Just a Retired SFC

Really, the only thing that I can say about this is What the hell was she thinking?

I know that recruiting is a very stressful and difficult job, but at some point you would think people would realize that if you do something this stupid, it’s going to come back and bite you in the ass.

On the otherhand, everytime I see an article or something about protests at recruiting centers, I have to wonder if the protesters really understand that it’s not the recruiters they need to be protesting. They don’t write the policy. They’re just trying to do the job that the Army assigned them.

The Frontlines: A Recruiter’s Offensive Emails

Beyond the pale: anti-gay, racist emails from Army recruiter

Jersey Journal: text of some of the email exchanges.

YouTube - Don’t Ask Don’t Tell Doc

Vets Speak Out on YouTube

A group of lesbian and gay veterans are speaking out on YouTube about “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” and Servicemembers Legal Defense Network!

The video, which provides a look at how the military’s ban has impacted individual service members, includes former Airman Andre Taylor; CPL Denise Liggett, USMC (1984-1998) and Ensign, USNR (1989-1992) (pictured); former Arabic linguist Alastair Gamble; and Pat & Wally Kutteles, the parents of PFC Barry Winchell. It also includes a statement from President Clinton about how he views the ban today and a look at the work to repeal “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.”

You can watch the video online here.

We especially want to thank Jonathan Baker, LesIsMore Productions and SLDN board member Tom Carpenter for their tireless work to prepare the video and post it online. Their hard work has resulted in a beautiful testimony about why we must lift the ban.

- Steve Ralls

by Joe Brummer: “Replace the Lies With Truth” is a blog dedicated to the dissemination of progressive political views of the issues facing the gays and lesbians, ex-gays and violence.

By Pink Pitbull @ 9:50 am. Filed under Gay News

Reiteration and Recap
It’s Friday and this week has been a killer. Rather than do an original post, I want to recap the points that my upcoming book will make. Repeating correct information is always positive. Feel free to post this anywhere:

Six Distortion Techniques of the Anti-Gay Industry

1. Using nonrepresentative or out of date studies to make generalizations, or distorting legitimate studies to give misleading conclusions
2. Repetition
3. Conspiracy Theory
4. Dire Consequences
5. Phony Experts
6. Dehumanizing Semantics

Top Anti-Gay Industry Lies

1. Homosexuality is a lifestyle more harmful than cigarette smoking.
2. Gay men have a short life span.
3. The gay and lesbian community have a high rate of domestic violence.
4. Unhealthy behaviors (i.e. substance abuse, promiscuous sexual behavior) is indicative of the gay or lesbian orientation.
5. Gay men molest children at a high rate.
6. Gays and lesbians want to silence Christians.
7. Gays and lesbians recruit people, particularly children, to their “life style.”
8. Gays and lesbians are following a six-point plan to take over America.
9. Any judge who rules in favor of the gay and lesbian community in a case is an “activist judge.”
10. Anal sex is “homosexual behavior.”
11. Robert Spitzer’s study confirms that gays and lesbians can change their orientation.
12. Gays and lesbians want to force acceptance.
13. Gay bowel syndrome is a legitimate medical term.
14. A man who molests a boy or a woman who molests a girl is automatically homosexual.
15. A convenience sample or out-of-date study can be used to generalize about an entire community.

Fuck I’m old. This pretty much sums up my feelings sometimes

Shakespeare’s Sister

McClatchy Newspapers has decided to bring all of its coverage of the veterans’ care issue to one place. Wounded Warriors is the new blog, consolidating all of the coverage on veterans from the McClatchy Washington Bureau, McClatchy Newspapers, and other sources.

From DailyKos

From The Largest Minority

As Congress considers repealing Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, Colbert dedicates his Word to the destructive homosexual threat in our armed forces. Colbert has a new policy to fight the rising tide of tolerance: Don’t Know, Don’t Think.

 MORE

From Crooks and Liars

Every American citizen should take this crash course on Iraq.

