Mo. Army Base Leader
in Gays Discharged
By AP from the
NYTimes on the Web, August 14, 2006
WASHINGTON -- An Army base in
Missouri used the ''don't ask, don't tell'' policy to kick out more soldiers
than any other military installation last year, followed by an Army base on the
Kentucky-Tennessee border and a naval base in Virginia.
Sixty people were dismissed last year from Fort Leonard Wood, Mo., according to
Defense Department documents shared with The Associated Press by the
Servicemembers Legal Defense Network. That was up from 40 discharges under
the policy from the training facility in 2004.
The advocacy group, which advises military personnel on the gay policy, obtained
the information through a Freedom of Information Act request. Pentagon
spokeswoman Lt. Col. Ellen Krenke confirmed that the Defense Department provided
the information to the advocacy group.
The second-highest number of discharges were at Fort Campbell, a sprawling Army
base on the Kentucky-Tennessee line. But the 49 people dismissed there, up
from 19 in 2004, also represented the single-biggest increase in discharges
anywhere.
It was at Fort Campbell where a soldier, Pfc. Barry Winchell, was bludgeoned to
death in 1999 by a fellow soldier who believed Winchell was gay. Gay
discharges from the base went up sharply on the heels of that murder but later
subsided.
''The numbers at Fort Campbell remain disturbing because of the history there,''
said C. Dixon Osburn, executive director of Servicemembers Legal Defense
Network. ''The discharge numbers had gone significantly down. This
seems to be a rebound. It's not clear why.''
A spokeswoman for the base declined to comment on the statistics.
The Pentagon has said there were 726 military members discharged under the
policy last year -- up 11 percent from the year before -- but did not publicly
release base-specific information.
The data provided to the legal advocacy group showed the Norfolk, Va., naval
base had the third highest number of gay dismissals in 2005, with 35 people
leaving under the policy. The Fort Benning Army base in Georgia was next
with 31 discharges.
The Pentagon policy, which went into effect in 1994 following passage of
congressional legislation, prohibits the military from inquiring about the sex
lives of service members but requires those who openly acknowledge being gay to
be discharged.
Neither the White House nor the Pentagon has given any indication of dropping
their long-standing support for the policy.
Krenke, the Pentagon spokeswoman, said it is the Defense Department's view that
congressional action would be needed to change the policy.
A bill to repeal the policy and allow gays to serve openly has been introduced
in the House, but no such measure has been introduced in the Senate.
Dr. Elizabeth Recupero, an internist and pediatrician discharged under the
policy last year, said she is confident it will eventually be repealed.
''It's going to be overturned because people are needed, and it's not going to
matter who they're sleeping with,'' she said. ''We're in a situation of
high alert and war.''
Recupero was discharged last year after an investigation that lasted about five
years. She was to be stationed at Fort Drum, N.Y., after doing her medical
training but never served there, having been put on leave during the inquiry.
Recupero says she regrets the way things turned out. ''I'm an honorable
person,'' she said. ''I made a commitment to fulfill my duty, and I never
got to do that, and I kind of feel lousy about this.''
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