What you relate in your main paragraph pretty much conforms to what I have been told elsewhere. Within the military, there is “policy” and there is “reality” and the two do not necessarily coincide, particularly in these elite groups.

Fair point. Quite valid, so these witch-hunts are a civil rights issue.

One thing to remember though is that there is a gulf between policy and execution. It is no secret that the medical and intelligence fields along with the Special Forces community have tradtionally been gay-safe zones, and pretty much for the same reason – 1) they are insular and basicaly contemptuous of outsiders, and especially of snuff-dipping manuever arms pinheads, and 2)the snuff-dipping pinheads need them enough and cannot replace them easily enough that they end up tolerating their insularity (calling it “esprit de corps” or some such figleaf term). What this means is that in cases where it is brought to the attention of the commander that some soldier iswings the other way, the commander just always has more pressing matters to attend to, and somehow further up the chain higher his/her commanders agree with that assessment. It has been this way for a long time.

Is that good enough? Hardly. There are plenty of gay snuff-dipping maneuver arms pinheads, and they are not in a safe zone. UNSAT.

You assholes are the type of fags who went SCURRYING and RUNNING out the back door of Stonewall in 1969!

That American Revolution one of you jerk-offs referred to as gay “Liberation” with quotation marks around Liberation, but THAT American Revolution known to the rest of the world as The Stonewall Riot, has made it possible for YOU dumbass conservative queers to have your website here today.

BY THE FUCKING WAY! DO YOU REALLY FUCKING THINK ANNE COULTAR LIKES YOU FAGS!?
CAConrad
DEVIANT PROPULSION

This rant is so convoluted that it makes no sense whatsoever, but as to one point:

What did Germany ever do to threaten Americans?

Um, this is a joke, right? Apparently you are unaware of the fact that Germany declared war on the United States before the United States declared war on Germany. I suppose that some people might believe that a declaration of war is not a threat, but I am not among them.

Actually, the US and Germany had been conducting an “under the radar” naval battle for some time before either declared war on the other, but that’s another issue.

Gays in the military isn’t a civil rights issue (and neither is gay marriage, IMO)

Actually, both are civil rights issues, but regarding “gays in the military,” the fact is that some rather significant benefits accrue to having served in the military.

Two obvious examples:

One, veterans’ benefits regarding medical care, whether or not the medical conditions were as a result of their military service.

Two, in more than a few states, and in the federal government (at least this used to be the case), veterans were awarded additional points on their civil service examinations, which gave them an undeserved “leg up” to governmental employment after they left the military. Why “undeserved”? Because the points had nothing to do with their ability to do the jobs for which the civil service examinations purported to test.

So, the anti-gay witch-hunts conducted by the military do, indeed, negatively affect the civil rights of gay people.

Anyway. The issue of jobs, training and benefits. While it may look like these are loss leaders to bring in suckers, in fact it works both ways. The training you mention is training the military has to conduct whatever the status of the new recruit. The benefits you mention – medical care, education, etc – are simply maintenance of this now valuable asset. So it is simply idle to argue who is benefiting whom. Because – and this is part of the training a new recruit needs – the soldier or sailor or whatever is no longer some individual in a contractual relationship with an employer, as was the case when the recurit was that little bourgeois parasite with a market mentality coming in off the street; he or she is now an organic part of the military community, a member and not an employee who can be laid off or fired at will or replaced like a temp. By the time that recruit gets to his unit, there is a good chunk of money tied up in him/her.

But I’m sure you asshole “Gay Patriots” just LOVE the fucking Patriot Act, don’t you?

Yeah, how charming. You salute to the flag has real nice SUCK MY COCK kind of ring to it!

See? Just let them talk, and they hang themselves every time.

The issue about joining or not joining is not about civil rights, except indirectly. It is about civic duty. People who expect to vote, enjoy police protection and all the other beneifts of citizenship owe public service. Period. Otherwise they are parasites. That is the argument for women in the military as well as gays.

Indirectly though, this is about civil rights, because civil and any other political rights are political power, and that comes out of the barrel of a gun. Do we really want only evil bigots and all those other wicked Neanderthals to be the only ones with military skills, the only ones in control of military power in society?

I just love, LOVE, how many people rant and rave and spit acid when defending the innocent Iraqi people and scream and yell about the evils of our men and women in the Armed Services, especially those who haven’t been there.