Mother Jones:
All right, no more excuses, people. After four years in Iraq, it’s time to get serious. We’ve spent too long goofing off, waiting to be saved by the bell, praying that we won’t get asked a stumper like, “What’s the difference between a Sunni and a Shiite?” Okay, even the head of the House intelligence committee doesn’t know that one. All the more reason to start boning up on what we—and our leaders—should have learned back before they signed us up for this crash course in Middle Eastern geopolitics. And while we’re at it, let’s do the math on what the war really costs in blood and dollars. It’s time for our own Iraq study group. Yes, there will be a test, and we can’t afford to fail. Read more…

From Boing Boing

Steampunk magazine

Steampunk Magazine is a new $3 print/free PDF zine celebrating the steampunk aesthetic with fiction, art and articles. The premier issue is truly a thing of beauty with fiction by Michael Moorcock, a HOWTO for “electrolytic etching,” and some very tasty use of recycled, gloomy Victorian woodcuts. Bravo!

Link

I was going to write this as a response to CPT Queers comment on my Army Chief Out post, but it started running long, so I thought that I’d make a full post out of it.

Responsibility was always one of the things that i tried to instill in junior soldiers. When you’re a leader you MUST make a decision. I don’t really care what it is but I expect you stand behind it and face the consequences when it isn’t the right one. I hoped that when they made a decision that they put some thought into it and what the results would be. I always found that to be one of the hardest things to teach. It never really helped that when I would try to get decisions from higher that it always seemed to get pushed higher and higher before someone would finally make a decision.

I work on an Air Force Base, so they run the show. About a year ago they decided to spiff up the building by painting “inspiring” quotes in the hallways of  the building. The one put up outside my office says “Leadership is responsibility, leadership is not position.” When your mentor young SGTs, that’s one of the first things that you have to get across to them. They’ve probably been with the same peers for several years, they’re friends and they don’t want to appear to be bossy, so they try to lead by group consensus. Trying to get the one’s who aren’t natural leaders to be leaders is one of the hardest things I ever found I had to do.

I think a lot of the malaise in leadership now goes right back to that mentoring that should happen from the first day a soldier enters the Army. Decision making is an integral part of the military framework. Making the right decision 100% of the time is impossible. If you worry and fret and vacillate for hours over a decision you only make yourself look silly. Make a decision, right or wrong, but make a decision. If you make a bad decision, own it. Learn from it. Most decisions don’t even have a wrong choice.

I work with AIT soldiers. Because of the amount of training involved in this particular MOS, by the time I get them, most of them have been in the Army for 18-24 months. When they show up for class I appoint a class leader. Usually it just the senior person. I’ve seen a trend lately where that soldier may not feel comfortable being in charge of the rest. They’ve been together for nearly two years and they can generally work together as team. But place one of them in a position above the rest and things suddenly get awkward. This is were the mentoring comes in. I always sit the soldier down on the first day and we talk about what I expect from them and what their responsibilities are. It’s nothing serious, keeping the classroom clean, making sure the soldiers come back from breaks on-time, things like that. But every once in a while, I get that soldier who came in a day or week before the rest of them, and only by date of rank are they senior. They don’t want to ruffle feathers, so they try to do everything with group think. And you can always tell. Just the simple act of cleaning a room when the group mind is operating results in the first thing being done is to take out the trash, when they haven’t swept or done any other cleaning. We aren’t a leadership school, we teach job skills, but every class is about teaching leadership and responsibility.

Everyday, leaders should be showing responsability. And accountability. Leaders set the example, and if they don’t the young troops don’t learn the right things. When that leader sits in one of the highest positions in the military, their actions effect the entire Army. When a leader admits a mistake, they show true leadership and responsibility. When they refuse to admit that something was wrong, it’s the responsibility of others, preferably thier superiors’, to point out that mistake.

Based on the actions of the head of Walter Reed, I would have to say that he was an ineffective leader and it was right to replace him. The resignation of the Secretary of the Army is a much better example of leadership, a little late, but better. If Secretary Harvey had taken action on the matters at Walter Reed earlier, he might still have a job. I think soldiers and Americans can still respect a leader who admits that they made a mistake and takes responsibility for their actions. When the only option left is to resign, then you’ve left it too long. I really don’t like seeing people have to resign because of desisiocns they made or didn’t make. Take responsibility and be the leader that the troops want and need. We serve not only those above us, but those below us, for whom we are responsible.