Just to be clear, the policy is Don't Ask, Don't Tell, Don't Pursue. The last piece was a modification to the original policy that took effect a few years back. So exactly how "openly" gay does someone have to be to get the boot?

A soldier can subscribe to a homosexual publication, frequent a homosexual nightclub, be seen entering a hotel with another man, etc., but the command cannot do anything about it - it is a violation of the policy to even question the soldier about any of these things. Even if he comes out and confesses to a fellow soldier and that soldier gets upset and tells the command, the command is not supposed to follow up on that in any way.

There are only two ways in which a soldier can be booted out for their orientation: be caught in a homosexual act or put in writing that he (or she) is a homosexual and run it up through a bureaucratic process confirming their sexual orientation several times prior to the actual chapter taking place. A soldier has to work at it to get kicked out for being gay.

There are many homosexuals serving in the military whose fellow soldiers are well aware of their orientation, and it doesn't become an issue. There are others serving who stay very much in the closet, not so much because of the broader policy, but because of their fear of the reaction of their fellow soldiers. The real issue for the average homosexual soldier is down at unit level, and not really at the policy level.

During my time at DLI doing my last year prior to retiring, the gay soldiers I observed being given the boot were consciously trying to get out of the Army. They fell into two categories. The first were the slackers and cowards, who decided that Army life was not for them (or the thought of being deployed into a combat zone after graduation scared the hell out of'em), and that declaring homosexuality was an easy out. Still a lot of red tape, but faster than the old "food-for-freedom" route (which was eventually closed).

An extreme case was a female who first tried to get out on a combination of APFT failure and food-for-freedom. Unfortunately for her, TRADOC had just directed no more chapters for those issues unless there were other disciplinary problems involved. So all she succeeded in doing was obtaining a personalized, tightly supervised and much more intense personal PT program. So, she next went and tried to work the installation shrink to get a psysch chapter. Well, that takes a long time - and once she realized how long and involved it was, she gave up. And immediately submitted a written document to the commander stating that she was a lesbian and could not continue to serve. A couple of formal interviews up the chain and a bunch of paperwork later and she was gone.

Another group was perhaps unusual to DLI; these were the parasites - they'd wait until they were about to graduate from the course, and then declare their homosexuality and get themselves kicked out after having completed nearly two years of world-class language training at taxpayer expense.

So, I see it mostly as a political football. The larger issue of recognizing gay partners, gay marriage and all those things is something that has yet to be settled at the national civilian level. I agree with Bourbon in that I feel the military is not the place to be moving forward with such things until and unless a standard is set that all states and the majority of Americans accept.