Pride & Opinions

US Military Fires Three More Gay Arabic Linguists as Shortfall Continues - 247gay.com

More Arabic linguists in the US military have been fired under the “Don’t ask, Don’t tell� policy, the Associated Press reported Thursday.

The linguists were investigated after military officials listened in on conversations conducted on a high-level government computer system which allows intelligence personnel to communicate with troops on the frontlines.

One linguist was serving in Iraq with a Marine combat unit when he was discharged. A military source reported that he was known to be gay but was allowed to serve and was only formally investigated after an Inspector General audit obtained language from the computer chat rooms that apparently suggested he might be gay.

And now, my darling ones, my little piglets, my little gold stars on the shoulders of every stiffly starched uniform, I am going to tell you exactly the problem that I have with this.

There is something severely hypocritical about a government that runs around constantly preaching about fighting terrorism (I refuse to say “fighting terror”; terror is an emotion and you cannot conduct a war on an emotion, you conduct a war on the bloody effin’ acts and people that cause it, thus the war is on terrorism, thank you) and how we need the support of every American to defeat terrorists at the source, how everyone has to encourage the war effort or they’re not real Americans, they’re terrorist traitors…

…only to turn around and willfully throw away valuable American assets just because in their down time they like to rub knobs with the same sex.

Is this what we need a $120 billion war budget for? To pay people to waste valuable hours and resources eavesdropping on conversations and monitoring chats to see if anyone betrays any signs of the dreaded homosexual infection? “I don’t like the way that bastard types. And he mentioned a date in casual conversation! He could have meant a date with a man. Drum ‘im out of the military! Was that a lisp I heard? Speech impediment? Don’t try to fool me with your speech impediments, I know what that means! You! Out of my armed forces! What? Oh, those heteros are abusing the computer resources to have cybersex? Well, that’s okay, I mean, they’ve got to vent their frustrations…”

Waste of time. Waste of time, and waste of soldiers. It pisses me the hell off. I’ll confess flat out that I oppose the war in Iraq, I oppose continued American involvement in their affairs and the damned reasons we went over there in the first place, but I damned well stand behind the soldiers stationed over there. They’re there to do a job; they’re doing what they’re told and some may believe in what they’re doing, some may not, but every last one of them has placed their life on the line for service in the American military. No matter what they’re over there for, I wish them victory, I wish them hope, I wish them whatever it takes to get them home in one piece and I’ll save my venom for the legislators behind the war and not the men and women serving their tour of duty in Iraq.

With that in mind, they are there on a term of military service. They are not there for a hot homo hookup. They are not there to have a good old-fashioned burnination with a big fat fag strapped to the stake in lieu of a witch, either. They are there because they have valuable skills to offer, whether they’re specialists or trained ground troops.

So why are those skills being wasted monitoring even more skilled professionals over such frivolous issues that have absolutely nothing to do with the reason that they’re there?

This is reaching ridiculous levels. News flash: in order to successfully conduct any sort of war, negotiations, communication of any sort, whether hostile or neutral or peaceful, with members of another nation you will need a way to bridge the language gap to make sure that you are clearly understood. This is common sense. Common sense also dictates that talented and capable linguists who can bridge said gap are invaluable. You don’t throw them away over BS like this. You don’t disrespect their skills, their intellect, by discharging them not based on conduct, but based on a matter of personal orientation that has just about as much bearing as the color of their hair.

Don’t ask, don’t tell, huh? I’d like to see you ask anything when you can’t figure out what the hell the opposition is saying. Tell them to back off, you don’t want to shoot when you don’t speak their language, they don’t speak yours, and you’ve got no one around to stand between and say “We can talk this out.” Gives a new meaning to “don’t ask, don’t tell” when you can’t ask a damned thing, can’t tell anyone anything. I’ll bet those troops on the front line don’t give a damn who their translator is boffing when he interprets intercepted communications containing data that can save their lives. Yeah, that’s a real threat to the integrity of the unity. That’s going to destroy the morale of the soldiers. Sure. Right.

Why are we wasting time, money, and resources on this? Why are we wasting people’s lives investigating this, and damaging others’ with the outcome?

Does anyone think of the real consequences of these investigations, or do they just care about adhering to the letter of a law that doesn’t really matter on the front lines anyway?

gay military, don’t ask don’t tell, gay servicemembers, gay servicemen, gay servicewomen, arabic linguists, gay linguists, army, marines, navy, national guard