They Didn't Ask; He Didn't Tell
It's my private issue, my private life. It was none of the Army's damn business.
- LT COL Steve Loomis
You can be openly gay, right now, and serve with the FBI, DEA, Secret Service. You can serve in the police departments and the fire departments in major cities across the country. You can serve in the military of Great Britain, Israel, Australia, Canada, France, Germany. You cannot serve openly and honorably in the armed forces of Belarus, Croatia, Russia and the United States of America. I think that we have the opportunity now. We've matured as a society. We're more sophisticated now in that we can change. And if you can change, then I think we have the moral imperative that we must change.
- ADM John Hutson
You have served your country honorably for a total of 19 years and 51 weeks. You have ably led men through combat in Vietnam, and you left Vietnam with two Bronze Stars and a Purple Heart. You were up for promotion to full colonel, and you just received your fourth Meritorious Service Award. There is just one problem: you're gay, and in today's Army, that consideration negates all your years of service and all of your accomplishments.
I kept all of my relations completely separate between my military life and duties and my private life. That was absolute.
Never mind the fact that your on-duty time was conducted beyond reproach. If only the same thing could have been said about your off-duty conduct.
Steve Loomis never asked to become the poster child for gay soldiers. All he wanted to do was to serve his country, get in his 20 years in, and qualify for his retirement benefits. He by all accounts was an exemplary soldier who conducted himself in a manner befitting an officer and a gentleman.
Loomis' problem was that, as careful as he was about his conduct while in uniform, he was apparently every bit asreckless and incautious out of uniform. In the end, it was bad luck that contributed to his downfall.
Loomis was stationed at Fort Hood, Texas, and had been selected for promotion to full colonel. After a ceremony, at which he was given his fourth meritorious service award, he returned to his home off base. Right away, he knew something was wrong.
Someone had set Loomis' house ablaze. His career was about to go up in flames as well.
The police told Loomis they had a suspect, Michael Burdette, a 19-year-old PFC with whom Loomis had had two sexual encounters. They'd met when Loomis offered the private a ride home from the Fort Hood movie theater. Burdette was not in the colonel's chain of command.
Loomis took pictures of Burdette, who he said agreed to pose for the photographs....
Burdette confessed he was afraid that the nude photos and video that Loomis had taken would not remain private, and he wanted them destroyed. But Burdette never asked Loomis for the photos. Instead, he set Loomis' house on fire.
Loomis said he knew there was going to be serious problems after Burdette became a suspect.
But he didn't know the half of it. The local fire chief, William Rippy, had confiscated a videotape found in Loomis' camcorder, thinking it might contain evidence of the arson. It didn't. It was a sexually explicit video of Loomis and other men, which Rippy turned over to the Army.
“He had no further business looking at that tape or anything else, nor did the Army,” says Loomis.
The tape was an accidental but devastating discovery. The Army found Loomis guilty of homosexual behavior and conduct unbecoming an officer. He will receive only a small reserve pension, because his discharge came just eight days short of 20 years of active duty.
In the final analysis, the only thing that mattered to the Army was the embarrassment it suffered. It threw away 19 years and 357 days of Loomis' career as if his service was worth nothing, which in the end it was. Of course, Loomis bears some responsibility for the fruits of his behavior. Surely, a gay man who has been in the military as long as Loomis would recognize the importance of discretion. How many mothers have told their children, "Never videotape anything you wouldn't want your mother to see"?
Of course, except for the horrible turn of events, Loomis' personal life would have been a non-issue. His case can and should be taken as proof that "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" is just another way for the American military hierarchy to justify continuing their witch hunt against gay soldiers, most of whom serve honorably and well.
Loomis is certainly guilty of poor judgment and fraternization. If punishment is warranted, it should be for those transgressions. Being gay is NOT a crime. IF Loomis' homosexuality had in any way adversely impacted the performance of his duties, there would certainly be an in need of attention. That this was not the case speaks to the fact that Loomis was merely another patriotic American ably serving his country- until his country turned it's back on him.
Don't let the door hit you in the butt on the way out, LT COL Loomis. It appears that we don't need your kind here....
