More on The Failed Don't Ask, Don't Tell Policy

The Defense Department discharged 726 service members last year for being gay, up about 10 percent from 2004, figures released by a gay rights group show.

The group, the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network, obtained the information through a Freedom of Information Act request. A spokeswoman for the Defense Department, Lt. Col. Ellen Krenke, confirmed that it had released the information.

On Monday, the legal group released a breakdown of discharges by installation. A sharp increase occurred at Fort Campbell, Ky., where in 1999 a soldier was bludgeoned to death in his barracks by fellow soldiers who thought that he was homosexual. In 2004, 19 service members from the base were discharged, a number that climbed to 49 last year.

Fort Sill, Okla., had 27 dismissals last year, up from eight in 2004. Fort Leonard Wood, Mo., had 60 dismissals, up from 40 in 2004, and the Marine base at Parris Island, S.C., discharged 22, up from 12.

The Army, by far the largest branch, discharged more gay personnel last year than the other branches with 386, the figures show, followed by the Navy with 177, the Air Force with 88 and the Marines, the smallest force, with 75. [...]

More than 11,000 members have been discharged for that reason, the legal group said. (source)

I’m to a point where I’m laughing at this whole comedy of errors. Today in the Hartford Courant, there was a headline called Military Recruiters Faulted For Overly Aggressive Methods, which stated in part....

Military recruiters have increasingly resorted to overly aggressive tactics and even criminal activity to attract young troops to the battlefield, congressional investigators say.

Combat in Iraq, a decent commercial job market and tough monthly recruiting goals have made recruiters’ jobs more difficult, the Government Accountability Office said Monday. [...]

More than half the recruiting crimes reported in 2005 were by the Army, which is bearing the brunt of the war in Iraq. The Army announced last week it was on track to meet this year’s recruiting goal of 80,000 applicants, pulling itself up from a severe shortfall last year.

And if this isn’t bad enough, they keep sending troops back tour after tour. And for these troops from Alaska, they will be staying in Iraq.

Staff Sgt. Brian Bock learned a mere two hours before boarding a flight for home that his tour in Iraq had been extended at least four months.

He may not have made it back to Alaska -- but many of his belongings did. The boxes the 172nd Stryker Brigade officer had mailed home in advance kept showing up at the Fort Wainwright post office.

I think at this point I’m going to stop worrying so much about Don’t Ask Don’t Tell. The military is compounding this problem by the dismissal of gay military personnel who want to serve. Why they would want to serve under this administration who apparently has such little regard for them is beyond me. I think it speaks to their conviction and patriotism for our country. But if it were me, I’d tell the military to take a hike until they got serious about fairness.

Still, I read that some gays are pressing the issue by signing up for service and on their application stating that they are gay. They are prepared to serve, if accepted. Of course, they won’t be accepted, but it does bring attention to the policy which is being viewed by more and more Americans as unfair and too costly to maintain.