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  david_nwpa11 months, 4 weeks ago

  Looks like Mastromarino will be drummed out of the Army despite what was probably a case built on innuendo and hearsay. It is highly unlikely that his so-called superior officers had any real evidence to hold a conviction for an offense that should not even exist. It disgusts me that the US military is so gung-ho about kicking gays out of the military despite sterling service records. Until attitudes change in the military, our nation will continue to drag its proverbial knuckles among the world community.

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    jordan1111 months, 4 weeks ago

    It does wear a person down, this Neanderthal nonsense.

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    dandt161211 months, 4 weeks ago

    So once again someone wanting to serve their country and they are kicked out because MAYBE they are gay. The recruiting numbers are in the toilet because the armed forces can't get enough people to sign up for fear of being sent to blood alley Iraq and they are going to dismiss a soldier for MAYBE being gay.

    Read my Lips PATHETIC!!!!!!!!!

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    marlenebomer11 months, 4 weeks ago

    Gee, David... what part of Don't Ask/Don't Tell/*Don't Pursue* to these homophobic idiots miss?

    Evidently they didn't learn from the Tim McVeigh case a few years ago. McVeigh was a submarine officer and was slated for a big promotion when he was outed by a wife of an officer and violated DA/DT by reporting him.

    Let's hope the soldier in question bucks this all the way up to the Decretary of Defence and he receives a few hundred thousand from the bigots in Washington!

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  0gramstransfat11 months, 4 weeks ago

  Heterosexual people that think people who are different from them are somehow less of a person and blatantly go out of their way to make their lives difficult are pitiful.

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  mcgrievysr11 months, 4 weeks ago

  If there is a blatant sexual heterosexual or homosexual assault on another soldier, then the perpetrator should be dealt with. It appears that in Mastromarino's case all "evidence" is innuendo and homophobic judgment. Can anyone get a fair military trial? It sounds as if one cannot. There is too much "Colonel Jessup" (from"A Few Good Men") mentality in the military. Why our best and brightest of all sexual identities would consider enlisting is beyond my understanding.

  david_nwpa----"our nation will continue to drag its proverbial knuckles among the world community"

  Ha! You conjure up a provoking and sadly accurate image.

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  NurseHeather11 months, 4 weeks ago

  So, isn't that wonderful? Serve your country, do a great job, and then get kicked out because people are thinking that you might be gay. It is no wonder we have a hard time finding people to serve! It doesn't even sound like Mastromarino got a fair trial. Guilty until proven innocent? Sounds like the military got it backwards. And to have it affect not only his military career but his civilian career as well? It all really stinks to me. It is no wonder we can't get more men and women to serve. If this is how they are treated, it really is no surprise.

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  crespi11 months, 4 weeks ago

  The Army will take White Supremacists but not gay men.

  The Right WANTS us to lose these wars. That's why they started Iraq and let Afghanistan slide back under. ON PURPOSE.

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    retbg11 months, 4 weeks ago

    Lose what wars? That is perhaps the most moronic post I have seen lately. I'm curious what command and staff school you graduated from. If you have proof of your inane post, let's have it otherwise please STFU

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      retbg11 months, 3 weeks ago

      All quiet on the Western Front - I thought so!

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    keepinbusy11 months, 3 weeks ago

    ignorance is bliss

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  inkyboy0711 months, 4 weeks ago

  It is time, actually way past time for this type of foolishness to come to an abrupt halt. People of this nation need to get off their butts and on the job an notify their legislators that it is time to do away with DADT immediately. The military complex of this nation needs to cease screwing with the lives and careers of its citizens based upon what "might" be the truth. Notify your congress person and senators that DADT should be repealed and justice for all restored to the military services of the United States.

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  hamy11 months, 4 weeks ago

  It's yet another blemish on all of our faces.

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  retbg11 months, 4 weeks ago

  As a former member of The Old Guard, I'm sad to see this kind of thing happen. There were gay (not openly) guys in the unit back in 1954 and nobody was upset about it. I don't understand the assualt charges and what that has to do with being gay unless someone called the young man a fag or something and he took exception to that and punched the other person. There have always been gays in the military - in 1933-45, half the German General Staff were cross-dressers and many were gay in spite of Hitler's homophobia. I figure that any straight person who has a thing against gays, must have some thoughts in his mind that - well, you know! In my 30 years of military service, I never met a gay soldier I would't be proud to share a fox hole with and some of the bravest kids (the medics in particular) were gay. Time for the world to grow up. We have much more important problems to worry about.

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  TweekerchickQC11 months, 4 weeks ago

  I just dont get it.

  Gay people are fine as doctors, lawyers, movie stars, the guy who pumps our gas..etc etc etc etc etc...but they are somehow not ok to be soldiers?

  Ugh. Im so sick of hearing stuff like this.

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  Codi693411 months, 4 weeks ago

  Here we have somewhat of a double standard. We have adultery and homosexuality.

  Adultery is a moral issue with ones faith and spouse. But it will get you jailed in the military.

  Homosexuality is too a moral issue but state and federal law forbids sodomy.

  The UCMJ(Uniform Code Of Military Justice) abides by federal law. Unless I am wrong, there are NO federal laws on adultery,but there ARE federal laws on sodomy.

  So, until federal laws on sodomy are changed, homosexuals will continue to be punished in the military.

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    david_nwpa11 months, 3 weeks ago

    The US Supreme Court has stricken down the sodomy laws. What one chooses to do sexually in one's bedroom is none of the government's business. Of course that happened some time ago. Did it slip past your radar?

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      david_nwpa11 months, 3 weeks ago

      The other problem I have with your post is that you are defining being gay based on one's sexual behavior. So would you define being straight the same way? One is not straight unless one performs missionary sex? I thought being straight included dating, having attractions for the opposite sex, and spending time with one's partner. Being gay is about having attractions for people of the same sex, dating, and spending time with one's partner. Apart from the gender of the involved people, how do the two differ all that much?

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        Codi693411 months, 3 weeks ago

        You missed my point.

        One you can still be charged with sodomy, check on rape and child molestion cases.

        But my point is: under UCMJ you can be punished for an act that has no legal bounds,just moral(adultery). But one can be charged with sodomy,and pepole want it over looked because of sexual behavior(homosexuality). It is a double standard. If you punish for one ,you punish for both. And I agree, what one does in there bedroom is up to them and not the govt. But the military is not a fortune 500 company. IBM will never send employees to far off lands to kill people. So the military must rely on good order and discipline. And if that behavior contradicts that order. They that behavior will not be tolerated. Fair or not. The needs of the many out weigh the needs of the few.

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          david_nwpa11 months, 3 weeks ago

          Your argument is nonsense. The governments of other nations such as Britain and France have seen right through it. Even tiny Switzerland has gays serving openly in the military.

          In the case of Britain, their soldiers are serving in combat units in Iraq alongside the American forces. Do US troops stop to ask the Brits whether or not they are gay? Of course not. Unit cohesion is built on the premise that the soldier next to you would save your life if necessary.

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  retbg11 months, 3 weeks ago

  . . . and you would know all about The Old Guard because?

  You made a number of alligations . . can you back them up with facts or is this just another BS attack on the Military?

  Put up or shut up!

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  darknessravemaster11 months, 3 weeks ago

  I guess beggars can be choosers. lol "didn't it used to be at one time were they only cared about just having people, not so much about the who, why, etc"?

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  canadianrancher5711 months, 3 weeks ago

  I read the story and thought that there should be something intelligent that a person could say to an injustice such as this but the right words just escape me.

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