It's official: gay men are a geater threat than terrorists

[Rufus T. Firefly]

From this morning's AP, via Salon:

Army dismisses gay Arabic linguists
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By MARGIE MASON

Nov. 14, 2002 | SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- Nine Army linguists, including six trained to speak Arabic, have been dismissed from the military because they are gay.

The soldiers' dismissals come at a time when the military is facing a critical shortage of translators and interpreters for the war on terrorism.

Seven of the soldiers were discharged after telling superiors they are gay, and the two others got in trouble when they were caught together after curfew, said Steve Ralls, spokesman for the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network, a group that defends homosexuals in the military.

Six were specializing in Arabic, two were studying Korean and one was studying Mandarin Chinese. All were at the Defense Language Institute in Monterey, the military's primary language training center.

The government has aggressively recruited Arabic speakers since the Sept. 11 attacks.

"We face a drastic shortage of linguists, and the direct impact of Arabic speakers is a particular problem," said Donald R. Hamilton, who documented the need for more linguists in a report to Congress as part of the National Commission on Terrorism.

One of the discharged linguists said the military's policy on gays is hurting its cause.

"It's not a gay-rights issue. I'm arguing military proficiency issues -- they're throwing out good, quality people," said Alastair Gamble, a former Army specialist.

Harvey Perritt, spokesman for the Army Training and Doctrine Command at Fort Monroe in Tidewater, Va., confirmed the dismissals occurred between October 2001 and September 2002, but declined to comment further on the cases.

He said 516 linguists enrolled in the Arabic course this year at the Monterey institute and 365 graduated.

The military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy allows gays to serve provided they keep quiet about their sexual orientation.

Gamble and former Pfc. Robert Hicks were discovered in Gamble's room during a surprise inspection in April, Gamble said.

After their discharges, Gamble and Hicks applied for other federal jobs where they could use their language skills in the war on terrorism, but neither was hired, Gamble said.

Every day, in every way, the War on Terror is just a little harder to take seriously.

[Asher]

Connor's now in Korea, but he was a linguist in training in Monterey for quite some time.

I wonder if he knew any of the people discharged, or if it's a huge school?

[Dis]

this is common knowledge.

[Ramo]

[Dis]

It could be connor

[Sikander]

Originally posted by Asher
Connor's now in Korea, but he was a linguist in training in Monterey for quite some time.

I wonder if he knew any of the people discharged, or if it's a huge school?

He probably knows the Korean linguist. When I attended there, enrollment was about 3000.

[Urban Ranger]

According to Bill Gates, Linux is a greater thread than AIDS:

We do hate to rain on a high-profile corporate love-fest, but we have to point out that in addition to the much trumpeted $100 million Billg has donated to India's fight against HIV, he's funding the Microsoft jihad against Linux to the far more impressive tune of $421 million. That means that Linux is more than four times worse than AIDS to Billg and his happy Redmond family. God forbid any of them should learn the bitter truth the hard way and start talking sense.

Billg's personal $100 million goes to health initiatives over ten years, while $421 million of Microsoft's money goes, over a mere three years, to support MS-friendly development and 'educational' initiatives. And being a monster MS shareholder himself, a 'Big Win' in India will enrich him personally, perhaps well in excess of the $100 million he's donating to the AIDS problem. Makes you wonder who the real beneficiary of charity is here.

[Ari Rahikkala]

Originally posted by Urban Ranger
According to Bill Gates, Linux is a greater thread than AIDS:

Yeah. And all the quarter million Slashdotters who flame Gates away when he donates anything to the poor (since, after all, it is only a ploy to make everyone use MS - "the first hit is always free") have a very well developed sense of morality compared to him ...

Listen, it's a company. And Gates is donating that money of his own free choice. He could give $0 and put even more dollars into making MS an even bigger evil empire than it is, but he doesn't. $100,000,000 is always better than $0.

[MichaeltheGreat]

The policy on gays is pretty straightforward, and pretty well known when these people signed up. Why should they be an exception because they're 90-something linguists (or whatever that REMF MOS is) instead of 11s, 12s, or 13s?

It's enough work humping your own load, the army doesn't want it's personnel humping each other's.

[Rufus T. Firefly]

My post => Connor => Bill Gates

A double threadjack in only 7 responses. Is that some kind of record?

[Sikander]

Originally posted by MichaeltheGreat
The policy on gays is pretty straightforward, and pretty well known when these people signed up. Why should they be an exception because they're 90-something linguists (or whatever that REMF MOS is) instead of 11s, 12s, or 13s?

It's enough work humping your own load, the army doesn't want it's personnel humping each other's.

98G, 98C

They may be REMFs, but quite a few (percentage wise) were killed in Vietnam while tending remote listening posts.

[red_jon]

Originally posted by MichaeltheGreat
The policy on gays is pretty straightforward, and pretty well known when these people signed up. Why should they be an exception because they're 90-something linguists (or whatever that REMF MOS is) instead of 11s, 12s, or 13s?

It's enough work humping your own load, the army doesn't want it's personnel humping each other's.

So gay people shouldn't be allowed to join the military? Why not?

It's not easy being part of an oppressed minority - especially when you are turned down from blood banks becuase your blood isn't good enough for heterosexuals.

These people probably just wanted to help their country, and their country turned its back on them because of primitive laws.

[MikeH]

True. I'm glad that the UK got over it's pathetic anti gay legislation in the military.

If nothing else it's a security risk 'cause any gay military personell are open to blackmail.

[MichaeltheGreat]

I don't make the policy.

It's not specifically "gay people" - there's a whole range of heterosexual sexual issues, and other conduct issues, that can get you bounced. That includes marriage in some cases (senior and subordinate within the same command is one I can think of - I know an ex-Navy JAG lawyer couple who had that come up, and they both left the Navy early).

The general idea is that any conduct which causes or is likely to cause unit cohesion issues can be prohibited. Sometimes the policy is BS, sometimes chicken**** gets allowed in other forms. Then again, there's a bunch of gay court martial cases with clearly inappropriate conduct in a military setting - some of them would be pretty hilarious. One of the funniest I heard about was a Navy chief petty officer in San Diego, who invited young enlisted guys (3-4 grades lower in rank) out for beers, pool, etc., had them meet him at his apartment, and then greeted them in drag and came on to them. Apparently his gaydar was a bit defective.

My point is that these people knew what the policy was when they joined, and they knew that telling their commanders they were gay was going to get them adminned out.

BTW, civil rights (legally recognized or otherwise) are standarly subordinated to the military mission - this includes free speech, political and religious rights, not just "gay rights." The military ain't the place for it.

[ThePantaloonDog]

Gee I never knew gays had such an aptitude for languages. Well its just another reason why they are the spawn of Satan and should all be shipped to Vermont.