wait for Geoffrey because he's at a Judy Garland Retrospective.'"
Other soldiers were less critical. "I bunked next to a few homos," said PFC Pyle. "All I know is that they kept the place neat and clean. My regular bunkmates are slobs."
The Army had thought of reassigning the 770 service people to Abu Ghraib Prison. "Obviously, their homoerotic tendencies might come in handy in interrogations," said one Pentagon official. "But the soldiers already at the prison don't want to deal with the outrageous behavior that comes with having gays around."
Two servicemen react to news of early discharge from military.
