If you think Choi had his sexual orientation all figured out when he went to the Point, I think you’re overly harsh.  It must be confusing to realize one is gay, and it must take more time than a fifth-grade erection that I had persuading me that Anne Goodling, who leant over my desk, revealing cleavage, was my type of girl.

Personally I am in favor of reducing the size of military so I don’t really get upset over a soldier being kicked out. The right to kill others in offensive warfare is not really a human right that I recognize.  As opposed to the right to marry who you wish

I do find it interesting that the way things are going, gay men will gain full military participation rights before strait women will.  Because of course, women are not allowed to serve as combat troops, whereas gay men will be. 
I just find that very interesting.  Especially because the exact same reasons are used against both groups,  I.E. sexuality would be a distraction

So far as I’m concerned, Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell is a silly policy that has caused the military no end of unnecessary headaches. In today’s Army, where Soldiers are expected to respect the cultural values of drug dealing warlords who keep children as sex slaves, the idea that the men and women of the military aren’t mature enough to handle serving alongside openly gay service members is nonsense. I’ve known a few gay Soldiers who were good guys, and their sexuality had little or no affect on unit morale and cohesion. No one really cared what they did in their private lives, and I always felt bad for them for having to try and skirt the issue of their personal lives in the professional environment.

That said, I draw a huge line of distinction between the kind of Soldiers I served with and Soldiers who actively seek out discharge to make political statements. 1LT Choi wasn’t awkwardly found out and removed against his will. His military service was less important to him then his politics, and he decided to have himself removed to draw attention to the situation he sought to bring onto himself.

The problem with 1LT Choi isn’t who he is, it’s his decision to announce it. He’s well within his rights under Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell to speak out against the policy publicly, and to attend or lead gay advocacy protests. What he can’t do is publicly reveal his sexuality. It’s a dumb policy. It’s also current policy, and a Soldier has no place ignoring or willfully breaking military law because they don’t like it and don’t think it should apply to them. If 1LT Choi didn’t feel he could live within the constraints of military regulations and laws, he never should have sworn an oath to do so. He’s not unfit to serve because he’s gay. He’s unfit to serve because he found his personal life important enough to betray the commitment he made to the American people to lead Soldiers. His motives don’t forgive the consequences of his actions.

There are few things as dangerous to military readiness as a Soldier who disregards laws and orders because he doesn’t like them. I feel exactly the same about 1LT Choi’s performance as I would if he had put on the uniform and campaigned for a politician, or got on TV to announce he was sleeping with an enlisted Soldier. He isn’t someone who slipped up or made an accidental mistake. He scheduled a TV interview on a popular news program to draw as much attention as possible to himself as he disregarded military regulations and broke his commitment to the Army. Since then he has proceeded to appear at rallies in uniform to advocate his politics, a highly inappropriate violation of military regulations. If I had a leader with his apparent priorities and poor conduct it would severely degrade my morale and faith in his abilities.

When that day comes that this policy is changed, I very much hope it’s stipulated that service members who have behaved as 1LT Choi has are barred from ever reentering the military.

We are putting too much on Obama’s plate at once.
Each of these issues, health care, war in the Middle
East, gays in the military, are very divisive. If he
tries to address them all at the same time, opponents
can use that to defeat him.

These issues have been smoldering a long time, and it
is only the fact that a generation weaned on prejudice is dying off, that allows the opportunity
for reform.

Give the president the time he needs, but don’t stop
pushing these issues into the sunlight.

Shukran, Lt. Choi.  Let’s see if the negative commenters know what that means.

One nice thing about DADT:  any soldier tired of multiple deployments to dangerous places for Bush’s lies can say, “Colonel, sir, I’m gay.  Where’s my ticket home.”