Comments on: Lt. Col. Victor Fehrenbach: Fighting to Serve

By: Allen g.

Allen g. — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 06:42:59 +0000

This has probably already been brought up, so I’ll just repeat it if so: My understanding of the “Don’t ask don’t tell” policy is that a service person should not discuss their homosexuality. Ok, but according to all the news reports, Fehranbach was OUTED by someone else who contacted the military.

So if this is the case, how can they discharge him? He did not discuss it himself or come out to his superiors - someone else outed him without his consent. Doesn’t this make the military ruling unlawful? I would assume I’m either missing some fine print or something because as I understand this law, his ruling should be tossed out as it does not fall under the specific guidelines of coming out while in service.

I think he also knows who outed him, and I think he should go full force with it and publicize the name of the person who did it. You have to be a special brand of sleeze to destroy someone’s life like that.

By: John

John — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 16:43:07 +0000

I am a 22 year Air Force veteran and vehemently disagree. Generally civilians do not have a clue concerning military operations. The reason you had to go to Vietnam and we stayed there so long, was because civilians were running the war. Mr. Obama may be a civilian technically, but he is Commander-in-Chief of our military forces. He has special insight into military operations which civilians do not have or need. We transform civilians into Marines, Soldiers and Airmen in basic military training so they can handle military life. Thus they are military and not civilian. We absolutely need the president and congress to advise on the political objectives of war, but please stay out of the mechanics of the implementation. We have excellent Generals and leaders who have hundreds of years of corporate military knowledge. We do not need another Vietnam!

By: easywind

easywind — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 15:15:34 +0000

This shows me the air force is much more interested in being possibly politically correct than in defending the country.
Lt. col Ferenbach is a national treasure and as a veteran I thank him for his service. However he is like a baby being thrown out with the bath water.
Really raw deal from a sick and wounded country.

By: easywind

easywind — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 15:14:54 +0000

By: interestedparty

interestedparty — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 06:45:37 +0000

he didn’t… he was outed by a third party (in another interview he says this)

By: For Love or Country: ‘Don’t Ask Don’t Tell’ Sucks. | 99Problems

Mon, 28 Sep 2009 16:52:52 +0000

[...] -Lt. Col. Victor Fehrenbach was a decorated pilot who has served in the Air Force for 18 years. After having sex with a man he met on a dating site, he was accused of assault and rape. In order to clear himself of the rape charge, he admitted to police that the sex was consensual. The police, in turn, shared that information with his employer: the Air Force. Now, he is denied the same retirement benefits that a soldier of his caliber deserves. [...]

By: The Bottom of the Barrel « Welcome to My World

The Bottom of the Barrel « Welcome to My World — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 23:43:57 +0000

[...] on the forum celebrating those whom I feel are true American Heroes: folks like Daniel Choi and Victor Fehrenbach and thousands upon thousands of other gays in the military who are forced to live a lie in order to [...]

By: Banquo

Banquo — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 17:15:22 +0000

To Edward Palasthy: Thanks Ed for that summary of the military. But, as a Vietnam veteran that served with the 82nd Airborne, I have a different point of view. Today, as opposed to 1993, when DADT was proposed, 75% of Americans want to repeal DADT because they feel it hinders the security of their nation. And, since the population at large, not the military, pays for the military, they should have some say in the matter. Why do think that a civilian rather than a military person is put in charge of the military? It is because our founders knew that it was a bad idea to put the military in charge of conducting wars. The military is simply a reflection and composite of America, and since it is run by a civilian, it should refect the opinions of all Americans.

By: Marine

Marine — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 21:48:40 +0000

Sorry - Obama cannot order the military to break the law. That’s called an unlawful order and will not be followed

By: Marine

Marine — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 21:44:55 +0000

Ahem - the military is allowed to discriminate on anything except for race (and only if you are an American) - too young, too old, flat feet, fat, skinny, dumb, crosseyed, 4-fingered, speech impediment, height, education, criminal history, etc…. are reasons to discrimintate - and even if you were “born that way”

By: Marine

Marine — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 21:39:22 +0000

“Don’t Ask - Don’t Tell” is a Clinton Policy - just to be clear…

The first “gay” recorded discharge was in 1778, but the ban on gays officially became the rule in 1942.

