Blackfive and Gays in the Military
Saturday, September 20, 2003
Note from Blackfive: TypePad is an excellent blogging system. One of the features in TypePad is the ability to set a post to be published at a future date. While I am out at a conference in Charleston, SC, and in blog withdrawl this week, I wrote some short (well, not that short) posts about some of my experiences in the military. Hope you enjoy and see you on the 25th.
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Out of the closet and into the Fire
I was stationed in Germany and had to go to Heidelberg for an Army Ball. A bunch of the officers in my brigade car-pooled there. We all shared rooms, too. BTW, when you are in Germany and you ask for a double room at a hotel, you just get a bigger bed. Almost never do you get two beds. So my friend Dave and I got a double room and headed to the Ball in our Mess Blues.
Once we arrived at the Officer's Club, we headed straight for the bar. After a few shots of whiskey, we felt we were ready to face the brass. However, Dave wanted to talk football with one of the other officers at the bar. Dave was a West Point football hero and always would stop to talk West Point football. I drank more while waiting for Dave to finish his football tales.
Finally, we were all seated and the commander of all US forces in Europe (four-star Army General) was making the most boring speech of all time. I kid you not, his speech hit the 40 minute mark when Dave and I got up and went back to the bar. We got a lot of disgusted stares from some of the brass.
We did more shots and drank a few liters of Heffe Weizen.
Dave asked me about my girlfriend, Cathy. We talked about her. Then, I commented on why Dave never went out with any of her friends (Cathy always tried to set up her friends with Dave).
I looked back out into the ballroom and the four-star was still rambling on with his speech. Jesus, I thought, this guy is like listening to elevator music. I could see a few Colonels begin to nod off.
So, I turned back to Dave. "So why won't you date any of Cathy's friends? Are you gay or what?"
Dave looked me right in the eye and said, "Yes, Matt, I'm gay."
I dropped my shot glass on the bar, surprised at what he said. "What did you just say?"
Dave restated that he was gay. He also told me that no other straight soldiers knew. He was pretty certain that I wouldn't tell on him. I wasn't sure what to do so I decided not to deal with it. Dave was my good friend before I knew he was gay. I didn't think much would change.
We drank more shots and Heffe Weizen. The last thing I remember was singing "Low Places" at the top of my lungs in the Officer's Club.
The next morning, I had a splitting headache. I had a killer hang over - the kind only whiskey, schnapps, jaeger-meister, and weis beer can give you. My eyes were sensitive to the daylight streaming in through the window and my mouth was dry. I turned my head to see Dave lying next to me. I was starting to recall our conversation about him being gay.
Dave smiled. "You were magnificient!"
Shit!
I lifted up the covers.
Boxers on? Check.
T-Shirt on? Check.
No bodily fluids present? Check.
I looked back at Dave laughing at the way I freaked out at his little joke. "You son-of-a-bitch!"