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Apr-07-2010 15:04printcomments

Gay or Perceived Gay in the Army: Is This a Death Sentence?

Philosophically speaking, Gays have always been in ALL Armies since time began.

Gays in the miliary
Courtesy: rafacampoamor.es

(SALEM, Ore.) - I’m using the most polite term now. I don’t really claim to be an expert on this subject but I do know that in WWII many persons faked homosexuality to keep out of or get out of the Army prior to being sent “over there” where the killing and dying was going on.

My younger brother was in the Army during the Korean War. At his training camp in California his observation was that in the training cadre – the Drill Instructors – many were gay, and some were even transvestites. He found this out in a rather unusual way. I’ll leave it to your imagination based on your own experience.

The name of the game with these guys was co-operate and you won’t be sent to Korea or elsewhere into battle. It only requires a few high stripers to make such a system work.

Getting back to the subject at hand. I’ve heard on the news that more than 10 thousand guys have been discharged from the services with the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” regulation, and it appears it is still going on. Whether these folks are getting away from the Killing Fields is not precisely known but I’ll bet it is. Lots of guys in WWII were shooting themselves in the foot. It’s better than a shot in the head but that happened also.

I don’t know if my own situation was common or not but it was very sneaky and because there was so much chicken s**t going on all the time I barely noticed it. I was a college graduate when I volunteered and all the officers in my Company and Battalion were ROTC guys who got pulled out of college and sent to be “90 day wonders”. They seemed to resent that I had been able to graduate. I seemed to get more s**t details than the other guys in my section. I became very philosophical about it.

When we got into combat areas the same old crap continued and that was hard to get used to.

During the last 6 weeks of WWII, I found myself too often on the Point or as a Forward Observer. Both of these are almost suicide missions. I think I just barely survived that chicken s**t.

Two members of my six man section were captured one night 5 minutes after I got off the observation post one mile in front of the main line. They were prisoners for about 6 weeks and got to go home on the first boat. We met them on the French Coast. Ed said “Leveque would you smoke a cigarette with us before we go home?”. “Sure, why not”. Ed says “We thought you were queer because you didn’t smoke”. “Well,” I said, “I hope you know different now”. This explained a lot of the chicken s**t. If Ed and his buddy Glen thought I was queer, I’m sure he relayed this to our sergeant who was a real DORK and then to our Looey. They were giving me the s**t details and the really dangerous “point man” jobs trying to get rid of me. All the while I figured it was just jealousy because I had been allowed to finish college and graduate.

When I got back home I was told I would never have been drafted and I probably could have gone to medical school. In retrospect, I probably would have ended up in a MASH unit in Korea. That wouldn’t have been fun either.

Philosophically speaking, Gays have always been in ALL Armies since time began. The readers probably know some or perceive some. We know they are here. What is 5% or 10 % of the population?

THEY DON’T BOTHER ME!

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Dr. Phillip Leveque has degrees in chemistry, biochemistry, pharmacology, toxicology and minors in physiology and biochemistry. He was a Professor of Pharmacology, employed by the University of London for 2 years, during which time he trained the first doctors in Tanzania. After training doctors, he became an Osteopathic Physician, as well as a Forensic Toxicologist.

Before any of that, Phil Leveque was a Combat Infantryman in the U.S. Army in WWII. He suffers from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder more than 60 years after the war, and specialized in treating Veterans with PTSD during his years as a doctor in Molalla, Oregon. Do you have a question, comment or story to share with Dr. Leveque?
Email him:
ASK DR. LEVEQUE
More information on the history of Dr. Leveque can be found in his book, General Patton's Dogface Soldier of WWII about his own experiences "from a foxhole". Order the book by mail by following this link: DOGFACE SOLDIER OF WWII If you are a World War II history buff, you don't want to miss it.




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G 2/3; April 8, 2010 4:36 am (Pacific time)

a gutsy article Doc,not your mainstream stuff on good morning America,if you know what I mean.


RL April 7, 2010 8:35 pm (Pacific time)

Editor to RL: Thank you so much!

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