I DON'T CARE!

Just realized this one didn't publish months ago as intended...

Well, to date I've failed miserably in keeping this thing alive. If I finally turn this blog into a habit I'll start advertising it to my friends. Why did I pick today, of all days, to try to rescue this thing? Well, let's see. First, I'm home with a sprained ankle and a nasty head cold. Second, no Cub Scouts tonight to prepare for. (I just ended a sentence in a preposition...tee-hee). Third, today is known in the Armed Forces informally as ... "Ask and Tell Day!!!" Yes, this morning at one minute after midnight, the Clinton-era law known widely as "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" was officially dead. Already on the news have been a handful of tearful declarations from my brothers and sisters in arms, and I too have a very important announcement that I can finally share with the WHOLE world without risk of losing my job. And that is ........... (drum roll please) .........

I DON'T CARE!

Nope, sure don't! I don't care if my battle buddy is straight, gay, lesbian, undecided, or none-of-the-above. I don't care if he or she is bisexual and trying to figure out what trisexual could possibly mean. I don't care if he or she is into transvestites, dolly-dolls, farm produce, or whatever. As long as he/she is dead-serious about his/her sworn oath to protect the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic, even if it means death or permanent maiming, and is professionally competent in combat, I'm good to go. I can fight next to that American, and I'll trust that American with my life without a second's hesitation. I mean it.

How can I possibly take that attitude as a Methodist Christian? Easily. I don't need the Warrior next to me to follow Christ with me in order to trust him/her with my life. I have served with Muslims, Taoists, Buddhists, atheists, agnostics, undecideds, and others. I have worked with other straights, and I have likely worked with gays. I have worked with Catholics, Mormons, Scientologists, and surely countless others with whom the topic never came up. My opinion of where they will go after death has varied, but is ultimately not my decision ... it's God's. Conversely, I have worked with devout fellow Christians who are 100% right on in their faith, but whom I'd not trust with a dollar to bring me a Coke. Ultimately, my faith teaches me to hate the sin and love the sinner. I can do that and keep praying for them. But if I know I can rely on them when the bullets start flying (which they have in my presence), I don't really care what (or whom) they would rather be doing. I'll worry about their faith when I check their dog tags, should they make the final sacrifice that those who have never served--yet are "morally opposed" to gays in the military--have never even risked.

Sure, there are some things that the Armed Forces are going to have to figure out. What about transgender men who want to wear a female uniform, or vice-versa? I say no, wear your birth-gender uniform and stop being ridiculous, but that's one for the Pentagon to figure out. Another is housing, both in-garrison and deployed. Figure it out, Pentagon ... been there myself for other harder choices, so suck it up and make a decision.

Now, let me tell you the two things that piss me off about today.

1. I do not appreciate the American Armed Forces being used by some for politico-societal ping-pong yet again, by both ends of the political spectrum. Party partisans: Stop using the military as your proving ground for "status-quo" or "social progress" ... our job is to efficiently kill people and violently break their stuff. We even voluntarily modify a handful of our own Constitutional rights in order to servw. My point: We are not a representative sample of the Republic's populace.

2. Press: (Yes, this likely falls upon deaf ears.) You already made a drama today of Servicemembers "coming out". If you make a bigger deal out of the first openly gay or lesbian Servicemember's death than of the prior's, you can go to Hell and burn on sulfur for all eternity for all I care. I mean that exactly as literally as I have written it. Their sacrifices are equal and cannot be ranked in order of social importance. You may think a gay's or lebian's death is a more significant sacrifice to recognize than a strait's, but again I DON'T CARE! Every one of my brothers or sisters who dies serving this nation deserves our life-long reverence. Regardless of whom else they loved, they loved you enough to die in your place.

John 15:13

Until Next Time
-Casper of the Rockies