[Vision2020] The Deception Must End

[Tom Hansen]

>From the "Letters to the Editor" section of the July 30, 2007 Army Times -

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The Deception Must End

As one of 10 noncommissioned officers selected to compete in last year's
Army-wide Best Warrior Competition, the NCO of the year for one of the
Army's major commands and a decorated veteran of two deployments to Iraq and
Afghanistan, I have, by all accounts, served my country honorably and well.
I am writing because, as an open and avowed homosexual, I cannot, under
current policy, continue my service any longer. 

I am not alone. A recent study by the General Accountability Office found
that over 10,000 members of the armed forces have been discharged under
"don't ask, don't tell" since 1993. This number does not include those like
myself who kept their sexuality a secret and simply declined to re-enlist. 

Many of these service members had mission-essential skills, the Arabic
linguists among them being the most recent and notable example. At a time
when branches of the military change entrance standards to meet their
recruiting goals, when we are engaged in a global struggle with no
foreseeable end, it is senseless to bar otherwise highly qualified men and
women from service for reasons which, as I and many others have
demonstrated, have no bearing on their ability to perform their jobs and
accomplish their missions. 

The arguments about homosexuality being incompatible with the military
lifestyle and its presence being "prejudicial to good order and discipline"
are demonstrably false. Homosexuals continue to serve selflessly and with
distinction. 

On a unit-level scale, many of them serve openly, as well, when their
commanders deem them valuable enough to ignore their sexuality, by doing so
defying the policy that would otherwise require their immediate discharge. 

Service members are encouraged to draw support from their spouses and
families.

While all those who voluntarily enlist in today's military accept a certain
amount of sacrifice, homosexual service members lack the opportunity for
this support entirely. Furthermore, because we must keep our relationships a
secret from our comrades, and because the opportunity of starting a family
is unavailable to us, the casual camaraderie between military families, an
important informal channel of support, is lost to us, as well. 

Because of this, because I am tired of deceiving my fellow soldiers to keep
my honor and protect my career, because I cannot stand to abandon all hope
of a fulfilling an open relationship forever, and because I believe that the
policy that would force me to do so is fundamentally wrong, I respectfully
decline to continue in the profession of arms. 

End this divisive policy, and in doing so, proclaim to our enemies and all
the world that we, the people of the United States of America, still stand
together for our inalienable rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of
happiness, and that this we'll defend. 

Former Sgt. Joseph M. Krafft
Somerville, Mass.

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Question:  How many of those 54,000+ names on the Vietnam Memorial Wall
belong to homosexual soldiers, sailors, airmen, airmen, and Marines?

Seeya round town, Moscow.

Tom Hansen
Moscow, Idaho

"Patriotism is not a short and frenzied outburst of emotion but the tranquil
and steady dedication of a lifetime." 

--Adlai E. Stevenson, Jr.