A DD 214 is the form that is a service member's "Certificate of Release or Discharge from Active Duty".
I lost my original because a former friend turned pyscho and destroyed many important legal documents of mine in 1999, including all of my various diplomas from junior high school through my Master's Degree, many tax records, my Air Force discharge certificate, and my DD 214. Since I am attempting to refinance my mortgage and get a VA loan to take advantage of current, lower interest rates, I had to go online and apply for a replacement copy, as well as sign a form and mail, or fax, it to the St. Louis records office.
(While the nation is still debating the wisdom of eliminating "Don't ask; Don't tell" and moving to a situation where no one can be discharged from the military in America simply for being gay, I think it would be valuable to review my two discharge forms.)
My replacement copies arrived the other day, and now my loan application can proceed. But the two-page form from 1979 is a fascinating, if brief, look at my Air Force career that ended almost 31 years ago next month.
The "authority and reason" for my discharge was "AFM 39-10, PARA 3-8A, SEC B, CHAP 3, CONVENIENCE OF THE GOVERNMENT (SDN 21P)". Even though I was discharged for being gay, the deal my attorneys made was for an HONORABLE discharge, which I received.
On the DD 214 form itself, there is a nice collection of revelatory information:
I was separated at HQ USAF ACADEMY CO.
My primary specialties were "1825G, Missile Combat Crew Commander, 4 years and 2 months" and "0940, Instructor, English, 1 year and 4 months".
The "Decorations, Medals, Badges, Citations and Campaign Ribbons Awarded or Authorized" to me were "Small Arms Expert Marksmenship Ribbon, National Defense Service Medal, Combat Readiness Medal, Air Force Commendation Medal, Air Force Longevity Service Award".
My Military Education consisted of "SAC Missile CCR ORT 182100 G-1, 10 weeks, APR 74. Missile Launch Officer Course, 4 weeks, FEB 74. Officer Basic Military Training, 12 weeks, DEC 73."
Because I earned a regular commission, I was entitled to a certain amount of severance pay based upon the length of my service. "Severance Pay - $9,088.20".
Of course, since I was out of work beginning with my separation date of OCT 12, 1979, with no other income, that money began disappearing at a rather rapid rate as I was forced to pay bills: mortgage, electricity, phone, car, food.
The final indignity of the DD 214 was typed near the bottom of the form: "NARRATIVE REASON FOR SEPARATION Voluntary discharge - unfitness, unacceptable conduct".
I was forced to sign the upper four-fifths of the form and initial the "SPECIAL ADDITIONAL INFORMATION" at the bottom, which contained the above declaration. I thought that statement contrasted rather crudely with my several awards and accomplishments in the service.
The primary reason for my discharge was that the Air Force had learned from a screwed up cadet (and from the letters I wrote to him which he provided to them) that I was homosexual.
Of course, this same cadet was forced to resign from the Air Force Academy a week before I left because he had lied repeatedly during the investigation, thereby violating the Cadet Honor Code. The entire situation had become so sordid that the Academy did not allow his case to be tried by a cadet honor board. A board of officers was forced to meet and determine that he had violated the Honor Code and would have to leave the Academy.
Perhaps, at long last, this absurd and discriminatory (and certainly unconstitutional) policy will finally be overturned. DADT was an interim policy, a temporary compromise never meant to continue indefinitely. It was certainly better than the policy I served under which almost always automatically required discharge of the service member.
But any policy that forces gay service members to be discharged needs to end. And it needs to end now.
4 comments:
I don't mean to be glib, but I must disagree with you on the last line.
I know it's impossible, but now is not the right time, it needs to have ended LONG AGO.
Yes, I agree.
Every year after I was forced to resign in 1979, I kept hoping *that* would be the year the policy would change. And every year I was disappointed. Even DADT was a major victory to me because it was at least *some* change to the original policy.
The problem was that for 12 years under Reagan/Bush, it was not going to happen. After Clinton was unable to get adequate support for full acceptance, even in his own party with Senators like Georgia's Sam Nunn who strongly opposed to anything more than DADT, his remaining eight years were going to pass without any further changes. Then I knew that Bush Jr. was certainly not going to change anything, not with the two wars going on that he initiated. (Sadly, the military services would sometimes wait until a service member's tour of duty in Iraq or Afghanistan was *over* before they discharged him or her, even under DADT.)
Perhaps now, under Obama, it will--finally--change.
Next week, I will turn 61. It's truly sad that I turned 30 the day one of my Air Force lawyers called to tell me that my forced resignation from the Air Force had been approved. Thirty-one years is a terribly long time to wait for change.
But then for racial, religious, gender, and other significant and necessary changes, people have had to wait for far longer than that, even in America.
"(Sadly, the military services would sometimes wait until a service member's tour of duty in Iraq or Afghanistan was *over* before they discharged him or her, even under DADT.)"
Sometimes? It may be hearsay for me, but maybe you can confirm. I've long ago heard that this was the norm for all wars in the US military, long before Bush Jr came in. Suddenly it would be unofficially okay to be gay while they needed bodies.
Anyone can die for the country, they're more particular about whom the country will support after they survive.
Not like it's any different from corporations firing people just before retirement or insurance companies dropping coverage the moment you get seriously ill, but shouldn't the government lead by example?
There were likely a few exceptions; but, yes, the military services often waited until the wars were over or the tours of duty ended and then they would discharge gay service members.
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