Don't Ask

...unless we are severely low on numbers and then we don't care WHAT you do.
via Petulant:

The Navy returned an openly gay sailor to active duty last year in what gay rights advocates say is an example of how some military commanders — stretched by the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan — are turning a blind eye to the controversial “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy banning gays and lesbians from revealing their sexual orientation.

Petty Officer Jason D. Knight, a Hebrew linguist who says he had officially informed his superiors that he was homosexual, was discharged in April 2005 after completing his four-year tour of duty, according to a summary of his Navy personnel file.

Nine months later, the Navy recalled him to active duty, even though he was openly gay, and sent him to Kuwait, where he served as a translator and received multiple awards for exemplary service.

You can read the rest of the story over at Boston.com

Of course, if you ask the Navy...

The Navy stressed yesterday that Knight was dismissed in 2005 simply because his service commitment was over, not because he was gay, as reported in Stars and Stripes. The assertion "is not consistent with our records," said Commander Jeff Davis, a Navy spokesman.

But other military officials who declined not to be named because they were not authorized to speak to the press said it was possible that the Navy simply waited for Knight's commitment to end rather than dismiss him for being gay. In fact, Knight's personnel record was coded RE-1, allowing the Navy to recall him if needed.

This is true, he was dismissed in 05 because his commitment was over, but only because it was done before the DADT paperwork would have even been close to being completed. They know now and...they're doing nothing. This is how bad it has gotten, we all remember at the start of the war when the Army discharged a great deal of linguists because they were gay. I can only shake my head at this story, what a wondrous world we now live in.