I have been there. I’ve walked in the Souk in Samarra, climbed the Spiral Mineret, watched the sunrise over the Tigris River, and had chai with many, many Iraqis. I’ve know men and women who were hurt or killed defending themselves, thier friends, and local Iraqis. I’ve lain in a field hospital bed beside Iraqi soldiers who were being treated and cared for by American military Doctors and Nurses. And I honestly believe that what we are doing over there is a good thing.

People say this isn’t our war, that we should just pack it up and leave. What about WWII? Was that our war? Sure the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor but what about the Eastern Front? What did Germany ever do to threaten Americans? Should we have wasted the thousands of American lives freeing the French, Dutch, Italians, or Jews? Hiltler was about as much threat to us as Saddam was right? He rounded up undesirables, Jews, Roma, Gays and the like to exterminate them. But there were no Nazi-Supported attacks on New York or D.C. that I remember reading about in the history books.

So what was the point? Why did we do it? Is supporting the war effort in Europe acceptable because the main part of ther American people are decended from Western Europeans? Our roots and our families are firmly planted in the UK, France, Spain, and Germany. That is not the case for the Middle East. Its a strange land, with different cultures and languages and religions than out own ancestory has given us. Does that make them less worthy of protection of genocide and slavery.

You, CAConrad, argue about the unemployment rate. What was the unemployment rate during Saddam Hussien’s presidency? How were the medical facilities and education and power and water supplies. All of this has improved since the US-led invasion of the Fertile Cresent.

I’ve been there. I’ve walked through and sat in Sandstone palaces with marble floors and mud huts with thatched roofs. I’ve seen what Saddam did to his own people.

We are doing a good thing. “With great power comes great responsibility” We are THE world power. We cannot stand idily by why atrocities are wrecked upon defenseless people. No Iraq and Afganistan aren’t the only places in the world where bad things happen. But can you name many more more deserving?

Gays in the military isn’t a civil rights issue (and neither is gay marriage, IMO) but that doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t have both of them.

Why don’t the vicious attacks of the terrorists in Iraq on the Iraqi people outrage you?

Very few of those 30,000 civilian deaths in the last 3 years in Iraq (a significant drop from Saddam’s 30-50,000 per year, by the way) were caused by Coalition troops, dude. They were caused by terrorists.

And why is the Coalition there at all? To help the Iraqi people fight terrorists and have a democracy.

Why don’t vicious, murdering terrorists outrage you?

I know it is much easier and safer for you to misplace your rage onto the good guys, than to face the reality of the world’s true evil – the terrorists. Bye and good luck.

It’s so funny isn’t it? Yes, a laugh a minute when you think about all the suffering our tax dollars dishes out. Oh yes, it’s SO FUNNY!

And yes, no need to be angry. Oh goodness, why aren’t we having a nice gay party about the whole thing?

You make me sick!

And to the folks who e-mail me directly, I told you to see me HERE! Especially to the asshole who said that I DISGRACE the graves of gay American soldiers, yeah? Well what about the graves of the gay Iraqi citizens?

If we take the 10 percent margin into consideration, then 10 percent of the TENS OF THOUSANDS of murdered Iraqis FAR OUTWEIGHS the number of possible gay American soldiers.

AND LOOK AT HOW PERSUASIVE THIS SENTENCE REALLY IS NOW THAT IT’S IN CAPITAL LETTERS!

and IF i MAKE every OTHER word ALL capital LETTERS maybe I am MEANING what?

The argument FOR war is the issue.

The apathy for the dead Iraqis, to the point of MAKING them be GRATEFUL for our aggression on their land to bring them freedom. Wow.

And to the person who e-mailed me saying that I should just shut up and vote for Hillary Clinton, no, she’s actually closer to your ideas than my own. I cannot and will not vote for anyone who voted FOR the Patriot Act.

But I’m sure you asshole “Gay Patriots” just LOVE the fucking Patriot Act, don’t you?

Yeah, how charming. You salute to the flag has real nice SUCK MY COCK kind of ring to it!

CAConrad
Are you a TRANS-BOXER? Or maybe you are and just don’t realize it yet?

(PS – I’m guessing the name of the blog suggests 10,000 US casualties in Iraq by July 4th?)

If you read his previous post you will find it refers to the number of AWOL soldiers at the moment (actually at about 8000).

Which by the way is not anything out of the ordinary if you look at the numbers of AWOL historically. Its a tiny, tiny percerntage of numbers of personnell we have in our military.

Considering the violence of the young mans rhetoric, I’m surprised he doesn’t join the military himself, since he apparently believes its only for violent cave-dwelling people.

Frankly I think he knows fuck about what he is talking about.

I’m so glad I don’t wallk around with all of this ANGER consuming me everyday.

Good heavens. LOL