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I just read the April 11th Stars and Stripes. Articles ranging from the tragic plane crash in Russia to violent protests in the streets of Bangkok had me all but ready to skip to the comics pages and have myself a laugh or two before I went back to work.

What I ended up finding was a comic strip that left me more annoyed than the current events. The "Gunston Street" comic strip talked about the "don’t ask, don’t tell" policy. The strip had two soldiers, one asking the other if he was "gonna come out flaming" if the Army repeals the policy. The other soldier replies, "Hardy har har."

Funny? I think not. As an Equal Opportunity Leader (EOL) for my company, I don’t find it funny one bit.

A few months back "Gunston Street" had two soldiers talking about "mountainous terrain" and how they could "bed down there for awhile," even going on to say "that’s definitely a hot spot." Another soldier walks up and asks if they were "going over missions?" They replied with "Naw … Reading the new Maxim, Sir."

How am I, as an EOL, supposed to make it clear to my soldiers that it is not OK to belittle someone because he or she is homosexual? Or how it is not OK to talk about females like they are a piece of meat? Or, in this case, "a hot spot" they can "bed down"? Perhaps Stars and Stripes should reconsider the types of comics that appear in the paper.

Sgt. Carrie A. VobianCamp Victory, Iraq

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