Letters to the editor for Thursday, April 8, 2004

European and Mideast editions

(EDITOR’S NOTE: These are the letters that appeared in each edition of Stripes on this publication date. Click here to jump ahead to the Pacific edition letters)

Media afraid to ‘ask,’ ‘tell’?

This is in regard to the Geoffrey Rapp opinion piece “ ‘Don’t ask, don’t tell’ hurts our military readiness” (April 1). Rapp, a U.S. Navy Reserve officer, offered a seemingly well-written suggestion that gays in the military should lobby for “a new compromise” modeled after segregated military units of the past (World War II Tuskegee Airmen and such) which had successfully offered other “unaccepted” groups of servicemembers the opportunity to prove their worth to the military. Someone should commission an entire unit of “Pink Berets,” he said, to allow gays to also have the opportunity to prove their worth.

If the writer was correct in saying that some 10,000 servicemembers have been discharged since the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy went into effect, then it’s a given that “they” are certainly among us in our ranks. So quite frankly, I would have to reason by logic that “gays in the military” already have proven their worth as servicemembers, apart from some social-political experiment such as using the military as a proving ground for changing public perceptions of homosexuality. The military is simply not the right place for that. And the writer failed to realize that open homosexuality in the military would only drastically compound what he himself called the “real problem in the military,” that being sexuality itself, and the problems and complaints that have stemmed from it.

In this context, the real issue is that the mainstream news media (Stars and Stripes included) seems extremely reluctant to give ear to the reputable voices who are willing to stand up and oppose the refutable and unproven information about homosexuality and same-sex relationships that is being shoved down our throats as fact by gay and lesbian activists.

The voices I’m talking about are the many “former homosexuals” out there who testify to another, darker side of this issue that the news media seems all too willing to ignore, my guess would be for fear of a backlash from homosexual activists. Yet these “former” homosexuals all point to numerous emotionally and physically abusive situations from childhood, and to parent-child relationship issues, which “caused” their homosexuality. And the proof in the pudding, so to speak, is the living testimony of their changed, heterosexual lives today, either through therapy or counseling, or even more often through their faith in God.

It is a travesty that the media hides this information from a public mostly naive and uninformed about this issue, while continuing to allow the activists to present their propaganda uncensored and unhindered in the news stories that are reporting it. This is hardly a balanced or even honest representation of the facts.

Chief Warrant Officer 3 Dean Bailey
K-16 Air Base, Seoul

Coverage outstanding

I want to offer sincere thanks to Stars and Stripes, and in particular to reporter Terry Boyd, for the outstanding series of articles on operations at Firebase Purgatory in Afghanistan. As a father with a son serving with the “Triple Deuce” Infantry Battalion, 10th Mountain Division (L), it’s good to know that Stripes is still attuned to what’s going on in Afghanistan, since in much of the U.S. media it’s become the “forgotten war.” Keep up the great work, Mr. Boyd and Stripes!

Greg Reniker
Kaiserslautern, Germany

AFN plays favorites with Fox

I’ve been stationed in South Korea for about 10 months now, and I’ve noticed something that’s greatly disturbing. When I watch the news on AFN, I see three major cable news networks: MSNBC, CNN and Fox News Channel. All of these networks cover a lot of aspects of the war in Iraq and the upcoming presidential election. But only one stands out above all the others as far as expressing its views on politics and the war. That network is Fox, and Fox seems to lean more to the right on all issues.

The problem is that, when it comes to discussion panels, AFN seems to concentrate solely on Fox’s discussion panels, which I feel is irresponsible and unfair on AFN’s part. Fox’s discussion panel shows have Bush-loving Republicans bashing the left and giving the message that not siding with the Bush administration is un-American. It’s not the fact that AFN airs Fox’s discussion panel shows, but that it airs Fox discussion shows more than any of the other networks’ shows.

AFN is trying to keep we viewers on the pro-Bush side by showing only Fox network discussion panel shows. Knowing that AFN is the only source of TV news for overseas troops makes me believe that AFN is abusing its power by showing what it thinks we should watch when it comes to political debates. Stars and Stripes readers should be aware of what’s going on with today’s news networks.

Airman Gregory L. Dietrich
Air Base, South Korea

Pacific edition

Don’t cut GI discounts short

I am a National Guard soldier, and have been activated since February 2003. Most of my unit’s time has been spent in Baghdad, and now we are in Kuwait until April 2004, when we should be returning home.

My problem is not with the military, but with companies back home and the way they have been doing things since the beginning of this conflict. I have several friends in the service who remained at home, and they have been reaping all the rewards of what we are doing in country. Many companies have given discounts to servicemembers serving in Operation Iraqi Freedom, but the wrong people are getting them. One example is Disney, which has offered free admission to its parks and half price for friends and families of servicemembers.

The only problem is the offer expired December 2003, when the majority of OIF participants were still overseas, unable to benefit from it. I love that these companies are trying to do their share to support American soldiers, but please remember us when we get home as well.

Sgt. John D’Aoust
Greenville, S.C.

AAFES provides free boxes

This is in response to the March 28 letter “Want a box? That will be $3.45.” While the Army and Air Force Exchange Service does carry postal boxes in its stores for sale, it has always provided discarded boxes to customers when asked, free of any cost. The general manager in the area where the letter came from has checked with all of his operations, and they have never required any type of payment for discarded boxes. In fact, they have been establishing areas in front of central checkouts where customers can pick up discarded boxes to use for mailing. AAFES fully supports all our troops downrange and is happy to provide boxes.

AAFES has not been able to substantiate the letter writer’s claim and feels that there must have been some misunderstanding. We’d like to hear from the writer so we can correct any misconceptions and make this right for him.

Stan McGhee
General manager
AAFES Würzburg
Würzburg, Germany