This guy has years of rule stacked against him and joined the service anyways - makes him a moron (in my book) for thinking he could all of sudden just decide to go against the flow while in uniform.

By: Edward Palasthy

Edward Palasthy — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 03:26:53 +0000

You people need to open your eyes to 2 MAJOR issues here. 1: The most important, the Military sets rules and regulations that ALL must follow. If you break the rules then you pay the consequence. If that doesn’t happen the military would find it IMPOSSIBLE to maintain discipline…
2: Almost all of the current military members DO NOT WANT GAYS IN THE MILITARY. Do not go off of what you here in the liberal media.
Col Fehrenbach broke the rules…good ridance. His comment today when he said that all his people support him being gay…NOT true! Maybe the handful of people under his chain of command. Not the rest of the Air Force…

By: Yosh

Yosh — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 01:20:03 +0000

As a 20-year veteran, I’m disgusted with the havoc wrought by DADT. We’re throwing out patriots willing to deny their sexuality in order to fight for our country, instead preferring those who happen to be sleeping with the “right” people. Give me a break. Folks getting skewered by this policy are being outed by peers who are bent out of shape because of their peers out-promoting them.

DADT is a stupid policy pushed by people too cowardly to serve themselves.

By: Overworked

Overworked — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 15:35:24 +0000

everything is Bush’s fault!!!!!

By: Allen

Allen — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 02:45:53 +0000

DADT is more than just keeping your mouth shut on base. i had tenents (two navy guys) break their lease on the one bedroom apt that they share because another military guy moved into the building and they were terrified that this guy would rat them out. its a small four plex all one bedroom units so they figured it would only be a matter of time before they were found out.

i cant imagine they hell it must be like always looking over your shoulder. do we live in a gestapo state?

By: It is a gamble

It is a gamble — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 18:56:11 +0000

Totally concur. Though private lives are hopefully private, inevitably professional and private matters mix in the gray area.

You gotta wonder what else he was hiding.

By: It is a gamble

It is a gamble — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 18:53:05 +0000

Dear Docelder,

I like your post because the Lt Col’s case, and apparently his personal life, was exactly that a gamble. He is an Officer and knows the rules. He thought that no one would “out” him and they did…. bad relationship management - I guess??Additionally, Officers have to have the courage to lead others and to do the right things. In this case gambling away not only the Pension but his integrity and all the other things that this Lt Col worked for are gone, so in this sense the gamble is clearly lost.

Whether right or wrong you gotta wonder was “coming out” the only thing that he was hiding? Officers are taught honesty, integrity, clearly they need not live a lie whether private or not. Unfortunately, this Lt Col did not have the courage to be himself for 18 + years and that just did not seem to work for him, no matter how unfortunate that may seem.

Future reality: As for the policy of DADT, who knows the outcome? Maybe this will be a classic story of he champions a cause, writes the book and then the Pension is not a factor. I think that DADT will be repealed in time along with other social policy evolution processes. I think this is just a matter of time just as in other Civil Liberty type issues.

By: Docelder

Docelder — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 05:52:31 +0000

“Acting” gay? He is on national T.V. saying he is. What are you talking about? I don’t mean to beat a dead horse, but 18 years ago, there was no DADT. So, as far as following the rules for 18 years, that might be a stretch of sorts. Anyway, the guy had security clearance… no?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/03/16/AR2006031601787.html

By: Mascota

Mascota — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 05:04:43 +0000

Thank you for sharing this. I don’t have much to add to the discussion, so many others have said such eloquent things. I will just say, though, as a straight woman and one who worked on Obama’s campaign, I am disappointed by his non-response to the problems faced by LGBT in the U.S., thus not fulfilling his promises.

I would also like to say to those that say that the military is no place for activism, “there is too much at stake”, I would like to say that there is too much at stake to not speak out. How did women get into the military? Would those people say now that they should have never been allowed?

By: Mascota

Mascota — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 04:42:37 +0000

Amen!!!!